Year 4 visit the Liberal Jewish Synagogue

This morning Year 3 and Year 4 visited the Liberal Jewish Synagogue as part of Judaism Week.

At the Synagogue we discussed that the word Synagogue comes from the Greek word ‘synagein’ which means to gather. A Synagogue is a special place for Jewish people to gather, pray and learn. Dov told us that we are never too old to learn more about our faith, and that the day before he had a 102 year-old student in his class!

We then spent time identifying the different features of the Synagogue and thinking about why they are there. We learnt that the synagogue, unlike Churches, have plain white walls and no statues so that everyone can focus on the readings happening on the lectern at the front called a bimah. There were also two big doors at the front called an ark. The ark is a holy place where the Torah scrolls are kept. Above the ark was a special reminder in Hebrew which said ‘worship G-d with joy’. Above the ark was a special light which every synagogue in the world has. It is the light of G-d which shines on everyone when they are in the synagogue.

We then split into 3 groups, one of the groups went with Miss Debbie who taught us all about Shabbat customs such as lighting the candles, breaking the challah and blessing the wine. Shabbat is a special time from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday when Jewish people rest, just like G-d did after creating the universe. She then told us about how Jewish people end Shabbat with Havdalah by lighting a woven candle and smelling a with with sweet spices to remind them of the sweetness of Shabbat. We even got to try some of the challah! It was very yummy.

Miss Debbie also told us all about the memorial in the Synagogue for all of the Jewish people who died during WWII by Anish Kapoor. It was very dark and beautiful to see. There was a special tiny window which let the light of G-d above the ark to shine onto the memorial.

Later, we headed back to Dov who taught us all about the Torah scroll. He was impressed with our knowledge of the Torah. The Torah is written in Hebrew and written on parchment which means it is very delicate. It needs to be read with a Yad to make sure the words do not get smudges. Dov read some of the Torah for us and taught us about Hebrew. After that we had a go at writing some Hebrew ourselves using the Hebrew alphabet.

For the final part of our workshop, the ark was opened for us to revel the holy Torah scrolls. They were dressed in their covers and crown to protect them. Jewish people take special care of the Torah and dress it with bells and crowns because the Torah contains the word of G-d, who is king of the universe. Some of the scrolls were over 250 years old!

A big thank you from all of us to the Liberal Jewish Synagogue for such a warm welcome and the fascinating and informative workshop! We had an amazing time and learnt so much about the Jewish faith. We hope to see you again soon!

Thank you to the parents who came to support us on the trip, we couldn’t do it without you.

What was was the most interesting thing you learnt on our visit to the Synagogue?