The Shema

Deut 6:4-8 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Those of you that know me IRL know that I am of Jewish descent. That is such a rich heritage. I attended Hebrew school till fifth grade. I hold my heritage very dear to me, and I try to learn as much about it as possible. One opportunity to do that was at our church's VBS this past summer. We went back to the bible times and did Jerusalem marketplace. It was such a great program. We have done it the past 2 years. I got the opportunity to play the part of the Rabbi (yes, they are normally male LOL). This was really very exciting for me, as I got to share my excitement about my heritage with the children of our church. We even did a seder (the Jewish passover meal). One of the songs we learned there was the Shema, which is a Jewish prayer from Deut 6. We learned about the mezzuza, which is what the Jewish people use to have them on the doorposts and gates of their houses. We also learned about the Tefillin which are little boxes for the forehead and upper arm with scriptures inside. If your kids ever get a chance to go to a Jerulem marketplace VBS, go for it! It is so enriching for them. It makes the bible come alive.

When you think back about bible times, you imagine all the storytelling done by memory. They depended on the bible stories being passed from generation to generation by telling stories. One of my favorite bible stories is the story of Esther. It always has been. Purim was my favorite holiday because we got to dress up as one of the characters (I had an Esther mask), and make lots of noise to drown out the bad guy from the story. We even got to eat his hat in the form of hamentashen cookies filled with prune or other assorted fillings.

Tonight was a really special night here. While we were sitting around a fire out back in our chiminea, we were telling stories. Jessie told us about the turtle and the hare. Then she asked me about Esther. She knows that this is my favorite story, and she seems to have a fascination with it too. She asked me to share the story again from memory. I did just that, with Shawn helping to keep everything straight and fill in the gaps. It was a really neat time.

When you are raising your kids in the fear of the Lord, talking about God just comes naturally. They have questions, you have answers...most of the time. They ask the darndest things too! I know the scriptures from Deut 6, but I never REALLY understood them till tonight. Children naturally love to hear stories. This is the best way to impress the word to them! It also will challenge you in your faith, to get the stories straight!

Glory to God in the highest! Until next time....

Steph