Vision for Conservative Early Childhood Programs: A Journey Guide

forgave Abraham, and they returned to Abraham’s tent together. The next morning, after
the man left to continue his travels, God spoke to Abraham again. “Now you understand
me better, Abraham. In the future, no matter what mistakes your children may commit, I
will never lose my patience with them entirely.”
Abraham learned that night about having patience and doing teshuvah.
For class discussion:
1. Why was Abraham angry with the old man?
2. Why wasn’t God angry with the old man?
3. How did Abraham feel after going after the man and asking for forgiveness?
4. Have you ever really wanted someone not to be angry with you? What did you
do?
For class life:
1. Never tell a child to “say you’re sorry.” They never are. Instead, help a child to do
teshuvah for real. Ask the offending child to say to the offended child, “Are you
okay? What can I do to make you feel better?” Then help the offending child do
what it takes to fix the situation.
2. There are many opportunities during the course of a day to teach empathy in an
early childhood classroom. Pointing out how the other child might feel when he or
she is left out of a game, or a toy is taken away, sometimes is enough. Saying,
“our friend _________ is (sad, mad, frustrated) because ________” and then
being silent allows children to think critically and feel for themselves rather than
doing it to please the teacher.
3. A friendship circle bulletin board can be effective in teaching teshuvah. Create a
space on a board for people shapes. Every time two children fight about a toy,
space, or play and they work it out together and say sorry because they mean it,
they go get two people shapes and place them on the board (they could even color
them, or write their names, or glue on magazine pictures). Slowly a circle is
completed. A teacher can add to the circle when he/she sees a child do teshuvah
as well. When the circle is complete have a little celebration in honor of being a
shalom ba’yit class.
4. “Talking Chairs” are a good way for children (older threes and fours) to work out
their problems. Place two chairs facing each other in a quiet place in the room so
children can talk and tell each other their feelings. In the beginning a teacher will
have to help out, but soon the children will go to the chairs on their own to work
out their problems.
Vision for Conservative Early Childhood Programs: A Journey Guide
USCJ Department of Education
Maxine Handelman
Handelman@uscj.org
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