Tara Anglican School for Girls

Year 7 Christian Studies

Unit 4: Judaism, Terms 3-4
Booklet 1: Introduction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsX5t_wYoYM

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Think back to your study of Abraham (from Unit 1: The Big Picture).

1. What do you remember about Abraham?

2. What promises did God made to him?

The Jewish people are the descendants of Abraham.

They still consider themselves God’s chosen people.
The Israelites have had a very eventful history. They are a small nation, but had two of the most famous kings
on Earth. They were kept as slaves by the Egyptians. They were captured by the Assyrians, the Babylonians
and invaded by the Romans. They suffered through World War II and the Holocaust.
They have rebuilt the modern nation of Israel in the Promised Land
They are still waiting for the Messiah.

We will learn about the religion of the Jewish people in this unit (Unit 4 / Terms 3-4)

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 Some introductory clips to watch …
British children talk about being Jewish
http://www.chabad.org/kids/article_cdo/aid/1347962/jewish/Why-I-Like-Being-
Jewish.htm
The Bible Project: Biblical themes - The Covenants
https://thebibleproject.com/all-videos/?category=biblical-themes&q=
The Bible project - The Law https://jointhebibleproject.com/#all-videos
This video also refers to Jesus and the New Testament. Do the Jews believe in this?

The story behind the Passover (Bible reading with images from Prince of Egypt)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFU5NrPgutA

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Find Israel on Google Maps … Zoom OUT – Zoom IN!

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The modern nation of Israel
http://www.preceptaustin.org/sites/www.preceptaustin.org/files/images/Israel2005.jpg

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 https://
commons.wikimedia.org/w/
index.php?curid=30719604 /
http://gunn.co.nz/map

Not all Jewish people live in Israel. Many live in other countries of the world.
Dark blue = country with highest percentage of Jewish citizens / paler blues shows countries with lower percentages
What two countries of the world have the highest percentage of Jewish people?
(Hint: Alaska does not count! – ZOOM IN)

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Fill in the blanks! (adapted from content on http://bje.org.au/course/judaism/kids/torah/)

According to Jewish tradition, the Torah is the word of God, which

He dictated to Moses who then wrote it down for the Jewish people.
Because of this, the Torah is very hOLY and important to the Jewish
religion.

The Torah is the foundation of Judaism. It is the most basic and

important of all Jewish texts. All other Jewish texts are based on the
Torah and the values in it.

The word ‘Torah’ means ‘teaching’ – it is called this because it is

what God taught to the Jewish people. The Torah is made up of
fOUR different books, found at the beginning of the Bible. These
books are: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Numbers.
These books are also sometimes called the ‘Five Books of Moses’.
An open Sefer Torah (Torah scroll)

Because the Torah is so important in Judaism, it is read at least thREE times every week in synagogue (on
Monday morning, Thursday morning and Shabbat morning). In weeks where there are special religious
occasions, it may be read even more often. The reading on Shabbat mornings is particularly long (usually
3-4 chapters). This is because the entire Torah is read in sENEGAL over the course of one year, and in
order to do this it is necessary to read 3-4 chapters every week.

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When the Torah is read in synagogue, it is read from a Sefer Torah or Torah scroll. The custom of reading
the Torah every week is very old – it started before books were invented, and in those days long
documents would be rolled up to make a s. The Jewish custom has remained that when the Torah is read in
public, it is done from a scroll and not from a book.

Each Torah scroll is hand-written by a sofer (scribe). There are many rules about how to write a Torah
scroll and a lot of cARE is needed to make sure there are no mistakes; it takes about one year of full-time
work for a sefer to write a Torah scroll. Even one in a Torah scroll makes it pasul or invalid to be used. It
sometimes happens that a letter in a Torah scroll gets damaged so that it cannot be read properly – when
this happens, the scroll is also pasul and must be taken to a sofer to be rEPAIRED before the scroll may be
used again.

Another important thing to know about the public reading of the Torah is that it is done in Hebrew, the
language in which the Torah was originally w_________ and which is still the language of Israel. This is done
even in countries outside Israel. Also, the text is not read in the way we read ordinary texts – instead it is
chanted (_________ to a special tune).

How did you go? 10/10

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 Christians share a very important set of rules or laws with the Jewish people.
God gave these laws to Moses at Mt Sinai after the Exodus from Egypt.
Can you fill in these gaps?

Exodus 20 The Ten Commandments

And God spoke all these words:
2
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3
“You shall have no other GOD before me.
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“You shall not make for yourself an IDOL in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath
or in the waters below.5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God,
am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth
generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me
and keep my commandments.
7
“You shall not misuse the NAME of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who
misuses his name.
8
“Remember the SABBATH day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labour and do all your work, 10 but
the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor
your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing
in your towns. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in
them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
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“Honour your FATHER and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving
you.
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13
“You shall not MURDER.
14
“You shall not commit ADULTERY.
15
“You shall not STEAL.
16
“You shall not give false
WITNESS against your neighbour.
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“You shall not COVET your
neighbour’s house. You shall not
covet your neighbour’s wife, or
his male or female servant, his ox
or donkey, or anything that
belongs to your neighbour.”

How did you go this time? 10/10

Mt Sinai
http://www.gotellitonthemountain.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Wadi-Talla-Sinai-Go-
tell-it-on-the-mountain_result.jpg

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 Some other helpful websites for general information:
https://sites.google.com/site/worldreligionsforkids/judaism

http://www.uri.org/kids/world_juda_basi.htm

Flipped classroom – Judaism Intro with teenage guest speaker:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ax7a1TdYTA

BBC website (designed to support the British school curriculum)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/subjects/zb48q6f

Wikipedia – not as user-friendly for Year 7!

https://www.jewishvoice.org/read/blog/the- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism
star-of-david-is-it-of-man-or-of-god-part-2/

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 Digging deeper …. Discuss and debate.

1. How does a Jewish person try to honour God?

2. How can a person be saved from their sin, according to Judaism?

3. . Discuss with a partner any reflections you have about the religion of Judaism.
Share these with the class if you choose.

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 Time to compare … Pair and share!

1. Christians share parts of the Bible with Jewish people. What part(s) of the Bible does
Christianity have in common with Judaism?

2. What is the biggest thing that Christians share with Jews?

3. What is the biggest difference between what Christians and Jewish people believe?

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