Here are some ideas from the adult and family booklet that you can try at home:
*Guess who’s coming to dinner?
Clip articles from the newspaper about acts of heroism. “Invite” these heroes to dinner by setting places for them and reading the clipping aloud. Discuss what they might say to you and your family and how you might interact with them in your home. Or go through your house and see who already graces your home — what posters are hanging up? Whose books are on the shelves? Are these people heroes? What would happen if you invited them to dinner?
*For a good cause
In Judaism, there is a principle that everything can be made sacred. Assemble a few random objects from your house. Have each person take one object and ask how he or she could imagine an “ordinary hero” using it to do good in the world. What sacred purpose might a hammer serve? How could a salt shaker help someone?
*Do-it-yourself adventures
Watch a video together or read a biography as a family and discuss who the hero was and what made that person a hero. See if family members can imagine what they might have done if they found themselves in similar circumstances.
*Beyond recognition
Make a list of the five adjectives that you would use to describe a hero. Then think of people you know to whom each adjective applies. Tell a story about them that illustrates your point. Then, if they are still living, write those people a quick note to tell them you appreciate those qualities about them and that you’re thinking of them.
The adult book was created by Rachel Brodie, with Andrea Syrtash and Kerin Lieberman, and designed by Caroline Van Remortel. It is available through the BJE. Phone: (415) 751-6983, ext. 132. Copies are scheduled to be available for downloading from the BJE’s Web site at www.bjesf.org/MAIN/Community/howtopublications.html. Syrtash, with Brodie and Lieberman, created the children’s booklet, which was designed by Julie Ann Yuen. It will be distributed at feast events as well as some religious schools and can be downloaded at www.bjesf.org/MAIN/Community/HeroIntro.html. Information: (415) 751-6983, ext. 132, or e-mail [email protected].