Lesson video

Hi everyone.

My name is Rabbi London, and we are going to learn today about the Jewish ideas around creation.

I am very excited to be learning with you.

Please make sure to have a pen and paper or something to write on or with throughout the lesson.

Please try to shut off any apps or notifications so that you don't get disturbed too much during the lesson.

And if you're able, try to turn off any chats that you might be in the middle of.

Try to find a place where you're going to find the least amount of distractions.

Now I'm going to give you a few moments to find that space and to get what you might need.

Today we're going to learn about the Creation story from the Torah.

We're also going to learn about the ideas of Shabbat being a day of rest and learn about the idea that humans were created in the image of God, and what that means to some Jewish people.

Let's begin.

So, as I said, you're going to need a pen or paper or something to write on or with.

If you haven't already done so, please go now to get those things ready.

I'll wait.

Great.

Creation in the Torah.

The word Creation means to make something, and creation is carried out by the Creator.

According to Jewish belief, God created the world and everything in it.

The story about Creation is in the first book of the Torah, in the first part of Tanakh, the Torah with a T.

In English known as Genesis, in Hebrew, it's known as Berasheet, which literally means in the beginning.

According to the story in Genesis, Creation took place over six days with the seventh day being a day where God rested and didn't create anything.

We're now going to read the passages from the Bible, from the Torah about the days of creation.

As we're reading, try to take note of what was created on each day.

All the story of Creation as we said, takes place in the first chapter of Genesis.

Actually really the first two chapters, but we're looking at the first chapter.

"In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.

Now the earth was unformed and void and the darkness was upon the face of the deep and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the water.

And God said: 'Let there be light'.

And there was light.

And God saw the light and it was good.

And God divided the light from the darkness.

And God called the light Day and the darkness he called Night.

And there was evening and there was morning, one day".

So what was created on the first day? Light and dark.

So that was night and day were the first day.

"And God said: 'Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters'.

And God made the firmament, and divided the waters, which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.

And God called the firmament Heaven.

And there was evening and there was morning, a second day".

The word firmament here is meaning the sky or what we see above.

So on the second day, God created the sky.

So on the first day, God created night and dark, light and dark or day and night.

And on the second day the sky was created.

Here we are on day three.

"And God said: 'Let the waters under the heaven, be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear'.

And it was so.

And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathered together of the waters He called Seas; and God saw that it was good.

And God said: 'Let the earth put forth grass, herb yielding seed, and fruit-tree bearing fruit after its kind, wherein is the seed itself thereof, upon the earth'.

And it was so.

And the earth brought forth grass, herb yielding seed after its kind, and tree bearing fruit, wherein the seed itself thereof, after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

And there was evening and there was morning, a third day".

So a lot was actually created on the on the third day.

On the first day, it seems like maybe one, two things might've been created.

There was separation.

Same thing on day two.

And on day three, God created dry land, the seas, plants and trees.

No we're already halfway through the week.

"God said: 'Let there be light in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for a sign, and for seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give them light upon earth'.

And it was so.

And God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; and the stars.

And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from darkness; and God saw it was good.

And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day".

So what do you think the text is talking about when it's talking about a greater day, that rules by day, a greater light, that rules by day and a lesser light, that rules by night? So what was created on the fourth day? The sun, the greater light that rules by day.

And the moon, the lesser light that rules by night and the stars.

On the fourth day, the sun, the moon and the stars were created.

Day number five.

"And God said: 'Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let fowl fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven'.

And God created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature that creepeth, wherewith the waters swarmed, and after its kind, and every winged fowl after its kind; and God saw it was good.

And God blessed them saying, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the sea, and let fowl multiply in the earth'.

And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day".

So on the fifth day, we finally get to some forms of creatures.

Here on the fifth day, the creatures that live in the sea, and creatures that fly and live in the sky were created.

These creatures were also told to be fruitful and to multiply.

They were going to be expanding, whatever was created on that day.

And here we get to the last day of creation.

"And God said: 'Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind, cattle, and creepy things, and beast of the earth after its kind'.

And it was so.

And God made the beast of the earth after its kind, and the cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the ground after its kind; and God saw it was good.

