1st+Trimester+Chugim++Brachot-Noticing+God

=Chugim - Learning Theology through Arts and Sports=

//When the Jewish people stood at Sinai they said "We will do and we will understand" The core concepts of Jewish theology are not best learned in a classroom, rather they are learned through experiences designed to help students create and move and then reflect on their experiences so that they come to truly understand what it means to pray and experience God in the world.//

Unit 1: Brachot - Noticing God
The overall enduring understanding of our first unit is that we begin our worship by noticing the beauty, patterns and miracles in the world and declaring that the source of the good in the world is divine.

Individual prayers taught include:
 * Neirot || A blessing helps us stop and notice a transition in time or action (like shabbat and holidays) ||
 * Bar'chu || We begin our prayers with blessings, to help us stop and notice ||
 * Ma'ariv Aravim || God is the creator and sustainer of the beauty in the world ||
 * Sh'ma || Jewish people beieve in a God - Adonai as transcendant above all ||
 * V'ahavta || We show love of God by noticing God in our bodies and souls, at all times of the day, and by passing this on through the generations. ||
 * Mi Chamocha || God is the source of miracles in the world ||
 * Chatzi Kaddish || God is beyond our immaginations, we can not understand God's ways, but we can affirm them. ||