Kehila Final
Kehila Final
Kehila Final
This Curriculum is to run in a single-sex camp setting over an extended period. There are six sessions included in the topic of the importance of living in a Jewish community. What it means to be a part of a kehila. Each session should take approximately 45 minutes. Please feel free to add in your own insights, articles, discussion questions, ideas or games to strengthen the ideas presented. Included in this packet is the what of what each activity is. It also includes discussion questions and or an article to follow each activity, tie the session up, and leave your campers thinking. The curriculum can be divided into two subtopics. The first unit explores what it means to be part of a group. It includes the activities of blind hike, group color, and live wire. The second unit explores the ideas about what it means to be an individual within the group. This includes the choices workshop and watching the wave. The last of these sessions should be a session which is devoted to discussion, and reflection between the campers and the staff, on what these sessions have meant to them. What did they learn? How do they see Jewish communities now? How do they see their roles within the Jewish community?
PART I What do you gain by being in a team? By being part of a Jewish community?
Activity: BLIND HIKE Single person blind hike VS Group blind hike
o Discussion
Every person in a kehila is necessary to create a kehila! The pieces of the kehila make up the whole community, and makes Judaism what it is. EX: A minyan, a Seder plate has five componentsthey make up a whole picture. Same idea with Shabbos, keeping shabbos is the sum of its parts. There is a seudah, hilchot shabbos, the melachot, menuchaand together that makes up shabbos. Imagine, if we had a seudah, but not concept of mukza & could still use a computer or a phone. Or if there was no seudah, we wouldnt have built in family time. Same concept with Halacha in general- we would be lacking without the whole package. Halacha is made up of many pieces, which helps make up the whole of Judiasm.
Teamwork
o o
Activity Live wire you cant get it done without a team. Discussion: when community faces difficult situation, you cant get things
done by yourself, you need every single person in order to survive something Sitting shivah- pulling on strength of community, they bring emotional support and food.
Discussion Knowing when you need to step away from the community.
When you are within a kehila, it is important to understand yourself, and your position as a leader or a follower. Your position as a team player. When do you follow? When do you not? When do you step up and make your own choices? EX: Avraham and Lot, the small choices that they make, of picking a community to live inultimately shapes who they are In the future.
The How To
1. BLIND HIKE
a. Materials:
i. 1 blind fold per person ( tell everybody to bring a blindfold with them bring extra bandanas just in case, you can use a sweatshirt, or leggings, shirt, etc as long as it fully covers the eyes when tied on)
Directions:
i. Single blind hike:
1. Pick an area, and scatter your staff members throughout it, to make sure girls dont crash into anything, or trip 2. Gather and blindfold all the girls, explain to them that they need to find their way from point A to point B. in silence, without holding onto each other, all in an allotted amount of time. 3. IMPORTANT RULE: NO TALKING! Anyone who talks gets their blindfold removed and is kicked out. 4. After girls have succeeded ( or failed at getting to point B) re-gather everybody.
a. Ex: one squeeze is bend down, 2 squeezes means watch your step, etc. 5. Everyone else gets blindfolded. The leader leads group on a short, silent hike. When obstacles are found, person informs the girl behind her by taking her hand and letting her feel the obstacle, and the chain continues, everyone only using their hands to let the girl behind her know about the obstacle. 6. Lead everyone in a chain all over, specifically in areas where they will have to help each other. 7. Debrief once everyone has made it to point B. Q- which was easier? Getting to point B the 1 st time? Or the 2nd time? Easier to get there when u have a leader.
Q- how did you feel when you were on your own? Vs with the group?
