Adam Carpenter – Head of Jewish Life Primary School

Weekly Torah Portion:

Parashat Eikev Deuteronomy 7:12 – 11:25.

In this week’s Torah portion, Moshe continues his speech to the Jewish people and reminds them of their recent experiences in the wilderness and their responsibility to observe the Torah and the commandments when they enter the Land of Israel. Repeated throughout the parashah is the concept of loving God, and the Torah portion also includes paragraphs of the Shema and the mitzvot of tefillin and mezuzah.

Family Discussion: What is love and how do we express it?

The theme of love abounds this week in the Torah portion and in the Jewish calendar, inviting us to reflect on the concept of love. What is love? How do we show love? What would our world be without love? When is it easy to love another? Can we love someone we do not know? Can we be commanded to love?

Tu Be’Av

This date, coinciding with the full moon during the middle of the month of Av, was a day in ancient times when the young men and women of Israel would dress in white and go into the fields to talk and find a potential life partner.  

The Mishnah states that: “There were no holidays as joyous for the Jewish people as the fifteenth of Av (Tu Be’Av) and Yom Kippur.” 

In preparation for Tu Be’Av, students had the opportunity to write a card to someone in their class, sharing words of love and kindness and positivity. The Jewish Life leaders created a ‘vox pop’ video, inviting students to share their thoughts and feelings about friendship and kindness.

Samples of Hesed (kindness) and Ahavah (love) cards students wrote to each other

A special tefillah (prayer) and tekkes (ceremony) took place this week for Years 3-6 to mark Tu BeAv. We read out the following quotes from our tradition and students were invited to reflect their thoughts and experiences based on the teachings:  

“A good friend is a tower of strength; to find one is to find a treasure.” Ben Sira

“Anyone who visits a sick friend lessens his or her pain.” Talmud

“Whoever wishes to be friendly with people should always remember good manners.” Shlomo Ibn Gabirol

“A person may hide from their enemies, but not from their friends.” Rashi

“Do not judge your friend harshly, you do not know what you would have done in his or her place.” Hillel

“To pull a friend out of the mud, do not hesitate to get dirty.” Baal Shem Tov

Year 3: with Adam and Chavah in the Gan Eden 

Year 3 students are delving into the stories and teachings contained in the book of Bereishit (Genesis). In recent weeks, we have been discussing and exploring the creation story and the story of Adam and Chava. Students are posing wonderful questions of the text and are being challenged to see how the Torah can be understood and interpreted in many ways.

In Morah Gaida’s class, Toni asked: “What is God? When was God created?”. Morah Gaida responded by asking Toni what she thought God is, and Toni replied that she felt God “spreads happiness and love in the world”. Continuing this concept of God as a force spreading beautiful emotions in the world, Morah Gaida asked students to make connections between the teachings of the Shema (which begins with the idea of loving God) and our responsibility to ‘act like God’ by bringing love into the world through our actions. In exploring the Biblical story of Chava being created from Adam’s side, students thought about the function of a side, with Amelie sharing the idea that it protects the heart. Students created their own midrash on this story and that Chava was created to protect Adam’s heart.

Morah Gaida and Adam Carpenter