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Got a little bit of extra time? ChallahCrumbs is taking your family to Sunday school. This week we’re talking about why we shouldn’t waste.

Learn

Set up a mini-study session with our three sources and the guided questions.

Deuteronomy 20:19

When you besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou should not destroy the trees thereof by wielding an axe against them; for you may eat of them, but you shouldn’t cut them down; for is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged of thee?

  • Do you remember this verse from last week? Did you know that this is the source of not wasting things?

Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings, Ch. 6 Laws 8-10

 “…not only trees, but anyone who smashes household goods, tears clothing, demolishes a building, stops up a spring, or wastes articles of food in a destructive manner, is in violation of the command “you shall not destroy.”

  • Does a parent ever tell you: “don’t waste that?” What things sometimes get mentioned on that list?
  • What things do you know to NEVER waste?

Sefer Hachinuch, Mitzvah 529

“To teach our souls to love the good and the useful and cleave to it; through this, the good will cleave to us….”

  • How do you think this idea is similar to the idea of love your neighbor as yourself?
  • If you don’t think it sounds similar, can you explain why?

Discuss.

Why do you think that trees are the symbol of how to treat nature? Do people rely on trees now as much as they did in the past? Why or why not? If you were to write a ‘verse’ teaching people not to waste what would you use as a symbol?

Create.

A ‘bag lady’!

What happens if you forget to bring your own grocery bags? What do you do with the bags that they give you at the store? Do you reuse them or do you take them to the store to have them recycle them? Here’s a way to save your bags!

Materials:

Any plastic milk container
Construction paper
Paints, Stickers, or anything else you would like to decorated it with
Yarn
Fabric
Scissors
Glue

Directions:

  1. Cut a slit in the bottom of the milk container. (This will be where you stuff in the bags. The spout will be where you will pull the bags out of.)
  2. Cut a circle out of the construction paper and decorate a face.
  3. Use yarn or other paper to create hair on the face.
  4. Decorate the ‘body’ of the milk container however you’d like.
  5. Use the material to create a skirt around the body of the milk container.
  6. When the glue and paint dry stuff the bags through the slit that you cut.
  7. Refill as needed!

 

Rivky Schramm Krestt has taught in Hebrew Schools, Community Schools, and Day Schools. She loves finding a way to take the words of a text and make them tangible, relatable, and relevant. She is the Chair of Judaics at the Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School and lives in Silver Spring, Maryland with her husband and three children.