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La dernière classe (jusqu'a 2009)

I did start with ח and it was fun. I set up by finding the letters nun-chet-mem sofit in the blocks - and on the way I also found the Latin letters for nacham - 6 in Latin and only 3 in Hebrew. I had found all the Latin letters before the first of the Hebrew ones turned up! (Something about the block content design?)

We fit the history of the hope of the world in 5 minutes - touching Isaiah (I began by singing the opening tenor recit from Messiah - just the first few bars - there were titters from the girls at my singing!) then to the difference between He and Chet reminding them of Abraham and Sarah - and on the way Ruach - (I forgot Noach!). Then a little on Simeon and Anna and the consolation of Israel - as outlined in the last post but without all the detail. And then the promise of the Spirit - the Comforter - for us all but particularly for those present.

One of the girls asked me 'what is the Hebrew for Christmas'? - what would you answer? I thought it should be something around anoint / Messiah and festival.

Christmas is coming

the geese are getting fat! Well - it's more than that!

The children are getting ready to prepare for Pageant and I will be away for several weeks in England and France - to hear my daughter's services at Ely and Selwyn and for a little break near Nice. So this week will be the last Hebrew 'lesson' till January.

With what word or letter shall I introduce Christmas? What else is possible but with the word NXM (nacham)- as Handel's Messiah begins: נַחֲמוּ נַחֲמוּ עַמִּי יֹאמַר אֱלֹהֵיכֶם (nachamu, nachamu, 'ami, yo'mar 'eloheikem)
The children already know the word from the name נֹחַ (Noach) for of him it is said he will comfort us concerning our work. His name is from 'rest' but the writer of Genesis 5:29 connects it with נחם.

Of the human, it is used to mean console (Genesis 37:35).

Of God the word is used when God 'repents' - almost meaning 'sighed'. So Genesis 6:6-7 and Exodus 32:12. But 1 Samuel 15:29 shows some ambivalence over God's repenting. Nevertheless יהוה repenting in 1 and 2 Samuel is frequent. (1 Samuel 15:35). The children don't know these stories yet - I am just checking a few to see if I can say anything about how נחם relates to Christmas. The connection is with what Simeon was waiting for when Jesus comes to the temple for the first time with Mary and Joseph. (Luke 2:25) The consolation that Simeon is waiting for (παράκλησις paraklēsis) is that same comfort of which נחם speaks. It is the same word as the one John uses for the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the paracletos. This shows the great Hebrew-Hellenist divide - how do we know what words make the transfer of the word of God from one culture to another? The LXX translation tells us - and here it is for Isaiah 40: παρακαλεῖτε παρακαλεῖτε τὸν λαόν μου λέγει ὁ θεός.

How does one introduce to children the helper of their lives? One doesn't need to - one simply points to the words that have been used through the millennia that have been God's word to us of love.

One could use Psalm 90 - a great psalm of 'turning' - for the children can at all times be encouraged to turn to God as God can be encouraged to turn to us. And in that psalm, Moses prays just such a turning (Psalm 90:13)

שׁוּבָה יְהוָה עַד-מָתָי וְהִנָּחֵם עַל-עֲבָדֶיךָ.	Return, O LORD; how long? And let it repent Thee concerning Thy servants.
ἐπίστρεψον κύριε ἕως πότε καὶ παρακλήθητι ἐπὶ τοῖς δούλοις σου	(LXX) Bring back O Lord! How long? Be consoled (parakletheti) over your slaves.
	(Bob) Turn O Lord, how long? And sigh over your servants.

The truth about Jesus, the consolation of Israel, is that God need not repent further - for in him, he was well pleased. His pleasure in Jesus gives us all grace.

Perhaps I will begin with the letter Chet ח and see where it leads.

Father and Mother

This week I had a longer opportunity to work with the youngest. The main subject of this week's class was Mary so I brought in an image of the Lippo Memmi and Martini Annunciation and Two Saints 1333 currently at the Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence - the kids loved it and identified the stream from the Angel's mouth as 'letters'. We talked a little of the word of God coming to each of us also.

Then I read them this verse from Exodus 20 and pointed out the av and the em. They had seen these words before.

כַּבֵּד אֶת-אָבִיךָ, וְאֶת-אִמֶּךָ

Honour thy father and thy mother

We read it together several times and I noted that the younger ones are both more absorptive and less distracted when they are alone. We also reminded them of the mothers and fathers they had studied in the last 4 or 5 weeks. Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel and Leah. We talked a bit of Mary as mother and of Eve. And I promised them that sometime later we would read about Hannah and Samuel - another special mother and son in the Old Testament (1 Samuel 1-3).

I brought out all the flash cards and laid them out. Some of the smaller ones were disappearing into small hands. Then we went to find the father and mother in the flash cards - of course, being the smallest, they disappeared even in a small hand - but we did find them.

They like the flash cards and turn them over to read the transcription and meaning.

Vowels - an introduction

This morning I had a few minutes to continue the lesson on Vav and to introduce the Masoretic markings - or 'vowels'. This was not a successful lesson - from my point of view. I felt that I was unprepared, and that over the last 6 months I had achieved nothing. I think the children remember the cookies and the games but none of the content. But the 10 or so children in the class were just as wonderful as ever. It was only me with the depressed heart. Why art thou so heavy O my soul! (Psalms 42-43).

I write this so that anyone reading will know that there are times that are down as well as times of elation. Hope still in God.

Vav - the hook for the tabernacle, the connector of words, is a letter that can say va, vi, ve, vey, o, and u (oo). Isn't it curious that the v disappears before the o class of vowels? Is it perhaps that vav is the proto vowel?

Linguists out there, help me out if you see this question.

Presenting Vav

There was an interesting 4 minutes at Sunday school today. I very briefly introduced Vav and pointed out some of the circled vav's in the pictures here. Then I took a writing implement (a thin point magic marker) and placed the strip on the floor and lightly held the marker against the strip so that I could drag it under the marker making a line as it moved. As I dragged the marker, the children watched the vav's go buy - many of them saying - 'there's a vav', 'there another vav'. Then when the line came back to the starting place - their jaws dropped and their eyes popped out and they said - 'how did you do that?' - and one picked up the strip and looked on both sides of the paper clearly seeing that both had been marked without turning the paper over.

They won't forget the Moebius strip - and I hope they won't forget the vav that connects or hooks words and the curtains of the tabernacle. Not one end to the other with a half-twist, but there are curious connections still to be discovered. There is much more to learn about hooks and they will have fun doing it.

(Incidentally, they can see the differing vowel points, but I haven't introduced them yet. The time will come.)

The sixth letter (continued)

Vav is for U and vi, and O and va, and ve and vay. Today I have made an image of a set of verses most of which we have already seen in a three dimensional strip with only one side so you can keep reading continously.

Print the base image on landscape. Print another on the reverse side of the same page. (This may be tricky depending on your printer since the strips must line up.) Whether one sided or two, cut the image into strips and paste them end to end. before joining the beginning to the end, twist the strip once and you will create a moebius strip - a three dimensional figure with only one side.

I think it is important to lay a rich table - not to oversimplify. I will present only the vav's in this image. I will ask them to find the vav's that are not circled. You can see that the image can be built on for lesson after lesson.