Leader's Discussion Guide for A Spiritual Journey

Overview
These chapters deal with the topics of Torah, haftarah, the derashah, and our relationship to Torah.

Experiential Activities
In the synagogue sanctuary, demonstrate how one behaves during an aliyah. Make certain that parents know their Hebrew names. Teach the Torah blessings if necessary or arrange a special time for instructing individual parents.

What is trop? How did it evolve? Show examples of its notation. Invite the Cantor to demonstrate Torah trop.

Name the five books of the Bible that make up the Torah scroll. Explain the system of arranging the Torah text into weekly portions and point out times of the year that each book is read. Show how a Jewish calendar lists the weekly Torah portions.

Choose a Torah portion to read and discuss together. Have a few of the well-known commentaries that have to do with that specific portion on hand. Explain that a commentary can be a brief story, a statement that illuminates the meaning of the text, or one that clarifies a point of confusion. Discuss the meaning of the portion and the ways it speaks to us in our modern time. Have each person share one new thing that he or she learns from that portion. Create original commentaries on the portion.

Give each family a Humash and ask them to locate the specific Torah portion for the day of their child's Bar or Bat Mitzvah ceremony. Ask each family to read it through, focusing on points that interest them. Provide some basic commentaries such as Rashi, books of midrash in English, etc. Have each family spend sometime researching their portion, discovering the traditional commentaries. You might wish to spend a few minutes at this time helping participants understand the basic outline of a derashah.

Values Formation
H.L. Ginsberg was once asked by his students at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, "If you had to teach a child all that he would ever be taught about Judaism in only fifteen minutes, what would you do?" He replied, "I would take out the Torah and dance with it." Discuss what this statement means to you.

Look at the prayer Etz Hayyim. Discuss the meaning of the prayer and its place in the service, stressing the ways this prayer can speak to us as modern Jews.

How do we use the Torah to guide us and help us make decisions in our modern lives? Cite examples such as abortion, medical ethics, family matters, etc.

Spiritual Development
The word "Torah" can be defined in many ways depending on whether you hold a Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist or Orthodox view. Spend a few minutes discussing what various Jews mean when they say "Torah." Place yourself in the spectrum and encourage participants to do so as well.

Look at the commentaries to the Torah included in your synagogue's Humash. Discuss what is meant by a commentary. Explain how modern commentaries continue to evolve.

Provide each member of the group with an index card with one Torah verse written on the top line. (Each member of the group gets the same verse.) Select a provocative passage. Discuss the context of the verse or the section from which it is taken and point out the need for clarification or amplification. Have each person write a brief comment on the card to enhance the meaning of the text. Collect the cards and distribute them again so a new "commentator" can comment on the first. This can be repeated a few times. Pick a particularly "good" card and write the comments on the chalkboard in the style of the meforshim in Mikraot G'dolot. Point out that this is essentially the process: Ibn Ezra disagreeing with Rashi, Sforno with Rambam. The commentaries can be viewed as a continuing discussion across the borders of time and space. Point out the unending nature of biblical commentary by showing more recent published works if available.

Discussion Points
Familiarize participants with the Humash used in your congregation. Discuss the length of the portion that your congregation reads (the entire section, the assigned reading for the triennial cycle, or a literary unit within the sedra).

What is an aliyah? How many aliyot are given in your synagogue? Why is it an honor to receive an aliyah? The Rabbis said we should rush to the bimah for an aliyah and delay in leaving. Discuss.

What is a derashah? How do we prepare it?

Read Bava Metzia 59b. "And Rabbi Eliezer had used every possible argument but the rabbis were not convinced." We learn that God was pleased when the people took the Torah into their own hands, imaging the Holy One as laughing, "My children have defeated me!" It includes the verse, "The Torah is not in heaven." (Deut. 30). Discuss.

Explain your view of how God communicates with people and ask the group to share their views.