5th Grade: Hineni
The Netivot 5th Grade takes 4 deep dives into “Hineni: Showing Up”
1. Abraham’s “Hineni”-- Showing Up to do the Hard Thing
2. Joseph’s “Hineni”--Showing Up for Our Family
3. Moses’ “Hineni”-- Showing Up for People Who are Suffering
4. Isaiah’s “Hineni”-- Showing up for the Community
Deep Dive #1: Abraham’s “Hineni”-Showing Up to do the Hard Thing
To the teacher:
This deep dive begins your year-long exploration of “Hineni: Showing Up for Our Life.”
In this deep dive, your class will encounter one of the most important stories in the entire Torah—the story of the Binding of Isaac, in which God calls to Abraham and Abraham answers “Hineni. I am here.” God then asks Abraham to offer his beloved son Isaac up as a sacrifice, which Abraham prepares to do, until at the very last moment God tells Abraham not to sacrifice Isaac, and tells Abraham that he has passed the test.
In our history, there have been times when Jews gave up their own lives, or the lives of their children, in order to stay faithful to Judaism.
In our lives here in Santa Barbara, God does not ask us to sacrifice our children. But as Jews and as human beings trying to live good lives, we do have to be ready to do things that are very hard. It might be giving up an activity that we really enjoy because it conflicts with something more important. It might be speaking up for what we believe in, even when the people around us all seem to believe something different.
For young people at CBB, the biggest and hardest thing we ask them to do is to learn Hebrew, and trope, and the prayers and to write a speech and to deliver it all in front of a large community of adults and peers....their Bat/Bar Mitzvah
This deep dive is about the sacrifice and commitment it takes to be Jewish.
Primary text: Genesis 22 The Akedah
After these things God tested Abraham, and said to him: “Abraham” and he said, “Hineni.” [Here I am]. God said, “Please, take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell you.”
Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took two young men with him, and Isaac his son. He broke the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went to the place of which God had told him.
On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place far away. Abraham said to his young men, “You stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship, and come back to you.”
Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and the two of them walked together.
Then Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, “My father” and he said, “Hineni” [Here am I], my son.” Isaac said, “Here is the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them walked together.
They came to the place which God had told him; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
Then an angel of God called to him from the sky, and said, “Abraham, Abraham;” and he said, “Hineni.” [Here am I.]
The angel said, “Do not send your hand against the boy, Do not do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, because you did not withheld your son, your only son from me.” Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and here, a ram behind him caught in a thicket by his horns. Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in place of his son.
Primary Mitzvah:
Bat or Bar Mitzvah
Enduring Understandings:
1. The Hebrew word “Hineni” means “Here I am” and appears in a number of key Torah stories, in which someone is being asked to do something difficult. It means “Here I am, ready to do what is necessary.”
2. “Hineni” is at the heart of being Jewish, and is the theme of our fifth grade year.
3. In the Binding of Isaac, God calls Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac. The word “Hineni” appears three times in the story...in three very different ways.
4. A fifth grader at CBB is asked to “show up” to do a number of difficult things:
a. to commit to showing up at CBB on Sunday mornings and weekday afternoons, to learn about Judaism, Hebrew and Jewish tradition
b. to learn Hebrew in preparation for standing before the congregation and leading us in prayer and chanting from the Torah
5. Being Jewish can be difficult, but it is also a privilege, and a lot of fun!
Project suggestions:
· Create a Bat/Bar Mitzvah guidebook, including all the steps leading up to Bar/Bat Mitzvah, the history of Bat/Bar Mitzvah, meaning of key terms, etc
· Create a video about bar/bat mitzvah at CBB, including interviews with recent bnai mitzvah about their experiences....what was hard and how did they deal with it, and what were the rewards.
· An artistic approach to the story of the akedah
· A project about sacrifice in Judaism: what were the ancient sacrifices, and how did people think they “worked,” and why did things change?
· A project about a time in history when Jews were forced to choose between giving up their Judaism and dying, and actually chose to die.
