How It's Made: Torah Scroll, the first in the How It's Made series, is a vibrant resource that enhances the learning of the holiest object in Judaism.
In this Apples & Honey Press book, students can explore how a Torah scroll comes into being through more than 100 full-color photographs and interviews that give a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at scribes, artists, and craftspeople in their workshops in Israel and the United States.
How It's Made: Torah Scroll can complement learning about Yom Kippur, for example. Here are some ideas:
Goal: Recognize that everyone makes mistakes, even adults.
Activity Ideas:
1. Have students tell (or write or draw) about a time they made a mistake, and how they fixed it. Learn how people who write Torah scrolls fix their mistakes (pages 16-17 of How It’s Made: Torah Scroll). Tie this into the concept of t’shuvah and trying to make things right when we make mistakes.
How do they know when they’ve made a mistake? How do they try to correct mistakes? Do they do anything differently the next time a similar situation arises to avoid making a mistake again?
2. Practice proofreading. Give students a written page of text (English, most likely, but try it with Hebrew if students have strong language skills) with intentional mistakes on it and see how many they can find.
The FREE Educator's Guide to Using How It's Made: Torah Scroll is full of other ideas for when and how to use the book, whether as an introduction to Torah or as part of units on Hebrew, Shabbat and holidays, mitzvot, or values. Download the FREE Educator's Guide to Using How It's Made: Torah Scroll here.
How It’s Made: Torah Scroll is part of a series of photographic books that also includes How It’s Made: Matzah. How It's Made: Hanukkah will be published in 2018.
