The Shabbat Fair
![Picture](/uploads/1/3/2/5/132544608/published/mishkan-2-e1472215739264.jpg?1613675667)
Date: Trimester 2, 2019-2020
Teachers: Rabbi Tavi Koslowe & Rabbi Zachary Rothblatt
Grade: 10th
Subjects: Beit Midrash
Project Description:
While our students discussed the innovations of the Renaissance in humanities, in Beit Midrash, we explored the concept of Halachik innovation and creativity as it applied to the creation of the Mishkan (Tabernacle) and its implication for the corresponding laws of Shabbat.
We began the trimester studying each of the Melachot (creative acts) that relate to agriculture, along with an introduction to some of the overarching concepts of the laws of Shabbat. In the second half of the term, students chose their own area of Shabbat laws to specialize in, either weaving, writing, engineering or advanced agriculture.
Essential Questions:
What is the nature of "rest" that we are meant to experience on Shabbat?
How should creativity and rest be balanced in modern day society?
Content:
Close textual reading of sources from Torah, Navi, Talmud, Rishonim and Achronim [medieval and modern Jewish commentaries] as we learned and discussed topics such as:
Skills:
Values:
Project Deliverables:
While our students discussed the innovations of the Renaissance in humanities, in Beit Midrash, we explored the concept of Halachik innovation and creativity as it applied to the creation of the Mishkan (Tabernacle) and its implication for the corresponding laws of Shabbat.
We began the trimester studying each of the Melachot (creative acts) that relate to agriculture, along with an introduction to some of the overarching concepts of the laws of Shabbat. In the second half of the term, students chose their own area of Shabbat laws to specialize in, either weaving, writing, engineering or advanced agriculture.
Essential Questions:
What is the nature of "rest" that we are meant to experience on Shabbat?
How should creativity and rest be balanced in modern day society?
Content:
Close textual reading of sources from Torah, Navi, Talmud, Rishonim and Achronim [medieval and modern Jewish commentaries] as we learned and discussed topics such as:
- Introduction to Shabbat
- The Relationship between Shabbat and the Mishkan
- Avot and Toldot (Primary and Secondary Activities)
Skills:
- Acclimate to and utilize the Chavruta [learning in partnership] protocol
- Develop comfort in public speaking as each person was responsible to present their area of expertise at our Shabbat fair.
- Depending on the working group, students would:
- Learn how to weave, using a loom
- Learn Safrut (Biblical calligraphy)
- Apply agricultural skills to wheat
- Woodworking
- Electrical engineering
Values:
- Develop an understanding of and appreciation for the historical progression of Torah sources
- Recognize the relevance of Torah sources to complex modern-day applications of Shabbat observance
- Develop an appreciation for both the mandate to be a creator and to sustain from creation on Shabbat
Project Deliverables:
- Create a Digital Shabbat Book
- Develop an Interactive Exhibit for the Shabbat Fair
- Each working group of students was responsible for creating and presenting an interactive exhibit for our Shabbat Fair at Exhibition. Exhibits included:
- Demonstration and hands-on learning of Safrut (Biblical calligraphy)
- Demonstration and hands-on learning of weaving on a loom
- Demonstration and hands-on learning of Melachot (creative acts) such as harvesting, threshing, separating, etc.
- Demonstration and explanation of engineered products including:
- Custom made wooden Challah boards
- An electrical "Grama Switch" that could allow electrical devices to be turned on/off on Shabbat in cases of exceptional need
- A "Shabbat in a Box" that could be given to patients/visitors to facilitate their Shabbat observance in a hospital
- Each working group of students was responsible for creating and presenting an interactive exhibit for our Shabbat Fair at Exhibition. Exhibits included: