Over the last couple of weeks, the children have been learning about the Jewish faith and have studied some of the important beliefs and celebrations.
The children have learnt about some important festivals in the Jewish calendar. Rosh Hashanah ‘The Head of the Year’ celebrates the beginning of the year. Unlike our New Year, it is a solemn festival and is celebrated in late September. It is a festival for giving thanks for many things, like food and shelter. Sukkot is celebrated ten days after Rosh Hashanah. It celebrates the farmer’s yearly harvest, which takes place in autumn. Sukkot also commemorates the biblical story of the Jews’ escape from Egypt.
The children have found out about and built their own Sukkahs, which are used by Jewish people to remember the hard times living in the desert. A Sukkah is a temporary hut-like construction, covered in greenery, that Jews would dwell in during the celebration of Sukkot. Sukkot commemorates the 40 years the Jewish people spent in the desert on their way to the Promised Land after escaping slavery in Egypt. The Sukkah needs to have walls of any material sturdy enough to withstand an ordinary wind. The roof should be made out of thatch or branches, which provides some shade and protection from the sun, but also allows the stars to be seen at night.
