A Manual for Teaching Biblical History — John Shaqi
A Manual for Teaching Biblical HistoryKohn, Eugene
Religion
A Manual for Teaching Biblical History
Kohn, Eugene
Jewish religious education of children -- United States
"And so, children, whenever we see a rainbow it should remind us of this
story of how God saved Noah from the flood because of his goodness, and
how God promised never to destroy the whole world again by a terrible
flood. And whenever we see a rainbow we should all of us say this little
prayer or <i>berakah</i> which I will teach you, מֶלֶךְ אֱלֹהֵינו יְהֹוָה אַתָּה בָּרוּךְ
בְּמַאֲמָרוֹ וְקַיָם בִּבְרִיתוֹ וֱנֶאֶמָן הַבְּרִית זוֹכֵר הָעוֹלָם, which means, "Blessed be
thou, O Lord our God, King of the world, who remembers His covenant and
is faithful to His covenant and keeps his promise".
The term covenant must be explained to the child in this chapter as
an exchange of promises.
The story of Noah contains many appeals to the child's interest
which the skillful teacher will know how to make the most of. A
Noah's ark with all manner of queer little wooden animals that could
be put in and taken out again has been a favorite toy with many
a child now grown to manhood. A child is naturally interested in
animals and, when you tell of how the animals came into the ark,
ask the children to tell you the names of animals they have seen in
the zoo or circus.
To emphasize the moral of the story use the _haggadic_ elaboration
of it according to which the period that the ark was in process of
construction gave the sinners an opportunity to repent, of which
however they did not avail themselves but instead merely mocked
Noah for trusting in God and obeying him. This _haggada_ is in full
accord with the spirit of the Biblical narrative and gives content
to the statement: "Noah was in his generation a righteous and
whole-hearted man; Noah walked with God."[1]
[1] whenever a _haggadah_ is useful as explaining a biblical
passage, it may be taught as part of the biblical lesson. but the
teacher should avoid teaching such legends as may misrepresent the
biblical meaning and even such as are merely extraneous to the
subject, as, for example, the legend of abraham's persecution by
nimrod, for we must be careful that these legends do not usurp the
unique place which the bible as torah must hold in jewish life and
thought. the _haggadah_ is not authoritative; the bible is.
The episode narrated in Genesis 9.21 to 29 had better be omitted as
not adapted for children.
CHAPTER V
THE TOWER OF BABEL
Genesis 11.1 to 9
=Interpretation.= These verses tell how the descendants of Noah in
the pride of a new civilization and the acquisition of the new art
of building with bricks endeavor to defeat the divine purpose of
scattering them over the world and are frustrated in their plans
through God's confusing their language. Its moral is the vanity of
any attempt on the part of man to defeat God's purpose.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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