Edot: Torn Paper Posters

I hope you all had a wonderful winter break and a smooth and enjoyable transition into 2014. Yesterday was our first Sunday session back in Religious School. Since I had to attend a day-long meeting of the Commission for the Preservation of Pioneer Jewish Cemeteries and Landmarks in the West (of which I'm a Trustee and Chairperson of its education committee), Rebecca F. substituted for me. Rebecca recently added her name to our list of Religious School substitutes, and I'm very grateful to her for everything she accomplished with the Edot students.

After Rebecca reviewed with the students what they had learned about the prophets and their messages just prior to winter break, the students formed small groups, each of which was asked to create a poster depicting a specific prophet and his message. Students were instructed that they could not use scissors - they had to tear the paper with their hands to form the images they wanted to make.

Below are the wonderful results:

Samuel was the first prophet. There are two books of Samuel in the "Nevee'eem" (Prophets) section of the Hebrew Bible. It was Samuel who anointed Saul, the first king of Israel, and then David, after Saul's death.

Elijah is the only person in the Bible not to have died. According to the Second Book of Kings, a fiery chariot was sent from heaven to carry him away "in a whirlwind." It is Elijah who, according to tradition, will lead the Messiah into Jerusalem and who will answer all our questions at the end of time. It is Elijah whom we invite into our homes every Passover, asking him to bring the Messiah soon, in our days.

Isaiah was a prophet of peace and hope. It was he who assured the people in Jerusalem that they would be saved from being conquered by the Assyrians if they followed God's commandments. He foresaw a world at peace. "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4)

Jeremiah is often referred to as the prophet of doom, for he warned the people in the Kingdom of Judah that Babylonia would conquer and exile them because they refused to follow God's commandments. The people called him a fool and a traitor. Yet once the Babylonian exile had taken place, Jeremiah wrote to them from his exile in Egypt, sharing God's words with them - "...seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, for in its welfare you will find your welfare." (Jeremiah 29:7) Indeed, it is these words which have guided all the edot in the Diaspora, including our own American edah.

It was Ezekiel who witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem and the First Temple by the Babylonians, and who went into exile with the Judeans to Babylon. There, he gave the exiles hope, promising that one day God would return them to Israel. This is a promise that all the edot throughout time remember.