Annual Report
Higher Order Thinking: Simchat Torah
As Sukkot comes to an end, we encounter additional special days in the Jewish calendar: Sh’mini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. Read on for grade-level discussion prompts.
Simhat Torah שמחת תורה
As Sukkot comes to an end, we encounter additional special days in the Jewish calendar: Sh’mini Atzeret and Simchat Torah.
Simchat Torah is a joyous celebration during which the Torah scrolls are taken from the ark and carried by congregants around the synagogue seven times. During these seven circuits, or hakafot, those not carrying Torahs often will wave brightly colored flags and sing Hebrew songs.
In class, students learned and discussed the customs and the traditions of the holiday. Each grade focused on age-appropriate high-order thinking questions that enhance and enable the students to make meaning as well as connect to the holiday’s themes.
Pre-K & K - Why do we study Torah?
1st grade - Compare Simhat Torah to a birthday. Every year we celebrate our birthday. Are we the same every year on our birthday?
2nd grade - We read the same Parasha every year, and we are obligated to learn it again. Why do we repeat it every year?
3rd grade - Why do we call it Simhat Torah? Why do you think it is joyful to finish reading the Torah?
What is powerful in a cycle? Cycle of months, cycle or water, cycle of days of the week?
4th grade - Brainstorm about the different parashot and the values that we learn from them.
Which values do you consider as important and you integrate into your own life to follow? Which one is important to your family and is actively pursued?
5th grade - How does the Torah connect us from Dor L’Dor? What are the strategies and approaches that we developed to ensure that the Torah connects us with the past, is relevant in the present and ensures our future?
6th grade – How the Torah is like water? Which characteristics are common for Torah and water?
7th & 8th grade – Students analyzed the Piut (poem) Mi Pi El that we sing during Simhat Torah and determined the characteristics that describe God, Israel, Moshe, and Torah. What is the message that the poet tried to Convery about God, Israel, Moshe, and Torah?
Chag Same’ah!
Irit Eliyahu Andrew Feig Judaic Studies Teachers
Judaic Studies Director School Rabbi
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