Behrman House: Our Catalog: Curriculum Guide: Ethics and Mitzvot

Teaching
Ethics & Mitzvot

Strengthen your religious school curriculum with
books that build character and instill Jewish values

teach lifelong values

to every child

in every grade

Teaching Ethics & Mitzvot

Judaism has much to say about developing a child's moral and spiritual foundations. Its teachings connect a youngster's evolving sense of responsibility and autonomy with Jewish sacred actions and with Jewish values. And, in each generation, our tradition of wisdom, compassion, and ethics has provided a roadmap — a guide — as children learn to live in a sometimes complicated and confusing world.

As Jewish educators, we reach out to children at every stage of their social and intellectual development. We believe that it is never too early to engage their interest in ethical issues and values, that children's understanding must be encouraged to grow and mature over time, and that it is never too late for them to learn more.

And so, Behrman House offers a range of books and other materials to help students explore Jewish ethics, values, and rituals — the mitzvot — throughout their religious school education.

The books will help you:
·  Deepen and enrich your students' Jewish identity.
·  Strengthen your students' abilities to make ethical choices
    based on Jewish teachings.
·  Illustrate the relationship between performing mitzvot and
    addressing real-world problems and challenges.
·  Inspire your students to apply Jewish values and ethics to
    their daily lives, for example, in building relationships with
    their families and community, and in negotiating the
    challenges they confront at school.

With these materials, you can choose from a dynamic range of tools and techniques to teach children at all grade levels how to be just, how to be righteous, and how to lead lives of purpose and of meaning.

Grades K-2

Let's Discover Mitzvot

These bold four-page, full-color folders help young children discover the place of the mitzvot in their lives. Eight mitzvot — one in each folder — are explained in terms children can easily grasp, using poems, engaging questions, thoughtful activities, and evocative stories, all enlivened by vivid, age-appropriate artwork and photographs.

A special "My Family and Me" section provides suggestions for families to undertake simple yet meaningful mitzvah activities at home. Folders: Tzedakah, Visit the Sick, Feed the Hungry, Save the Earth, Derech Eretz, Welcome Guests, Guard Your Tongue, and Talmud Torah.

Grades 3-4

The Ten Commandments

In this engaging text-activity book, students discover the meaning behind each of the Ten Commandments. Timeless stories from the Bible, Talmud, and Jewish folklore bring the commandments to life, while puzzles, mazes, games and other hands-on activities help reinforce leaning. Thought-provoking questions ("Should a person expect a reward for returning something that was lost?") encourage self-expression and provide opportunities for students to make connections between their own lives and the teachings of our tradition.

Grades 4-5

A Kid's Mensch Handbook

At an age when students are thinking critically about right and wrong and the role that Judaism will play in their lives, A Kid's Mensch Handbook: Step by Step to a Lifetime of Jewish Values provides a wealth of Jewish advice, experience, and answers.

Designed to engage your students' imaginations with kid-friendly narrative and real-life dilemmas (What should I do if kids are gossiping about my friend?; Why should I bother giving Tzedakah if I'll never meet the recipient?), A Kid's Mensch Handbook provides each student with a unique and lasting connection to core Jewish values--including k'vot habriyot (respect for all people), sh'lom bayit (peace in the home), and dibbuk haverim (respect and fair treatment for friends and classmates). Includes a "Mensch Index," which allows students to find Jewish answers to their tough questions.

Grades 4-6

Living as Partners With God

This ground-breaking book explores the concepts of community and the covenantal relationship between God and the Jewish people.

Journeying through the history of the Jewish people, students explore the role that mitzvot — finding opportunities for tikkun olam, praying as a community, pursuing peace, observing Shabbat, and many more — play in fulfilling our Covenant with God. Along the way, they meet the men and women whose stories help bring mitzvot to life — from the ancient prophets and sages such as Moses, Isaiah, Deborah, and Hillel, to modern heroes such as Abraham Joshua Heschel, Hannah Senesh, and Yitzhak Rabin.

Grades 5-7

Count Me In

Pre-teens and teens explore Jewish values through the lens of their daily lives; for example, what to do when they feel jealous of a sibling and how to make sound judgments in difficult situations. Includes a rich array of traditional stories and source material from sacred texts-both biblical and Talmudic.

Grades 6-8

Jewish Heroes, Jewish Values: Living Mitzvot in Today's World

Young adults begin to wonder: "How can I make a difference in the world?" These dramatic and inspiriting stories of heroic men and women in the world of science, sports, film, and politics — people such as Sandy Koufax, Albert Einstein, Hannah Senesh, and Steve Spielberg — tell students how. they serve as models to help students link Jewish values and ideals to their personal actions and lives.

In each chapter, a "Spotlight on the Bible" section ties the modern hero to a figure from our tradition who lived out the same Jewish value, while the "Jewish Heroes Hall of Fame" enables students to see how they can fulfill the core Jewish values in their own lives. Illustrated with over 70 photos.

A Topical Bible: Biblical Answers to Modern Questions

How do you repair a damaged relationship? Handle authority? Identify with the suffering of others? Illustrated with dramatic contemporary photographs and whimsical cartoons, A Topical Bible applies biblical texts to modern problems, showing how textual study can help young people answer the questions they often ask about social and ethical issues.

Step-by-step questions and discussions guide students through the text and demonstrate how by studying text they can discover a moral framework for their lives.

Grades 7-9

Making a Difference: Putting Jewish Spirituality into Action, One Mitzvah at a Time

This action-based view of Jewish spirituality helps young teens understand ritual and ethical mitzvot — such as Tefillah, Ahavat Tziyon, Bikkur Holim, Talmud Torah, and Rodef Shalom — and find practical and creative applications for them. Students make a personal connection with the mitzvot as they study the wisdom of Jewish texts.

Includes special features such as the Mitzvah Journal, Self-Portrait ("List ten values and beliefs that you have than can be your personal Ten Commandments"), and stories of Jewish teens who have made a difference in their communities through mitzvah projects. Illustrated with over 130 photographs and designed in a style that resonates with teens.