Grade 6 Navi Page – Year in Review

Hello and welcome to the Grade 6 Navi Page

Winter break is upon us and I would like to take this opportunity to give you a brief summary of what we have been studying in our class. Each chapter gives a chance to work on reading skills in Hebrew and English, analysis of text, and another theme that I chose to help make the text more relevant and interesting to the students. Below are summaries of the perakim (chapters).  

This year we are studying the book of Yehoshua.  We began the year talking about leadership and imagining how Yehoshua felt about taking over from his mentor Moshe. We discussed how he might feel unqualified and looked at texts from Chumash that teach us that, actually, Yehoshua was uniquely qualified for this job: to lead the Children of Israel into the Land of Israel. In fact, the book of Yehoshua begins with a pep talk from God explaining all of this to us (and, of course, to Yehoshua!)

Theme: Leadership

In Perek 2  Yehoshua sends in Spies just like Moshe did.  What was the purpose of the mission? It was really  a “rubber stamp” because Hashem promised Bnei Yisrael that they were going to win. We also met Rachav, a woman who brokered a deal with the Spies to help them complete their mission (We will meet her again in Perek 6 when she helps with the war). We discussed three reasons motivating Rachav:

  1. She was afraid of Bnei Yisrael
  2. She was unhappy in Yericho
  3. She believed in Hashem.

Theme: Faith vs. Action

Perek 3 details  the crossing of the Jordan river. We spent some time working on understanding the geography of the crossing through working with maps. God split the river similar to the splitting of the Red Sea. Why was that necessary? What do we learn from miracles? This miracle brings us back to the idea of another literary theme  in this part of the book of Yehoshua: filling the shoes of Moshe. The entire introduction of the book is peppered with events that echo back to Chumash as a way of communicating Yehoshua’s choseness.

Theme: Miracles

Perek 4 teaches us about a monument that Yehoshua erected in the Jordan river and next to the Jordan river . The students all looked for monuments from around the word and we discussed the different reasons to build a monument – to tell about a victory, to honor a person or event, to remember someone, or to say thanks. We discussed the reason reason that Yehoshua built two monuments at the site of the Jordan. 

Theme: Memory

In Perek 5, Bnei Yisrael have entered into the land of Israel and are ready to conquer, right?  Actually, it is the first of Nissan and they are worrying about getting ready for Pesach! Interestingly, before the military campaign, the Children of Israel celebrate their freedom. We are also told that God stops providing the Manna everyday. All of this is another indication that the people are ready to really be independent in their land.

One more curious event happens in this perek, Yehoshua meetaa “man”  who introduced himself as a “captain of the LORD’s host” who told him to “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy.” This is the final story that echoes back to the Chumash; to the conversation at the Burning Bush when Hashem told Moshe to take off his shoes.  

Now, Yehoshua is ready to start his conquest. 

Theme: Independence

Have a wonderful vacation!

Morah Rivky

rivky@lookstein.org

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