ב“ה
Jewish Discovery Program
C
teen
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ב“ה
Jewish Discovery Program
this is a sample To purchase please contact: Chabad Teen Network 718.467.4400 X 340 I info@cteen.com
C
teen
this is a sample To purchase please contact: Chabad Teen Network 718.467.4400 X 340 I info@cteen.com #Jewish
#Avraham (Avram)
#independence
#Terach
#Ivri (Hebrew)
#peer pressure
Would you dare to be different? Well, guess what‌
you are!
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Lesson 1
Avraham and the Jews A story of independence
What does Jewish mean?
intro What is the secret to the survival of your family, the Jews?
investigate
Who was your great-grandfather Avraham and what was he like?
Examine What can you do to ensure the survival of your family, the Jews?
Act 5
this is a sample To purchase please contact: Chabad Teen Network 718.467.4400 X 340 I info@cteen.com What does Jewish mean?
What is your nationality? ________________________________________ intro
What makes someone American or Israeli? ________________________________________
What does Jewish mean?
What makes someone Christian or Muslim? ________________________________________ Are you Jewish? ________________________________________ What does it mean to be Jewish? ________________________________________ ________________________________________ If somebody is not religious, can he or she still be Jewish? ________________________________________ If somebody isn’t living in Israel, can he or she still be Jewish? ________________________________________ What does Jewish mean? ________________________________________ Conclusion
lesson 1
6
To be Jewish means that you are part of a family—we are all related. We all share one grandfather(s). When you say you are Jewish, whether you are religious or not, you are saying that you are descended from someone who is descended from someone who is the ancestor of all Jewish people.
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activity Nationality Take a look at these two Soviet Union passports. The English translation is below. Both of these individuals were born in and were citizens of the former Soviet Union. Circle the part of the passports that you find to be the most puzzling.
Passport #1
Passport #2
Brezhnev, Leonid, son of Ilya Born on December 19, 1906 in Dnepropetrovsk Nationality: Ukrainian Occupation: blue collar worker
Shtendiz, Yosef, son of Shimon Born on June 27, 1945 in Lusaiskaya Lvov region Nationality: Jew Occupation: student
Conclusion
The bearer of passport #2 is a citizen of the Soviet Union, however, on his passport his nationality is listed as Jew. For good or bad, even the Russian government understood that Jews are Jews wherever they are, and wherever they are born. They are a family, and like any family, there can be American, French, religious, and non-religious family members.
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lesson 1
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intro
Family Is Family How can you change your citizenship? ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ How can you change your religion? ________________________________________ ________________________________________ How can you change your family? ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________
Conclusion
To be Jewish is to be part of the Jewish family. Since you cannot leave your family, you cannot become non-Jewish. This is why you probably have never heard of a Christian Muslim or a Muslim atheist, but you might know a Jewish atheist.) lesson 1
8
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Do you know of any other families that are thousands of years old and are still connected? ________________________________________ Do you know who your great-great-greatgrandfather was? ________________________________________ ________________________________________ Are you familiar with any of your fifth cousins? ________________________________________ Do you know other Jews? ________________________________________ ________________________________________
Conclusion
The Jewish family, unlike any other, endures regardless of the fact that we are dispersed throughout all countries of the world and live very different lifestyles.
9
lesson 1
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Can you name a few nations, families or societies that are long gone? ________________________________________ intro
How did they disappear? ________________________________________ Why did the Jewish family last for so many years? ________________________________________ Has the Jewish family persisted because of material stability and security? ________________________________________ Can you list several attempts to wipe the Jews off the face of the earth? ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ Conclusion
No! The very opposite is true.
lesson 1
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Remember the discriminating passport we examined earlier? There were very many attempts to wipe the Jews off the face of this earth. We survived slavery in Egypt; exile in Babylonia; the Greek occupation; the Roman destruction and massacre; the Christian Crusaders; the French, English, German, and Spanish Expulsions and prosecutions; and even the Polish pogroms and finally the Holocaust.
