As a whole school, we have been learning about the Jewish faith In particular, Year 6 have learned about Rosh Hashanah (The Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur ( The Day of Atonement).
As well as learning about these special and significant Jewish days in class, we took part in a workshop with Ruth, a Jewish teacher who used artefacts and told us of her experiences as Jewish person who celebrates these days.
Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year, which will be celebrated this year on 25th September. It is an opportunity for a fresh start. Before Jewish people ce;ebrate their new year, they ensure that anyone the yave wronged through the year, they apologise to so that when they start the new year they can have a completely new beginning without dragging past wrongs with them.
The day is spent in a celebratory manner with prayer and family time enjoying sweet foods such as apples dipped in honey. This is a symbol to remind us that God’s love is sweet and He provides for us. Pomegranates are used as the seeds represent all the good things we can do for others and to serve God.
The children enjoyed sharing the pomegranate seeds and sharing bread and apples dipped in honey together.
Yom Kippur is ten days after Rosh Hashanah. It is a more solemn day, spent in prayer and fasting for 25 days. The prayers ask God to forgive our sins and to remember the rules He wants us to follow.
A celebratory assembly on Friday, allowed Year 6 to show the school what we had learned. Some children even used the shofar (a ram’s horn) to demonstrate how one of the world’s oldest instruments is used to signal God, the King, is approaching. The shofar is in fact blown 100 times each day of Rosh Hashanah.
Learning about Judaism, a faith in which our own faith is so deeply connected is fascinating. The children were very respectful and interested in knowing more about this religion and culture.