21 Questions! Top Class Q's on מגדל בבל

מגדל בבל

Class Questions:

1. Why was their first instinct to build a city in a place where they have to cultivate the land-shouldn't their focus be on working the land?
2. How come we don't see them speak more often if they all understand each other?
3. Did they feel strayed from G-d (just like Kayin did) and is that what urged them to make a tower that reached all the way to the heavens where G-d dwells?
4. What name did they make for themselves and how did making a name help them be less scattered among the world?
5. What does it mean that HaShem "came down" to see the city?
6. Why did Hashem switch their languages and disperse them. They would've eventually found out they can't reach him?
7. If Hashem did not pledge to never destroy the world again, would have done it because they tried to reach his level?
8. What was the original language every one spike? Would we still be united if that hadn't happened?
9. What was their reaction when they couldn't communicate with each other?
10. How did the ENTIRE world speak one single language?
11. Why did hashem get mad at something that seemed so good and seemed to have unified the people?
12. Why did Hashem come down to punish them for trying to reach Hashem?
13. What does the word "Babel" mean? It seems like it has some sort of big meaning since he named the city this
14. Were there a lot of people in the entire earth, or were they all in this one city and the surrounding area?
15. Who is speaking in פסוק ג?
16. Why specifically east?
17. How will the tower fix the fear of spreading out?
18. What is the purpose of this story to be told/ what is it coming to teach us?
19. What does the tower symbolize and how does it relate to them being a separate nation and having one language.
20. What are they building?
21. Why do the people want to build a building to reach Hashem?

Noach Test Topics, 3/16

Topics on Noach Test

1. Open תנך and תורת חיים
2. פשט פרקים ה–י
3. Hand-out (3 pages)  and in class discussions
1. נח in פשט vs דרש
2. The “End” of נח
3. Bio's of פרשנים
4. (רש''י, רד''ק, אבן עזרה, ספורנו, רמב’ן)
4. Compare and contrast to אדם and חוה’s  commands in their new world
5. Subversive Sequels: נח and יונה

Any questions don’t hesitate to email - but ask your peers for first!

My hope is that you can see this learning as more than just a “test” but as learning for life.

5 Languages of Love and Ahavat HaShem?!

http://www.5lovelanguages.com/

Midterm Outline - Happy Studying!

תנ’’ך Midterm CP Girls 2016

Topics to Study

1. ספרי תנ''ך

2. ּBio’s of all commentators learned

3. פשט: ב:ז–ד:כו

4. אדם וחוה
1. רמב''ם מורה נבוחים ב:א
2. עץ הדעת vs עץ החיים Catch 22
3. R' Hirsch - הנחש / ערום -- מילה מנחה
4. עץ הדעת – What kind of knowledge? Rambam
• רמב’’ם טוב ורע vs אמת ושקר
• יצר הרע
5. איה vs איכה
6. “Final 2 acts"
• כרובים בתנ''ך Hapax Legomenon

5. קין והבל
1. רש''י, רד''ק, אבן עזרה, חיזוני, Rav Hirsch
2. Rav Ezra Bick
• מילה מנחה
3. Intertextuality
4. Kayin’s influence on History

Study Tips!

1. Your Midterm will be open Tanach
1. Knowing how to navigate your Tanach, find pessukim in different ספרים, will be crucial
2. If there are notes or translations in your tanach there will be serious consequences
3. You are allowed to have post it’s as long as there is no writing on them
2. Study hard and it’ll pay off: both in this world and the next! :)

Good luck!

