In the course of studying these stories, we delved into the story of the Exodus from Egypt. The purpose of this lesson is to review the main points of the stories and to give the students the opportunity to think about what they perceive as the main messages of the stories, messages that they will take with them. The students will share the process of mapping out the stories with each other and will share the knowledge and values that they will remember.
This unit serves as a review of what was studied in the context of the Exodus. The main value that we will discuss in this lesson is: “In every generation we are obligated to see ourselves as if we left Egypt.” That is to say, we would like every student to feel that the story of the Exodus is their own, personal story and impacts on their behavior and their life. While it is obvious that our students did not physically experience the Exodus, they can still feel part of the story by means of the knowledge and values that they take away from it and apply to their own lives. This feeling of “belonging” happens by means of remembering the story itself and sharing it with future generations, as well as by the application of the values gleaned from the stories in their daily lives.
El éxodo de Egipto. Mapa con explicacionesInterpersonal relationship skills: practicing positive and productive communication skills, teamwork, social engagement and a sense of social belonging.
After we studied the subject of the Israelites’ slavery and the Exodus from Egypt, in this lesson we will try to map the main topics and the values we take with us from our study. The students will be asked to do a project of mapping the story of the Exodus - knowledge and values from the story.
Students will share with each other the knowledge and values that they learned and will work on clarifying the most important lessons that they will take with them and apply to their lives.
The teacher will remind the students that we began our study of the Exodus with the question “Where does the Exodus story begin?” Now we will ask where that story ends.
According to the infographic image, the story seems to end at Mount Sinai, since receiving the Torah and becoming the nation chosen by G-d is the culmination of the process of the Exodus and the end of Egyptian slavery. At the moment when the Israelites received the Torah their servitude to Egypt ended and they became servants of G-d (one could suggest that the pyramids of Egypt express lowliness while the mountain of Mt. Sinai expresses great height). Another approach would be to say that the Splitting of the Red Sea is the end of the Exodus story, since at that time the Israelites were no longer living under the threat of their Egyptian masters.
Yet another possibility might be that the Exodus story ends only when the Israelites enter Canaan - the Land of Israel (noted by an arrow at the end of the map) - as is promised by G-d at the beginning of the process of redemption: “I will free you… and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you… I will take you to be My people…I will bring you into the land.”
Even the Aliyah to the Land of Israel in recent history (which is hinted to in the image with the ship “Exodus” sailing to Israel) expresses the idea that the Exodus story is still taking place and has not come to its final end.
As you know, we learned in the last lessons about the enslavement and the Exodus from Egypt. In each lesson we touched on different characters, different events, and different messages that arise from this study. In this lesson, we will try to map the main knowledge and values that each student may have learned, and what they might apply to their own lives from studying the story of the Exodus. This is how we will apply the sentence: “In every generation we are obligated to see ourselves as if we left Egypt.” The story of the Exodus touches each of us personally at every stage of history.
Another possible option to open the lesson would be to present a short overview of the different topics within the larger story that we learned together:
Every pair of students can choose one or two of these topics and carry out a mapping and review assignment, as explained below.
We will use the mindmapping method to help our students review and summarize what they have learned about the Exodus story (you can learn more about this method by clicking on the link).
You can encourage students to prepare their own mind map to summarize the story of the Exodus from Egypt.
Below is a suggestion for a map that covers the main ideas and themes in the Exodus story. You can also use a blank map in which the teacher and the students will build maps suitable for their class or for the study topics they want to emphasize. The main topic can be one of the stories, or each group will choose a certain topic.
Students can work by themselves or in pairs, aiming to review the ClassE or worksheets that they chose, so that they will remember the details that they learned.
For examples, if a student chooses the first story, their map may look something like this:
Students can share their thinking with their classmates afterwards by hanging all the maps on the classroom walls or with an activity where the students walk around the class, examine each other’s maps and ask questions, like:
After the students have prepared their mindmaps that explain their thought process in reviewing the Exodus and deal with many details, it is worthwhile to bring them back to focus on the central message.
You can ask the students:
Here is a possible writing exercise:
“In every generation we are obligated to tell the story of the Exodus from Egypt.”
Write 2 sentences you would want to share. The sentences should include statements describing a new value, historical understanding or way of reading the biblical story that you came to appreciate or understand in the course of your study. Instead of putting it into writing, you may want to draw something.
You can create an “active wall” that includes every student’s message on the wall.
In this lesson we asked where the story of the Exodus ends, and made a number of suggestions:
In concluding their study of the Exodus story, the students practiced mind mapping and reviewed the events, the characters and the messages that emerged from the part on which they chose to focus. The main thing that we would like to see the students gain from this lesson is to recognize that the study of the story of the Exodus has something essential to teach them that can affect their own lives.