Yom Kippur Children's Activities
Yom Kippur is the Jewish day of atonement. During this highly spiritual holiday, any female 12 years and older and any male 13 years and older refrains from eating and drinking. The holiday requires introspection. Each person examines relationships to other people, to God and to themselves. As children do not fast during the holiday, some activities offer a way for them to mirror their parents' observance. Other activities offer background and stories associated with the holiday.
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A Time to Ask for Forgiveness
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It is customary to leave prayer notes at the Wailing Wall. On Yom Kippur, adults ask for forgiveness for sins of the past. Children can go through a simpler, yet similar process. Encourage kids to think of acts they are sorry for, such as breaking another child's toy or hitting another child. Ask them to draw their sorry feeling and what the hurt child might feel like. Give them an adhesive bandage to stick on the picture as a symbolic act of healing the hurt. Alternatively, you may prepare a drawing of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem by drawing rectangular bricks on a large brown piece of paper. Each child can tape her drawing to the wall.
A Time of Self-Reflection
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On Yom Kippur, adults meditate and reflect on ways to live more ethical lives in the future. After children reflect on acts they are sorry for, they can focus on their wishes for a better future. Ask the children to write letters to themselves with goals for the next year. Some of the goals may be about relationships, such as being a good friend or doing more good deeds in the community. The letters can also include some personal goals, such as learning how to play soccer. Seal the letters and put them in a safe place for a year. Mail the letter so the children can receive and contemplate them on the following Yom Kippur.
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A Time to Think Green
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Yom Kippur presents several opportunities to feel remorse for mistreating the environment. It is easy to question our regular carbon footprint on a day when people do not use electricity, eat and drink or ride cars. To contribute to the health of the environment, encourage a week of walk and roll to school in your local community during the month of Tishrei. Ask the community to use strollers, bikes, scooters and their legs. Do a craft activity which reuses recycled materials. For example, reuse newspapers to make a papier mache shofar. Emphasize that the shofar comes from the horn of a ram, a living animal.
A Time to Ponder Hunger
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During the beginning of Yom Kippur, younger children often try to fast, but quickly give up. It is unsafe and unhealthy for younger kids to fast, yet they can give up a favorite food or a dessert for the day. Prescribed lack of food for a day assists in spiritual repentance, yet for so many hunger is a constant gnawing worry. Talk to children about families who are hungry on daily basis. Collect non-perishable foods to give to a food bank or give meals at a soup kitchen as a way to assist in the fight against hunger. These are good deeds that can be done as a family or a class.
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References
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