Individual Project

Havdalah (Separation) is a Jewish ritual for marking the end of Shabbat. Second and third grade children read a midrash (rabbinic story) about how Adam HaRishon (the first human) learned to make fire as darkness crept across the earth for the first time.

Children explored Adam’s fear and sadness at the end of his first Shabbat, and how Havdalah helped him feel better. It led this young child to see how separating time through rituals like Havdalah provides a safe space for humans to hold a mixture of emotions– allowing us to feel both happy AND sad at the end of Shabbat. The child’s insight led one parent to realize, “Havdalah cannot take away feelings, yet it can make you fully feel them.”

Children and families learned that Jewish ritual can be a way to help them fully feel and process the big emotions that come their way.

When we began our Teshuvah theme, this child said that the word was new to him.

A year later, we asked him to reflect on how teshuvah appears in his life. Astonishingly, he articulated that teshuvah can rebalance power in his relationship with his younger brother. Through our Teshuvah theme, the child came to recognize that power can be used in damaging and nourishing ways, and that teshuvah can rebalance the scales.

What a powerful understanding for an 8 year old!

As third-fifth grade children wrestled with the text of Rivkah, they went to the studio to process their thoughts with clay.

The project above left shows how a third grade boy explored the sharp and broken relationship between Ya’akov (Jacob) and Esav (Esau). Working with the clay to reflect on the brothers’ ties led him to consider distinctions between a person’s inner life and their outward actions. The boy decided that how Ya’akov behaved might not be the same as how Ya’akov thought and felt.

The child’s deep dive into Ya’akov and Esav’s relationship led him to examine his own inner life. He came to a new understanding about his own mind and behavior.

Our ancient Torah text breathes life into children’s development as humans. Amazing.

What does it take for children to peel back the layers of a complex biblical figure like Yosef (Joseph) and develop their own interpretation?

In the first – third grade group, children heard the text multiple times, wrestled with it with peers, and created with chalk pastels. Chalk pastel was such a rich, expressive material for this age group! Children could blend and layer, use pressure and big gestures to express their big feelings about this text.

Children developed such nuanced interpretations! One 8-year-old thought the biblical Yosef changes through his life. He starts “being normal” and “turns angry” when “his brothers did all those bad things…, because it’s not really his fault that he’s Ya’akov’s [his father’s] favorite.” This child thinks that Yosef becomes a person who is “hiding himself.” Finally, years later, “he took off all of his disguises and showed himself…unleashing himself and revealing himself” to his brothers.

Wow.