Rosh Hashana Lesson #5

Activities:

Create a Personalized Machzor (מחזור) – Warning: This is a bit of a time-intensive activity, but it yields worthwhile results on many levels.

Introduce the activity by explaining that people who want to learn about the holiday of Rosh Hashanah (and Yom Kippur), use a special book called a MACHZOR. The book teaches a lot of different details about the holiday. You want to help the students make their own ENGLISH machzor booklet.

Vocabulary words for making the booklet: cut/cut out, paste/glue, color, draw, write, fold, add, tie

With the following link, you will open up a template of the machzor in Google Slides. The pages are set up so that you can print the first eight pages back to back (page 1 to page 2, page 3 to page 4, etc.) and then fold them in half to create a booklet that should be in order from the beginning of Rosh Hashanah until the end of Yom Kippur. Pages 9 through 13 have 8-9 copies of cut out graphics that the students can use to enhance/decorate their booklets. Obviously, if you have more students, you will want to print out multiple copies of each of these pages. You can choose to pre-cut the images or have the students cut them out, depending on time and age/skill level.

Link to Google Slides Machzor Template: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1qaYacVwwxoOHfd_q3b813k1lSNnR6gD3iiACj08lLcw/edit?usp=sharing

Divide students into smaller groups for station rotation. Students move through 4-5 stations with 5-7 minutes per station to complete various activities (listed separately below).
- Cover Page – Students write in their names, the year, and their grade. They can color the page (crayons, colored pencils) as time permits.
- Jonah and the Whale – Students can simply color in the picture.
- Happy Birthday World! – Students cut out and color in a birthday hat and then paste it onto the world as though the planet is wearing the hat.
- Cycles of the Moon – Students can circle the “new moon” (farthest to the left) and the number 1 on the calendar page and then draw a line between them showing that Rosh Hashanah always begins on the first of the month of Tishrei. Advanced students can learn that the “new moon” looks a bit like the Hebrew letter “reish” – ר – for ראש השנה.
- Day for Fasting – Explain how “fasting” means “not eating.” Ask students why they think we don’t eat on Yom Kippur. You can either write down their answers for them on the page or older students can write their own answers down.

The Color White – There are three cut outs with black backgrounds and white words “A new, clean page,” “Torah Cover” and “Kittel” (white robe). Students can cut out these words and paste them next to the appropriate pictures on the page to label them. We see ourselves as a fresh page for the new year – ready to have a fresh start. Torahs in synagogues are usually given white “coats/mantels” for the holiday to make them special. Adult males often wear kittels (white robes) over their clothes in order to dress-up in a respectful way for the holiday.
Yom Teruah – This translates into “Day of the Shofar Blast” and it is another name for Rosh Hashanah. On this page, students need to draw lines to represent the different types of shofar sounds. You might want to play a recording of the different shofar blasts, too.

T’kiah = (1medium length line)

Shevarim = (3 moderate even lines)

Teruah = (9 short even lines)

T’kiah G’dolah = (1 very long line)

Holiday Symbols – Use the cut-outs for this page. Paste the round challah and the apple with honey on top of the first phrase. Paste the pomegranates on top of the bottom left blessing. Place the fish head on top of the bottom right blessing. This last phrase talks about being a leader more than a follower.
Scales of Justice – On Yom Kippur, we think of our actions over the past year like weights on a scale and we want our good deeds to be heavier (more) than our mistakes. Cut out the gold box with the words “Good Deeds” and have students paste it on the lower right side of the scale while the small black box with the word “Mistakes” goes on the upper left scale.
Teshuvah, T’fillah, Tzedakah (Repentance, Prayer, Charity) – These are the behaviors that can help us prepare for a good new year. To the right of the words “I’m Sorry,” have students paste the picture of the girl and boy shaking hands (teshuvah). The boy wearing a tallit at the Western Wall goes between the words “Listen” and “Israel” (for the Shema prayer – t’fillah), and the cartoon of the girl helping the old man goes to the right of the words “Helping Others” (tzedakah).
Isaac – These bible stories are read during the holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur because they talk about faith in God, sacrifice, devotion and destiny. These are difficult concepts to discuss with young children, even in their own native language, but they can learn that Isaac is the second of the “fouding fathers” of Judaism (a major Biblical character), and his stories are important parts of these holidays. For the page, students can simply color the story pictures.
Our Father, Our King – This prayer is a standard of the holiday services and it basically looks at God in two different ways, as a father and as a king. You can discuss the differences in these types of relationships at a level that the students can understand. Students can cut out the silhouette of the father and child as well as the crown (for the king), and paste them on the page to represent the two different images of God.
The Book of Life – There is a traditional belief that from Rosh Hashanah until Yom Kippur, a large heavenly book opens up and all of our deeds from the past year are recorded in it while opportunities for our coming year are also written in the book. On this last page of the machzor, students can record their own wishes/hopes for the new year. What do they hope will happen?

When students have completed their booklets, you can bring them together to talk about the experience. What had they known before making the book? What new details did they learn about the holiday(s)? Did they like the process of making the booklet? Why or why not?

Students can complete the unit by putting all of their work and projects together in a clear folder or some other way of displaying their work (vocabulary list, text and post-reading activity, goals worksheet, holiday card and machzor).