Adam Carpenter – Head of Jewish Life Primary

Names of God designs

Year 5 students have been exploring the role and structure of brachot (blessings) within Jewish tradition. We have learnt that there are different types and purposes for blessings; including expressing gratitude, creating holiness, as well as cultivating mindfulness and a sense of awe and amazement at life.

We have looked at how art and photography can also enhance our appreciation of tefillot and blessings. After looking at a modern siddur which includes full page photographs students are now in the process of creating and designing their own personalised blessing of gratitude with accompanying images.

We have also been exploring the many different names for God in Jewish tradition, unpacking the concepts and qualities each name encapsulates. We viewed work by the graphic designer and artist Hillel Smith who uses design and creative Hebrew fonts to express Jewish concepts and themes in the weekly Torah portion. Inspired by this work, students selected a name of God to represent in their own design, selecting the font, colours and images to reflect their understanding of this name.

By Oscar Grynberg

By Zachary Bernstein

By Jordan Hill