Prophets & Profits

Spark. Hold up a pair of blue jeans: "What do these have to do with a prophet from the Bible? By the end of this unit you’ll know — and it starts with one word: courage."

Story. The class reads "The Story of Joshua" aloud, round-robin: Moses dies and Joshua must lead; God says "Be strong and courageous" three times (brave means scared — and you go anyway); crossing the Jordan; the walls of Jericho; "As for me and my house, we will serve God."

Connect. Name the big lesson on the board: "Be strong and brave — step into new territory." Ask: when has someone needed to tell you to be brave?

Take It Home. Worksheet: How was Joshua brave? Why do entrepreneurs have to be brave? One way you’ve been brave in your life.

Spark. Recap Joshua in one line, then: "Today, meet a real person who lived Joshua’s lesson — and who’s wearing something he invented right now? Probably you."

Story. Read "The Story of Levi Strauss" aloud: a Jewish boy from Bavaria who sails to America at 18, heads west in the Gold Rush, and — with his partner Jacob Davis — patents riveted blue jeans in 1873, then gives back through scholarships and orphanages.

Connect. Fill in the "Same story, 3,000 years apart" table (Joshua | Levi): a loss to start, new territory, he went first, he wasn’t alone, he stayed who he was, he left something behind.

Take It Home. Worksheet: How are Joshua and Levi Strauss alike? One way you’ve been courageous in your life.

Spark. "Everyone has a moment coming that needs courage — a new school, a tryout, standing up for a friend." Each student names one "new territory" they’re facing.

Activity. Each student makes a "Courage Plan": the brave step, what they’re afraid of, and one small first action. Optional build: design your own brand name + logo for a brave new idea, the way Levi put his name on his jeans.

Connect. Volunteers share their Courage Plan; the class cheers each "new territory." Joshua and Levi both felt fear and went anyway — and so can we.

Take It Home. Challenge: do one brave thing this week that steps into your own new territory.

Spark. "Who is a leader you look up to? What makes someone a leader — a title, or something else?"

Story. The whole class reads "The Story of Deborah" aloud: the only woman judge and a prophet, who sat under her palm tree because people trusted her; General Sisera’s 900 iron chariots; "If you go with me, I will go"; the storm that bogs the chariots in mud; the Song of Deborah, eishet lapidot — a woman of light.

Connect. In small groups, madrichim lead two questions and write down every kid’s answer: Why did people trust and follow Deborah? Where in YOUR life could you lead and light the way for someone? Each group stars one answer to share.

Take It Home. Portfolio: a time I led — or could lead — even when no one expected it.

Spark. Hold up a jar of face cream: "A woman built one of the biggest companies in the world starting with jars like this on her kitchen stove — when almost no company was run by a woman."

Story. Estée Lauder mixed creams at home, sold them jar by jar, and won customers by applying the cream right onto their skin. She invented the "gift with purchase" and lit the way for women in business everywhere.

Connect. Two columns — Deborah and Estée — filling in what made each a leader who lit the way for others.

Take It Home. Portfolio: one sentence about Estée Lauder.

Spark. "Everyone can lead and light the way for someone — a younger kid, a friend, a teammate. You don’t need a title."

Activity. In small groups, students write and perform a short modern "Song of Deborah" — a cheer, rap, or poem — celebrating a leader who lit the way for them.

Connect. Groups perform; the audience names the "light" each leader brought to others.

Take It Home. Challenge: light the way for one person this week — help, include, or encourage them.

Spark. Quietly whisper a student’s name from across the room: "What would you do if you heard your name called in the night and didn’t know who it was?"

Story. As a boy in the Temple, Samuel hears his name three times and keeps running to Eli — until Eli helps him answer "Hineini — Here I am." He grows into a trusted leader who anoints Israel’s first kings; people follow him because they trust him.

Connect. Name the lesson: "‘Hineini — Here I am.’ Listen for your calling and build trust." What does "Hineini" really mean — being ready to show up?

Take It Home. Portfolio: a time I said "Here I am" and showed up for someone.

Spark. Show a Starbucks cup: "The man who built this grew up so poor he watched his dad get hurt at work with no health insurance. He never forgot it."

Story. Howard Schultz grew up in a Brooklyn housing project and cared deeply about workers. When he built Starbucks he gave even part-time workers health benefits and a share of the company — earning trust by treating people like family.

Connect. Two columns — Samuel and Schultz — on how each one earned people’s trust.

