Zahava Stemp

Teaching Chumash Final Assignment

5/17/13
The age of the students for this unit would be ninth grade. I will be focusing
on various parts of Bereishis; perek 16, perek 25, and perek 29. My ultimate goal for
my chumash class is to portray to my students that Torah is Toras Chaim. If
approached and learned in the appropriate way, Torah can really be viewed as a
guide for our lives. We can truly learn from every single story and situation that we
learn about in the Torah. I want my students to know that and feel that, and so that
is how I would introduce my class on the first day of school. In this specific unit, we
will be focusing on the relationships and individuals in Bereishis and try to apply it
to our lives in some way. This will probably be the first time that the students are
being exposed to the fact that the Avos and Imahos were not perfect, but at this
stage in their lives, I feel that it would be beneficial to their lives to know this.

Lesson 1: Relationship between Sarai and Hagar

1. Students will know the storyline and development of the relationship
between Sarai and Hagar. Students will recognize human character traits of
Sarai.
2. I will begin the lesson by telling my students the story of the Sarai and Hagar
saga, without telling them it is a story from Tanach. I will do this to strike up
a conversation about a theoretical situation, even though this is actually a
story from Torah. As we learn the text inside, I will constantly remind them

of their comments and points they brought up in the original discussion,

keeping the students engaged and interested while learning the text.
3. I would do Vote With Your Feet about if they feel Sarai was right or wrong
for her reaction and making Hagar suffer. Everyone will have to come up
with a reason for why he/she voted the way he/she did. This will encourage
everyone to think for himself and be able to contribute to class discussion.
4. Together we will learn the Ramban that explains that because of Avram and
Sarais sins, their descendants will suffer through Yishmaels descendants. I
will include this Ramban in order to help reveal Sarais character trait of
feeling superior to others.

5. After learning the Ramban, I will have the students do a Think Pair Share
about superiority. They will list reasons that thinking you are superior to
others is sinful.
6. As an independent practice, I will have the students write about a situation in
their lives where they were either the Sarai or the Hagar of the situation.
They will also have to come up with a way the situation could have been
resolved to ensure a better outcome, avoiding a superiority situation.

Lesson 2: Rivka

1. Students will identify Rivka as Rivka bas Betuel. Students will know the
storyline of Rivka not being able to get pregnant and how she and
Yitzchak daven to Hashem. Students will recognize Rivka as an
independent, guarded person, based on her family background.
2. To keep the students engaged in the text, I will have them list all the
words that are describing Rivka in the two pesukim that we will read.
3. Students will split up into chavrusas. First they will read Rashi on the
words Rivka bas Betuel. After, they will read Rashi on the words
Vayetar Lo. They will then have to pinpoint and write down how the
two Rashis seem contradictory in any way.
4. I will have the students learn the Rashi on Rivka bas Betuel in order to
highlight the fact that Rivka is such a tzadekes, because she grew up in a
house of reshaim and did not get influenced by their ways. Then the
students will read the Rashi on Vayetar Lo to show that Hashem
answered he tefilos of Yitzchak, not Rivka, because he was a tzadik ben
tzadik. I am hoping that they will question this fact, based on learning
how special Rivka was for not being influenced by her family. This will
hopefully spark a discussion. Ultimately, I would like these mefarshim to
help us learn about Rivka as a person. I want the students to realize that
Rivka had a difficult time trusting and depending on others. Because she
had to be so independent growing up, she only trusted herself, making
her a guarded person.

5. I will have my students make individual, personal pro-con lists about

independence and guardedness. This will be done to promote higher
order thinking as well.

Lesson 3: Relationship between Rachel and Leah

1. Students will know the storyline of Lavan giving Leah to Yaakkov instead of
giving him Rachel (pesukim 21-25). Students will identify with the
characters of the story, via role play. Students will define Rachels actions as
VeAhavta LeReiacha Kamocha. Students will list and describe what this
mitzvah means to them in their own lives.
2. As we read the pesukim aloud, the students must underline what they feel is
the key point of each passuk.
3. The students will split into chavrusas and learn the Rashi on the words
Vayihi Boker VHinay He Leah, which explains that Rachel gave the
simanim to Leah so she wouldnt be embarrassed. Then, with the chavrusa,
the students must role play, one as Leah and the other as Rachel. They must
truly get into character and have a discussion once they realize what their
father is going to do. This would be done in order to truly put ourselves into
the lives and mindsets of the sisters.
4. The reason I want them to learn this Rashi is first and foremost for the
students to know that it is a Rashi and not in the written text of Torah She
Bichtav (sadly I did not realize this until a few years ago..). It is also a very

important concept from which the mitzvah of VeAhavta LeReiacha Kamocha

is explicitly portrayed by Rachel towards Leah.

5. I feel that this is both a moral and social lesson. I would have the students
prepare private lists of what VeAhavta LeReiacha Kamocha means to them. I
would then have everyone pick a name out of a hat, and the student would
have to treat that person with VeAhavta LeReiacha Kamocha for a week. I
would remind them every day of that week. If it is successful, I would
continue this.

After creating these lessons for my chumash unit, I feel that I have been successful in
implementing my goals for the class. I want my students to relate to the people and
the stories that the Torah introduces us to. Having said that, my goal for my unit is
to create that relationship between Torah and my students. By taking a closer look
at our Avos and Imahos, my students can learn to appreciate who they were as
people, not just as the Avos and Imahos. As I mentioned above, the whole point of
Torah is to be Toras Chaim. Torah is a way of life. By looking at the people
mentioned in the Torah and seeing their actions and reactions to their given
situations, we learn lessons. Some lessons we learn are positive ones and some are
negative ones, but chumash is about taking those lessons and applying them to our
lives. After looking at Sara, Rivka, Rachel (and Leah) in this chumash unit, I feel that
my students will be able to have a closer relationship with Torah. I hope that they
will feel this way as well.