Category Archives: Discussion Plan

Discussion Plan: Deciding what we eat -UPS, MS, HS, A

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Discussion Plan: Deciding what we eat

  1. Is there any kind of food that you personally choose not to eat? Why?
  2. What makes certain foods attractive to you – such that you want to eat them?
  3. What makes certain foods unattractive to you – such that you don’t want to eat them?
  4. Do you eat the same range of food now as you did 5 years ago?
  5. Do you eat the same range of food now as you did when you were a baby?
  6. Can people’s diets change, even when they are adults? Can you give an example?
  7. Can you look at what someone eats and draw any conclusion about their values?
  8. Do you think that what you eat or don’t eat can make you a better person?

Discussion Plan: Deciding what we should eat – UPS, MS, HS

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Discussion Plan: Deciding what we should eat

  1. Do you think parents should control what food their two year old child eats?
  2. Do you think your family should control what kinds of food you eat?
  3. Are there food you can eat too much of?
  4. Are there foods you can eat too little of?
  5. Are their kinds of food that it is hard to stop eating once you start?
  6. Are there animals you don’t think we should eat because it is wrong to kill them?
  7. If you raise an animal and look after it – would it be wrong to eat it? (Would this be the same if you lived on a farm?)
  8. In many ways, animals are like people – is that a reason not to kill them?
  9. Think of eating an animal’s eye – yuk! Why does this sound gross?
  10. Are there foods (like sushi, pizza, falafel, gefilta fish) that you associate with certain countries or cultures?
  11. How much do you think that your own culture decides what it is possible for you to eat?

Discussion Plan: Giving and Receiving Blessings

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Discussion Plan: Giving and Receiving Blessings

  1. Can anyone receive a blessing?
  2. Can anyone give a blessing?
  3. Can you give a blessing without realizing you have done so?
  4. Can you ask for a blessing? If so, what do you think happens when you are ‘being blessed’?
  5. Can you demand or force someone to bless you?
  6. Can you believe in blessings without believing in curses?
  7. Can you believe in blessings without believing in God?
  8. What blessing would you wish for?
  9. What blessing would you like to give to someone else?

Discussion Plan: Giving and Receiving Curses

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Discussion Plan: Giving and Receiving Curses

  1. Can you be cursed with bad health? If so, what does this mean?
  2. Can a day be cursed? Explain
  3. Can a person’s life be cursed? If so, did it need someone to curse it? Explain,
  4. Can we be a curse to our parents? To our teachers? If so, what does this mean?
  5. If I curse you by saying “May all your friends abandon you” is that the same as wishing that all your friends would abandon you?
  6. Can people give curses or only God? If people can give them, do you think there is a difference between a curse given by God and a curse given by a person? Explain.
  7. Can having someone curse you ever be a good thing?
  8. Does giving a curse guarantee that the content of the curse will happen or come true?
  9. Can you believe in blessings without believing in curses?
  10. Can you believe in curses without believing in God?

Discussion Plan: Leavings – LPS

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Discussion Plan: Leavings

  1. Do we all have to ‘leave home’ in order to grow up? Explain.
  2. Abram took his extended family with him – so what was he really leaving behind?
  3. If you go away but you still think about people a lot, and text them/e-mail them, have you left them behind?
  4. If you still hear them speaking to you – telling you what to do – have you left them behind?
  5. In growing up – do you think the important thing is what you are leaving, or what you are heading towards?
  6. Are you connected to places as well as people? Describe one of those places.
  7. Do you think that places are tied to who you are in the same way as people are? Explain.

Discussion Plan: Leavings – MS

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Discussion Plan: Leavings

  1. Do we all have to ‘leave home’ in order to grow up? Explain.
  2. Abram took his extended family with him – so what was he really leaving behind?
  3. Is there a difference in growing up between leaving your parents and leaving your brothers/sisters? If so, what is it? Explain.
  4. If you go away but you still think about people a lot, and text them/e-mail them, have you left them behind?
  5. If you still hear them speaking to you – telling you what to do – have you left them behind?
  6. In growing up – do you think the important thing is what you are leaving, or what you are heading towards?
  7. Are you attached to places as well as people? Describe these places.
  8. Do you think that places are tied to our identity in the same way as people are? Explain.
  9. Which do you think would be more difficult – to leave individual people, or to leave your language and culture?

Discussion Plan: Leavings – UPS

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Discussion Plan: Leavings

  1. Do we all have to ‘leave home’ in order to grow up? Explain.
  2. Abram took his extended family with him – so what was he really leaving behind?
  3. If you go away but you still think about people a lot, and text them/e-mail them, have you left them behind?
  4. If you still hear them speaking to you – telling you what to do – have you left them behind?
  5. In growing up – do you think the important thing is what you are leaving, or what you are heading towards?
  6. Are you connected to places as well as people? Describe one of those places.
  7. Do you think that places are tied to who you are in the same way as people are? Explain.
  8. Which do you think would be more difficult – to leave individual people, or to leave your language and culture?

Discussion Plan: Being Blessed

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Discussion Plan: Being Blessed

  1. Can a person’s life be blessed? If so, did it need someone to bless it? Explain,
  2. Can a person be blessed with good health? If so, what does this mean?
  3. Can we be a blessing to our parents? If so, what does this mean?
  4. Can a day be blessed? Explain
  5. Is there a difference between ‘being blessed’ and ‘receiving a blessing’?

Discussion Plan: What is the Meaning of “Blessing”? – UPS, MS, HS, A

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Discussion Plan: What is the Meaning of “Blessing”?

  1. If I bless you saying “May God grant you long life”, is that the same as wishing you a long life?
  2. If I bless you saying “May God grant you long life”, is that the same as hoping you will have a long life?
  3. Can people give blessings, or only God? If people can give them, do you think there is a difference between a blessing given by God and a blessing given by a person? Explain.
  4. Can you ‘give a blessing’ without blessing someone /something?
  5. Is there a difference being blessed and being a blessing?
  6. If a quality of ‘being hot’ is that the thing that is hot gives off heat – then is it possible that a quality of ‘being blessed’ is that the thing that is blessed gives off blessings?
  7. Could you ‘be a blessing’ if you had no effect on those around you?
In Verse 3 God says:

 וְנִבְרְכוּ בְךָ כֹּל מִשְׁפְּחֹת הָאֲדָמָה

And all the families of the earth

shall find blessing through you.

What do you think this means?

Discussion Plan: Everyday Uses of the Term “Bless”

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Discussion Plan: Everyday Uses of the Term “Bless”

What is meant in each of these cases? Does “Bless” mean the same thing in each case?

  1. “Sam was blessed with children”
  2. “Sam blessed his children”
  3. “Sam’s children thought they were blessed to have him as a father”
  4. “Sam was blessed with kindness”
  5. “Sam saw kindness as a blessing”
  6. “Sam said to his friend: “Being late to the party is a blessing in disguise”