Visiting speaker – FOCUS ON JUDAISM

As part of the R.P.E department drive to promote a greater understanding of religion throughout the school, we were delighted to invite in Mrs. Carpenter from the local Jewish community. Throughout the month of October, she did several sessions with our students. She took year 8 students on a virtual tour through Norwich synagogue, showed them how to write in Hebrew and brought with her several artifacts to accompany her talk.  

The Academy is keen to provide access to authentic religious and world views and has expert speakers lined up throughout the year to enable students to learn about the world through these different lenses. Mrs. Carpenter started her talk to year 10 students by illustrating the diversity within the religion, explaining how “If [I] filled the hall with Jews, they might all follow Jewish teaching in different ways”. This insight was a great springboard from which to deliver information on a variety of Jewish beliefs and practices, often not covered by the curriculum, in memorable and engaging way. 

Having herself recently celebrated the Jewish festivals Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Mrs. Carpenter was able to demonstrate the unique sound of the blowing of the shofar, still used today as part of these festivals. She shared her belief that the shofar is thought to be the world’s oldest musical instrument. Along with other festivals, our speaker covered topics such as kosher food, prayer, holy books, the use of mezuzahs, and memorably demonstrated how a tallit and kippah may be worn, with our very own Mr. Clarke as her model. 

At the end of each session the students were invited to ask questions. These were often insightful and led the discussion in new and unexpected directions. These included “What is your favourite representation of Judaism on screen?”, “Is there a hierarchy in Judaism?”  and “If you could meet anyone from Jewish history, who would it be and why?”. For each question that was used, the questioner’s name was entered into a prize draw to win a £20 voucher. The winner will be announced in the next R.P.E assembly!