Lesson video

Welcome everyone, I'm so glad that you have chosen to join me for today's lesson.

My name is Mrs. Hardy, and together we are going to do some great learning.

Listen, well do your best and by the end of the lesson we're going to be so proud of what we've achieved.

Ready, let's get going.

Today's lesson is taken from the unit communities.

What does it mean to belong? And in this lesson we will be focusing on Shabbat and what it means to belong to a Jewish family.

Now by the end of today's lesson, we are all going to be able to say, I can describe how Jews celebrate Shabbat with their family and community.

In today's lesson, there are four key words that I would like you to learn and remember.

Now I'm going to say the word first and then I would like you to repeat it after me.

We'll do this a couple of times and then we'll find out what the definitions mean.

Does that sound okay? Alright, let's go.

The first word that we are learning today is Jew.

Okay, that was my turn.

Now it's your turn.

Let's try that again.

The word is Jew, your turn.

Fantastic.

Now a Jew is someone who follows the religion called Judaism.

Okay, the second word that we are learning today is Shabbat your turn.

Brilliant.

My turn.

Shabbat, your turn.

Fantastic.

Now Shabbat is the day when Jews rest, spend time with family and remember God.

Okay, the third word that we are finding out about today is Kiddush.

That was my turn.

Now it's your turn.

My turn, Kiddush your turn.

Well done.

So a Kiddush is a special prayer Jewish people say, at the start of Shabbat to thank God.

Okay, our final word that we are learning and remembering today is community.

Okay, your turn.

My turn, community, your turn.

Well done.

So community is a group of people who share something in common.

Now all of these words are going to help us understand what is Shabbat and why it's important to Jewish families.

Now our lesson today is broken up into two parts.

The first part is going to answer the question, how did Jews show they belong? The second part of our lesson is going to answer the question, what is Shabbat? So let's get started with the first part of our lesson.

How did Jews show they belong? Now here's Andeep who's going to explain to us how we're going to be learning in this lesson.

And what he's going to do is explain why we learn about different people in religious education.

And he says, we can better understand people's worldviews by listening to them and asking questions about how they live.

People show what is important to them by the things they do.

So in this lesson we will be learning about the idea of how Jews show belonging to their family and community.

Now here's Rafi who's gonna help us in our learning today.

And he says, hi, my name is Rafi.

I am a Jew.

I belong to a Jewish community.

Let me show you some of the things we do that help me feel I belong.

Now a Jewish community is made up of people who follow a religion called Judaism.

Many Jews believe there is one God.

Jews have a holy text called the Torah.

Now the Torah isn't like a book, it's actually a scroll and you can see an illustration of that here.

Now what can you see here? Where might you find it? What do you think it might be for? Okay, what I would like you to do is to pause the recording, have a discussion about what you think this is, what does it look like, what do you notice? And when you are ready, press play and we'll continue with the lesson.

Welcome back everybody.

So you've had a discussion now about what you think this is and here's Rafi to give us an explanation about what it is.

He tells us, this is a mezuzah case.

It is on my front door frame.

Many Jewish families have a mezuzah case.

It is a sign we are Jews and belong to a community.

Inside is a small scroll called the mezuzah, with a message from the Torah reminding all Jewish people to love God.

Okay, I think we are ready for our first check for understanding in this lesson.

And I want you to be able to tell me which of these is a mezuzah.

Is it A, a scroll that is put in a special case on a doorframe? Is it B, a special book with a message of God's love or is it C, a place of worship Jewish people go.

Okay, pause the recording whilst you choose your answer and when you are ready to move on, press play and we'll continue with the lesson.

Welcome back everybody and well done for having a go at answering this question.

Did you put A, as your answer if you did, well done.

That is the correct answer.

A mezuzah is a scroll that is put in a special case on a doorframe.

Well done if you remembered that.

Now here we have Rafi and Rafi's dad,.

what do you notice about what they are wearing? You might want to just pause the recording again here, to have a discussion about what it is that you notice that they are wearing and when you are ready to carry on press play.

Welcome back everybody.

So you've had a discussion now about what it is that they are wearing, and Rafi is going to explain a little bit more about it to us.

He says, my dad and I are wearing a kippah.

We wear a kippah to show we are Jews and as a sign of respect to God, some Jewish men only wear it when visiting the synagogue or praying.

It is a sign we belong to the Jewish community.

Now what can you see here? Have you seen anywhere like this? What is this place used for? I want you to spend a moment having a look for any symbols or signs that you can see in this picture that tells you what this place is, and what it might be used for.

So pause the recording here and when you are ready to carry on with the lesson, press play again.

Welcome back everybody.

So you've had an opportunity now to think about what this place is and what it might be used for.

