Here is the Intro and Week 1. Does this work for a format? It is basically what I will be doing with my kids, but the intro helps get everyone on the same page.
Yada for Littles Introduction
Note to kids and parents: We will be taking a journey with our kids. The purpose of the journey is for our kids, as well as ourselves, to Yada YHWH – to know Yahowah as our Father. We will be using the documents An Introduction to God (ITG) and Yada YHWH (YY) as the spine of our journey. A spine is the outline we are going to be building upon. ITG and YY are great guides to a personal quest of knowing Yah for ourselves. They are well written and well researched, so there is no need to reinvent the wheel in these areas. However, just like humans aren’t made up of just spines – we still need to put some meat on the bones of these documents. We get the meat by studying additional resources, checking the facts and translations found within ITG and YY, and doing our own personal study and meditation by ourselves and with our households. This “journey” is broken down into bite size pieces and with additional resources that can be consumed and understood by young children. Teaching children in the ways of Yah and to yada Yah for themselves is a very private and personal matter. This guide is more a prose on the things that I will be doing with my children that you may find beneficial for your children as well.
Let’s start with a big fundamental; Yada is a guy. He is a great researcher and has been more than generous with sharing his materials with the world. However, he is just a guy. There is no “church of Yada”, there is no “pastor Yada” or rabbi, or priest, or pope. While the true word of Yah is infallible – the same is not the case for Yada or any other man or woman on the planet. We will be approaching Yada’s work the same way we approach the work of Einstein or Shakespere – we appreciate and admire, but consume with healthy doses of skepticism and questioning. With my children I will always be pointing out Yada’s opinions. I will discuss when I agree with him and why. I will discuss when I don’t agree with him (on a point, on a translation, on a interpretation) and why and provide my own facts and research and I will encourage my children to do the same.
These are the versions of ITG and YY we will be working from:
http://www.yadayahweh.co...eh_Genesis_Baresyth.YHWHhttp://anintroductiontogod.com/Each week I will post what I and my children are studying. There will be 3 sections to each study. The first will be a Hebrew word. Our first few words will be important names – like Yahowah. We will learn the name, what it means, how to write it, how to say it, and how to find it. The second section will be a section of IGT or YY (we will be starting with IGT). I will post the section we are working from. I will be reading the section to my kids – then we will talk about it. At this point I will probably bring in other resources that also discuss similar topics. I will always post any additional sources that I may find. The 3rd section will be a look at an amplified scripture section. We will start with the amplified scriptures found on the YY forum here:
http://forum.yadayahweh.com/. Hopefully as we progress in our journey we will be doing our own amplified scriptures. There is absolutely no commercially available fully amplified version of the entire Torah, Prophets, and Psalms available. Many of the YY forum members have done an AMAZING job of sharing amplifications they have completed. But, much work will need to be done on our part to ensure our children have as fully complete understanding of Yahowah and His Towrah that can be found here on earth. For the most part we will follow through ITG and then move on to YY. However, when we are 3 – 4 week out from a Set Apart Time – we will jump to those sections so that our kids are ready for the time with at least a cursory understanding of what the Feast is about and what is going on.
Please keep in mind that I currently have two 4 year olds and a 6 year old. You may have to adjust the activities and passages for your own children. I am also just a person, less researched than Yada by a country mile. This is just a cut up guide of ITG and YY with links to other resources than can be used to introduce your child to Yahowah and His Towrah in bite sized pieces they can understand along with some age appropriate activities to help seal in the learning. The journey for me and my children begins on August 17th. I will try to post our weekly plan two weeks ahead so if someone wants to follow along with us they can. I would also love for anyone following along to post any information they find that would be helpful as well! The first weekly plan will be posted on Sunday, August 6th.
Because of the age of my children, there is a good chance Yahowsha’ will return when they are still under the protection of my husband’s and my own Covenant relationship with Yahowah. However, the work I am doing now will still put my children in the best light to make their own decision to opt to partake of Yahowah’s Covenant. We often say we would do anything for our children, that no price is too high and no pain too great to do what is best for them. Now, we as parents, get to live up to those words. This is going to be a multi-year process. It is going to be filled with lots of questions, take lots of time and lots of energy. We are centered right in the middle of Babylon and will have to fight with all we have to not to pass our children through the fire of Molech and pagan practices in a country whose every symbol, every holiday, every fiber of its being is dedicated to pagan worship. From the Statue of Liberty to the giant Christmas tree in the White House every December to the very language we speak – we drip with paganism. It is going to cost us everything to keep our children out of the grasp. On the other hand, what better way to spend our time? We look to spend approximately 2 - 3 hours per week, broken down over 3 days working on our journey with the kids.
Week 1: Yada for Littles
Section 1
Hebrew word of the week: YHWH/Yahowah
On page 5 in ITG, we see 3 ways of writing Yah’s name in Hebrew. Have your child copy the 3 different ways. Discuss each of the ways and how the writing changed over time. Now have them write the name in English (YHWH), then transliterated (Yahowah).
