For the past few weeks, our 6th graders have been learning about the concepts of Holiness, Revelation and Covenant.  We began by defining holiness, what it means to be holy.  We performed a ‘scavenger hunt’ around the synagogue in search of holy objects and we discussed how a mundane object could be a holy object depending on its use and context.

In class the following Sunday, we talked about Revelation, how G-d reveals G-d’s self to the Jewish people.  We came up with various examples from the Torah including: Moses and the burning bush, the parting of the Red Sea, the ten plagues, Joseph’s dreams and Jacob and G-d’s messengers.

To highlight the concept of Revelation, and to prepare for our discussion of the covenant of G-d and Abraham, we viewed a short digital film called “The Young Abraham”.  This film is based on Midrash and portrayed Abraham when he was a young boy, Avram.  We watched Avram’s journey, understanding of one G-d, and revelation with ‘the One Creator G-d’.  The film really brought this biblical story to life and inspired lots of student questions and discussion.

This past Sunday, we continued our discussion of Revelation and read from Torah about Avram’s transformation to Avraham, and Sarai to Sarah.  We read and discussed the promises that G-d made to Abraham and how those promises became an eternal covenant between G-d and the Jewish people.

These concepts are the stepping off point for our students from a theoretical relationship with G-d to a personal one.