Take It Home. Portfolio: one sentence about Howard Schultz.

Spark. "Trust is a superpower. It’s hard to build and easy to break."

Activity. Run a trust activity (a blindfolded partner guided by voice, or a back-to-back "listen and draw"). Then a circle: share a "Hineini" moment when you were called on and answered.

Connect. As a class, make two quick lists: what builds trust, and what breaks it.

Take It Home. Challenge: be someone’s "Hineini" this week — show up when they need you.

Spark. "Would you stand up to the most powerful person in the room if you knew they were wrong? What would make that hard?"

Story. Elijah boldly stood up to King Ahab and Queen Jezebel and used the powers God gave him to help ordinary people — like refilling a poor widow’s jar of oil. One scholar called him "a warrior for the common folk."

Connect. Name the lesson: "Be brave enough to do the right thing — and stand up for ordinary people."

Take It Home. Portfolio: a time I stood up for what was right — or wish I had.

Spark. "Imagine your family’s business burns down and an insurance company hands you a fortune to walk away. What would you do?"

Story. When Aaron Feuerstein’s factory burned down three days before Hanukkah in 1995, he kept paying all 3,000 workers their full salary for months while he rebuilt — because his Jewish values told him it was right. People called him "the Mensch of Malden Mills."

Connect. Two columns — Elijah and Feuerstein — on standing up for regular people and choosing right over easy.

Take It Home. Portfolio: one sentence about Aaron Feuerstein.

Spark. "Doing the right thing isn’t always the easy thing."

Activity. A friendly mini-debate: should a business ever put people ahead of profit? Then role-play, in pairs, bravely and kindly standing up for someone being treated unfairly.

Connect. Name real situations where kids can stand up for ordinary people — including someone left out, speaking up when someone is teased.

Take It Home. Challenge: stand up for someone this week.

Spark. "Have you ever tried to avoid doing something you knew you should do? What happened?"

Story. Told to warn Nineveh, Jonah sails the opposite way; a storm hits, a giant fish swallows him, and after three days he prays, is spit out, and finally goes. Nineveh changes its ways and gets a second chance.

Connect. Name the lesson: "You can’t run from your purpose — and setbacks can become second chances."

Take It Home. Portfolio: something I’ve been avoiding that I know I should do.

Spark. "You get fired from your job today. Is that the end — or could it be the beginning?"

Story. Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank were both fired from a hardware store on the same day. Instead of giving up, they turned it into a second chance and founded The Home Depot.

Connect. Two columns — Jonah and Marcus & Blank — on the setback and the second chance.

Take It Home. Portfolio: one sentence about Marcus & Blank.

Spark. "Everybody strikes out sometimes. What matters is what you do next."

Activity. Each student thinks of a time something flopped and designs a "Comeback Plan": what they learned, and how they’d try again.

Connect. A class cheer for comebacks — almost every success story is full of second chances.

Take It Home. Challenge: give something — or someone — a second chance this week.

Spark. "Have you ever felt like grown-ups don’t listen because you’re ‘just a kid’?"

Story. God calls Jeremiah, who says "I am still young." God answers, "Don’t say that you are too young." Jeremiah speaks hard truths even when it makes people angry — and never stops.

Connect. Name the lesson: "You’re never too young to speak up and change things."

Take It Home. Portfolio: something I would change about my school, community, or world.

Spark. "How old do you think you have to be to build something used by billions of people?"

Story. Mark Zuckerberg built Facebook in his dorm room at 19. It spread fast and became one of the largest companies in the world — and building something so powerful also comes with big responsibility for how it’s used.

Connect. Two columns — Jeremiah and Zuckerberg — on speaking up or building anyway while young.

Take It Home. Portfolio: one sentence about Mark Zuckerberg.

Spark. "Your voice matters right now — not someday."

Activity. Each student writes a short (about 30-second) speech about something they’d change, using the starter "I may be young, but …", then practices delivering it.

Connect. Volunteers give their speeches; the class snaps or claps for each brave voice.

Take It Home. Challenge: speak up about something that matters to you this week.

Spark. "What’s the most unfair thing you can think of? How does unfairness make you feel?"

Story. A simple shepherd, Amos spoke up because the rich were cheating the poor. He gave one of the most famous lines in the Bible — "Let justice roll down like water" — and taught that being fair matters more than fancy ceremonies.

Connect. Name the lesson: "‘Let justice roll down like water.’ Stand up for fairness."

Take It Home. Portfolio: an unfair thing I’ve noticed.

