Vision for Conservative Early Childhood Programs: A Journey Guide

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The Chickens That Turned Into Goats: A Story of Hashavat Avaydah (returning lost property) This story from the Talmud (Ta’anit 25a) was adapted by Maxine Handelman from the version in The Family Book of Midrash by Barbara Diamond Goldin and appeared in What’s Jewish About Butterflies, A.R.E. Press, 2004. ' ! < ' Once a man named Jacob bought some chickens and was carrying them home in a sack. Jacob was very tired, and even though the chickens were clucking in the bag, he stopped to rest under a tree near a house. Jacob fell into a deep sleep. When he woke up, he saw that it was getting quite late, and he rushed off towards home, completely forgetting the sack of chickens. Cackle! Cackle! Cackle! The chickens began to squirm and cackle in their bag. Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa, who lived in the house, heard the noise. “Those chickens sound like they are in our yard,” he said. “I’ll go see,” said Rachel, his wife. Rachel fetched the sack of chickens and brought them to Rabbi Chanina. “What shall we do with this?” she asked. “Probably the owner forgot them,” Rabbi Chanina said. “We’ll care for his chickens until he comes back.” Rabbi Chanina and Rachel fed the chickens and gave them water. The chickens ran around the yard and in and out of the house. One day went by. Two. Three. More. Still the owner did not come for his chickens. ;&& ' . .8&8!8 /! 12 The hens began to lay eggs. Rachel showed Rabbi Chanina the eggs. He said, “We mustn’t eat any of the eggs. They belong to the owner of the chickens. He’ll come back for them.” Even though Rabbi Chanina and Rachel were very poor and were sometimes hungry, they didn’t eat any of the eggs. The hens sat on the eggs, and before long, the eggs hatched into active little chicks. Hens, roosters and chicks filled the yard and the house. Cheep cheep! Cackle cackle!! Cock-a-doodle-doo! A month went by. Two. Three. More. Still the owner did not come for his chickens. “We must do something,” said Rachel, as she scattered the last of the chicken grain around the yard. “I know,” said Rabbi Chanina. “I know! I’ll sell the chickens and buy goats. We won’t have to feed the goats. They can graze in the field.” A year went by. Two. Three. More. The goats gave birth to kids, and Rachel milked the goats. With the rich goat’s milk, Rachel made cheese. Rabbi Chanina ;&& ;! ..%2 said, “Because these goats do not belong to us, the cheese doesn’t belong to us either.” He sold the cheese, and they gave the money to poor people. Vision for Conservative Early Childhood Programs: A Journey Guide USCJ Department of Education Maxine Handelman Handelman@uscj.org 17
Then one day, Jacob was walking near Rabbi Chanina’s house with a friend when he stopped. “Say, this place reminds me of the place I lost my chickens, so long ago,” said Jacob to his friend. “I went looking for them, but I couldn’t find the right house or the sack.” Rabbi Chanina heard Jacob and ran out of his yard. “Friend! Wait a minute! What did you say you lost?” Jacob looked startled, but he answered, “A large sack with two chickens in it.” “Then I have something to show you,” said Rabbi Chanina, leading Jacob to the goat shed. “Here are your chickens. Please take them with you.” “But these are goats!” Jacob looked very confused. Rabbi Chanina laughed. “Your chicken family grew so large that I sold them and bought goats.” “Rabbi Chanina, thank you! You are so kind. I’ve never met anyone so careful to return lost things,” said Jacob. He tied up the goats and led them out of the yard. ;&& ' % .= And that is how Rachel and Rabbi Chanina returned the lost chickens. For class discussion: 1. Why did Rabbi Chanina and Rachel take such good care of the chickens if the chickens didn’t belong to them? 2. Did the chickens really turn into goats? 3. How do you feel when you return something that a friend has lost? For class life: 1. This is a wonderful story to make into a felt-board, or to tell with puppets, and to have the children act out. 2. Children lose and find things all the time. When a child finds a lost item, besides encouraging him or her to bring it back to the child who lost it, remind him or her that it is an important mitzvah. 