Areyvut Archives
Beth Hillel Congregation Bnai Emunah All Star Leaders Activity
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
On Tuesday, February 20, Areyvut did the All Star Leaders Activity with 6th graders and their parents at Beth Hillel Congregation Bnai Emunah in Wilmette, IL. The rationale behind the program is to draw upon Jewish history and culture as sources for role models and to consider what it means to be a strong Jewish leader. Students can use these role models to guide their journey into Jewish adulthood.
During the activity, students were asked to develop a list of 18 Jews (you can adapt the number to meet your own needs) from Biblical times through the present, who would constitute an ideal Jewish leadership group. The leaders should be people who in their own historical era demonstrated a capacity to provide effective Jewish leadership in Jewish life. After drawing up their leadership lists, the students selected one person from their list and explained to the group who they selected and why. The lesson was concluded with a discussion of what makes someone a leader.
The program was well received and each student went home with the Areyvut "Bnai Mitzvah Journal" to guide them through their bar/bat mitzvah project as well as a consultation packet which includes information on adding meaning to a bar/bat mitzvah, incorporating a theme into Bnai Mitzvah celebrations, a Mitzvah project timeline, an overview of Areyvut's website resources, Jewish texts about the centrality of chesed in Judaism, facts about our world and a form to submit entries for Areyvut's 2008 "A Kindness a Day" calendar.