Religious Education Learning Package Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Religious Education Learning Package - Essay Example With such deliberations of the beliefs and practices advocated for during the Rosh Hashanah festival, it is apparent that, this marks a period of purifying oneself for the rest of the year. In addition, since the season is marked with several prayers, fasting and repenting, it reminds every Jew to abide by the Jewish beliefs and practices (Jacobs, 1987). In light of this, it is critical to focus on the beliefs and practices of Jews that make them repent so that they can have a good and sweet year ahead. In this regard, the concern is the relevance of beliefs and practices exhibited in the Rosh Hashanah festival, which culminates the evaluation of oneself in regard to their adherence to the beliefs and practices of Jews for the previous year. Therefore, the Rosh Hashanah festival could be argued to detail the overall beliefs and practices of Jews. This is in line with what Segal (2009) pointed out that, formal prayers guide Jews and their beliefs and practices. The following learning package aims at enlightening year 8 students with lessons designed to give insights to Jewish beliefs and practices. ... The first reading material is Essential Judaism: A Complete Guide to Beliefs, Customs & Rituals, a book by George Robinson (Robinson, 2003). Robinson highlights the importance of Jewish beliefs and practices, which are put into practice through various festivals. The festivals are symbolic interaction between Jews and God. In Rosh Hashana, Jews recite prayers. Robinson argues that prayer is at the heart of Jewish prayer, God listens to them. In order to elicit a clear understanding of such an assertion from the text, students would be requested to review the assertion, which is further elaborated by Robinson to mean that prayer is part of dialogue between man and God. In this regard, the students would be required to explain what they take of the assertion in relation to the understanding of Rosh Hashana prayers. A set of questions would be used to develop a discussion of whether the students believed that a prayer acted a means of communication between Jews and God, and whether what Jews believe in their Rosh Hashanah prayer is actually fulfilled by God. Some of the verbs used in driving points home from the book involve requesting students to read specific chapters and sentences of the book that emphasizes on the Jewish beliefs and practices in regard to the Rosh Hashanah festival. This would ensure that the students clearly understand the content of the book. In addition, students would be required to quote some sentences and phrases from the book that supports their arguments during discussions. A validation of their Jewish beliefs and practices would also be enhanced through reading the following sentence from Woodhead, (2002, p. 128): â€Å"the