…makes Lisa Miller’s recent book The Spiritual Child,[3] an important reminder of a forgotten truth. Professor Miller teaches psychology and education at Columbia University and co-edits the journal Spirituality in Clinical Practice. Her book is not about Judaism or even religion as such, but specifically about the importance of parents encouraging the spirituality of the child. Children are naturally spiritual….
…head to the Education Companion section (directly below, in grey). Educational Companion Torah Trivia: this week’s answer Both events occurred on the 10th day of Nissan. The Exodus from Mitzrayim officially began on Shabbat Hagadol, five days before Pesach (see Shemot 12:1). Forty years later, Bnai Yisrael crossed the Yarden and entered Eretz Yisrael on 10th Nissan (see Yehoshua 4:9)….
…great vehicle of moral education. It was the Torah’s insight that a people who told their children the story of freedom and its responsibilities would stay free for as long as humankind lives and breathes and hopes. [1] The Revolution of the Saints: A Study in the Origins of Radical Politics (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1965). [2] What I Saw in America (New…
…in to pressure, and any sign of weakness in leadership only leads to more pressure and more capitulation. Better be strong, and continue to say “No,” and simply endure one more plague. We see Pharaoh as both wicked and foolish, because we have read the book. His advisors could see clearly that he was leading his people to disaster, but…
…the powerlessness of the gods in which they believed. The symbolism of these plagues, often lost on us, would have been immediately apparent to the Egyptians. By first ordering the midwives to kill all male Israelite babies, and then, when that failed, by commanding, “Every boy who is born must be cast into the Nile” (Exodus 1:22), Pharaoh had turned…
…its stories. (The late Elie Wiesel once said, “God created man because God loves stories”). Almost certainly, the tradition goes back to the days when our ancestors were hunter-gatherers telling stories around the campfire at night. We are the storytelling animal. But what is truly remarkable is the way in which, in this week’s parsha, on the brink of the…
…series of experiments has been conducted by psychologists to test the impact of the sense of being observed on pro-social behaviour. Chenbo Zhong, Vanessa Bohns and Francesca Gino constructed a test to see whether a feeling of anonymity made a difference. They randomly assigned to a group of students either sunglasses or clear glasses, telling them that they were testing…
…Whose beard was equal to his height? (See below for the answers) This Week’s Parsha Puzzle Answer: The Gemara (Moed Katan 18a) states that Paroh was only an amah tall (an amah is a biblical measurement, usually translated as a cubit, about 18-24 inches long) and he possessed a beard that was also an amah long. This question has been…
…to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when He struck down the Egyptians.’ (Shemot 12:26-27) [2]On that day tell your child, ‘I do this because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ (Shemot 13:8) [3]“In days to come, when your child asks you, ‘What…
It is no accident that Parshat Bo, the section that deals with the culminating plagues and the Exodus, should turn three times to the subject of children and the duty of parents to educate them. As Jews we believe that to defend a country you need an army, but to defend a civilisation you need education. Freedom is lost when…