GROUP COLOR
Use twice as many colored crayons or markers as there are girls in the group, giving each girl two crayons or markers. No one may switch colors or use someone elses crayon. Together, as a group, they must draw a picture based on the instructions provided Yellow sun Blue clouds Welcome to camp ___ sign must use all the colors Tent brown Purple flowers Green and brown trees Lake with canoes must include blue Everyone in your groups name, in a different color Red roses Orange birds
ELECRIC WIRE
2 teams. Each team stands within a group of 3-5 trees, with a rope tied around them at about shoulder height. The girls are told that they are trapped by this electric fence and must help each other get out before the enemy comes. Teams race each other to see who can get all the team members out first. Catch: Team members absolutely cannot touch the electric wire They also cannot go under the wire. Need a referee to watch if anyone touches the wire and sends back in anyone who touches it while getting over. The one who gets out may get natural stuff to climb on and pass it over the wire.
CHOICES WORKSHOP
Give each group a different scenario, they must act it outmust do a skit representing both sides. Ask the crowd how they think the character gained or lost out on based on her choices. Discussion on how choices affect your life, how small decisions BECOME who you are. you ARE your decisions
The Test
By: Samantha Barnett (from Aish.com) Every day is a test. Sometimes, we have only a fraction of a second to make a choice that could impact our lives forever. It was this very predicament that haunted me one day as a senior in high school. It was the beginning of the school year and I already had senioritis. I felt done with high school and ready for college. Graduation seemed so close and yet so far away. The year would have been perfect if the school hadnt required us to take four years of math. It was not my favorite subject. But, being the ambitious person that I am, I was determined to do well. My teacher called me up to her desk. She remembered that I had missed class yesterday and needed to take the make-up test. She pushed up her glasses as she told the class that shed be right back. She motioned for me to follow. We went to the classroom next door. The room was empty except for an older math teacher who was writing equations on the chalkboard. I had never seen him before. My teacher placed the test down on a table and asked the other math teacher to supervise me. The smell of dry erase markers filled the room. The sound of silence made me feel at peace. I was ready to take this test. The anticipation was killing me. I looked down and started doing the problems. Question 1 was a piece of cake. Question 2 came out of the book with different numbers. But then I got to question 3. What was my teacher thinking? Not only did we have to do funny things with our calculators but then we had to graph the answer in number 4. I tried to do the problem maybe five or six times. I erased my work so often that the paper was starting to become thin. I resorted to crossing out and starting over but that didnt leave much room. I felt heavy breathing over my shoulder. It was my supervising math teacher. He looked at me and smiled. Would you like me to help you? he asked. I looked down at the paper. The answer was obviously, yes. I would have been crazy not to want him to. His plaid shirt and big glasses gave him instant great math teacher status. But the real question lingering here was whether or not it would be the right thing to do. The offer was so tempting but should I give in? The room grew silent with just me and my thoughts. Yes, I wanted the help. In fact, I needed it desperately! This early in the year, college was still up in the air. These grades counted big time. This wasnt just a test; it was my future itself. 13 Building a Kehila- Summer Curriculum Talya Rosensweig
Furthermore, the teacher wouldnt get me in trouble for my taking him up on his offer. It was a safe bet. Every students dream is for the teacher to take the test with him. This was even better than cheating off the persons test next to you. Who knows if they know what they are doing? Moreover, my answers wouldnt be inconspicuously close to anyone elses wrong answers. No one would see. No one could tell on us. No one would ever know. I also reasoned that the purpose of school is to get an education. The teacher was here to teach and I was here to learn. Wasnt the point of taking a class to master the material? If I didnt understand it, shouldnt I have someone explain it to me? Perhaps the teacher would simply guide me to the right answer and not give it to me. That wasnt cheating, was it? I couldnt think of a rational reason not to take him up on his offer, but I could think of a million reasons why I should. I almost said yes. But the feelings in my heart overpowered all the reasons my intellect was giving me to accept. This was wrong. I could feel it in my gut. I couldnt do it even if I wanted to. And trust me, I wanted to. But my conscience wouldnt let me. Maybe no one would ever find out but I would feel as if I cheated myself. No, Im good, I said with a fake smile. I felt like pulling him by his shirt tails as he walked away. Id like to tell you that I felt that what I had done was right but the more I went through the test; the more I regretted the decision. In my gut, I felt I did the right thing but I still questioned myself. The educational system is success driven. Getting an A in a class is what we are congratulated for. Doing well in school is a ticket to a college education which, in turn, is a passport to a great job which leads to money, the key to survival in the modern age. The idea that anyone can make it by working hard is the cornerstone of the American dream. But so often, we focus so much on achievement that we forget that real success is overcoming the obstacles life places in front of us. To maximize our potential as human beings we need to be both driven and ethical. Making a moral decision is not always easy. But in the end, we are not our degrees or our bank accounts. We are the sum of the choices we make. Practice doesnt make perfect; it makes permanent. If we practice being a good person we will become one. Life is not defined by what we accomplish but how we grow. It is how we deal with and overcome our struggles that truly define what type of people we are. I dont remember what I scored on the math test. That wasn't the real test I was taking that day. It was the test of integrity. In the end, how I did on the math test had little impact on my life. Since then I got into a great college and graduated with 14 Building a Kehila- Summer Curriculum Talya Rosensweig
honors. But my conviction to do the right thing when nobody was looking taught me what type of person I choose to be. Ive taken many tests since but looking back, this is the one of which I am most proud.
