Getting Ready for a New Year with a New Approach

by Marcia Goldlist

 

We’re almost there. If you haven’t started then it really is time to think about Rosh HaShanna. The New Year is not meant to fill a person with dread. This is a time to think about something that you can do to make yourself a better person and a better Jew in the coming year. As we approach Rosh Hashana, family time should get top billing on ways to improve our lives: that means less technology and more face-to-face as opposed to Facebook time.

 

Connected with Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are Sukkot and Simchat Torah. That means that we are about to start the cycle of reading the Torah again. This year try something different. Take the Torah readings to a different level with your family. The Bible in Rhyme series allows the family to interact together AND bring you and your children closer to the Torah. This series allows a lot of interaction. Enjoying Genesis: The Bible in Rhyme is the actual first book of the Torah written in rhyming couplets. With this book you can read the parsha (weekly Torah portion) out loud as a family with the twist of rhyme that gets everyone listening.  You can further bring the parsha to life with one or more of these suggestions:

For various discussion and activity ideas check out the accompanying book Enjoying Genesis: The Bible in Rhyme Workbook. This book will get your children, as well as yourself, thinking about the personalities, events, and other aspects of the parsha. These discussions are important to have, even with younger children, as they elevate the parsha from something we read, to something that we think about. Various verses are highlighted with appropriate discussion questions, creative thinking questions, and activities. A few examples of activities given are designing media campaigns, writing journal entries for the Biblical personalities, and related outings.

 

Take the opportunity around the Shabbat table, while preparing a meal, or at bedtime to read and really think about the events and personalities in the book of Genesis. You may think of the stories of Genesis as being for children, but there really is a lot in these stories to think about. We often associate the stories in the book of Genesis with children’s stories, but by doing so we are missing out on a lot. That is why Enjoying Genesis: The Bible in Rhyme and Enjoying Genesis: The Bible in Rhyme Workbook are good for families. These books are not geared toward young children although they can be adapted to be used with them. They are meant to help give you tools to build a relationship with the personalities and better understand the events in the Torah and how they relate to us today.

 

The stories in the book of Genesis lay the groundwork for us being a people and a nation. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their wives Sarah, Rebecca, Leah, and Rachel are the roots of our family tree. We like our children to know where their grandparents or great-grandparents came from. Well, Genesis tells us where our original ancestors came from and that is equally important. It tells us about the other nations who lived in the region at the same time and how we were different. Genesis also explains our connection to God and why everything is under His domain.

 

Just as a child needs to master colors, shapes, and numbers before entering first grade we need to understand the basics of our religion – both in knowledge and spirituality – to grow. The book of Genesis explains the beginning of the bond between us and God.

 

By talking about this bond and not just reading about it, you and your children will not only gain greater insight into what is going on in the Torah, but will also feel it become a more important part in your life.

 

May this year bring you and your family closer to Torah and to each other.