Spark. Show a pint of ice cream: "What if a company put fairness right into its ice cream?"

Story. Childhood friends who learned ice cream from a $5 course built fairness into their company — fair prices to farmers, profits to good causes, standing up loudly for justice.

Connect. Two columns — Amos and Ben & Jerry — on how each stood up for fairness.

Take It Home. Portfolio: one sentence about Ben & Jerry.

Spark. "You don’t have to be big to fight for fairness."

Activity. As a class, pick one real fairness issue in your school or community and design a small "justice project": what’s unfair, what you’d change, and one first step.

Connect. Groups share their project ideas; vote on one the class might really try.

Take It Home. Challenge: do one fair thing this week — include someone, share, or speak up.

Spark. "If you could fix one thing in the whole world, what would it be?"

Story. Isaiah painted a picture of a peaceful, healed world ("swords into plowshares") and gave a clear to-do list: "learn to do good, seek justice, help the wronged, defend the orphan, stand up for the widow."

Connect. Name the lesson: "Dream of a better world — and help the people who need it most."

Take It Home. Portfolio: a way I could help someone who needs it.

Spark. "One woman built hospitals AND helped rescue tens of thousands of children. How does a person do that much good?"

Story. A rabbi’s daughter and a teacher, Henrietta Szold founded Hadassah — nurses and hospitals to heal everyone in the land of Israel — then led Youth Aliyah, rescuing tens of thousands of Jewish children, many of them orphans, from Nazi Europe to safety.

Connect. Two columns — Isaiah and Szold — on dreaming of a better world and doing the real work.

Take It Home. Portfolio: one sentence about Henrietta Szold.

Spark. "A dream plus action equals tikkun olam — repairing the world."

Activity. Learn a little about Hadassah and Youth Aliyah, then plan the class’s own real "heal the world" mitzvah project — who we help, what we do, and the first step.

Connect. The class commits to the project and assigns roles.

Take It Home. Challenge: do one small act to help someone who needs it this week.

Spark. "Would you rather have a friend who gives fancy gifts but is mean, or one with no gifts who’s always kind? Why?"

Story. Hosea taught that God cares far more about kindness and honesty than fancy ceremonies — and even when people make mistakes, the message is love, loyalty, and a chance to do better.

Connect. Name the lesson: "What matters most is how you treat people — not how things look."

Take It Home. Portfolio: a time someone treated me with real kindness.

Spark. "What makes you want to go back to a restaurant — the food, or how they made you feel?"

Story. Danny Meyer built Shake Shack and famous restaurants on "enlightened hospitality": take great care of your employees first, and they take great care of the customers. How you treat people is the whole secret.

Connect. Two columns — Hosea and Danny Meyer — on why treating people right is the real secret.

Take It Home. Portfolio: one sentence about Danny Meyer.

Spark. "Kindness is something you can practice, like a sport."

Activity. As a class, write a "How We Treat People" code of kindness, then role-play welcoming a nervous new kid or a guest using the code.

Connect. Post the kindness code in the classroom; each student picks one line to practice.

Take It Home. Challenge: treat one person with extra kindness this week — especially someone left out.

Spark. "Have you ever felt like giving up on something? What helped you keep going?"

Story. Ezekiel spoke to people far from home who had lost hope. In his famous vision, a whole valley of dry bones comes back to life, standing up strong and whole again. His message: don’t give up — things can be rebuilt.

Connect. Name the lesson: "Bring hope, even in the darkest times — you can always start again."

Take It Home. Portfolio: a time I kept going when things were hard.

Spark. Hold up a Barbie: "The woman who invented this doll also invented something that helped women heal after cancer. What connects them? Hope."

Story. Ruth Handler invented Barbie so girls could imagine being anything. Later, after surviving breast cancer, she started a brand-new company making realistic prosthetics to give other survivors hope and confidence.

Connect. Two columns — Ezekiel and Ruth Handler — on bringing hope and starting again.

Take It Home. Portfolio: one sentence about Ruth Handler.

Spark. "You’ve now met 10 prophets and 10 changemakers. They all had a calling. What’s yours?"

Activity. Students design something that gives people hope, then launch the year-end "My Calling" capstone — their own idea to make the world better, standing on the shoulders of the prophets and the entrepreneurs.

Connect. Students share a hope-creation or an early "My Calling" idea; celebrate the whole journey.

Take It Home. Final portfolio page: "My calling might be …" — to grow into the capstone presentation.