And God said: 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl in the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

and God created, man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.

And God blessed them; and God said to them: 'Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over all living things that creepeth upon the earth'.

And God said: 'Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of the tree yielding seed to you it shall be for food; and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, whereupon there be a living soul, I have given every green herb for food'.

And it was so.

And God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good.

And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

the sixth day so much got created.

So let's go back a little bit to go over this.

So God created all the other animals besides for the birds and the fish.

So any land animals, any, Well, all of those, right? You can think of all the animals.

And then God created humans.

And humans are created in the image of God, which we're going to talk a bit about, a little bit later in this lesson.

Another thing that God says is that humans are going to have dominion over, right? Meaning that they're going to rule over, or they're even being charged to take care of, the land and all of the animals that live in the land.

Which we'll also talk about, in a few lessons from now.

So in short, what was created on the sixth day? On the sixth day, animals that live on the land and humans.

And humans were created in the image of God.

I'd like you now to pause the video, to complete the following task.

Please write down the six days of Creation and what was created on each day.

Next to each day, draw a picture to help you remember.

If you'd like an extra challenge, write each day in a complete sentence.

Once you're finished with your task, please press play to resume the lesson.

So after six days, God rested.

We're going to read these verses together too.

"And the heaven and the earth were finished and all of the hosts of them.

And on the seventh day God finished His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.

And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it He rested from all His work, which God in creating had made".

The seventh day is a day of rest for God and became a day that was made Holy.

On the seventh day God rested.

And as we said, the seventh day became a Holy and special day.

And this day is known as Shabbat or the Sabbath.

Before we get to talking about what does this Holy and special day look like, I want you to take two minutes to think about the following questions.

And if it helps you, you can jot down some ideas or draw a picture, whatever is helpful for you.

So do take two minutes and think about what do you do when you are resting or taking a break? And what does this resting or taking a break help you do better later? So please pause the video and complete this task and then press play when you're ready.

Welcome back.

I know for myself, when I am taking a break or resting, sometimes I might be reading a book or maybe I'm just going to listen to some music, or maybe I'm just going to watch something funny on TV.

Maybe I'll take a walk.

I know for me that resting or taking a break sometimes helps me focus better later in the day or in the next day.

Or sometimes it helps me stay a little bit calmer when I might feel really stressed or nervous.

Shabbat is the day of rest.

It is seen, as we said, as a Holy and special day for the Jewish people.

One way that Jewish people observe Shabbat is from refraining from doing work.

Now, the Talmud and Jewish texts talk for many, many, many pages about what does not doing work look like? And what does that even mean? Does it mean that I don't go into my office? Does it mean I can't build? Does it mean I can't write? Well, it means a little bit of all of those things to many different Jewish communities.

So for some Jewish communities, keeping Shabbat or observing Shabbat, not doing work might look like not going into a car, or riding on public transport at all.

Or maybe it means only going into a car if one is driving to synagogue or to have a festive meal with a family member or friends.

But they're not going to go out to the shopping centre or to a sporting event.

For some Jewish people on Shabbat they do not use any electronic devices.

They're not going to touch their phone or go on their computer or turn on and off their lights.

They'll use a timer so that their lights will go on and off automatically.

Some Jewish people don't write, don't use a pen and paper.

Some don't cook.

Some won't go shopping.

Different communities have different ways of structuring what they're not going to do to make Shabbat feel different than the rest of the week.

Because that's really what the day is.

The day is a different day than all the other six days.

We spoke a lot about all the things that one can't do on Shabbat, but let's look at what are some things that people do on Shabbat to make it feel special and Holy.

What else can we do on Shabbat, Right? We just went through a very long list of things that people don't do.

Well, Shabbat is also about creating a day of rest, where for some people this day means not waking up very early to catch a bus to get to school or to get to work.

Or maybe it means just moving a little bit slower, so there's no rush to get anywhere.

For others Shabbat is a day where they're taking the time and making an effort to spending time with their friends and family.

For those who don't drive on Shabbat, this might mean having friends stay over or going to their neighbours.

