Curriculum
- 11 Sections
- 11 Lessons
- Lifetime
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- Why ‘Ten Paths to God’?‘Seek God where He is to be found, call Him when He is close.’ The Sages were puzzled by this verse. When is God not close? Surely God is everywhere. Their answer was profound. God is always close to us, but we are not always close to God.1
- The Way of Identity: On Being a JewIn this first unit, through the texts that Rabbi Sacks has selected as well as from some excerpts from his own writings, we will explore the path to God through our personal Jewish identity and national Jewish destiny. Through a sense that we are part of a special people with a special vocation and calling, we can connect to and develop further our relationship with God.1
- The Way of Prayer: Speaking to GodIn this second unit, we will explore the path to God through prayer, arguably the principle connection to God in Judaism. We will look at some of the classic themes of Jewish prayer using texts that Rabbi Sacks has selected, and develop an understanding of these themes through his writings.1
- The Way of Study: Listening to GodIn this third unit, we will explore the path to God through Torah study. We will look at some of the classic approaches to the mitzvah of Torah study using texts that Rabbi Sacks has selected, and develop an understanding of these themes through his writings.2
- The Way of Mitzvot: Responding to GodIn this fourth unit, through various quotes and texts written by Rabbi Sacks, the path to God through Mitzvot will be explored. Mitzvot in the thought of Rabbi Sacks represent “miniature acts of redemption”, elevating the secular to holiness, bringing God into our world, becoming His partner in creation, ultimately leading to a universal redemption of the world. Most importantly, mitzvot are “truth lived” making Judaism unique as a religion of action rather than merely contemplation and thought.1
- The Way of Tzedakah: Love as JusticeIn this fifth unit the mitzvah of tzedakah will be explored in the thought of Rabbi Sacks. For Rabbi Sacks, tzedakah is based on four core concepts, each of which will be fully explored in the unit: Judaism’s approach to the ethics of material wealth, responsibility as a value and calling for every Jew, tzedakah as a vehicle for spiritual and moral growth, and finally the value that is at the very core of the concept of tzedakah in Jewish thought and practice, the dignity of the human being. For Rabbi Sacks struggles to find an appropriate English translation for the Hebrew word tzedakah. Some translate it as charity, yet the root of the word has the meaning of justice. For Rabbi Sacks, neither is sufficient because conceptually tzedakah encompasses both of these ideas, despite their seeming contradictory nature. Justice is dispensed by a judge or a king, and charity is a gift of love given by a parent. But God plays both roles in our life, Avinu Malkeinu, and tzedakah asks us to relate to our fellow human as both as well. Hence the title of this unit. Tzedakah is love as justice.1
- The Way of ChessedIn this sixth unit the mitzvah of chessed will be explored in the thought of Rabbi Sacks. While tzedakah is giving with our material resources, chessed is giving of ourselves, with our time and with our hearts. For Rabbi Sacks, chessed is a critical element of the covenantal bond that he believes is at the very core of Judaism’s vision for society. A society that is founded on a social contract, concerned primarily with regulating power and justice, will have mishpat and tzedek / tzedakah as its core values, whereas a ‘society as extended family’ that is founded on a social covenant, built on the values of loyalty, fidelity and faithfulness, will have chessed at its core. To truly understand the values of chessed and the impact of chessed on society, one has to experience it. Thus, in this unit we have chosen to use storytelling as the primary vehicle for educating about chessed, allowing the student to experience chessed in an emotional as well as intellectual way.1
- The Way of Faith: Love as LoyaltyIn this seventh unit we will explore the path to God through Faith, using texts that Rabbi Sacks has selected and written. Faith and our relationship with God are such challenging areas for Jewish educators that all too often they are avoided altogether. It is our hope that the direction taken here will allow educators and students together to explore in a spirit of honesty and openness the critical questions of belief, faith, and approach to a relationship to God, in an open, appropriate, and constructive way. As Rabbi Sacks says about faith itself, it takes a courageous educator to allow space in the classroom for challenging, questioning, and honest and open inquiry into issues of faith and God, and we hope that this unit will provide the framework for that to happen.1
- The Way of Israel: The Jewish LandIn this eighth unit we will explore the role of the Land of Israel in Rabbi Sacks’ thought and philosophy of Judaism. Rabbi Sacks is well known for his advocacy and passion for the modern State of Israel, especially in his social media presence. Israel also plays a prominent theological role in his writings. For Rabbi Sacks, the Jewish people living in security in their homeland, building a society based on the core values of Judaism, is critical to the fulfilment of Jewish destiny and the national Jewish mission.1
- The Way of Kiddush Hashem: The Jewish TaskIt can be argued that this ninth unit is the most critical in understanding the thought of Rabbi Sacks, as it explores his concept of Kiddush Hashem, the Jewish national mission and the most central and critical idea in his philosophy of Judaism. For Rabbi Sacks, the Jewish people have been commissioned by God to be His ambassadors on earth, spreading the core values of Judaism. We are to do that by creating a model society, and by being a role model nation, embodying the values that are inherent and central to Judaism.1
- The Way of Responsibility: The Jewish FutureBuilding on the central concept of the Jewish national mission that was explored in the previous unit, this tenth unit presents Rabbi Sacks approach to Responsibility. For Rabbi Sacks the definition of a Jew is one who sees the problems in the world and seeks to fix them. Judaism is God’s call to responsibility and to be a Jew is to accept responsibility.1
The Way of Study: Listening to God
Transcript
Jews are the ‘people of the book’. Talmud Torah – studying Torah – is the greatest of all the commands and the secret of Jewish continuity. In the Shema we are commanded, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, and your might.’ Then almost immediately it says, ‘Teach these things repeatedly to your children, speaking of them when you sit at home and when you travel on the way, when you lie down and when you rise.’ Judaism is a religion of education.
Study is holier even than prayer, for in prayer we speak to God, but in study we listen to God. We strive to understand what God wants from us. We try to make His will ours. For the holiest thing is God’s word. The Torah – God’s word to our ancestors – is our constitution as a nation, our covenant of liberty, the code by which we decipher the mystery and meaning of life.
The words of the Torah span a thousand years, from Moses to Malachi, the first and last of the prophets. For another thousand years, until the completion of the Babylonian Talmud, Jews added commentaries to the Book, and for yet another thousand years they wrote commentaries to the commentaries. Never has there been a deeper relationship between a people and a book. The ancient Greeks, puzzled by the phenomenon of an entire people dedicated to learning, called Jews ‘a nation of philosophers’. Certainly we are called on to be a nation of students and teachers. In Judaism we not only learn to live; we live to learn. In study, we make Torah real in the mind so that we can make it actual in the world.
Questions for my journey…
The educational aims for this unit are for students to:
- How does this teaching apply to me?
- How can I act on it to become a better person?
- How can this help me to lead a more meaningful and fulfilled life?