Weekly Torah studies for children



We attend a Baptist church and they have a well organised children's programme except they have a curriculum that seems to go all over the place and it isn't communicated at all to parents.  Ironically the previous senior minister of this church had talked to me about how important expository teaching was a foundation of his work.  Somehow his idea hadn't filtered through to the children's programme.

So we as parents decided to run a bible study program for our children on Saturdays.  To give it some structure we adopted the Parasha reading system that was in place in Jesus' time. This reading system takes the first five books of the bible and divides it up into weekly portions. After a year, the system starts at the beginning again.

My children are aged, 3, 5, 7 and 9 years of age.  Each parasha covers quite a lot of ground, too much to take in, in one session, therefore I like to pick some aspect of the parasha and make that the focus.  This also means there's plenty of material for future years.

Having given it some structure it's then a matter of thinking how to present the material in a way that is engaging, interactive and learnt.  I think its important to be guided by the personalities, interests and passions of your children. If they like Lego, use Lego.

When they were younger, doing the narrative chapters was really easy as there is plenty of visual material for children to see and comprehend.  The passages that focus on the commandments (mitzvot) are much more tricky as the information is really abstract.  For these I put together PowerPoint slides with pictures to illustrate the commandment.  This was easy for the dietary laws (Kashrut), as all you needed were photos of the various animals.  You just have to use your imagination to work out how best to convey your topic. 

As the children got older, the older two needed more of a challenge, so I introduced the "Why" question.  So the idea is as they hear the story, they have to think of a "Why" question.  Sometimes they are quite prosaic, "Why is the man's hair colored blue in the cartoon?" and other times unsettlingly profound, "Why did Joseph hide the cup in the bag?"

Resources I have found useful include:

1. Torah Tots.  Lots of pictures to color in.  Good commentary from an orthodox Judaic perspective. 
2. Infographics from Logos Software give great illustrations of various elements of the Tent of Meeting (Tabernacle) and its various elements; and priestly garments.
3. The Brick Testament uses Lego pieces to illustrate various bible stories.  Beware that sometimes the author doesn't depict the stories in a sympathetic manner.  Otherwise, its very useful for engaging children with a passion for Lego bricks.
4. The Trank Brothers have put together a great series of YouTube videos in Monty Python style that summarise each Parasha in only 60 seconds.  Easier for Grade 3 and above as he speaks very quickly.  Even if younger children don't understand what he's saying they are captivated by the engaging graphics. 
5.  G-dcast, is a non-profit production company dedicated to raising basic Jewish literacy using media and storytelling styles that speak to today's youth. Since 2006, G-dcast has created over 75 animated films enjoyed worldwide by hundreds of thousands of people from diverse religious backgrounds.  They have a YouTube channel that has a small video that covers each individual Parasha.  Their website has lots of resources for purchase.
6. Logos' First Hebrew Primer has been invaluable for getting an appreciation of the process for developing classical Hebrew literacy.  Based on the outlines laid out in this Primer, I developed exercises for my children to learn the alephbet, vowel sounds, learn Hebrew phonics and develop their classical Hebrew vocabulary.  It's no longer available from Logos but you can still get it from EKS Publishing.  I've had to mix in a bit of modern Hebrew so that the children can use their Hebrew in everyday life.  For example, there is no word for TV in classical Hebrew.

I have been asked to put together a set of resources and lesson plans for other parents to follow.  This is easier said than done because how I went about things was very much a mix of my own nature as a parent and the nature of my children.  Instead I have put this blog together. 

At this point in time, my children know:

• How the Earth came to be
• How humankind sinned and left Eden
• The increasing dissociation between humankind and God;
• How God saved humankind through Noah;
• How God began his redemptive plan with the call of Abraham;
• The story of the patriarchs;
• The story of Joseph which leads to Moses;
• How the Torah was given;
• How the torah's commandments showed humankind how God intended them to live;
• That the festival (moedim) are appointed times to meet with God and that they are observed today;
• That the bible can be read in its original languages;
• Their place in the history of God's people;
• That in God's kingdom He only intended to have one people of believers and that all ethnicities and nations were to join with it.

If you like, these can be turned into learning objectives. 

Most of all, I have found that it is important to be disciplined about it.  After Shabbat dinner on a Friday night and all the visitors and family members have gone home, I spend about an hour preparing for the children's Torah studies the next morning.  This is important as it allows you as the Parent to really get familiar with the material beforehand.  Sometimes the children's sport or some other event prevails but we just reschedule for the following afternoon or the next day.  Since we always have done it since the children were aged three, they don't argue about doing it.  Its part of their routine. 

Although I emphasize discipline it doesn't take much for children to have fun while doing it.  Too often, I think parents can make the mistake of getting too familiar with the children and they lose respect for them as parents.  I think its important to maintain the parent-child relationship.  It mustn't devolve into a child-child relationship.   I've observed the teachers at school maintain this hierarchy of relationship and the children seem to respond positively to this approach.

During the week, we often revise some of the Hebrew and other aspects of their Torah studies at the dinner table.  This has reminded me why teaching Torah as a parent is so much more effective than any children's programme run on a Sabbath.  In fact, I might go so far as to suggest that such children's programmes need to enlist the participation of parents to reinforce and interact with their material during the week.  I offered this to my children's programme superintendent at my church but it wasn't taken up. 

I hope these notes help you in teaching Torah to your children.