← Grade 2 · My Jewish Practice
Jewish Texts — Siddur & Torah
TWO-MINUTE PREP
Hand out siddurim to explore; show (carefully) a Torah scroll.
KEY QUESTIONS
Children wonder and discover; you facilitate more than you lecture.
- What is a siddur and what is it for?
- What is a Torah and what is it for?
- What makes each special?
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
The siddur is our prayer book; the Torah is our holiest scroll, handwritten and kept in the ark. Both are in Hebrew and treated with great care.
WORDS TO KNOW
- Siddur — prayer book
- Torah — scroll of teachings
- Sofer — scribe
KIDS OFTEN ASK
- “Why can’t we touch the Torah with bare hands?”
- Out of respect; we use a yad (pointer). It’s precious and handwritten.
BY THE END, CHILDREN CAN
- Children engage siddurim and Torahs as Hebrew ritual texts for prayer.
- Children learn where the Torah is kept and why.
INCLUSION & SENSITIVITY
Let every child handle a siddur; awe and access can coexist.
WE ARE THINKERS
Folktale. The Letters That Flew to Heaven (Hasidic) — the letters themselves carry our prayers upward.
Changemaker. A sofer (Torah scribe) — trains for years to write every letter of a Torah by hand — one slip means redoing the column.
How is a Torah made — and why do we treat it so carefully?
GOES HOME THIS WEEK
“We explored the siddur and Torah. Try at home: look at a prayer book together and find a word your child knows.”