Here's Rafi to tell us a little bit more about what we are looking at.

And he tells us this is a synagogue.

A synagogue is where Jews meet together to hear the Torah and worship God.

It is also a place where we meet to celebrate important events as a community.

So thank you Rafi for clearing that up with us.

Let's do a check for understanding about Jewish families.

Now, which of these is something a Jewish family would not do? What would they not do? So is it a worship together in the synagogue? Is it B, open presents on Christmas day or is it C, hang a mezuzah case on their front door? Whilst you're thinking about your answer, pause the recording and when you're ready to hear the right answer, press play again.

Okay, off you go.

Welcome back everybody and well done if you put down B, as the correct answer.

Now Jewish families would not open presents on Christmas day.

That's something that a Christian would do, but we've already learned in our lesson today, that Jewish families would go to the synagogue to worship together and some of them do hang a mezuzah case on their front door.

So well done to all of you Who got that correct? Okay everybody, I think we are now ready for our first task of today's lesson.

Now, Rafi showed us three ways Jews show they belong to a community.

We saw the kippah of the mezuzah case, and the synagogue.

Now, I wonder if you can explain what they are, and how they show belonging.

So you're gonna go away and think about your answers.

You can talk about it together and when you are ready, you're going to come back and we'll share our answers.

So whilst you're doing that, pause the recording and I'll see you in a little moment.

Off you go.

Okay, welcome back everybody.

You've completed your first task of today's lesson and we were talking about these ways that Jewish people show that they belong to their community.

Now with the kippah, you might have said that it is warm by some Jewish men to show respect to God, with the mezuzah case you may have said, a mezuzah case is found on the doorframe of a house and contains writing from the Torah.

And lastly with the synagogue, you may have told us Jews may go to a synagogue to worship God and meet as a community.

I wonder what other ideas you had as well.

Well done for completing your first task of today's lesson.

Now everybody, we are ready to move on to the second part of today's lesson and we're going to answer the question, what is Shabbat? So here's Rafi to give us a little introduction.

He says, being part of a family is a really important part of being a Jew.

Let me tell you about Shabbat and what we do in my family.

It is my favourite time of the week.

Brilliant Rafi I can't wait to hear all about this favourite time.

Now he says that Shabbat is the most important day of the week for Jews.

Many Jews believe that God created everything in six days and that on the seventh day God rested, Rafi tells us, for many Jews like me, Shabbat is the most important day of the week.

Shabbat is a day of rest, also known as the Sabbath.

Many Jews believe that God created everything in six days, and that on the seventh day God rested.

So because God rested we do to, Shabbat takes place from sunset on Friday evening, and it lasts for 25 hours.

What is happening in this picture? What I'd like you to do now is to pause the recording and spend some time having a look at what you can see in this picture who's there, and what does it look like they're doing, what extra items can you see in the picture? And then when you've had a good look and a good discussion about what you see, I would like you to press play and we'll continue with the lesson.

Okay, I'll see you in just a moment.

Off you go.

Welcome back everyone.

So you've had an opportunity now to have a look, a really close look at this picture and think about what is happening.

Now, Rafi tells us here you can see my family sharing a meal together on the evening of Shabbat.

On Friday evening, my family has a special Shabbat meal that has been prepared before sunset.

In my Jewish family, we are not allowed to do any work after sunset, including cooking.

On the table you can see some special bread called challah bread, a special drink, and two candles.

All of these objects help to make the Shabbat meal special.

So let's have a check for understanding here.

We just heard when Shabbat begins.

So can you remember when does Shabbat begin? Is it A, sunrise on Friday morning? Is it B, sunset on Friday evening? Is it C, sunrise on Saturday morning or D, sunset on Saturday evening? Okay, pause the recording whilst you think about your answer and when you're ready to move on, press play.

I'll see you in a moment.

Welcome back everybody.

So you are thinking about the answer to the question, when does Shabbat begin? And well done everybody who decided it was B.

Shabbat begins on sunset on Friday evening.

Well done if you remembered that information.

Great listening.

So here we have the beginning of Shabbat and Rafi tells us that to welcome in Shabbat, my mom carefully lights two candles.

And after lighting the candles, my mom covers her eyes and says a blessing in Hebrew, a blessing is like a special prayer.

And Hebrew is a special language that we choose to use in our prayers and in the Torah.

Lighting the candles is a sign to my family that Shabbat has started.

Next, comes the blessing of the children.

Dad will place his hands gently on both me and my sister's heads says Rafi.

He will say a Hebrew blessing for us.

This reminds the family that we are special to one another.

Next, dad says the kiddush prayer Dad holds up the kiddush cup, which is filled with grape juice or wine.

The kiddush prayer thanks God for Shabbat and talks about it being a very special and holy day.

