Supplies

• Laminated paper
• Dry erase marker
• Paper towel*
• Paper*
• Pen, pencil, etc.*

Framing

• On Rosh Hashanah, we often read the Creation story from our Torah. Tradition teaches us that while God made the world in six days, there was a bit of work that was left unfinished. Some people say that God left mistakes and imperfections in the world so that we, as humans, have an obligation to do our part to try and make things more perfect.

Steps

• Make a list of the responsibilities you have. These might include household chores, schoolwork, clubs or teams you are a part of, or things you do in the community. Leave space to write next to each one.
• Next to each responsibility you listed, jot down why it’s important to honor these responsibilities. You might also want to think about the consequences or ramifications of not following through on any of them. Make sure to note the emotions you feel when you follow through on something and when you don’t.
• On a fresh piece of paper, make a list of any new responsibilities you think you can take on this year. Think especially about how you can get involved in the community and to try finish God’s work in making the world a better place.

Supplies

• Laminated paper
• Dry erase marker
• Paper towel*
• Paper*
• Pen, pencil, etc.*

Framing

• Another name Yom Kippur is Yom Ha’din, the Day of Judgment. After all, this is a day where we think about our wrongdoings and we ask for forgiveness from our friends and our families.
• We apologize and pledge that we will not make the same mistake in the coming year. This is the process of Teshuvah, which means “repentance” or turning back. It’s like we are trying to turn back to the way that we were before we made the mistake.
• Jewish tradition tells us that simply saying osrry is not enough; we must own our mistakes, be truly remorseful and sincere, and demonstrate that we know how to behave differently for our apology to count.

Steps

• Read the below scenarios and think to yourself if the apology in each story would be considered valid according to Jewish tradition.
• Grab a piece of paper or open up a document on your computer and respond in a few sentences to prompts following each scenario. Be sure to watch the video to see if you are correct!

Scenario 1

Danny got 98% on an important school test, but he felt lousy.  It was really Sherryl who got the great score, and Danny had copied her answers while Sherryl and the teacher weren’t looking. Danny looked down at the “A” on his paper and said to himself, “I don’t deserve this grade.  I’m ashamed of myself for cheating. I won’t tell anyone about this, but I won’t do it again.”

• Did Danny practice teshuvah?
• When have you been like Danny? Describe the situation and note how you behaved.
• What, if anything, would you do differently next time?
• Watch the video about Danny

Scenario 2

Amy was 14 years, and she’d been smoking cigarettes since she was 12. “I can quit anytime I want.” is the phrase she had been repeating for the last two years. But now things were different and she was trying to quit.  She knew smoking was unhealthy, and it was those ads that talked about the number of people who died each day from smoking that really scared her. But three days after she pledged to stop, she lit up again. She then tried quitting a second time, but it only lasted a few days. So far, she has quit seven times in the last two months. The longest she has gone without a cigarette was six days.  She really wants to quit smoking and she figures that at least she’s trying. That’s what really counts.

• Did Amy practice teshuvah?
• When have you been like Amy? Describe the situation and note how you behaved.
• What, if anything, would you do differently next time?
• Watch the video about Amy

Scenario 3

Leslie and Audrey really wanted to be on the cheerleading team, so they both tried out.  While Leslie was with some of the girls who would be voting on the new recruits, she said, “Don’t you think Audrey is such a klutz? She’s always dropping things!” When the results were announced a few days later, Leslie made the team, but Audrey did not and she went home from school in tears.  Leslie felt horrible that she had ruined Audrey’s chances.  She had really wanted to make the squad, but wished it didn’t have to happen at Audrey’s expense.  After a lot of thought, she went to Audrey and apologized, and she then admitted what she had done to the head cheerleader.  Leslie told the other girls that it was not fair and that Audrey should have her spot on the squad.

• Did Leslie practice teshuvah?
• When have you been like Leslie? Describe the situation and note how you behaved.
• What, if anything, would you do differently next time?
• Watch the video about Leslie

Supplies

• Laminated paper
• Dry erase marker
• Paper towel*
• Paper*
• Pen, pencil, etc.*

Framing

• Yom Kippur is time for teshuvah. The word means “to turn,” so we think of it as turning away from mistakes we made in the past. We might also think of it as “returning” to the best version of ourselves as we admit things we regret and hope to do better. What are some of the ways we make mistakes?
  Possible answers include: we yell, we are mean to friends, we don’t listen to teachers, we are not polite to parents, etc.
• Now think about someone you hurt this year. What did you do to that person to cause them to feel hurt?
  Possible answers include: called someone a bad name, yelled at a friend or parent, etc.

