On Thursday 22 February, Year 6 had an exciting trip to the local liberty synagogue. We learned about Jewish festivals, traditions, and ways of life. For example, we learned about the celebrations thrown when boys (and sometimes girls) read a part of the Torah Scrolls (the Jewish holy book) at the age of thirteen. For a boy, this is called a Bar Mitzvah and for a girl, this is called a Bat Mitzvah. Also, we learned the difference between liberty synagogues and traditional synagogues: liberty synagogues allow female speakers to lead the prayers as well as males; however, in traditional synagogues, only males can lead the prayers.
We saw the beautiful covers of the Torah Scrolls but weren’t allowed to touch them, because religiously, your hands carry dirt, so you shouldn’t be allowed to touch them. During services, the speaker uses a yad (a small metal pointer with a hand at the end) to touch and keep their place on the Scrolls. At the end of the trip, Year 6 had massive fun wearing kippas, the small Jewish hats that sit on the back of your head, and prayer shawls, to look like Jewish people! Overall, we enjoyed our trip!
Journalist, Liya ( Y6)