Lesson video

Hello, I'm Mrs. Afshan, and welcome to today's lesson.

I'm so glad to see you today.

In our lesson, we'll be thinking about why people need rules and how one group of people or the community, the Jewish community, uses a special set of rules to help them make good choices every day.

The lesson is called The Ten Commandments from the unit Choices: Do We Need Rules to Live By? The outcome of today's lesson is I can explain how the Ten Commandments help Jews make good choices.

Before we dive into our lesson today, let's look at few important keywords that will help us understand the lesson better.

The words are Torah, commandments and synagogue.

Repeat after me.

Torah.

Torah.

Commandments.

Commandments.

Commandments.

And finally, synagogue.

Synagogue.

Synagogue.

Well done.

Let's now look at the meanings.

The word Torah is the central text or special collection of stories and history for Jews.

Commandments are rules from God that help people make good choices.

And finally, synagogue, which is a place where Jews might go to pray, learn and be together.

Our lesson today has two cycles.

First, we are going to look at what is the story of Ten Commandments? Let's get started.

Sofia explains what we mean by philosophy in religious education.

She says, "Philosophers ask big, important questions and try to answer them by thinking carefully.

You can use philosophy to share your ideas and understand other people's thoughts too." In this lesson, we will talk about how the Ten Commandments help Jewish people to lead a good life and make good choices.

Here we have Sofia and Alex.

They've started talking about how to make good choices.

They're thinking about big questions like philosophers.

Alex is thinking, "How do we know what is right and wrong? Who teaches us right and wrong?" Sofia replies, "We learn what is right and wrong in many ways.

Our parents, teachers, and even stories help us understand.

Some people learn from their religion too." Where do you get ideas of right and wrong from? Great thinking.

They are now thinking deeply about where ideas come from.

"A world without rules would be dangerous.

But how do people decide to make good choices?" wonders Sofia.

"Let's talk to some people with a Jewish worldview to see how they make good choices," is what Alex is recommending.

Let's join them on this journey.

Sofia and Alex meet Rafi, who has a Jewish worldview.

"Are there rules for Jews? Where do they come from?" they ask Rafi.

Rafi replies that they do have Jewish rules and there are lots of rules in the Torah.

Some of the most famous are the Ten Commandments.

This is a picture of someone named Moses.

In the Torah, God gives 10 rules or commandments to Moses.

Moses is a very important person to many Jews.

This is because he was trusted by God to receive these rules.

Time for a check.

What are the Ten Commandments? Are they 10 names of important people, or 10 magic words, or 10 rules from God? What do you think? That's correct.

Ten Commandments are 10 rules from God.

You got that right, well done.

Now let's go and read the story of the Ten Commandments.

A long time ago, the Jewish people were walking through the hot sandy desert.

They had just escaped from being enslaved in Egypt where a mean king called Pharaoh had made them work very hard.

Now, they were free, but they didn't know what kind of people they should be.

They needed rules to help them live together kindly.

Their leader was a wise man named Moses.

One day God told Moses to bring everyone to a big mountain called Mount Sinai.

"This is a very special mountain," said Moses, "God is going to speak to us." The sky rumbled with thunder, lightning flashed across the sky, a loud sound like a trumpet filled the air, smoke covered the top of the mountain.

It looked like it was on fire.

Everyone stood still watching.

Then they heard a voice.

It was God's voice.

God said, "Here are Ten Commandments I want you to remember." The people were amazed.

They had never heard God's voice before.

They were so surprised and even a little scared that they said, "Moses, you go talk to God and then tell us what he says." So Moses climbed up the mountain and stayed there for 40 days and 40 nights.

God spoke to Moses and gave him two stone tablets with the commandments written on them.

These were God's special rules for his people.

Here are the Ten Commandments translated into English from the Torah: believe in one God, only worship God, respect God's name, keep Shabbat special, respect your parents.

Now, let's look at the other five: do not hurt anyone, be loyal in your family, do not steal, tell the truth, and don't be jealous.

Time for a check.

God gave Moses the Ten commandments on a mountain, true or false? What do you think? True, that's correct.

God gave Moses the Ten Commandments on a mountain called Mount Sinai.

These were special rules to help people know what is right and how to live kindly.

Let's look at what happened next.

When Moses came down from the mountain, his face was glowing.

He held the stone tablets high and told the people, "These are the words of God.

If we follow them, we'll become strong and kind people." From that day on, the Ten Commandments helped the Jewish people know how to live a good life with love, fairness, and respect.

Here's a task.

Retell the story of the Ten Commandments in your own words by writing captions for the pictures.

These are the pictures from the story we've just heard, the story of the Ten Commandments.

