On Thursday, we were very lucky to welcome Chloe and Hannah from the Jewish Museum into our class. The first question they asked us was if we could guess where they were from… it was on the board! We were excited to learn more about Judaism, from them!
First of all, we looked at sheets that had Jewish people on it holding the Torah and they asked what we noticed about the picture and if we had any questions. We found out that the Torah contains the five most important books in Judaism, and it can take a number of years to write. We also found out that the reason you can’t touch the Torah is because the paper is incredibly delicate and you might damage the ink which takes a very long time to do. We also learnt that the Torah is kept in a special box with lots of decorations on it. This helps to show that the box contains something extremely holy. We also learned that there’s 613 rules within the Torah but there are 10 main ones, which are the Ten Commandments.
We were able to look at a range of objects from the museum and we treated them with care and respect. There was a Mezuzah (which we’ve been learning about this week during Judaism Week), as well as a kippah, a yad, and a prayer shawl. They also brought out a necklace (or breastplate) which goes onto the Torah. We noticed that the kippahs were all decorated very differently, some even had football badges on too. This means that Jewish people are able to celebrate their faith in their own way, making their kippah their own.
We looked at some Hebrew writing on a sheet and we were given special calligraphy pens which allowed us to become a scribe. This helped us to understand how difficult it can be for people to write Torahs, as their writing is very intricate. We also learnt that if you make one mistake, you have to start all over again!
The purpose of our workshop was to understand Judaism a little more, and to learn about the importance of respecting others and their beliefs. Another important aspect was understanding the Torah which was a theme within our learning this week. We have been exploring Jewish prayer in particular, looking at the Shema prayer which is a declaration of faith which comes from Deuteronomy 6:4-9. We learnt that within this, Moses declares to the people of Israel that they should place these words on their foreheads and doorposts as a reminder of their faith and beliefs in one God. This week, we have also decorated our own Mezuzahs and have learnt about why they are special, and the place the place that they have in daily lives.
In our learning this week, we have also compared the declarations of faith that we see in Judaism and in Catholic Church, such as the Nicene Creed. It was a reminder that our faiths have many similarities and some slight differences, but we understand the importance of respecting one another despite these small differences. We have had a great week learning about Judaism, and we look forward to what more we’ll learn when we’re in Year 6!
Why do you think it’s important to learn about other faiths, as well as understanding our own?
