The kids I teach
Feb. 8th, 2003 08:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xiphiasI was just thinking about how fundamentally decent the six-year-olds I teach are.
Last week, we made mezzuzot. Well, actually, we made toy mezzuzah cases, and I used a fake mezzuzah, (The mezzuzah is actually the scroll that's inside, and, since I was using photocopied scrolls, they're not kosher.)
But, although they're not kosher, they do have a version of the Name of G-d on them, and that means that we have to treat them with respect. I explained this to the kids, but one of them, one of the more rambunctious kids, kinda forgot, and doodled on the back of one of the extras.
He showed me his doodle, and I explained (gently) that we try to treat the papers with respect, because of the commandment, "Do not take My Name in vain," and the kid was devastated. Not because I'd made him feel bad, but because it's important to him to do the right thing. I felt terrible that he felt terrible, but I simultaneously felt very proud of him for "getting it". I explained that, instead of throwing out the paper, I was going to take it upstairs to the gezirah, because we didn't throw out the Name of God. And he got it.
Later on in the class period, we were talking about how sometimes the Torah gives us a commandment, and really it means more than just what it says -- like, when the Torah says that you're responsible for damages if you dig a pit and don't cover it, and an animal falls into it, really it's saying that you're not supposed to leave anything dangerous lying around, not just uncovered pits. (Ex. 21, verse 33-34). And I asked for other examples the kids could think of of things like that. And the kid said, "Like when it says you shouldn't take G-d's name in vain, it means you shouldn't draw on the back of the Sh'ma with permanent marker and it bleeds through to the front."
I was very proud of him.
Last week, we made mezzuzot. Well, actually, we made toy mezzuzah cases, and I used a fake mezzuzah, (The mezzuzah is actually the scroll that's inside, and, since I was using photocopied scrolls, they're not kosher.)
But, although they're not kosher, they do have a version of the Name of G-d on them, and that means that we have to treat them with respect. I explained this to the kids, but one of them, one of the more rambunctious kids, kinda forgot, and doodled on the back of one of the extras.
He showed me his doodle, and I explained (gently) that we try to treat the papers with respect, because of the commandment, "Do not take My Name in vain," and the kid was devastated. Not because I'd made him feel bad, but because it's important to him to do the right thing. I felt terrible that he felt terrible, but I simultaneously felt very proud of him for "getting it". I explained that, instead of throwing out the paper, I was going to take it upstairs to the gezirah, because we didn't throw out the Name of God. And he got it.
Later on in the class period, we were talking about how sometimes the Torah gives us a commandment, and really it means more than just what it says -- like, when the Torah says that you're responsible for damages if you dig a pit and don't cover it, and an animal falls into it, really it's saying that you're not supposed to leave anything dangerous lying around, not just uncovered pits. (Ex. 21, verse 33-34). And I asked for other examples the kids could think of of things like that. And the kid said, "Like when it says you shouldn't take G-d's name in vain, it means you shouldn't draw on the back of the Sh'ma with permanent marker and it bleeds through to the front."
I was very proud of him.
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Date: 2003-02-08 09:47 pm (UTC)And I'm proud of you, for being a good teacher. But I knew that already. :)
A.