Fables from the Jewish Tradition

Fables from the Jewish Tradition: Teacher's Manual

by Rabbi Manes Kogan, Rabbi Dorit Edut, and Dr. M. Patricia Cavanaugh

The supplement to our Fables from the Jewish Tradition text enhances the original by including classroom activities that reflect current best practices in Language Arts, developed by Dr. M. Patricia Cavanaugh, award-winning Professor of English Education at Saginaw Valley State University. The manual also features background information and discussion questions relating the Fables to Torah and the Jewish ethical tradition, developed for high school and adult students by Rabbi Kogan and for elementary and middle school students by Rabbi Dorit Edut (Temple Israel, Bay City, MI). We encourage you to take advantage of this delightful and useful text in your classes.

Fables from the Jewish Tradition offers a brief but varied group of 40 fables which can be found scattered through the Talmud and in certain collections of midrashim. Because they are stories about talking animals and their interactions with each other and with humans, they seem like simple “fairy tales” about how people live and should behave. For this reason, they offer readers—including children—a way into understanding the Talmud and Midrash, often thought of as impenetrable or arcane. The notes and essay help to explain the Jewish teachings to be found in the fables. The appeal of this book goes far beyond schoolchildren. Readers who love fables will recognize universal themes here, but with the point of view and wisdom of Jewish tradition going back thousands of years. Even the reader who is relatively unfamiliar with Jewish culture will see a different, often unexpected slant on old concepts and topics.

Rabbi Manes Kogan was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He holds a degree in Psychology from The University of Buenos Aires, as well as a Masters in Jewish Education from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and he received his rabbinical ordination from the Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano, the Conservative Seminary in Buenos Aires. While serving as a rabbi in Roanoke, Virginia, from 1998 to 2006, Rabbi Kogan was an Adjunct Instructor in the Religious and Judaic Programs at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, teaching courses in Rabbinical Literature, Jewish Thought and Holocaust. Rabbi Kogan serves as the spiritual leader of Hillcrest Jewish Center, in Flushing, New York, where he lives with his wife, Silvia, and his three children, Daniela, Ilan, and Abigail.

Rabbi Dorit Edut is the rabbi of Temple Israel of Bay City. Though she has long worked as a Jewish educator at many different sites in the Metro Detroit area, she was ordained by the Academy for Jewish Religion in May 2006 and has served congregations in Mt. Pleasant, MI and Brooklyn, NY. She is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a fluent speaker of Hebrew.

M. Patricia Cavanaugh, Ph.D. is a professor in the English Department at Saginaw Valley State University. Her primary interests are in the area of English Education, and she works with many area teachers K-12 and with the Saginaw Bay Writing Project. She is the proud recipient of the Franc A. Landee Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Braun Fellowship.

Sample pages from Fables and additional information