Choosing the project:
The most important considerations in choosing a project are:
1. It should be age appropriate, that a 11-year old or group of 11-year olds can complete successfully.
2. It should require learning, practice, time, and attention to complete
3. It should be something the student will want to take home and keep (unless you create one project as a whole class, in which case the final project would stay at CBB, but each student could receive an album with photos of the project)
4. It must feature the story of the Akedah/Binding of Isaac
5. It must involve the experience of becoming bat/bat mitzvah
6. If the project is going to be individual art projects, you should prepare for the unit by making one for yourself, and adding your own personal touch, and being ready to share with the kids what it means to you.
Deep Dive #2: Joseph’s “Hineni”--Showing Up for Our Family
To the teacher:
This year’s second “hineni” moment shows up in the middle of the famous narrative of Joseph and his brothers, which is familiar to at least some of the students. After establishing the context of jealousy and tension between Joseph and his brothers, the Torah says that their father Jacob summoned his son Joseph to seek out his brothers, and Joseph responds “I am here.”
This deep dive asks the students to consider ways in which they might show up for the people in their own family—their siblings, grandparents, and especially their parents. As in the Joseph story, showing up for our family is often challenging. We may feel that they make unreasonable demands on us. We may feel that they do not listen to us. We may feel that they “pick favorites.” But our family members are the people closest to us in the world. They need us and we need them.
Because our relationship with our parents is so central in our life, “Honor Your Father and Your Mother” is one of the Ten Commandments....the central teaching of the Torah. The Torah does not tell us exactly what it means to “honor” our parents, and clearly it means different things depending on what age we are (and our parents are), and whether they are dependent on us or we are dependent on them.
This deep dive is an opportunity to explore how to honor our parents, when we admire and look up to them, and when we disagree with them.
Primary text: Genesis 37
Genesis 37:13: Joseph responding when his father sends him to his brothers
Primary Mitzvah:
Honor Your Mother and Your Father
Enduring Understandings:
1. Our family are the people who are closest to us in the world, and we have a unique set of responsibilities to them...and especially to our parents
2. “Honor Your Father and Your Mother” is one of the Ten Commandments, and sometimes this is easy and sometimes this is hard...especially if we disagree with what they are asking or telling us to do
3. In the Torah story of Joseph and his brothers, Joseph says “Hineni” when his father calls him to go and seek out his brothers
4. Being a responsible adult includes being able to “show up” for our family members
Project suggestions:
· Mural of the Joseph story
· Creating short skits acting out family dramas, with opportunities for alternate endings
· A study of the commandment “kibud av va’em.” How has it been understood in the past? What are specific ways that a 11-year-old might fulfill this commandment? What do the sages say we should do if we think our parent is wrong? What if they are a criminal?
Choosing the project:
The most important considerations in choosing a project are:
1. It should be age appropriate, that a 11-year old or group of 11-year olds can complete successfully.
2. It should require learning, practice, time, and attention to complete
3. It should be something the student will want to take home and keep (unless you create one project as a whole class, in which case the final project would stay at CBB, but each student could receive an album with photos of the project)
4. It must feature the story of the Joseph responding to his father’s summons
5. It must involve the mitzvah of kibud av va’em
6. If the project is going to be individual art projects, you should prepare for the unit by making one for yourself, and adding your own personal touch, and being ready to share with the kids what it means to you.
Deep Dive #3: Moses’ “Hineni”-- Showing Up for People Who are Suffering
To the teacher:
Moses is our greatest Jewish role model. Not because he is perfect, but precisely because he is torn between two opposing impulses: to say “hineni” and to say “please call someone else!” Those two impulses appear most strikingly in the moment at the Burning Bush, when God calls to Moses and summons him to the task of leading the people of Israel out of slavery.
