Lesson video

Hello there.

My name is Mr. Robertson and I'm so delighted you've come to learn with me today.

I teach RE and I think RE's wonderful because it's a way we can find out about what different people all around the world think and believe.

In this lesson, we're going to be looking at Jewish people and we're going to be thinking about the Jewish place of worship called a synagogue.

This lesson is all about different synagogues and how they're similar and different.

Come on, let's find out some more, shall we? By the end of this lesson, you will be able to describe some similarities and differences between different types of synagogues.

We have four keywords in this lesson today.

Let's start by listening to me say them first, and then I'd love you to say them back to me really clearly.

Can you do that? Of course you can.

Okay, our first word is ark.

Perfect.

Our second word is synagogue.

Amazing.

Our third word is Torah.

That's perfect.

And finally, it's worship.

Amazing.

Brilliantly said, everybody.

So what do these words mean? Well, an ark is a place in the synagogue where the Torah scrolls are kept.

A synagogue is a place of worship and community for Jews.

The Torah is the sacred text for Jews.

And worship is showing respect, love, or devotion to something or someone.

As we go through the lesson, you'll become familiar with all of these words.

So our lesson today asks two questions to find out more about synagogues.

And our first question is this: what might a synagogue look like on the outside? So in this lesson, we're going to meet two different Jews and they're gonna show us around their synagogues.

Let's start by meeting Rafi.

Hello, Rafi.

Rafi is an Orthodox Jewish boy from London, and Rafi has a Jewish worldview.

Great to meet you, Rafi.

Could we have a look at your synagogue, please? Well, here we are.

Look at the photograph.

This is Rafi's synagogue and he goes there to worship on a Saturday, which is the holy day for Jews.

Now, this synagogue was built as one of the oldest synagogues in London, and I know it looks quite new, but that's because as the synagogue has grown over time, it's had new parts added to it.

So it's got some old and new parts.

That's a really beautiful synagogue, and we're gonna find out a bit more about it.

Let's look carefully, shall we? At this photograph of the outside of the synagogue, I wonder what you can spot using your RE-looking eyes.

Are there any interesting shapes there, for example? Can you see those stars going around the outside? Beautiful windows.

These are called the star of David, and they're six-pointed stars, which are one of the symbols of Judaism.

So well spotted if you saw those.

Also, and you probably couldn't spot this 'cause it's very, very small, on the doorpost of the synagogue is something called a mezuzah.

And a mezuzah is a case.

And inside that case is a scroll, a piece of paper, and it's got a section from the Torah written on it.

And that's really important because the Torah is the sacred text for Jews.

And so there is a mezuzah on the outside of the synagogue to remind Jews of the importance of God and the importance of the Torah.

So that's two different things which we can find on the outside of Rafi's synagogue.

Let's just check our understanding of what we've heard so far.

What is the case on the doorpost of Rafi's synagogue called? Is it A, a star of David, B, a mezuzah, or C, a cross? Think back to what we've just been talking about.

Pause the video and whisper to the person next to you.

I wonder if you said B, a mezuzah.

Yes, you are right.

The star of David was the windows around also in the synagogue, but that wasn't the case on the doorpost.

Now let's meet someone else.

This is Rebecca.

Hello, Rebecca.

Rebecca also has a Jewish worldview.

Rebecca is a progressive Jew who lives in London as well.

Now let's find out what Rebecca's synagogue looks like, shall we? Oh, look at this photograph.

Quite different, isn't it, to Rafi's synagogue.

This is the synagogue where Rebecca goes most Saturdays with her family to worship.

So we've got two different Jews and two different synagogues.

I wonder, we have two photographs here, Rafi's synagogue and Rebecca's synagogue.

I wonder how they might look similar and different to each other.

I wonder what you can spot.

Think about some of the features that we noticed on Rafi's synagogue.

Can you see anything like that on Rebecca's synagogue? How do they look different from each other? I think this is a really great time for you to pause the video so you can have a really proper look and see what you can spot.

And if you have someone next to them, you might want to talk to them about what they think is similar and different as well.

Well, what did you come up with? Well, you might have noticed that Rebecca's synagogue also has a star of David.

It's there right at the top.

Can you see it on the roof? So Rafi's synagogue had windows, which made stars of David on the entrance, didn't it? But Rebecca's synagogue has a star of David as well.

It's just in a different place.

And again, you wouldn't really have been able to spot this 'cause it's very small but Rebecca's synagogue also has a mezuzah, which has the prayer from the Torah on it.

