I asked my grade 6 and 7 classes to take a stab at re-ordering the morning brachot according to what they considered to be the most important things to thank God for to the least important. Naturally, the students took to this assignment like fish to water, and they re-ordered in earnest, with the proviso that they had to provide reasons for their ordering.
Without fail, the majority of the class had "for having not made me a slave" in their top two most important things to thank God for. I probed a bit further, taking them on a broad-strokes discussion of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and accompanying triangular diagram, and asked them where freedom belongs on the hierarchy (it doesn't really, although it is related to the pinnacle of self-actualization.)
To illustrate how important freedom is as a principle, I whipped open the projector, and threw YouTube up on the white board. And what did I show them? You guessed it - a pre-whack job Mel Gibson, in full Scottish soccer fan regalia, as Sir William Wallace... with his tearjerker of a rally-the-troops rallying cry on freedom. Sheer brilliance on my part.
And this is what I love about Jewish Education - the sheer creativity you are allowed in the pursuit of your Jewish educational objectives. There is no way this standard class on morning brachot ever has this impact without Gibson's war paint shooting "fireballs from his arse."
Without fail, the majority of the class had "for having not made me a slave" in their top two most important things to thank God for. I probed a bit further, taking them on a broad-strokes discussion of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and accompanying triangular diagram, and asked them where freedom belongs on the hierarchy (it doesn't really, although it is related to the pinnacle of self-actualization.)
To illustrate how important freedom is as a principle, I whipped open the projector, and threw YouTube up on the white board. And what did I show them? You guessed it - a pre-whack job Mel Gibson, in full Scottish soccer fan regalia, as Sir William Wallace... with his tearjerker of a rally-the-troops rallying cry on freedom. Sheer brilliance on my part.
And this is what I love about Jewish Education - the sheer creativity you are allowed in the pursuit of your Jewish educational objectives. There is no way this standard class on morning brachot ever has this impact without Gibson's war paint shooting "fireballs from his arse."