It’s the third week of our קדושה (kedushah; holiness) theme in ענפים (Anafim; “branches,” for 3rd-4th grade), and something is about to happen.
Right now, we have two units of יצירת תורה (Yetzirat Torah; Torah creation/creativity) time most days. The first is focused on developing and articulating our ideas about קדושה (kedushah), and during the second one, we’re exploring excerpts from ויקרא (Vayikra; Leviticus) 19, and discovering what one part of the Torah describes as being connected with קדושה (kedushah).
Some of our own ideas:
-Holiness is doing kind things for people
-Home is holy, because of the love in your family
-God is holy
-Holiness is when what you love is transformed into some kind of service or value. ‘If you say “I love pandas,” this machine will tell you how to make that holy. “If you protect pandas from being extinct, you will be a holy person.”‘
Some of the Torah ideas:
-Leaving wheat and grapes for the poor (Leviticus 19:9-10)
(“Here is the fruit lying under the vines, and there are the rows of wheat in the field”)
–Pay your workers right away. Do not even keep their payment overnight. (Leviticus 19:13)
-Do not turn to idols (Leviticus 19:4)
Now, these two streams of thought have been getting broader, more complex, and more interconnected. In the next week or two, I think they’re going to fuse. Just as they’ve been in conversation with their peers about different ideas about קדושה (kedushah) for the past few weeks, ענפים (Anafim) are about to make the switch into putting their own visions of holiness into conversation with ideas they find in the Torah text itself.
What will that fusion look like? I have no idea. Stay tuned!
