This is our second week exploring בראשית כא (Breishit Kaf Aleph–Genesis 21) in Beit Nitzanim. It’s a tricky text with some complicated relationships between Avraham, his wife Sarah, and Sarah’s servant, Hagar.
To sort through all of the complications, children met with a partner to share their ideas about how these three characters might have felt at different parts of our text.
First, children chose a color to represent the feeling.
Then, they discussed their choice with a partner.
Finally, we shared all of our ideas as a full-group. We made such a long list!
Here’s just a handful of their ideas about the text:
- “[Sarah might feel] scared because she might be scared to have a baby.”
- “Hagar is feeling sad because she’s gonna have to be leaving.”
- “[Hagar might feel] sad and weird because she thinks Avraham is sending her away but really it’s Sarah.”
- “She’s (Sarah) sad because she’s making them leave.” “But she made that decision. I think she’s feeling happy that they get to leave but also kind of weird sort of.”
- “I think she (Sarah) feels mad because she doesn’t want Hagar’s baby Yishmael to share all the things that Sarah’s baby should have.”
- “He’s (Avraham) sad ’cause his son is leaving.”
