4th Grade: Cain and Abel

This week, 4th Graders have waved goodbye to the Garden of Eden, and learned the dramatic story of Cain and Abel, through carefully crafted pictures on the rug, and a scholarly discussion together.

• Interestingly, every single class had at least one student who noticed some discrepancies in the Torah, and wondered whether Adam and Eve were really the only people around during this time (because, if they were the only people, whom did their son Seth go and marry? and what people were even looking at Cain’s mark? etc.) We love asking big scholarly questions like that, and came up with very cool interpretations together.

On Saturdays, 4th grade has additionally been learning more about Shabbat. Students learned the blessing for lighting the candles, wine, and challah. They took turns reciting the blessing over the candles and practicing the movements that go along. They put all the blessings and rituals into sequence, and played a memory game to show off everything they’d experienced during the class.

Discussion Questions for Families: The Cain & Abel Torah story is juicy.  You can basically pick any detail in the story and ask why.

• God told Adam and Eve to be responsible for the world. Some people think that this means that we should be in charge of the planet, and some people think it means we should nurture the planet. Which do you think?  How do you think that Cain (the tough shepherd) and Abel (the gentle farmer) might’ve interpreted what it means to be responsible?
• When Cain got jealous of his brother Abel, he killed Abel! This was very clearly the wrong choice, and Cain gets punished big-time in the story.  What could Cain have done instead, to deal with his anger/jealousy more productively? (Like, if we were there, with all our good skills of how to deal with our feelings, what might we have advised Cain to do?)
• In the story, Cain was the first person on earth who’d ever hurt somebody else. Therefore, could he really have understood what would happen?  Does it change the story, if Cain realized what he was doing, vs. if he didn’t?
• Was a permanent mark the best justice for Cain’s terrible crime of murdering his brother?  What are some other ways that we could handle it when somebody commits a huge crime in our community?  Should there be a way for a murderer to eventually earn forgiveness, or not?
• The text says that, after Abel was dead and Cain was sent away, Adam and Eve (their parents) comforted each other, and had a new baby, whom they named Seth. When something goes very wrong in our community, and it isn’t our fault, how can we comfort each other, how can we try to rebuild?

If all that is a bit too gritty for you and your child, maybe talk about Shabbat, instead. 🙂

• Every family relaxes and refreshes differently. What does our family do to relax and refresh ourselves together?
• What are our ritual objects, and where do they come from?
• When you grow up, you’ll be in charge of creating your very own Shabbat, too. What will your Shabbat be like? What will it include?