What kindergarteners have to say about God

Yesterday we began our year long study of Torah by hearing the story of creation. We are not using a book of retold bible stories, using The JPS Illusrated Children's Bible as our source. It's primarily a translation rather than a retelling, and preserves much of the ambiguity of the original text, allowing children to freely create their own interpretations. If you are looking for a book of Torah stories for your home, I highly recommend this one.

To help reinforce the idea that the Torah is like no other book, we rearranged our classroom seating for this special read aloud, put on kippot, and sang a special song. I read the story of the first seven days of creation and asked if there were any questions or thoughts. One hand popped up immediately. "What is God?" the child asked.

Immediately many hands shot up. "I see that kids have a lot of ideas about this." I said. "Before we start sharing, I want to say what a great question that is. People have been wondering that for thousands of years, and are still wondering about that. Before anyone shares their ideas, I'm  making a rule. You might not agree with what someone else says about God, but you aren't allowed to say 'you're wrong.' Because nobody knows exactly what God is."

Here were some of their thoughts:

"God is peace."
"God is love."
"God is everywhere and everyone."
"God is in your life."
"God is in your heart."
"God is every piece of an animal."

This is a wonderful opportunity to talk with your children about their ideas about God and your ideas about God. This can be hard, and scary, especially for those of us not used to having these kinds of conversations. Here's a piece I wrote about my own experience as a Gan parent four years ago, when I first grappled with these issues as a parent.

Rabbi Sandy Sasso is a great resource for figuring out how to get the conversation started. You can hear an interview with her from the Public Radio show Speaking of Faith or explore some of her children's books, including  In God's Name, God's Paintbrush, as well as Because Nothing Looks Like God, by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner. All of these books are open ended and non-denominational, appropriate for people of all faiths and backgrounds.

I look forward to hearing more about your conversations.