Classrooms all over the country now engage their students in creating class rules for increased buy-in, student accountability, and a variety of other reasons. In most classrooms, this is a 20-30 minute activity during the very first day of class.
At Makom Community, we took this idea to the next level and spent six weeks creating a brit. Jewish tradition sees a brit as a two-way promise. It’s the kind of articulation of relationship between God and Abraham and God and Noah where they can each expect a variety of things from each other.
Our classroom brit helps us know what we can expect from each other while we’re here at Makom Community.
We began our journey toward creating a Brit by engaging in a variety of ways with text from Torah that shape how we move through the world.
We studied these texts (from the books of Vayikra/Leviticus and Devarim/Dueteronomy): 
Love your neighbor as yourself. (Vayikra 19:18)
Be Holy, because I, God am holy. (Vayikra 19:2)
When you harvest your land, do not cut all the way to the edges or pick up what you drop. Don’t pick your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen fruit. Leave them for the poor and the stranger. (Vayikra 19:9-10)
Don’t hate another in your heart. (Vayikra 19:17)
Build a fence around your roof. (Devarim 22:8)
From each text, we acted out skits, created and navigated obstacle courses, and are continuing to grow our skills for noticing, listening, and communicating.
When our students set out to create a list of guidelines for ourselves after all that work, they decided that a list of statements wasn’t the right approach for them. Rather, they agreed that they would prefer a list of question to ask themselves and each other to decide if something was in keeping with our expectations of each other—our Brit. We did some brainstorming and drafting, and then we created these guiding questions together. 
This is the Brit that grew out of those conversations:
I promise to ask myself these questions—and more—while I am here at Makom Community:
- How are you doing? Are you okay? And listen to the answer.
- If I do this, will it be safe for all the people here?
- If I do this, will it be safe for our stuff?
- If I do this, might it hurt their feelings?
- If I do this, will I feel good about it?
- Will it hurt my feelings?
- Does someone else want this?
- Does someone else need this?
- Do I need this?
- Do I want this?
- How am I sharing space?
- What does their body tell me?
- What does their voice tell me?
- Is this a loving thing to do?
- Is this a loving thing to say?
- Is this a loving thing to do to our stuff?
We each signed our brit with a handprint. Our handprints are colorful as the rainbow that serves as God’s signature on his brit with Noah, and as unique and individual as each of us
This brit serves as a great conversation starter whenever anyone is contemplating whether a particular action is a good idea. Makom Community students and staff ask each other “Does someone else need that?” and children can ask each other “If I do this, might it hurt your feelings?”, and “Do you think that is a want or a need?” These conversations have been very fruitful, both in guiding individuals towards appropriate behavior in the moment, and in infusing thoughtfulness into the daily actions of all Makom Community members.
