Long Ago and Far Away
A curriculum by Dan Harper currently in development, v. 0.1
Copyright (c) 2026 Dan Harper
The Backwards Alphabet
One day, a man came to Rabbi Shamai to ask about becoming a Jew. Rabbi Shamai told him that if he wanted to become a Jew, he would have to learn the Torah, or the Jewish law.
The man asked, “Well then, how many types of Torah do you have?”
“We have two types of law, or Torah,” replied Rabbi Shamai. “We have the written Torah, and we have the oral Torah, the law as passed down by oral tradition.”
“I believe in the written Torah,” said the man. “But I don’t trust laws that are passed on by word of mouth. If laws aren’t written down, they are worthless. I will still become a Jew, on one condition: that you only teach me the written laws, but not the oral laws, not the spoken laws.”
Upon hearing this, Rabbi Shamai said that the man could never become a Jew, that he was disrespectful, and then Rabbi Shamai told the man to leave.
But the man still wanted to know about becoming a Jew, so he went to Rabbi Hillel.
Rabbi Hillel told him that if he wanted to become a Jew, he would have to learn Jewish laws — for example, he would have to learn the laws about eating kosher foods, and so on.
The man asked, “Well then, how many types of Torah do you have?”
“We have two types of law, or Torah,” replied Rabbi Shamai. “We have the written Torah, and we have the oral Torah, the law as passed down by oral tradition.”
“I believe in the written Torah,” said the man. “But I don’t trust laws that are passed on by word of mouth. If laws aren’t written down, they are worthless. I will still become a Jew, on one condition: that you only teach me the written laws, but not the oral laws.”
“Then I will accept you as a student,” said Rabbi Hillel. “First, you must learn how to read Hebrew, so I will teach you the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Repeat after me: aleph, bet, gimel, dalet, he, vav, zayin, khet, tet, yod, khaf, lamed, mem, nun, samekh, ayin, pe, tsadi, kuf, resh, shin, tav.”
The man repeated the entire Hebrew alphabet after Rabbi Hillel — “Aleph, bet, gimel, dalet…” — until he had all the letters memorized.
The next day, the man came back to learn the written law from Rabbi Hillel. Rabbi Hillel said, “Let’s make sure you remember the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Repeat after me: tav, shin, resh, kuf, tsadi, pe, ayin, samekh, nun, mem, lamed, khaf, yod, tet, khet, zayin, vav, he, dalet, gimel, bet, aleph.”
The man looked confused. “But that’s not the way you taught them to me yesterday,” he said.
“Yes, that’s true,” said Rabbi Hillel, “and as you can see, you must learn to rely upon me and my teaching. In just the same way, you must learn to rely upon the spoken law.”
Session plan: The Backwards Alphabet
Top-level educational goals:
(1) Have fun and build community;
(2) Increase “Biblical literacy”;
(3) Build skills associated with liberal religion, e.g., interpersonal skills, introspection, basic leadership, being in front of a group of people, etc.
Educational objectives for this session:
(1) Get to know other people in the class;
(2) Hear a story from the Hebrew Bible;
(3) Be able to talk about one or more incidents or themes from the story, e.g., if parents ask what happened in Sunday school today.
Preparation:
Coming soon.
I/ Opening
Take attendance.
Light chalice with these or other words: “We light this chalice to celebrate Unitarian Universalism: the church of the open mind, the helping hands, and the loving heart.”
Check-in: Go around circle. Each child and adult says their name, and then may say one good thing and one bad thing that has happened in the past week (anyone may pass).
II/ Read the story “The Backwards Alphabet”
Read “The Backwards Alphabet” out loud.
III/ Act out the story
We will help the children internalize the story by acting it out.
Ask: “Who are the characters in this story?”
Set up the stage area, and have the audience sit facing the stage area. The lead teacher reads the story, prompting actors. At appropriate moments in the story, you may want to prompt the children to think through the following things:
Coming soon.
IV/ Conversation about the story
Sit back down in a group. Now ask some general questions: “What was the best part of the story? Did the story make sense to you?” — or questions you come up with on your own.
Now some questions specific to the story.
Now open-ended questions about the moral of the story. Note that I’ve chosen Bible stories that are also great literature; and great literature resists easy interpretations.
V/ Other activity or free play
Activity specific to the story.
Free play.
VI/ Closing circle
When time is almost up, have the children stand in a circle.
When the children are in a circle, ask them what they did today, and prompt them with questions and answers, e.g.: “What did we do today? We heard a story, right?” — etc. You’re not trying to put any one child on the spot, but rather drawing on the wisdom of the group as a whole.
If any parents have come to pick up their children, invite them to join the circle (so they can know what it is their children learned about this week).
Say the closing words together, or other words of your choice:
Go out into the world in peace,
Be of good courage,
Hold fast to what is good,
Return to no one evil for evil.
Strengthen the fainthearted
Help the suffering;
Be patient with all,
Love all living beings.
Then tell the children how you enjoyed seeing them (if that’s true), and that you look forward to seeing them again next week.
If any children left any drawings or completed coloring pages, post them on the bulletin board before you go.
LEADER RESOURCES AND BACKGROUND:
1. Source of the story
Source: Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sabbath 31a.
2. Other
Coming soon.