CU2-4

2:4 **Title:** Rosh Hashanah: Beginning of lunar year and anniversary of the birth of the World ** Goals: ** Students will review the desire to explain the origins of the world and the adaptation of Rosh Hashanah to its anniversary. Students will look at Jewish and non-Jewish creation myths and create a myth of their own. Students will be introduced to the concept of “Just So” stories and how it applies to creation myths. 1.  **Gain the attention of the learner.** Read or tell “The Elephants Child”, a “Just So” story by Rudyard Kipling ( [|**http://www2.shore.net/~mogget/justso.htm)**] . What does the story imply? (elephants got their trunks because of crocodiles; asking questions is bad).    2.   **Review relevant past learning.** Some of the ancient Jews took the Day of Memorial from the Asif celebration and said it was the birthday of the world. The Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) is the first day of the year and the anniversary of the birth of the world. It is called the Day of Remembrance because on that day man remembers the beginning of the world, God remembers the deeds of his creatures ; Israel remembers its special function and recalls the successes and failures of its mission (based on Festivals of the Jewish Year)  3.   ** Present new material.**”Just So” stories are stories that appear to explain how or why something happened. They often have hidden motives such as to make the teller appear wise and to stop the listener from asking more questions (especially those that the teller can’t answer). Why? Creation myths are examples of “Just So” stories. 4.  **Provide guided practice.** Students working in partners will read at least two non-biblical creation stories determining what the story is trying to explain and what are the hidden agendas. (The Gilgamesh stories should be included) The teacher will tell one or both of the creation stories found in Genesis with the students raising their hands and reporting when they find something similar to the stories they’ve read. Afterwards, the students will share some of the hidden agendas in their stories and those they found in the Genesis stories (e.g. Genesis 1 – God is very powerful, the day begins at sunset, every 7 days you should not work, men and women are equal and are last and best of the creatures; Genesis 2 – God is very powerful, man is made first and then woman and other animals to keep man company and for man to rule over them.) 5.  **Provide independent practice.** Brainstorm some fanciful creation scenarios (world is the play toy of a gigantic mean child, of a kind child; world created by aliens; people and animals erupted out of a giant pumpkin; life comes from an aberrant warping of space) and hidden agendas (men are to be subservient to women; children should ask lots of questions; people should eat popcorn when they wake up). Working in pairs, the students will write a creation myth with one or more hidden agendas (Use of the brainstorming results is optional). 6.  **Close the lesson.** Students will read some of their creation myths. Listeners will try to guess the “Just So” explanations and the hidden agendas. Add the myth to the Holiday Passport
 * Materials:**


 * And god Created Squash: ** How the World Began [|Martha Whitmore Hickman] [|Giuliano Ferri] (Illustrator) **ISBN:** 080750341X **Publisher:** Albert Whitman **Pub. Date:** August 1996
 * What a Truly Cool World ** [|Julius Lester] [|Joe Cepeda] (Illustrator) **ISBN:** 0590864688 **Publisher:** Scholastic, Inc. **Pub. Date:** January 1999
 * People of Corn: ** A Mayan Story [|Mary-Joan Gerson] [|Carla Golembe] (Illustrator) **ISBN:** 0316308544 **Publisher:** Little, Brown & Company **Pub. Date:** September 1995
 * A Dictionary of Creation Myths ** [|David Adams Leeming] [|Margaret A. Leeming] **ISBN:** 0195102754 **Publisher:** Oxford University Press, Incorporated **Pub. Date:** January 1996
 * Sun Songs: ** Creation Myths from around the World [|Raymond Van Over] (Editor) **ISBN:** 0452007305 **Publisher:** N A L **Pub. Date:** February 1980
 * The Story of the Creation: ** Words from Genesis [|Jane Ray] **ISBN:** 0525449469 **Publisher:** Dutton Children's Books **Pub. Date:** November 1992
 * In the Beginning: ** Creation Stories from around the World [|Barry Moser] (Illustrator) As Told by [|Virginia Hamilton] **ISBN:** 0152387404 **Publisher:** Harcourt **Pub. Date:** October 1988
 * Pia Toya: ** A Goshute Indian Legend [|Ibapah Elementary School Staff] (Illustrator) **ISBN:** 0874806615 **Publisher:** University of Utah Press **Pub. Date:** October 2000
 * The Story of Colors / La Historia de los Colores: ** A Bilingual Folktale from the Jungles of Chiapas [|Subcomandante Marcos] [|Domitila Dominguez] (Illustrator) [|Anne B. Din] (Translator) **ISBN:** 0938317458 **Publisher:** Cinco Puntos Press **Pub. Date:** April 1999
 * The People with Five Fingers: ** A Native Californian Creation Tale [|John Bierhorst] [|Robert Parker] (Illustrator) **ISBN:** 0761450580 **Publisher:** Marshall Cavendish Inc
 * Remaking the Earth: ** A Creation from the Great Plains of North America  [|Paul Goble] **ISBN:** 053109524X **Publisher:** Orchard Books **Pub. Date:** October 1996