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From the Sages Adrianus (Hadrian, a Roman emperor and enemy of the Jews), discussing with Rabbi Joshua the innumerable adversaries that the Israelites had to encounter, said, “Great is the sheep that can withstand seventy wolves.” Rabbi Joshua replied, “Greatest is the shepherd who enables the sheep to outlive the constant attacks of the wolves.” (Midrash Tanchuma)
scratch your head: What is it about the Jewish family that allows us to survive?
What makes us different from other ancient nations that are long gone?
What allows us to withstand influence and oppression?
What empowers us to rebuild after destruction?
Will we be around in the future?
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lesson 1
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The origins of the Jews: Let’s examine the founder of our family—maybe that will give us a clue to the outstanding lasting nature of our family. examine
Who was your greatgrandfather Avraham and what was he like?
lesson 1
12
Avraham lived about 3,500 years ago. He was born in a world of idolaters: his father served idols, his mother served idols, his friends served idols and the king served idols. From when he was a young boy, he searched for G-d. Source text
Rambam, Hilchos Avodah Zara, Perek 1, Halacha 3
text 1
And these are the generations of Yitzchak the son of Avraham; Avraham begot Yitzchak. And Yitzchak was forty years old when he took Rivkah the daughter of Besuel the Aramean of Padan Aram, the sister of Lavan the Aramean, for himself as a wife. And Yitzchak prayed to the Lord opposite his wife because she was barren, and the Lord accepted his prayer, and Rivkah his wife conceived. And the children struggled within her, and she said, “If [it be] so, why am I [like] this?” And she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two kingdoms will separate from your innards, and one kingdom will become mightier than the other kingdom, and the elder will serve the younger.” And her days to give birth were completed, and behold, there were twins in her womb.
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Bereishis Rabba Noach 38:13
text 2
A woman came with a handful of fine flour to offer to Terach’s idols, which were now in charge of Avram. Avram took a stick and broke all the images except the largest one, in the hand of which he placed the stick which had worked this wholesale destruction. When his father returned and saw the havoc committed on his “gods” and property, he demanded an explanation from his son whom he had left in charge. Avram explained that when an offering of fine flour was brought to these divinities they quarreled with one another as to who should be the recipient, when at last the biggest of them, being angry at the altercation, took up a stick to chastise the offenders, and in so doing broke them all up. Terach, exclaimed, “Why do you mock me, are these idols conscious?” “Shall your ears not hear what your mouth has spoken?” responded Avram. Terach then handed Avram over to Nimrod.
Bereishis Rabba Lech Licha 42:8
text 3
כל העולם כולו:רבי יהודה היה אומר..ויגד לאברם העברי ואברהם מעבר אחד,מעבר אחד [Why was he called] “Avram the Hebrew”? Rabbi Yehudah explains: Because the entire world was on one side and Avraham was on the other. watch this:
Young Abraham
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lesson 1
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The secret (at least one of them) Based on the passages above, how would you describe Avraham’s personality? investigate
What is the secret to the survival of your family, the Jews?
________________________________________ ________________________________________ How would these traits help a nation survive? ________________________________________ ________________________________________ Do you know what Jews were called in ancient times? (Hint: It is the same name as the language they speak in Israel.) ? ________________________________________ What does that mean? ________________________________________ ________________________________________ Conclusion
watch this:
Shande Bande 1:16. 10 – 1:19. 35
Lesson 1
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Ivri means across, on the other side. While the whole world said and did one thing, Avraham said and did another. Avaraham was very independent and was not influenced by his surroundings. We, his grandchildren, have inherited this trait. And so even when the whole world behaves one way, we Jews stick to our own ways.
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Don’t “go with the flow”
Do we face pressure to give up our Judaism here in America? Is there a need for this “independent” trait? ________________________________________ ________________________________________ Do you think we face oppression? ? ________________________________________ ________________________________________
Act
What can you do to ensure the survival of your family, the Jews?
Take a look at this
“embracing Judaism” chart Born after 1980 Born 1965-1980 Born 1946-1954 Born 1946-1964 Born 1914-1927 Embraces Judaism
68% 74% 81% 86% 93%
Dropping Judaism (Pew Research Center)
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Lesson 1
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Don’t “go with the flow” (continued) Take a look at the “Embracing Judaism” chart on the previous page.
