Hey you! Shema! Listen up! Did we get your attention? Good! This week we have been talking about listening: how we do it, why we do it, and the factors that make listening a challenge at times. We did all this exploring in the context of the first line of Shema, a central piece of Jewish prayer.
Every year at Makom Community we create a new Get Quiet Chant together. Anyone can use it to get the group’s attention when they need the group to listen. Before coming up with this year’s Get Quiet Chant, we asked our students why someone might want a whole group’s attention:
- If you have something important to say
- If you’re trying to hear something important
- If there is an emergency
- If it’s time for recess
Then we explored what listening means and feels like. We went to Rittenhouse Square to listen to our surroundings. We also did some mindful listening to our bodies during tefila. Here are some ideas your thoughtful kiddos had about listening:
- You listen with your brain, your brain is the boss of your body
- You listen with your eyes, when a person is having emotions, you can see that with your eyes
- Listening feels like understanding
- You listen so you don’t die or get in trouble
Our students translated the first line of the Shema: “Listen up, Jewish people! God is our God, and God is one”. We asked them what they would include in a prayer that started that way. Even though we’ve been focusing on the listening piece, most of their guesses were about God:
- More numbers. If God is 1, what is 2?
- God is special
- God is beautiful
- You should praise God every day for providing us with life
- We honor God every day for creating candy, so every time you eat candy or food you should thank God
You’ll have to stay tuned as we dive further into the text of the Shema in the coming weeks to see if they’re right! Looking forward to learning with your kiddos next week in the new year! May your celebrations be sweet and full of deep listening.