When God calls to Moses, Moses has been away from Egypt for many years, living and working with his father-in-law Jethro, in Midian. He is far from the palace of the Pharoah where he grew up and far from his Hebrew people, who are suffering and dying as slaves. We can easily imagine Moses’ reluctance to give up his peaceful shepherd’s life, and to risk the danger and difficulty of returning to Egypt.
And yet, when the voice of God calls him from out of the burning bush, he says “Hineni.” “Here I am.” Moses knows that the Voice is speaking to him. He is called to “show up” for the people who are suffering, and after struggling with the impulse to avoid the task, he accepts the responsibility of leadership.
In our lives, we may be aware of many kinds of people who are suffering. Homeless and hungry people here in Santa Barbara. Lonely people stuck at home, all by themselves. People unjustly imprisoned. Immigrants and refugees seeking a safe place to live. It is difficult to know when the voice of God is calling us to help....but being Jewish means learning to say “hineni” when the Voice calls us to pay attention and to feel the pain of people who are suffering. And if possible, to do something to help.
Primary text: Exodus 3:1-10
Moses at the Burning Bush.
Primary Mitzvah: Do Not Stand Idly By the Blood of Your Neighbor (Leviticus 19:16)
The students should learn from this Deep Dive that the responsibility to “show up” for someone who is suffering is actually a mitzvah, a commandment from the Torah, which is expressed in the striking poetic language “do not stand by the blood of your neighbor.” Find opportunities to discuss “who are we commanded to help? How do we set priorities? Are we more commanded to help members of our own community? Members of our own family? People whose suffering we actually see?”
Enduring Understandings:
1. There are many forms of suffering in the world including hunger, sickness, grief, slavery, discrimination, and poverty. Some of us will be lucky and never experience any of those. But as we live and grow more aware, we sooner or later will come close to people who are suffering. They may be here in Santa Barbara, or they may be further away.
2. We Jews are commanded by the Torah not to ignore the suffering of other people. This commandment is expressed in the verse “you shall not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor.”
3. One of our most famous stories of a Jewish hero who was called by God to show up for people suffering was Moses, to whom God spoke at the Burning Bush, and he replied “hineini,” (even though he had many doubts about whether he was the right person for the job).
Guiding Questions for Teachers
· When have you become aware of people suffering, either nearby or far away, and what emotions did it bring up for you?
· Have you struggled with an inner conflict like Moses, between wanting to say “hineni” and wanting to say “let someone else do it”? If so, which answer did you end up giving?
· Do you think it might be OK just to be aware of the suffering out in the world, without necessarily taking action to end it?
Project suggestions:
· Create a video montage or mini photo album illustrating different ways of helping someone in need
· Students choose a neighbor or a couple of neighbors to help
Choosing the project:
The most important considerations in choosing a project are:
1. It should be age appropriate, that a 11-year old or group of 11-year olds can complete successfully.
2. It should require learning, practice, time, and attention to complete
3. It should be something the student will want to take home and keep (unless you create one project as a whole class, in which case the final project would stay at CBB, but each student could receive an album with photos of the project)
4. It must feature the story of Moses at the Burning Bush
5. It must involve the mitzvah of lo ta’amod al dam rei-acha [“do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor”]
6. If the project is going to be individual art projects, you should prepare for the unit by making one for yourself, and adding your own personal touch, and being ready to share with the kids what it means to you.
Deep Dive #4: Isaiah’s “Hineni”-- Showing Up for the Community
To the teacher:
Jewish religion emphasizes the supreme holiness of each individual person, but balances the holiness of the individual with the value of community.
The Jewish value of community is expressed powerfully in the concept of “minyan,” the quorum of ten adults needed to pray as a community. Without a minyan, we cannot read publicly from the Torah scroll, we cannot recite the mourners’ kaddish, the prayer leader does not call the worshippers together with the “Barchu,” and we do not sing the dramatic climax of the communal prayer, the “kedushah,” in which we as a community re-enact the prophet Isaiah’s vision of God’s throne room.
All of these limitations teach the single basic truth that we require a community to live fully as Jews. Obviously, a community can only exist if and when ten or more individuals make the choice to “show up” for the community.