Have you noticed a pattern? _______________________________________
Act
Conclusion
The pressure we suffer from today is peer pressure. We want to fit in. True, there is no one is pointing a gun to our heads and forcing us to act against our will, but we are in a sense “forced” to conform. And evidently it is a greater threat than any we faced in the past. We learn from Avraham to stand alone and independently. We do what we know is right whether it is trendy or not, whether our friends “allow” us to or not. We swim against the current!
Wouldn’t you think that more Jews would embrace their Jewishness in “less-pressure” times like these, than when the outside culture was threatening? Why do you think the rate of assimilation is rising? _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________
activity Which is more effective in getting you to wear a piece of clothing CIRCLE IT: 1. Your mother pressures you to wear that “beautiful” sweater she bought you. She even threatens not to buy you more clothing if you will not wear it. 2. You really love your old sweater but it’s kind of nerdy. You feel like you have to wear another sweater that is trendier, even though you do not really like it, so that you aren’t considered to be a nerd. watch this:
Group Pressure lesson 1
16
watch this:
not ashamed
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From the Sages Rabbi Meir said: When the Jews stood before Sinai to receive the Torah, G-d said to them: “I swear, I will not give you the Torah unless you provide worthy guarantors who will assure that you will observe its laws.”
We need you Who are the most important people in Judaism? The rabbis? The teachers? The writers? ________________________________________ ________________________________________ In 60 years from now, how many of the current rabbis, teachers, and writers will be alive and well enough to have an impact on society? ________________________________________ ________________________________________ Conclusion
“Our children will be our guarantors.” It is you the youth who will determine the continuation of the Jewish people!!!
What will you decide?
The Jews responded, “Master of the world, our forefathers will be our guarantors!” “Your forefathers themselves require guarantors!” was G-d’s reply… “Master of the world,” the Jews exclaimed, “our prophets will guarantee our observance of the Torah.” “I have complaints against them, too. ‘The shepherds have rebelled against Me’ (Yirmiyah 2:8),” G-d replied… “Bring proper guarantors and only then will I give you the Torah.” The Jews declared, “Our children will serve as our guarantors!” “They truly are worthy guarantors,” G-d replied. “Because of them I will give the Torah.” (Midrash Rabba, Shir Hashirim 1:24 )
watch this:
My Zaidy
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lesson 1
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Halacha Box Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 1, 3 הוי עז כנמר וקל,יהודה בן תימא אומר רץ כצבי וגבור כארי לעשות רצון,כנשר “עז.)אביך שבשמים” (משנה אבות ה כ פירושו שלא יתבייש מפני בני,”כנמר אדם המלעיגים עליו בעבודת ה’ יתברך שמו Yehudah Ben Teima says “Be bold as a leopard, light like an eagle, swift like a deer and strong like a lion to do the will of your Father in heaven.” “Bold as a leopard” means, you should not be ashamed before people who mock you for worshipping G-d, blessed be His name…
Ibid 29, 8
Be bold as a leopard… Nevertheless you should not answer them rudely, so that you will not acquire the habit of being insolent even in situations not involved with the worship of G-d, blessed be His name.
Ibid, 10 It is human nature for man’s actions to be influenced by his friends, colleagues and townspeople. Therefore, a person should associate himself with the righteous, and be in the company of wise men constantly, in order to learn from their deeds, and keep away from evil men who “walk in the dark”, in order not to
learn from their behavior. King Shlomo, peace be upon him, said, “Whoever walks with the wise men will become wise, but the companion of fools will come to ruin.”… And if someone lives in a town whose customs are depraved and whose inhabitants do not walk on the right path, let him move away from there to live in a city whose inhabitants are righteous and lead decent lives.
test your knowlege 1. Judaism is not a religion or nationality, it is a ______________________________ .
5. This is one of the traits that helps them ______________________.
2. It is an unbroken chain beginning with _ __________________________________ .
6. Today’s threat and pressure to Jewishness is _____________________.
3. It is ___________ to become non-Jewish.
7. What you can do is to be ______________________ and do what you think is _________________.
4. The Jewish people, starting from our very first ancestor Avraham, are very _______________.
lesson 1
18
My Zady
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A DIVISION OF MERKOS L'INYONEI CHINUCH