Our Shavuot lesson ...

What is Shavuot...?

Shavuot, is known as the Feast of Weeks, it takes place exactly seven weeks after Passover. Shavuot is a very important holiday. Yesterday we discussed how the Israelites left Egypt during Passover and were freed from slavery. They walked in the Wilderness with Moses as their leader till Mount Sinai. Shavuot celebrates the day that the Jews received the direction they needed, which was God's instructions to the Jews right there at Mount Sinai. To make sure that there were no misunderstanding God spoke to everyone. God gave us the Torah (remember, we said that it was the first five of the Bible - The Tanakh - the books of Moses). The Torah includes the 10 commandments which tells us how to behave. But we also learnt that there are in fact 613 commandments in the Torah, the ten we learnt in fact include all these commandments in a general way.

Shavuot also celebrates the harvest. You will see at Shavuot that people fill the synagogues with flowers.

Our 10 rules for children are as follows :

1. Remember, I am you God
2. You should not have any other God's besides me
3. Do not say God's name when you do not mean it
4. Remember the Sabbath - the day of rest
5. Honor (which also means respect and listen to) your mom and dad
6. Do not murder (kill or hurt others)
7. Do not have another boyfriend or girlfriend if you're already married
8. Do not steal (do not take what is not yours)
9. Do not lie about your neighbor ( do not tell any fibs)
10. Do not want what other people have

We then decided to write up OUR OWN RULES to remember and this is what the children came up with :

1. Do not watch too much TV
2. Wash your hands as soon as you get home

3. Be careful when using a glass

4. Listen to your teacher
   
5. Listen to your parents

And in this order too ...!!

BOOK CORNER : We ended the lesson with another story called 'No Rules for Michael by Sylvia Rouss.' http://www.amazon.fr/No-Rules-Michael-Sylvia-Rouss/dp/1580130445/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=english-books&qid=1273505187&sr=1-1

Thank you to Ava's mom for reading the story about rules...
ACTIVITY : Decorated our picture of Mount Sinai and the Torah with sand art