So although they look quite different, they both have those two features.

Now, there is an important difference between Rebecca's synagogue and Rafi's synagogue.

Now, Rebecca's synagogue was not built to be a synagogue.

It was actually part of a hospital when it was originally built.

So it was never really designed to be a synagogue.

But later on, the Jewish community bought it and they changed it into a synagogue.

So it is now.

So in our country, in Britain, we have some synagogues that Jews built all by themselves, and they were designed to be synagogues, and some synagogues used to be something else first and they've changed into a synagogue now.

Let's just check our understanding of that.

I've got a true or false question for you.

All synagogues were built as synagogues.

Is that true or false? Think about Rafi's synagogue and Rebecca's synagogue were they both built as synagogues? Pause the video and have a think.

What do you think? Well, it's false.

Can you think why it might be false? Well, some synagogues, like Rafi's, were originally built as synagogues, but others like Rebecca's were adapted from different buildings because Rebecca's synagogue used to be a hospital.

I've got a question for you now that I'd like you to have a go at thinking about.

Here's Aisha.

Now, Aisha's not quite sure, and she would really like your help.

Aisha's not sure if both these buildings are synagogues.

What we've got there is a photograph from Rafi and one from Rebecca.

She's a bit confused because they don't look quite the same.

I wonder if you could help her.

How do we know that both these buildings are synagogues? What were two things that we looked at that helped us identify them as synagogues? And also, could we help Aisha understand why they look different? And again, can you remember what we were saying about whether buildings were always built as synagogues or not? Can we help Aisha? I think we can.

Why don't we pause the video and think of those things that show they're both synagogues and why they might look different.

So what did you say about these two buildings? So you might have said, they're definitely both synagogues and one reason we know that is because they both have a star of David.

So Rafi's synagogue on the left has the windows with the stars of David, and Rebecca's synagogue has a star of David on the roof.

Another thing is they both have a mezuzah, which if you remember, was a case with a prayer from the Torah on the doors of both synagogues.

But they looked different because Rafi's synagogue was built as a synagogue by Jews but Rebecca's used to be a hospital and has been changed by Jews into a synagogue now.

If you managed to remember some of those similarities and differences, that's brilliant.

Well done.

So for the second part of this lesson, we're going to be thinking about this question.

What might a synagogue look like on the inside? Let's hear from Rebecca to start with.

Rebecca says, "I really like my synagogue.

It may look different on the outside, but inside, it's a sacred place where I can pray and celebrate with my community.

It's a special place where I feel a deep connection to my Jewish identity." So for Rebecca, her synagogue is a really special and sacred place.

So shall we look inside and see what it's like? I can't wait.

Wow, what a beautiful building.

Is that what you were expecting inside? So this is Rebecca's synagogue.

I wonder what you can see in this building.

You might want to pause the video and have a little look carefully.

Are there any items of furniture you can see? Is there anything you notice about any colors? Okay, what did you notice? Well, you might have noticed there are some beautiful windows in this synagogue.

You might also have noticed that there's a sort of platform.

And you might have noticed that there's a lot of beautiful wood as well in this synagogue.

You may have noticed some other things as well.

Now, at the back of the synagogue are these beautiful carved doors.

I wonder what's behind them.

Well, here they are opened up.

I wonder what we can see there.

I can see three beautiful objects.

It looks like they had some cloths covering them with some amazing embroidery and artwork on them.

And there's also something that looks almost like a shield made of silver.

And even if I look really carefully, I can see some crowns as well.

I wonder what these could be.

Well, this is the ark at Rebecca's synagogue.

And the synagogue is a sacred place, but the most sacred and special place in a synagogue is the ark.

It's a special cabinet.

And inside the ark are the scrolls of the Torah.

And they have beautiful cloths covering them.

Because the Torah is so important and so sacred, it's treated and shown to be beautiful.

And so the cloths that cover them are beautiful as well.

They also have little crowns on them to show how the Torah is the crown of our learning.

And a breastplate made of silver.

So you can tell by looking at them how important the Torah is to these Jews in this synagogue, can't you? Rebecca says, "The ark is the most sacred part of the synagogue.

This is because the Torah is kept there, the cloths protect it and the crowns and breastplate show it is precious and sacred." Well, thanks for showing me your Torah scrolls, Rebecca.

I can see they really are things of beauty.

Let's just check our understanding.

What is kept in the ark of a synagogue? Is it A, Torah scrolls, B, candles or C, a Shofar? Can you remember what Rebecca just showed us? Pause the video and have a think.

Excellent.