Write captions for the pictures.

You can pause the video now and come back when you are ready with your captions.

Let's check your answers.

You may have written for the first picture, Moses climbed Mount Sinai to speak with God.

Picture two is showing how God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, which were special rules for people.

And finally, the third picture, where Moses told the people that God gave him the Ten Commandments to help people live good and kind lives.

Well done if you wrote those captions for the pictures, great work.

We now know the story of the Ten Commandments.

Let's go and find out how do they help Jews make good choices? How do Ten Commandments help Jews make good choices? Let's find out.

Alex is thinking, "I can think of a philosophical question: how do Jews make good choices?" "That is a really good question!" says Sofia, "Let's talk to some different Jews to learn how the Ten Commandments help them to make good choices in their lives." Let's join Alex and Sofia and meet different Jews to find out how Ten Commandments help them make good choices.

They're now talking to Rafi about the Ten Commandments.

"How important are the Ten Commandments to you and your community?" asks Sofia.

Rafi explains how Ten Commandments are very important in Judaism.

Children and people in Jewish communities learn about them at home and at synagogue.

Rafi shares an image from his Orthodox synagogue in London and says, "In many synagogues, including mine, you can also see the Ten Commandments displayed above the Ark where we keep the Torah scrolls.

This shows how important they are." Here's the image of Rafi's synagogue, and here are the Ten Commandments that are displayed above the Ark.

Time for another check.

Where does Rafi see the Ten Commandments? Is it in his church, or in his synagogue, or in his mosque? What do you think? That's correct, he sees them in his synagogue.

Well done.

"Why do Jews follow the Ten Commandments?" Let's find out by talking to Rafi.

Rafi explains, "My family follows the Ten Commandments because we believe they are God's instructions.

They help us to know what is right and wrong, how to make good choices and how to live well together." Time for another check.

Rafi thinks the Ten Commandments are like God's (pauses) instructions or perks or charity? What do you think? That's correct, they are God's instructions according to Rafi.

Well done.

Sofia and Alex are now talking with Rebecca.

Rebecca is Jewish and she's from a different family.

They say, "Hi, Rebecca! How do you think the Ten Commandments help Jews to make good choices?" Rebecca shares that, "The Ten Commandments teach Jewish people to treat others well." This is an object from Rebecca's house.

What can you see? What might it be used for? Look closely.

Let's find out from Rebecca what it is and what it might be used for.

"In our family, we have a special box.

We call it Tzedakah box.

Each week we collect money and give to charity.

Giving to charity is really important to many Jews.

We try to help others who need our help." "How does your family follow the Ten Commandments?" asks Sofia.

Rebecca shares that, "Most of Ten Commandments are about treating others fairly." "In another part of the Torah," Rebecca shares that, "It says, 'Love your neighbour as yourself.

' When I make a choice, I try to follow this commandment.

When the old woman who lives next door fell and went to the hospital, I went to visit her and took flowers," says Rebecca.

Rebecca shares how she follows the Ten Commandments to make good choices.

Let's see if you got that.

The Ten Commandments help Jewish people to follow God's rules and make the right choices, true or false? What do you think? True, that's correct.

The Ten Commandments are special rules that help Jewish people believe in God and live the way God wants.

By following these rules, Jewish people know how to make good choices and how to live kindly and happily every day.

Time for another task.

Here's Rafi.

Rafi and his friend Sam are playing football.

During the game, Sam tackles Rafi and accidentally hurts him.

Rafi feels angry.

What could Rafi choose to do next? What commandment could help Rafi to make a good choice? You can pause the video now and come back when you're ready with your answer.

Let's check your answer.

What could Rafi choose to do next? What commandment could help Rafi to make a good choice when he got hurt accidentally by his friend, Sam? Your possible answer could be, "Rafi might say, 'It's okay, I forgive you,' and play nicely again because he believes in the commandment, 'Do not hurt anyone.

' This means he chooses kindness and forgiveness instead of hurting his friend back." Well done if you wrote that as your answer.

Great work.

Let's quickly remember our learning from today's lesson.

Today we learned that the Ten Commandments are special rules from God given to Moses.

These rules give instructions to Jews to treat each other well and to worship God.

We've also learned that many Jews learn about the commandments from the Torah at home and in the synagogue, where they are displayed as reminders.

By following the Ten Commandments, Jews learn to live good, fair, and respectful lives within their families and communities.

Well done.

You've learned a lot today about how the Ten Commandments help Jewish people make good choices.

And remember, rules aren't just there to stop us from doing things, they are often there to help us live well and be together.

That's the end of today's lesson, and I will see you in our next lesson.

Goodbye.