7th/8th Grade Class 12/15/13

The students began class today writing to the following prompt:

Why do you think Judaism survived after the total destruction of the Jewish homeland in the first century ce?

The class created this list of reasons for the survival of Judaism:

1. The Torah, Talmud and other Jewish writings

2. The universal literacy rate among Jewish males, making communication and trade possible for Jews of the Diaspora

3. The desire to remain Jewish

4. Jewish exclusion from the surrounding world

Our study of Hebrew History continued with look at Jewish life in the first five centuries of the Common Era. We saw how the fall of Rome and the rise of Christianity affected the Jews of the Diaspora.

Using our Talmudic text, Mah La’Asot, we discussed the Biblical laws surrounding the observance of the Shabbat and how those laws are interpreted by modern day rabbis.