2. How could each of the decisions have impacted her future life? (such as getting into college, getting a good job, etc.)
4. Many times a day, we have to make seemingly "small" decisions that actually have a very BIG impact on who we are. What are some examples?
Scenario 2: You and your friends are shopping in Forever 21. As the cashier rings up your items, your friend picks up a necklace to show you how pretty it is. Its too expensive, though, so you tell her to put it back on the display. When you get home, your older sister and your mother are looking at your purchases, and they pull The Necklace out of your shopping bag. It must have fallen into your bag in the store! And you're SURE that you didn't pay for it... 16 Building a Kehila- Summer Curriculum Talya Rosensweig
HELP! Do you... keep it! after all, you didn't mean to take it... Do you... head all the way back to the store and face the embarrassment of accidentally stealing?
Scenario 3: You're in school, and the teacher finally lets you out for recess. Your friend gets up to go to her locker, and she leaves her iPhone on her desk for a minute. You and another friend have been dying to check out the new iPhone, and your friend doesn't usually mind if you just look at her stuff... you guys pick it up to check out her new apps, when suddenly your cousin, who is also in your class, comes and scares you from behind. you jump, she laughs, but the iPhone goes flying... Yup, its broken. HELP! Do you... just put the phone back on the desk, and swear your cousin to secrecy? even worse, do you blame your cousin? Do you... own up to what happen, even if its bad news for your piggy bank?
Scenario 4: Your parents are leaving for a wedding. They ask you to babysit your 2-year-old sister, and fold the laundry before they come back. Your sister is being a MONSTER and takes forever to be put to sleep. You also decide to make a surprise for your parents, and you wash the dishes and sweep the floor and clean up the entire playroom. Oops! the laundry! You are about to start folding it when you hear the key in the lock. Your parents are home! Without noticing the incredible job you did cleaning up, your mother looks at the laundry basket and says, "Oh... you STILL didn't fold the laundry? What have you been doing this whole time- talking on the phone??" HELP! Do you... EXPLODE! you finally give your mother a piece of your mind, and show her how hard you worked tonight... Do you... use every ounce of self-control to speak properly and respectfully, though you feel like your mother was really unfair to you?
Scenario 5: You go on an awesome CAMP SHABBATON. Before going to sleep, your counselor reminds you that NOONE may leave the bunkhouse without permission. 17 Building a Kehila- Summer Curriculum Talya Rosensweig
You also notice that one of your friends is really upset- it seems like she's not having such a good time, for some reason. Two more friends come over to you and tell you a secret- the pool door is unlocked! The three of you are aching to go on a little midnight swim. You also know that if you invite your friend who was sad today, she'll feel much happier... HELP! Do you... give in? After all, it'll help your sad friend! Do you... stand strong- even if you look like a big ol' scaredy cat? (Discuss your opinions and feelings. Then prepare a short skit presenting both sides. Then nominate a camper to ask the audience after your skits, What do you think X gained or lost out on, based on her choice?)