After dad has said the prayer, everyone will have a little sip of the juice.

Up until this point, there has been a cloth covering two hala loaves of bread.

And Rafi is gonna tell us what happens next.

He says, our family gathers round as dad uncovers the challah loaves.

These are special braided loaves of bread that are used especially for the Shabbat meal.

Dad says another blessing and breaks off a piece of bread to give to each person.

This blessing is how we show that we are thankful for the food we have.

Now let's have a check for understanding.

We've got three pictures here and I would like you to tell me which picture shows something that a Jewish woman does at the start of the Shabbat meal.

So have a close look at each of the pictures and what you're going to do is pause the recording whilst you discuss and think about your answer.

And when you are ready to move on, you're going to press play again.

Okay, off you go.

Welcome back everybody.

So you had an opportunity to have a look at these three pictures and choose the correct one that shows what a Jewish woman does at the start of the Shabbat meal.

So well done to all of you who said it was B.

That's right.

This part is when the woman lights the two candles and says a special prayer.

Well done if you got that correct.

Now here we can see Rafi's family enjoying the Shabbat meal together and he says, we may eat a meal of chicken soup, casserole or stew.

During the meal we talk to each other, tell each other about our weeks, make each other laugh and enjoy being together.

There is no TV or radio on during the meal, and no one is allowed to be on their mobile phone.

Many Jewish families use the Sabbath to stop, rest and spend time with God and each other.

Each part of the Shabbat meal has meaning and shows love, thanks and peace.

He says, we know that other Jews in our community will be saying the same prayers at the Shabbat meal connecting them to other Jews around the world.

Next Rafi tells us on Saturday, my family will go to a service at our synagogue.

He says, our family walks to the synagogue as like many Jews, we do not drive on the Sabbath.

At the synagogue, we will speak to the other families attending the service to say hello and tell each other on news from the week these other people are a part of our Jewish community.

We will then all sit together to listen to the rabbi delivering the service.

The service will include prayers, songs, a story from the Torah and a message about God.

And here's a picture of the Torah that will be read during the service at the synagogue.

Now let's have a quick check this time a true or false.

Is it true or is it false that Jewish families like Rafi's go to the synagogue on Sunday for Shabbat? Now, is that true or is that false? Whilst you're thinking about your answer, pause the recording and when you are ready to move on, you're going to press play again.

I'll see you in just a moment.

Welcome back.

So we were asking is it true or false that Jewish families like Rafi go to the synagogue on Sunday for Shabbat? And the answer is false.

So well done if you chose false is your answer.

Now why is it false? Because Jewish families go to the synagogue on Saturday, not Sunday because Shabbat begins on Friday evening and ends on Saturday evening.

Saturday is their special day for rest, prayer, and spending time together.

Now everyone, I think we are ready for our final task of today's lesson.

Now, Izzy's here and Izzy is thinking about what the Shabbat meal means to Jewish families.

She says, I think the Shabbat meal is the same as any meal that a family has together.

Is Izzy correct? Hmm.

Can you think of three examples of how the Shabbat meal is different from other meal times? Whilst you are thinking about your examples and discussing them with the people you are with, you're going to pause the recording and when you've thought of your answers, you're going to come back and we'll have some feedback.

Okay, good luck with the task.

I'll see you in a little while off you go.

Welcome back everybody.

So we were thinking of three examples of how the Shabbat meal is different from other meal times.

So let me share some ideas with you now when we are thinking about how the Shabbat meal is different from other mealtimes, we might have said that at the beginning of Shabbat, two candles are lit and a prayer is said over them.

The candles show that this is a peaceful family time together.

You may have talked about the wine being blessed.

So the father in the family says a special prayer and the wine is blessed with that special kiddush prayer to say thank you to God.

Or you might have talked about the special challah bread and how it's uncovered and then each person is given a piece of the bread.

So well done if you had any of those ideas amongst your answers.

But I'm sure you came up with lots of other brilliant answers too.

Well done.

So in summary, let's have a look at what we've learned today.

When we are thinking about Shabbat and what it means to belong to a Jewish family.

We learned that Jews belong to a religion called Judaism and can be found living in countries around the world.

We learned that Shabbat is a day of rest for Jews and begins on Friday evening just before sunset and ends on Saturday night after sunset 25 hours later.

We know that Jewish families say the kiddush prayer to start the Shabbat and they share a Shabbat meal together on a Friday night.

And finally, we learned that Jewish families go to the synagogue on Saturday and meet with other members of the Jewish community.

So thank you so much for joining me for today's lesson on Shabbat and belonging to a Jewish family.

Had a great time teaching and learning with you and I hope to see you again really soon for another RE lesson.

Okay, bye-bye for now.