Non-Jewish Teacher leading on events

[sadmillenial]

Hi All

I know that this is not the purpose of this thread on mumsnet, so there is no expectation of reply and if you think its inappropriate then please do report

I've been asked by pupils at my school to help them lead a pupil group to celebrate jewish holidays and wider education around judaism/jewish culture. Last year i helped them organise a delivery of apples and honey to houses at school for Rosh Hashanah, so i think thats why they have approached me

i do a similar role for the african and carribean society even though im white, so im very sensitive to making sure the pupils lead and i am a facilitator, but groups in school must have a teacher attached to it for important safeguarding reasons and our jewish staff do not want to take this on (which is totally fine, there should never be any expectation put upon staff for groups such as these based on religion, race or ethnicity)

I suppose my question to you is - what do you think this group would find useful? Pupils are great at starting important discussions but inevitably A-Levels/GCSEs happen and they have competing priorities. At some point every pupil group relies on staff to "keep it going" during pinch points.

any advice welcome

The key festivals are Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Pesach. There are also other festivals like Chanukah and Tu Bishvat that are also significant.

Maybe your group could organise some sort of activity for some of these? Tu Bishvat for example is a Jewish holiday celebrating trees, so some sort of tree planting / eco initiative could work.

Aish.com and chabad.org provide lots of information on the different festivals and how they are celebrated.

That sounds like such a wonderful initiative, although time-consuming for you!

As I'm not quite sure what kind of things you guys would be looking to do I don't really have any suggestions, although would encourage you to get in touch with the organisers of Mitzvah Day to see if you can get involved in that somehow. It's a day where people go out and volunteer in the community. People of all religions join in 🙂

mitzvahday.org.uk/about-us/

one of the jewish teachers has suggested a "throwing breadcrumbs into the sea" ritual - is this reasonable to do with pupils?
I dont want jewish parents/pupils to be upset if im appropriating a very special event?
We do have a really lovely dinner planned following Yom Kippur so thank you for all your suggestions about that

This feels appropriative. Taking rituals that are unfamiliar to most Jews and turning them into a performance of inclusivity.

If a Jewish teacher wishes to lead a religious activity - a 'ritual', as you can it - with the appropriate prayers and explanation, let them do so. It is not appropriate for a non-Jew to do so.

Your lovely dinner planned following Yom Kippur also demonstrates that you have absolutely no understanding of the subject.

I think they mean to break the fast?

Uncalled for. Let's keep this space civil.

What is the problem if the Jewish students want to do these things and the teacher is just there to oversee as staff?

Where are you in the UK? Are these students all Jewish? If they aren't Jewish then it is wholly inappropriate to celebrate our festivals. If they are, what are their levels of observance? Either way, perhaps you could contact a local rabbi/other community member to come to give a talk. If there isn't an imminent festival, perhaps just Torah studies - there's always a weekly parsha to think about (Torah portion), and this can be applied to whatever is happening in their lives at the time.

Come back here when festivals are even closer for additional ideas...

I think the answers would be different if this is to help Jewish students celebrate, or if it is to educate non Jewish students

If the latter, I would focus on Shabbat...lighting candles to bring it in, kiddush and challah. The beauty of Shabbat, not only the prohibitions. Meals with family and community.
The meaning of the festivals
Explanation of what they may need to know when they encounter Jewish people....diet, dress, not phoning them on Shabbat unless they say it's ok to etc
That it is a religion of ethics and how we treat each other and the planet.
That it is an ethno religion, a people with strong connections.

I did mean to break the fast, this dinner is led/organised by a jewish teacher so i only help with logistics and budget. I also apologise if the word "ritual" was offensive, i'm not religious at all and didnt know the appropriate word so i used the one given by the jewish teacher who suggested it.

I agree with the later comments about deciding what this is for - at the moment it is something of a halfway house whereby i am trying to make space for jewish pupils to celebrate whilst also educating other pupils. I realise that some events would be inappropriate for the latter group, hence asking for advice on here.

thanks to everyone who has suggested things, it has been really useful

I agree with @Towerofsong about explaining what the festivals are actually about, but not sure how you'd go about that! Maybe contact a local Jewish community and see if they can send speakers or provide educational material or something?

I just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to try and help your students learn more about Judaism. I'm sorry I haven't been of any actual help 😂 but I appreciate what you're doing. Everyone keeps saying the best way to counter racism is with education, which seems to be exactly what you're doing. So well done!