Back to Stories & Articles

Sinai Bound: For Families

The rabbis teach us that when B’nai Yisrael (the people of Israel) received the Torah at Mount Sinai, each and every person of all ages heard the holy words the way they needed to hear them in order to understand it. Even the babies heard them (maybe as goo goo gah gah) and they understood! And so from Pesah to Shavuot, we invite our beloved families of BJ to join the larger BJ community as we journey toward Sinai and create our very own community covenant (and receive our BJ Torah). Just as revelation was an intergenerational experience, this process would not be complete without you and your children. Please join us Sinai Bound as we use the teachings from Pirkei Avot (the teachings of our sages), to explore our community values and create a BJ Community Covenant

Over the coming weeks, we invite you and your family to explore the following questions through activities, videos, and family discussions:

And be sure to share your own thoughts and reflections to our Virtual Community Journal to add your voice to this community-wide project. We can’t wait to hear and see what you come up with.

What are our obligations to one another?

How are we supposed to treat ourselves? How are we supposed to treat each other? What do we do for ourselves? What do we do for others? What do we not do to ourselves or others?

Make up three rules as a family that answer the above questions.  

How do we show up?

What is a community? Can you make a list of all the different communities you are a part of? What is something special about you that you bring to one of those communities?

Draw a circle in the middle of the page with your name (or family name/names in it). Draw a line and write all the different communities you are a part of and circle them. What is one thing you do, or could do, to help make each of these communities a better place for everyone who is a part of it?

Example:

What are our values?

What words come to mind when you think about our BJ community?

Create your very own word collage or word cloud and email it to us.

How do we honor the Torah of our community?

How do we show the Torah that we love and care about it? What is one story or thing you’ve learned from the Torah that teaches us how we should love and care about other people?

Create a picture or collage of the people you want to honor in your lives. 

How do we hold sacred disagreement?

If we don’t feel the same way about something as someone else, how should we tell them or talk to them about it?

Watch this video message from Kid President, and then consider these two questions:

  1. What are two things you learned about how to talk to people who disagree with you and the way you feel?
  2. What is one thing you will try to do next time you disagree with someone you are talking to?

How do we get there?

What is one Jewish thing (or value) you do at home, in school, or out in the world that makes you think of BJ?

Send us a picture! We want to see you in action. Upload your picture and tell us what you are doing and why it makes you think of BJ.