It's A.

it's the Torah scrolls are kept in the ark, aren't they? Fantastic if you got that right.

Now Rafi wants to show us his synagogue.

Wow, that is another stunning building, Rafi.

Rafi says, "This is what my synagogue looks like on the inside.

What looks similar and what looks different?" Again, you might want to pause the video here and really look carefully at this beautiful picture of Rafi's synagogue.

So Rafi's synagogue also has an ark.

You can see a closeup of it there, another cabinet.

It looks different, doesn't it? But it's also similar.

Rafi says, "Although synagogues may look different, they all have an ark.

This is because the Torah is the most sacred object for Jews.

I think it is the word of God," says Rafi.

And you can see another cabinet, only this one has images on the outside rather than the plain wood of Rebecca's synagogue.

But inside there will be the scrolls of the Torah just the same.

And they will also have beautiful cloths and breastplates and crowns on them as well.

Let's just check our understanding again.

I've got a true or false question for you.

All synagogues will have an ark containing the Torah scrolls.

Is that true or false? Think about what Rafi and Rebecca just told us.

What do you think? Yes, it's true.

Synagogues might look different, but they all have an ark and that ark will contain the scrolls of the Torah.

Rafi says, "In my synagogue, all the prayers and the reading of the Torah is in Hebrew." Hebrew is the special language which the Torah is written in.

"Men sit downstairs and women sit upstairs." You can see the seats, can't you, where the men will sit, and at the top, you can see a balcony where the women will sit.

"And we have some beautiful songs at our service." Rafi really enjoys the singing at his synagogue.

Rebecca says, "In my synagogue, we read the Torah in Hebrew.

Some of our prayers are in English and some in Hebrew.

Men and women all sit together for the service.

So that's interesting, isn't it? So in Rebecca's synagogue and Rafi's, the Jews there read the Torah in Hebrew and both of them pray in their synagogues.

But in Rebecca, some of the prayers are in English, and men and women go to both Rafi's and Rebecca's synagogue.

But in Rafi's synagogue, they sit separately and in Rebecca's, they sit together.

Let's just check our understanding again.

What language is the Torah read in? Is it A, Hebrew, B, Hindi, C, English? Can you remember what they both said? Pause the video and have a think.

Did you say A, Hebrew? Yes, you are right.

Brilliantly well done.

Rafi and Rebecca are going to say what the synagogue means to them.

Rafi says, "Synagogue for me is a place to worship God, hear the Torah, learn Hebrew and celebrate festivals." Rebecca says, "Synagogue for me is a place where I can meet other Jews and learn more about being Jewish." Oh, thank you, so we can see that synagogue is about worship, it is about hearing the Torah, but it's also about meeting Jews and learning more about being Jewish as well.

Thank you so much for telling me that, both of you.

So for our final task, we're going to be thinking about synagogues on the inside.

We've got photographs here.

One is of Rafi's synagogue on the left, and the second is of Rebecca's on the right.

I wonder if you can think of two similarities and two differences between Rafi and Rebecca's synagogue.

You might want to think about some of the objects or furniture you find there.

Or you might also want to think about what different Jews do in Rafi's synagogue and Rebecca's synagogue.

Two things that are similar and two things that are different.

Can't wait to see what you come up with.

Good luck, all of you.

Well, did you do some good investigating? What did you come up with? So you might have said that in both synagogues, there's an ark, and inside the ark the Torah scrolls are kept.

You can see the arrows pointing to the arks in Rafi's synagogue and Rebecca's synagogue.

They look ever so slightly different but inside there are the Torah scrolls.

You might also have said that in the service, the Torah is read in Hebrew in both of the synagogues.

You might also said in some differences that in Rafi's synagogue, men and women sit separately, but in Rebecca's they sit together.

You might also have said that in Rebecca's synagogue, some of the prayers are in English, whilst in Rafi's synagogue, they're in Hebrew.

I wonder if you thought of any other similarities or differences as well.

But if you managed to spot those, that's brilliant, amazing thinking.

So today we've been learning more about synagogues.

We've learned that a synagogue is a place where Jews go to worship God and be part of a Jewish community.

We've learned that in all synagogues, there's an ark with scrolls from the Torah.

We've learned in some synagogues, women and men may sit together and in others, they might be separate.

And finally, we've learned that synagogues may be built as synagogues or they might have been changed from a different building.

I really hope you've been learning with me and enjoying what you've learned today.

Thanks so much for choosing this lesson, and I really look forward to seeing you in another lesson soon.

Thank you.