Each Friday night, we spend some time talking about the weekly Torah portion. The kids each share something with us. Our 9 year old daughter and 6 year old son often read and discuss something they learned in school. Our 4 year old son usually helps us read a relevant picture book.
Rabbi Dianne Cohler-Esses wrote a piece that was published on http://www.myjewishlearning.com/ titled "Not Embarrassing Others." It is really worth reading. It got me thinking. Before we can talk about how Joseph chose not to embarrass his brothers after so many years later and after all they had done, we really need talk about feeling embarrassed and making others feel embarrassed.
It is also a moment that we cannot let pass. It makes me wonder... does my 4 year old know what it means to be embarrassed? Has our our 6 (soon to be 7) year old and our 9 year old ever felt embarrassed ? They happen to live a fairly public life. It's probably important to start an open dialogue about this topic sooner rather than later. When will sharing stories about them be too embarrassing for them? Maybe it already is too embarrassing. I guess I am about to find out. The Torah portion Vayigash gives us a great way to start and continue this conversation.
So here's the plan...
1- Our 4 year old recently finished an author study of Robert Munsch so we plan to read "I'm So Embarrassed" by Robert Munsch.
2- We are going to fill a box with open ended prompts for them to answer to find out who, what, where and when they feel embarrassed.
3- We will read the section about Joseph and his brothers and begin to make our own connection.
I will let you know how it goes next week..
Shabbat Shalom.
No comments:
Post a Comment