The busy month of Tishrei is coming to a close. As educators, you’ve been telling the stories that help students reflect and move forward on their Jewish journey. We now approach the grand finale of the season: Simchat Torah! Rejoicing in the Torah as a community of learners is exhilarating and Sefaria’s education team has the resources to support you and your students as you prepare to celebrate...
Read it again!
How many times have you read a story to young children only to hear them say “again!” as soon as you finish? Every year, we read the Torah again. We even have a holiday to celebrate the completion of the story and the excitement of starting anew. In the book of Joshua, God says that we study Torah on a daily basis so that we will learn how to live an enriched Jewish life. In Pirkei Avot, Ben Bag Bag instructs us to “turn it [Torah] over and turn it over, because everything is within it.”
The Torah contains great wisdom - but we need to read it again and again in order to catch all of the nuance. Perhaps each time that we come back to the same story, we are a little bit different than we were during the last reading and, therefore, we can see the story in a new light.
Are you teaching about the value of Torah study? Check out “Read it Again! - A Simchat Torah Family Discussion” to get the conversation started.
All together now
The Mishneh Torah, written by Maimonides in the 12th century, tells us that there are different customs regarding the cycle of Torah readings. Some communities read the entire Torah in a year, while others are on a three year cycle. Regardless of the custom, every community celebrates Simchat Torah on a yearly basis. This is the power of unity over uniformity--we celebrate together but we can each maintain our unique customs. We can learn more about this in Proverbs: “A numerous people is the glory of a king.”
Are you teaching about unity and the power of the community? “All Together Now” is a lesson plan that weaves together the sources that explain the custom of Torah reading while helping students navigate these texts on Sefaria.
But wait, there’s more
Now that the Torah has been read, is the story over? Get ready for Torah: The Sequel (better known as Nevi’im or the Prophets). The first verse of the Book of Joshua picks up where the last verse of Deuteronomy leaves off. Where does the story go after the end of the Prophets? Take your students on a journey through texts that tell the story of the Jewish people. How does the story influence their lives? What will their role be as they take their place as the next link in the chain of Jewish history?
Are you teaching about the structure of Tanakh or the importance of connecting it to our story? Sefaria’s lesson plan, “Torah: The Sequel,” explores some of the ways that the themes of the Torah continue beyond the book of Deuteronomy.
Creating your own lesson plan for Simchat Torah? Share it with our education team! We love to hear what you’re doing in your classroom and spread the word to our community of educators.