Steps

• Do your best to make in-person apologies.
• Write some notes or even a script of what you might say to those people you have hurt.
• Reach out to those people by FaceTime, Zoom, or phone to apologize for what you did wrong.

Supplies

• Foam flip flops
• Sticker sheet
• Markers*

Framing

• Yom Kippur is a time for prayer. We pray that God forgives us for the mistakes that we make, but our machzor (special High Holy Day prayer book) tells us that we cannot merely pray for that to happen. Instead we need to do things to show how serious we are about changing.
• Three of those things are explicitly mentioned in our services: teshuvah, t’filah, and tzedakah.
  • Teshuvah is “return” or “repentance” which means becoming better people.
  • T’filah is “prayer” or “worship”.
  • Tzedakah is “justice” or “righteousness” which means charity or giving our money or time to help someone in need.
• Why do you think each of these is an important value, especially at this time of year?
  • Teshuvah helps us grow as individuals and become happier with ourselves
  • T’filah helps us build connections to our tradition and it’s teachings
  • Tzedakah helps us make the world a better place
• Because Yom Kippur is such a special day, we often dress up in fancy clothes. We also see people wear special Jewish ritual items like a kippah (“yarmulke”) or a tallit (prayer shawl). Each of these reminds us about the importance of asking God and our loved ones forgiveness.
• In some communities, it’s customary to avoid wearing leather on Yom Kippur. Our tradition tells us that we should avoid being comfortable, so we wear mis-matched outfits to remind ourselves about the holy work we do. That’s why you will often see people dressing up in a suit or fancy clothes, but with sneakers or slippers instead of dress shoes – which are usually made of leather. 

Steps

• Now we get to make our own special “Yom Kippur slippers” to wear on Yom Kippur! Take your pair of flip flops and decorate them however you want.
• You may want to put a hope or wish for the new year on your slippers. Or you may want to write an apology that you have for Yom Kippur – that way you can be reminded of it when you put on your slippers.

Supplies

• Pom poms
• Bullseye sheet
• Toothpaste

Framing

• In Jewish tradition, we like to talk about making a mistake as “missing the mark” as if to suggest that we tried to do something correctly but were not able to do so. We translate the Hebrew cheyt as “sin,” but a more accurate translation would be “missing the mark.” Like an archer who misses their target with an arrow, we see where our cheyts landed as we try to move closer to the target with our actions.
• Think about something you did in the last year that didn’t go as planned. Maybe you had the right intentions but made a mistake along the way. Or maybe your efforts caused more harm than good.

Steps

• Try to demonstrate reaching and missing the mark. Collect the pom-poms and the bullseye target. Set up the target on the floor or a wall about 3 feet from you, and throw the pom-poms at the center; see how close you got.
• Now try it again from 4 feet. Then repeat the process from 5 feet. Continue getting farther and farther from the target each time until you can’t reach it at all!
• Think about how easy or hard it was to reach the target from each distance. Think about how easy or hard it was to reach the bullseye.
• Hitting the bullseye is like doing the right thing. Hitting the target, but not the bullseye, is like doing something wrong. The clearer the bullseye is, the easier it is to reach. 

Additional Activity

Toothpaste Tube

• Grab the small tube of toothpaste and squeeze out the contents into a bowl or sink.
• Try to put the toothpaste back in. You will find it is very hard, or even impossible to do that.
• Clean up the toothpaste as best you can.
• Sometimes we cannot take back our mistakes. Like the toothpaste, it’s impossible for us to go back and undo them. But when we clean up the toothpaste, it’s like cleaning up our mistakes.

Supplies

• Laminated paper
• Dry erase marker
• Paper towel*

Framing

• Why do we often dress in white on the High Holy Days? Why is the Torah also wrapped in a white cover? What does the color symbolize?
  Possible answers include: White is often seen as a color of purity. Like a bride on her wedding day, we are at our happiest and our best selves when we are pure. Therefore, we dress in white to show that we strive to be our best.
• What does it mean to start again? How can we try and amend our wrong-doings? How can we give ourselves a clean slate for next year?
  Possible answers include: We can never really “start over” without erasing our past, but we can learn from past mistakes and do better in the future by owning those mistakes, admitting our faults, and behaving differently next time.

Steps

• Write on that sheet something you did wrong in the past year that you want to improve upon.
• Stare at it for a moment and think about who you could behave differently next time.
• Once you’ve owned your mistake and feel confident that you can do better next time, erase it and start again.
• Repeat this process several times with a few other mistakes you want to work on.