3. “Finders keepers, losers weepers” is not a Jewish concept, as this story illustrates. Be sure to share this story if this becomes an issue in the classroom. This is a classic story. There are versions of this story in The Family Book of Midrash by Barbara Diamond Goldin, What’s Jewish About Butterflies by Maxine Segal Handelman, Ten Best Jewish Children’s Stories by Chana Sperber, and A Year of Jewish Stories: 52 Tales for Children and Their Families by Grace Ragues Maisel, to name a few. Vision for Conservative Early Childhood Programs: A Journey Guide USCJ Department of Education Maxine Handelman Handelman@uscj.org 18
Page 1 and 2: Vision for Conservative Early Child
Page 3 and 4: Vision for Conservative Early Child
Page 5 and 6: Introduction Early childhood educat
Page 7 and 8: clergy and other synagogue professi
Page 9 and 10: Ethical Behavior “Justice, justic
Page 11 and 12: How to Use This Section Jewish valu
Page 13 and 14: “I would like to have a drink of
Page 15 and 16: they shared the wheat equally each
Page 17: For class discussion: 1. How could
Page 21 and 22: Dima ben Netina and the Ruby: A Sto
Page 23 and 24: Made with Love: A Story of Ma’ach
Page 25 and 26: Aaron and the fighting friends: A S
Page 27 and 28: That night, when the sun disappeare
Page 29 and 30: The next morning King Solomon woke
Page 31 and 32: So Abba and Ima went back to their
Page 33 and 34: All the other parts of the body lau
Page 35 and 36: For class discussion: 1. Why couldn
Page 37 and 38: Impatient Abraham: A Story of Teshu
Page 39 and 40: Stone Soup: A Story of Tikkun Olam
Page 41 and 42: Rabbi Zusya and the Birds Who Would
Page 43 and 44: The Holy Miser - a story of Tzedaka
Page 45 and 46: “Almost perfect?” questioned th
Page 47 and 48: Jules, Jacqueline, The Hardest Word
Page 49 and 50: Values by story - grid 1 continued
Page 51 and 52: God and Spirituality Among the most
Page 53 and 54: Preparing Yourself for Wrestling wi
Page 55 and 56: their questions. Do not avoid the c
Page 57 and 58: • Celebrate and acknowledge life-
Page 59 and 60: 5. We are thankful for God’s gift
Page 61 and 62: • Morning Brachot The rabbis tell
Page 63 and 64: • Shabbat Tefillot Fridays are an
Page 65 and 66: Barchu Barchu et Adonai ha-m’vora
Page 67 and 68: Informal Ways to Invite God into th
Page 69 and 70:
Bibliography and References Coles,
Page 71 and 72:
Jewish Learning Raise up a child in
Page 73 and 74:
Children’s Learning The goals for
Page 75 and 76:
Low-impact strategies: • Post pho
Page 77 and 78:
Expanding Knowledge The literature
Page 79 and 80:
Low-impact strategies: • Suggest
Page 81 and 82:
what we teach in class with real li
Page 83 and 84:
Low-impact strategies: • Offer ti
Page 85 and 86:
Low-impact strategies: • Provide
Page 87 and 88:
Continuity The most valuable early
Page 89 and 90:
Ritual Observance and Halachah Ritu
Page 91 and 92:
Kipot A kipah, also known in Yiddis
Page 93 and 94:
There are many ways to explain the
Page 95 and 96:
Kashrut - Dietary Laws The dietary
Page 97 and 98:
Netilat Yada’yim -Ritual Hand Was
Page 99 and 100:
Food Blessings In the words of the
Page 101 and 102:
Cakes , Crackers And Cookies - Bore
Page 103 and 104:
Birkat ha’Mazon- the Blessing aft
Page 105 and 106:
Bringing Shabbat into the Early Chi
Page 107 and 108:
Challah On Shabbat, we put two loav
Page 109 and 110:
Havdalah Havdalah is the second sid
Page 111 and 112:
3. Spices We lift the spice box and
Page 113 and 114:
Rosh Chodesh - The New Month Young
Page 115 and 116:
Bibliography and Resources Dosick,
Page 117 and 118:
Appendix A - More Kashrut Details B
Page 119 and 120:
Appendix B - Sample Letter from the
Page 121 and 122:
Staff Handbook one example Our scho
Page 123 and 124:
Working With Clergy (and Other Key
Page 125 and 126:
Rabbi Jonathan Lubliner of the Jack
Page 127 and 128:
Creating a Jewish Environment The e
Page 129 and 130:
• Hebrew labels transform a print
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Conclusion In the summer of 2007, e
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