Or this might be the opportunity that people take to drive to their grandparent that might be quite far away so that they are able to have Shabbat meals together.

For many Jewish people, Shabbat is spent in synagogue.

They will go to synagogue for morning services, which are a little bit longer than regular services.

For others they're going to go to synagogue three times a day, just like they do the rest of the week, but the prayers are a little bit different on Shabbat.

And we'll learn more about that in a few weeks.

Some people take Shabbat as a day to read books or play board games.

And for many people, their goal is to make Shabbat feel different than the rest of the week.

It is a day that does not look or act like every other day.

And that will look different in every person's home.

Let's try and review a little bit of what we were learning.

So what was created on the third day of creation? Was it light and dark? Dry land, seas, plants and trees? Land animals and humans? Creatures that fly and creatures that live in the water? The answer is 2.

On the third day of Creation, God created dry land, seas, plants and trees.

What was created on the fifth day of Creation? Was it light and dark? Dry land seas, plants and trees? Land animals and humans? Creatures that fly and creatures that live in the water? Option four.

On the fifth day of creation, God created creatures that fly and creatures that live in the water.

What was created on the first day of creation? Light and dark? Dry land, seas, plants and trees? Land animals and humans? Creatures that fly and creatures that live in water? The answer is option one.

On the first day of creation, God created light and dark.

Now answer true or false.

On the seventh day humans were created.

False.

On the seventh day, God rested.

Humans were created on the sixth day of creation.

True or false: Shabbat is known as the day of rest.

True.

Shabbat is known as the day of rest.

True or false: Shabbat only happens once a month.

False.

Shabbat happens every seven days or every week.

When we were learning about the different days of Creation, on the sixth day we read about humans being created, and I said that there is one verse that talks about humans being created in God's image.

I have the verse here.

"And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them".

There is a lot to unpack in this one verse, but the part of this verse that I want us to focus on is this first line that says: "And God created man".

And I'm going to add in or change man into humans.

"And God created human in his own image".

And I want us to start thinking about what does that mean? That God created humans in God's image.

But before we do that, I want you to answer the following questions in your opinion.

So that means there is no right or wrong answer.

But please write the answers in full sentences.

What do you think it means that humans were created in the image of God? And what are the implications of this in your opinion? And how one should act in the world? So take, I would say up to five minutes to write your answers.

Please pause the video while you're writing and then press play when you're finished.

I would love to see what your opinions are, of what this might mean, that humans are created in the image of God.

I'll give you some of the ideas that some Jewish communities and Jewish people have about what this verse is teaching us.

So being created in God's image can give insight in how we should treat ourselves and others.

So if I believe that every person is also God or godly, or has a part of God within them, then I need to make sure that I am treating other humans with as much respect as I treat God.

And as we learned a little bit ago, Jewish people believe in reverence of God and God's names.

The Jewish people believe.

Treat objects with God's name and God's name with a lot of respect and reverence.

So if I believe that each human also is part of God then I need to respect them too.

Potentially this idea that humans are created in God's image might mean that I need to try and follow in the ways of God.

And act similar to God.

And in a few lessons from now, we're going to talk about what that looks like in practise.

In short, it means acting with loving kindness, and looking out for those who are in need.

Or another idea that can come out of what does this mean to be created in the image of God, is that if one believes that all of humanity is created in the image of God, then one must treat all people equally.

It means that every single human on earth, according to this belief, and according to many Jews, every single person on earth God created.

And so there is no person that is better than another or worse than another.

And so each person deserves equality and equal treatment.

We have learned so much today.

We learned about the six days of creation and what was created on each day.

And learned about Shabbat.

That the seventh day was when God rested.

And in today's age, Jewish people celebrate the day of Shabbat as a day of rest, of not working or treating the day as different than the rest of the week.

We also looked at the idea of what does it mean.

What does it mean to many people within the Jewish community, that humans were created in the image of God? I hope that you enjoyed learning today.

I did.

Before you run off, please try to write down three things that you learned.

Feel free to share those with your parent or carer, or even your friend, or maybe your teacher.

Don't forget to complete the end of the lesson quiz.

I hope you have a wonderful day and happy learning.