Torah Scroll Club

The Torah Scroll Club was conceived in order to create a dialogue between students and parents. The idea is to analyze stories from the Torah in class and bring questions home for the parents.

In class we will learn how to think out loud, listen to others, and compare ideas about Torah stories.  Every time we have a discussion about Biblical characters, we will try to make connections between past and present, remote and personal by comparing our emotions and feelings with those of Adam, Eve, Avraham, Moses, and others.

In order to make our discussions more rich and thought-provoking, we would be thrilled if the Academy Parents joined us in the process of unrolling our Torah Scroll and making great discoveries together.  We will try to help the dialogue happen by updating you via blog on the discussions we have in class... that way parents can continue the conversation at home, and continue to add to the "Torah scroll" that we are creating through dialogue this year!

Biblical creation story - your thoughts?

A Big Idea for the Academy curriculum is to go back in time as far as possible in order to search for wisdom and inspiration from the past and apply it to our own modern lives.

As we approach Rosh HaShana, we get acquainted with the primary source of both wisdom and inspiration in Jewish tradition by examining the Torah. Throughout the year, we are going to read from the Book of Genesis in the hope that it could shed some light on how things started and when, and how we should think about the world we live in.

Please discuss with your child the Biblical story of the Creation of the World. What is your opinion of this story? Do you have another version of the same story which you feel more comfortable with? Please share your thoughts with your child - I look forward to hearing their thoughts in class!

Welcome to "Academy"!

Shalom Academy Families!

This is Rabbi Greninger, posting for Genia for the Academy Program, a brand new program for 5th & 6th graders at Isaiah.  We hope you'll find this blog helpful!  Here's the first message from Genia:

On Sunday Sept 18th we read from the first chapter of the Book of Genesis and came up with the following questions for parents and students to think about together. Please email Genia or Rabbi Greninger with your answers.  Thank you!

1. What was the point of making Earth, Light? (Tali and Claire)
2. When people started discovering other planets, where they thinking about science or God creating them? (Adam)
3. Did God create our world because there are more "mystic" beings like Him that had been created by competitive gods? (Jack)
4. How did God come to existence? (Sarah)
5. Did God make some of the laws of physics? (Jack)
6. What gender is God? (Adam)
7. Did God create the Torah or did the Torah create God? (Josh)
8. Why did God create darkness and light in one day instead of separating them? (Sam)
9. What does "firmament" mean? (Mia)