Volume 24 Issue 27 02 Sep 2016 29 Av 5776

Devar Torah

 Faul Lauren

Lauren Faul

Wolstein Michal

Michal Wolstein

The following is an activity used to teach a lesson from this week’s parashah at Year 10 Camp. The activity was run and the related devar torah was written and presented by Lauren Faul and Michal Wolstein.

Rabbi Siegel

OUR AIM: To apply the idea of rewarding and punishing ourselves in our own lives → psychological study – positive vs. negative reinforcement. 

ACTIVITY: Cards/chocolate game – cards and M&M’s – message is that: 

when you do the right thing you can get a long term reward, even if you don’t get a short term one → everyone benefits. When you knowingly do the wrong thing, it is possible to get a short term reward → you sacrifice other people’s ability to get a reward – if you have to push other people down/negative reinforcement, is it worth it?

DISCUSSION:The ideas of punishment and rewards and in which situations they work best.

PARASHAT RE’EH

This week’s parashah Re’eh, is about the laws that G-d gives to the Israelites. These laws are passed down to the Israelites through Moses, who tells the Israelites that they have a blessing and a curse from which to choose – a blessing if they follow G-d’s laws, and a curse if they don’t. He then goes on the explain the laws to them, these laws including the laws of Kashrut, what to do with a false prophet (kill him), and several other laws to do with festivals and the sacrifice of animals. 

Who has heard of the carrot and the stick theory? For those of you who don’t know, it is the theory that if you put a carrot in front of a donkey, it will move forward willingly, but if you put the stick behind its back, it will move with fear. This can be seen within this parashah, If the Israelites do the right thing and follow G-d’s laws, they will be rewarded, which would be like the donkey being able to eat the carrot. However, if they do the wrong thing and don’t follow the laws, they will be punished, like the donkey being hit with the stick. 

Throughout Jewish history, there have been harsh punishments for those who have disobeyed G-d and His commandments, as well as great rewards for those who do obey. Think back to Noah’s Ark, where the entire world was flooded, or to Jonah and the ‘whale’ where the citizens of a corrupt town were threatened to change their ways or die. These are both examples of negative reinforcement, with the actual or potential punishment when the commandments are not fulfilled. 

Another example is in this parashah. While Moses is trying to convince the Israelites that they should obey G-d’s laws, he uses negative reinforcement. He tells the Israelites all the horrors and punishment they could receive if they were to disobey G-d, aimed to induce fear in the nation. 

In present day, when a teacher threatens to take 20% off your mark each day, she/he is using the idea of the proverbial stick to motivate us to not get our assignment in late. When promised a game at the end of the completed lesson, we complete the lesson to achieve the reward at the end. 

Now, I’m sure some of you are thinking, “Why don’t we just use the carrot? If I got a reward I might actually do stuff.” Now be totally honest with yourself – if there was no punishment for not doing your Performance of Understanding do you think you would be as motivated to do them? In the Pecha Kucha, many of you said that time and deadlines motivated you to do you work.

Historically, the Jews have suffered but they have also been able to regain strength through the unity of the nation. The wrongdoing of an individual was a reflection of the Jewish people as a whole. So we ask, what if your reward caused punishment for someone else, as the actions of an individual may have impacted the Jewish people? If you could personally benefit from a situation, but it would make other people suffer, would it still be worth it? We have to think carefully what is the blessing and what is the curse, and to whom.