Mrs. Botwinick

Kayin and Hevel: Collective Class Chavrutah Q's

1. What does Kayin say to hevel? in passuk chet there is no convo recorded!
2. How did the embarrassment so quickly turn to sexual relations?
3. Why would HaShem put the first birth and the first murder all in the same pessukim? Its a lot in once! And theres no explanation behind their lives, their childhood, it just skips all of it.
4. Was the pregnancy hard? We just heard about her sin, tell us more! It seems so smooth.
5. One passuk theyre born and the next theyre adults. What else do we know about them? What assumptions can we make?
6. What does it mean, “I have acquired a man with HaShem?” Why call him an ish and not a child?
7. Are they twins or not? It seems repetitive when they’re born. Mila mancha of “brothers”. Foreshadowing?
8. Does the Torah support incest?  Who are the other people in this word? Who are their wives? Whos the geneology that comes rigth after?
9. Why is this classic younger child sydrom? Why favor the younger when Kayin was the one to give the first korban!!
10. What caused Kayin to give a korban in the first place?
11. Whats Kayins response? Its so rude and and how can he speak to God that way?
12. What happened to Adam and Chava? Why isn’t he included in births of the children?
13. Is Yaakov and Eisav and also Moshe and Aharon a reincarnation of Kayon and Hevel?
14. Is there a connection here between the focus on Adama and Adam?
15. Why was Hevel a shepheard? And whyu worker of land? Who gave them those jobs and why those lands?
16. Isn’t being a shepherd working the land? Its the same thing!
17. Why does Kayin build a city for himself? What was the purpose of a city? Who lived in the city? What is a city?
18. Where did they get things to build things?
19. Is na v’nad a hapaxlegomenon and ...what does it mean?
20. How will Kayin adn Hevel reproduce? Who else is in the world?
21. You’d expect Kayin to be similar to ADam and follow after his father who also took care of the land?
22. Is Kayin Jealous of Hevel?
23. What really caused Kayin to kill Hevel?
24. Is this story here JUST to show that God brought death into the world? Is it just a sequel to us having desires?
25. What is God saying to Kayin “the blood of your brother is calling to me from the ground”
26. What days it “miketz” referring to?
27. “et” - grammar question? what’s it teaching us?
28. Was Kayin merely acting on instinct, like the snake, or was it well thought out?
29. If Adam and Chava suffered so much, why did they have to go through the death of their sin?
30. WHY are adam and chava missing? Did they teach them poorly? Is this a story about bad parenting?
31. Did Kayin bury Hevel?
32. Where does pregnancy of 9 months come from? Why so long?
33. What was Kayins punishment? Was it a punishment or something else?
34. Whats the message for mankind today?
35. Was this experience that Kayin  went through a way for him to gain emet/sheker or something like that?
36. Why is it that HaShem accepted Hevels gift if Kayin was the first one?
37. Did Kayin know what he was doing?
38. Adam sinned by taking fruit and Kayin takes fruit from the land? Is there a connection there?

Project

Rachel - Hila

Rachel - Sivan

Natalie -Hannah

Miriam FG   

Ameerah- Noa 

Ruthie - Cynthia

Lauren -Becca 

Clara - Leora

Remember, you have today and next week to work on this. Presentations on Friday!

Tanach: Mid-Year Unit Project

Tanach: Mid-Year Unit Project

Presentations: Friday Dec 4th

• You will have an opportunity to represent your profound understanding of the Adam and Chava story in a variety of different ways. What you choose is entirely up to you!

• Each assignment will have a written and oral component. You can do your assignment individually or in pairs.

• Choose an article and/or topic from the the articles below. Begin by reading the articles and gaining more knowledge/learning a new perspective on a facet of the story.

Project Options:

1. Missing Storyline: Is there a part of the story untold that you wish had been elaborated? A conversation that never occurred? A conversation that was not developed? This is your chance to write and perform just such a scene.

2. Essay: Write a formal essay (3-4 pages) in which you offer an insightful reading to your chosen question/text. You will present the essence of your argument to the class.

3. Playlist assignment: Create a playlist for your character/scene. Design an album cover with a unique title and image which represent this character’s internal landscape. Choose one song from the playlist and write an analysis of the lyrics which illustrates how this particular song relates to your main ideas.

4. Wild Card: A super-creative assignment of your own devising that shows your profound understanding of your question/text and can be shared with the class.

Article Options: Any article from vbm-torah.org is acceptable to use. Here are a few chosen articles I know are good!

1. The Snake
1. http://etzion.org.il/en/snakes-sin-and-its-punishment
2. Creation of Man
1. http://etzion.org.il/en/let-us-make-man-0
2. http://etzion.org.il/en/creation-man
3. http://etzion.org.il/en/let-us-make-man
3. Tree of Knowledge
1. http://etzion.org.il/en/tree-knowledge-part-1
4. General cool articles
1. http://etzion.org.il/en/garden
2. http://etzion.org.il/en/decline-man (click on link)
3. http://etzion.org.il/en/toldot-ha-shamayim-ve-haaretz-mans-sins-transform-world