CHAPTER FOUR - The Question of Marriage

C: EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES

31. Model marriage
(One and a half hours)

The aim of this activity is to examine the traditional Jewish model of what the marriage relationship should be, and to encourage participants to think through their own ideas on the subject.

• Divide participants into small groups and asking each group to enact any short scene from a family household, but one which includes all the members of the family. Groups are allocated specific times of the day: for example, two groups might be given a morning scene, while another two might be given a late afternoon scene and one group an evening scene. Allow about five minutes to prepare their scenes and then act them out in front of the group.

• The entire group addresses the roles of the adults in families, with input from everyone:

• What do they think makes for a good, functioning, two-adult heterosexual family?
  Be very sensitive, because the participants may well come from families that are not of this type. Moreover, some will have better functioning families than others.
  However, we suggest that it is not a reason to avoid the topic, on the contrary, it is important to examine the models openly in an open and supportive educational environment.
  Explain that there are many different models of families in the modern world, but emphasise that Judaism has a traditional heterosexual family model and the group is now going to examine it.

• Distribute copies of the two texts from Ben Sira and the book of Proverbs (– texts 17a and 17b in the text section.)

• The groups should redivide into their sub-groups. Half of the small groups should take the first text, while half should take the second.
• Each group should read their text and to prepare a new family scene, based on the family described in the excerpt, discussing:
  • How id they interpret the model, based on the text that they interpreted?
  • Did it appeal to them?
  • Would they take it as their own?
  • Are they critical of it?
• Each sub-group should present its scene and bring the main points of their analysis.

• As one group, participants now explore both texts and compare them, discussing how they see the pros and cons of each.

• Then they should go away and spend some quiet time (with soft, background music) writing/building a creative assignment (poetry, prose, or visual), somewhat in the style of the other excerpts, to express their ideal version of marriage.

• Review:
Bring the participants together and share the outcomes.