That choice we make, to show up or not to show up, is captured poignantly in the words that Isaiah finds himself saying, after seeing the fiery angels (the seraphim) flying around the throne room, calling out “kadosh, kadosh, kadosh.” In his vision, Isaiah feels overwhelmed by his own smallness, and is approached by a seraph who flies to him and touches his lips with a fiery coal.
Then Isaiah hears the voice of God calling “who shall I send? Who will go for us?” And Isaiah responds “Hineni. Here I am. Send me.”
Each one of us can say “hineni.” Each one of us can show up for our community.
Primary text: Isaiah 6. Isaiah’s vision of the Divine Throne Room
I saw God sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His robe filled the temple. Above the throne stood the seraphim (fire angels); each one had six wings. With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly. They called out to each other, saying:
“Holy, holy, holy, is Adonai Tzevaot; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
The posts of the door shook, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, “Woe is me! for I am undone; I am just a human being and my eyes have seen the King, Adonai Tzevaot!” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar; He touched it to my mouth, and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your bad deeds are burnt away.”
Then I heard the voice of God, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then said I, “Hineni. Here am I; send me.”
Primary Mitzvah: Being one of the ten people to “make” the minyan.
Enduring Understandings:
1. A Jew cannot live a complete Jewish life without being part of a community
2. The traditional Jewish definition of the smallest number of people that makes up a community is “a minyan,” which means ten adults.
3. Bar/Bat Mitzvah means the start of having the privilege and responsibility of “making the minyan.”
4. In Jewish prayer, if there is not a minyan present, there are many important prayers and rituals which cannot be performed, including reading publicly from the Torah, saying kaddish, and chanting the “kadosh, kadosh, kadosh.”
5. The prophet Isaiah told about a vision he had, in which he stood in the throne room of God, and saw fiery angels flying around, calling out kadosh, kadosh, kadosh. We relive his vision when we chant the central prayer of the standing prayer, which we call the kedushah.
Guiding Questions for Teachers
· Have you ever been in a Jewish prayer group where there were not quite enough to make a minyan? What were the circumstances? How did it play out?
· Do you think a reform community should be relaxed or strict about the requirement of ten Jewish adults for a minyan? Should non-Jews count? If a person has come to say kaddish and there is not a quorum/minyan, should the requirement be relaxed so the mourner can say kaddish?
· What is it about Isaiah’s vision that has made it so compelling for Jews throughout the centuries? (and Christians too, who include the “Sancus, sanctus, sanctus” in the Mass)
· What do you think that Isaiah was “signing up for” when he said “hineini”?
· Do you experience the kedushah as a “peak” of the communal prayer on Shabbat morning?
Project suggestions:
· Create an educational display about different kinds of celestial beings that appear in the Bible: seraphim (which were in Isaiah’s vision), cherubim (at the entrance to the garden of Eden, on the cover of the ark, in II Samuel 22:11), malachim (Jacob’s ladder), chayot (in Ezekiel’s vision of the chariot)
· Learn the prayers/rituals which can only be said with a minyan, and create a guide for the congregation explaining the concept of a minyan...offering your thoughts about why these prayers specifically require a minyan. Present the guide and your thoughts at a Saturday morning or Friday night service
· An art or drama project exploring Isaiah’s vision
Choosing the project:
The most important considerations in choosing a project are:
1. It should be age appropriate, that a 11-year old or group of 11-year olds can complete successfully.
2. It should require learning, practice, time, and attention to complete
3. It should be something the student will want to take home and keep (unless you create one project as a whole class, in which case the final project would stay at CBB, but each student could receive an album with photos of the project)
4. It must feature the story of Isaiah’s vision of the divine throne room.
5. It must involve the mitzvah of being one of the ten adults to “make the minyan.”
6. If the project is going to be individual art projects, you should prepare for the unit by making one for yourself, and adding your own personal touch, and being ready to share with the kids what it means to you.