Shiurim
USCJ EC Staff Meeting Shiur - May 2006
A story from the Talmud for Lag B'Omer:
Rabbi Akiva lived during the time after Judea had been conquered by the Romans. Even though the Roman rulers had made it illegal to study Torah, Rabbi Akiba kept his school open and continued to teach his students.
One day someone said to him "Akiva, why do you break the Roman law by teaching Torah? Do you wish to be imprisoned - or worse?"
Akiva answered him with this story: Once as a fox was walking alongside a river, he saw fish going in swarms from one place to another. He said to them, "What are you fleeing from?" They replied, "From the nets cast for us by human beings." The hungry fox said to them, "Would you like to come up on the dry land so that you and I can live together in the way that my ancestors lived with your ancestors?" They replied, "Are you the one that they call the cleverest of animals? Rather than being clever, you are foolish. If we are afraid in the element in which we live, how much more in the element where we would die!"
Rabbi Akiva then explained: "So it is with us. As fish surely will die without water, so the Jewish people surely will die without the Torah." As water is home to the fish, Torah is home to us.
- Berachot 61b
Questions for Discussion:
- Why is the Torah important to the Jewish people?
- What are some of the things in your life that you need in order to survive (or to continue to be you)?
- We tell this story on Lag B'Omer (the 33rd day of the Omer, the seven weeks between Pesach and Shavuot) because one of the things Lag B'Omer commemorates is the day a plague, or perhaps the siege of the Romans, was lifted against Rabbi Akiva's students. What Jewish values can we take from this story?
- The story certainly teaches us about the importance of Talmud Torah, the study of Torah, to the Jewish people. How can you weave this value into your classroom throughout the year, and especially on Lag B'Omer and as your children leave your school for the summer?
Maxine Segal Handelman
Consultant for Early Childhood Education,
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
