Cards and Conversation: A Lesson Plan
Letters to the Next Generation Edition
The Lesson Plan for these cards was developed for teachers to use with Middle School (Grades 6-8) and High School (Grades 9-12) students.
Aims:
- To introduce students to Rabbi Sacks as a thinker and Jewish leader
- To introduce students to the values at the heart of the act of conversation, and the importance of these values and this medium to Rabbi Sacks
- To expose students to some of the core ideas in the thought of Rabbi Sacks through a series of quotes form his writings
- To encourage critical thinking on topical issues in Judaism through facilitating conversations in response
Materials:
- An opportunity to play video clips to your students (including audio)
- A full pack of Cards and Conversation
- This source sheet (see below for the online version)
Who was Rabbi Sacks?
0-10 minutes:
- Brainstorm: what do we know about Rabbi Sacks?
- Show this video and ask students to consider the following questions:
- What did you learn about Rabbi Sacks that you did not know previously?Share something you noticed in the video that interested you.
- Share something you noticed in the video that surprised you.
Conversations
11-20 minutes:
- As well as teaching and public speaking, and all the books he wrote, the video shows Rabbi Sacks having many conversations. Ask your students to share the different kinds of people they noticed him conversing with?
- Show the first 55 seconds of the following video where Gila, the daughter of Rabbi Sacks, explains why conversation was so important to Rabbi Sacks. Ask your students to repeat and reflect on what she said.
- Divide your students into small groups (3-5 students) and ask them to read the following quotes on conversation from the writings of Rabbi Sacks, and using the guiding questions, to reflect on the values involved in the act of conversation. Then bring your class back together for students to share what they discussed.
Cards & Conversation
21-30 minutes:
- Divide your students into chavrutot (pairs) or groups of three. Give each chavruta one of the Cards & Conversation cards. Ask them to look at the side of the card with the illustration and question. Give them 5 min to have a conversation on the question, the illustration, and how the two are connected.
- After five minutes, ask each chavruta to turn the card over and to read the Rabbi Sacks quote. Ask students to discuss and reflect on it, making sure they fully understand it. Ask them to consider how this quote impacts the conversation they were in the middle of on the flip-side of the card.
- If you wish to extend the class, then ask each chavruta to swap cards with a different pair and to repeat the process with their new card.
Sharing
31-40 minutes:
- Bring your class together and ask several pairs to share their card with the class, including reflections both on the ideas contained on the card, as well as the actual process of the conversation and how they were impacted by it.
Sikkum/Conclusions
41-45 minutes:
- Bring everything together by reflecting on the value of conversation, and how this is the traditional form of Jewish learning (chavruta rather than individual study through books or even lectures form a scholar).
- While we do learn from books and teachers in Judaism, the traditional classic Jewish learning method is through conversation with a peer, in a chavruta. Ask your students why they think this is, and how this learning experience was for them?
Source sheet on Rabbi Sacks and Conversation
Source 1:
The Dignity of Difference, p. 83
“How do we live with moral difference and yet sustain an overarching community? The answer, I have already suggested, is conversation - not mere debate but the disciplined act of communicating (making my views intelligible to someone who does not share them) and listening (entering into the inner world of someone whose views are opposed to my own). Each is a genuine form of respect, of paying attention to the other, of conferring value on his or her opinions even though they are not mine. In a debate, one side wins, the other loses, but both are the same as they were before. In a conversation neither side loses and both are changed, because they now know what reality looks like from a different perspective. That is not to say that either gives up its previous convictions. That is not what conversation is about. It does mean, however, that I may now realise that I must make space for another deeply held belief, and if my own case has been compelling, the other side may understand that it too must make space for mine.”
Points to Ponder
- What is the difference between a debate and a conversation?
- Which is more worthwhile? Why?
- Why is it important to make space for people and opinions you do not agree with?
- What are the values at the heart of conversation (as opposed to debate)?
Source 2:
Covenant & Conversation: Genesis, Introduction
“I have called these studies “Covenant & Conversation” because this, for me, is the essence of what Torah learning is – throughout the ages, and for us, now. The text of Torah is our covenant with God, our written constitution as a nation under His sovereignty. The interpretation of this text has been the subject of an ongoing conversation for as long as Jews have studied the Divine word, a conversation that began at Sinai thirty-three centuries ago and has not ceased since. Every age has added its commentaries, and so must ours. Participating in that conversation is a major part of what it is to be a Jew. For we are the people who never stopped learning the Book of Life, our most precious gift from the God of life.”
Points to Ponder
- Who are the participants in the conversation Rabbi Sacks is discussing in this quote?
- Have you ever participated in this conversation?
- Do you think this conversation is important? Why?
- What are the values at the heart of this conversation?
Source 3:
Covenant & Conversation Chayei Sarah: Isaac and Prayer
“Isaac is 'meditating' in the field - but the word sichah in modern Hebrew means not only meditation but also, and primarily, conversation. When the Talmud says, in the context of Isaac, ein sichah ela tefillah, we could translate this phrase as "conversation is a form of prayer" - and in a profound sense it is so. Prayer is a conversation (between heaven and earth). But conversation is also a prayer - for in true conversation, I open myself up to the reality of another person. I enter his or her world. I begin to see things from a perspective not my own. In the touch of two selves, both are changed.
A genuine human conversation is therefore a preparation for, and a microcosmic version of, the act of prayer. For in prayer I attend to the presence of God, listening as well as speaking, opening myself up to a reality other and infinitely vaster than my own, and I become a different person as a result. Prayer is not monologue but dialogue.”
Points to Ponder
- What do you think Rabbi Sacks means when he says, “prayer a conversation”?
- What do you think Rabbi Sacks means when he says, “conversation is a prayer”?
- What can we learn about conversations with another human being from prayer?
- What can we learn about prayer from conversations with another human being?
- What are the values at the heart of each of these types of conversations?