Tapestry of Faith: Building Bridges: A World Religions Program for 8th-9th Grades

Spiritual Preparation

Consider the endurance of the Jewish faith and the Jewish people. Hundreds of generations have carried Judaism across hardship, persecution, and minority, transient status in others' homelands. What makes a faith and a people endure? In what situations have you experienced your own endurance, and how did you do it? Was your faith was stronger than your fear? Did a community give you comfort and support? Were there ways you adjusted your expectations, in order to keep hope and survive?

In European history, Jews rejected bitterness when they might have justified and embraced it. Jewish teachings often use humor, and Jewish wisdom acknowledges human imperfection. When has rejecting bitterness helped you endure? Have humor or realism worked as tools to help your endurance?

Think of Judaism's gifts to humanity, among which are the Christian and Islamic faiths, religious homes to nearly half the people on Earth. Recognize the Jewish strains of thought in the principles of social justice, truth-seeking, and covenanting we celebrate in Unitarian Universalism. Prepare to invite youth to explore this ancient, enduring faith.