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Spotlight on The ISJL's Other Departments... Book Month Style!

By Sierra Debrow, ISJL Education Fellow

​Growing up, I loved telling stories. My imagination ran wild as I invented fictional narratives for my stuffed animals, toys, and even my friends whenever we played ‘make-believe.’ As I got older, my love of telling stories turned into a love of reading stories. Then, once I began school, my love of reading stories developed into a love of writing them. My teachers encouraged writing as a way to explore new topics and to interpret what we learned in a new way. Here are some ways to bring storytelling into the religious school classroom by creating your own Jewish books.
 

1. Over the course of their time in religious school, students visit several stories from the TaNaKh (Torah, Prophets, and Writings/Hebrew Bible). After reading these stories for themselves, students can review them by creating storybooks. Encourage students to use blank books to tell biblical stories in ways that are meaningful to them. By adding illustrations and telling stories from the TaNaKh as they understand them, students feel responsible for the way in which they share what they’ve learned in the classroom.
2. Telling stories often feels personal. Invite students to share their Jewish journeys in book form. In these books, students can document their experiences in the year leading up to their b’nei mitz’vah, their first year in religious school, or other meaningful Jewish moments in their lives. Students can also create these books as a class and pass them down to other students in the future. For example, b’nei mitz’vah students can create a book about the process of becoming a bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah and pass it on to the next b’nei mitz’vah class to impart what they learned in the process. Think of it as generational, educational leadership!
3. Some of my favorite stories are those that have been passed down in my family for generations. Get the families in your congregation involved in the classroom by asking them to share their Jewish journeys and the journeys of their families with Religious School students. Students can interview their families or members of the greater Jewish community and bring what they learned to class. Then transform the interviews with community members into storybooks. This project is a great way to bring guests and families into the religious school classroom for a hands-on activity!

 
Everyone has a story to tell. Why not start telling these stories in the classroom? Not only are they a wonderful way to review information, but they make great additions to Religious School and synagogue libraries… and can even be gifts for students to give to family and friends!

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