Other activities could include writing Yah’s name in sand, in shaving cream, and even forming the Hebrew letters with play dough. If you are handy in the kitchen, baking bread or pancakes shaped in His name would be a wonderful activity as well. For slightly older children, they may want to start writing out their own Hebrew/English dictionary that they will fill throughout our journey.
Practice saying the name until each child can say it easily. Discuss with them that this is God’s name. Also discuss that “God” is a title and many people say “God” or that they worship or serve “God”, but they are talking about different gods. There is one true God and He has one name – Yahowah.
Additional resource:
http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/28_chart.html This is an ancient Hebrew letter chart that can be printed for reference and to teach your children to draw the various characters.
Section 2
ITG Prelude: Introduce your children to Yada. Let them know that Yada is a real guy that really loves YHWH and spends a lot of time studying YHWH’s Words. He has chosen to share what he has found with everyone in the world. However, Yada is a person and Yada is not Yahowah. So, sometimes Yada may say things that you or they may disagree with and that is okay. While you all will read a lot of things that Yada wrote, you all will also read things that other people wrote as well. Sometimes really smart people disagree, but this is okay. We know that with enough hard work we can always end up at the truth.
The analogy that we are going with is that Yada wrote a map. As we follow the map we will go through many adventures and we will eventually find so much to know about Yahowah and His Towrah. The reason I like the map analogy is because no matter who writes a map – in order to “get” to the spot each person has to walk it themselves. Also, sometimes when we are following a map – we find things that aren’t on it. Sometimes there is a hill we have to climb that wasn’t seen on the map, sometimes a road has been washed away and we need to find another way, sometimes we discover a faster route or we want to take a side trip for ourselves. The children can see that this may be Yada’s map, but it is our own journey. Again, we aren’t following Yada, we are following his map that will lead us to Yah’s Towrah. We will follow Yah’s Towrah to find Yah Himself and become a part of His family!!
I would read through the ITG prelude alone first. It is relatively short in Yada terms (LOL) and depending on where your children are, some things can be skipped. If you had raised your children as part of a religion up until this time, you may want to cover the entire Prelude with them so they will understand some things will be changing from what you all originally thought and followed. If you were not religious before, or your children had not been too deeply planted in your religion – you can focus just on the sections of the prelude the give an understanding of what ITG will cover and skip those pieces that discuss other religions and individuals like Paul.
This first week is about setting your children’s expectations. Make it light and fun and allow them get together and decorate any folders or storage places they will be using to keep all of the things they learn from this journey. You may even want to find a map online or draw a map they will be able to fill in as they learn on this journey to and through the Towrah. Things go pretty fast from here, so helping them to prepare for the journey this week is ideal.
Additional Resource:
http://www.gcnlive.com/programs/shatteringMyths/ This is a link to the radio program done by Yada. This will allow your children to see he is a real guy. They can also call with questions they have that are relevant to the topic he is discussing for that show, or with a question from ITG or YY. If your children have more off topic questions, I would suggest sending him an email – he is very good with corresponding. A good practice is if your children have questions that could find the answer to with your help – go that route. It is important for kids to know that they don’t need anyone other than you to help them find their way in their journey and that as they get older and have their own strong relationship with Yah – they don’t need another person to validate that relationship. Other people are sources of good information and research, but we really don’t need anyone “over” us. It is important to emphasis this a lot because our journey is the antithesis of religion. Religion is filled with hierarchy and “holy” people that stand between Yah and man. We have no such filter and it will be important for our children to understand this fully.
Section 3
Amplified Scripture of the week: Re’shith Chapter 1: This translation was supplied by James on the Yada forum. I believe it can be found here:
http://forum.yadayahweh....ipture-Only-Version.aspxRe’shith - Genesis
Chapter 1
1In (ba - near, with, and in proximity to, regarding the account of) the beginning (re'shith - at the start of time and the initiation of the process of existence, concerning the first fruits, the head of the family), God (`elohym - the Mighty Ones) accordingly (`et - accompanying and in association) created (bara' - performed a miracle, choosing perfect transformation and renewed birth, conceiving, planning, preparing, and producing) the (ha) universe, the spiritual world (samayim - the heavens, and the abode of stars) and (wa) also (`et) the (ha) material realm (`erets - matter, the physical and natural world). 2The material realm (the natural material of which the universe is comprised) exists formless, as an order less and empty void, obscured in darkness along with (beside and together with) the presence of the inaccessible and mysterious depths, and (wa) the Spirit (ruwach) of God (`elohym) washed, purified, and hovered over (rachaph - quickly and rapidly moved) in accordance with (`al - upon, concerning, beside, on behalf of, on account of, and together with) the presence (paniym) of water (mayim). 3God (`elohym) said (`amar), `Let there be (hayah - exist) light (`owr) and light (`owr) existed (hayah).' 4God (`elohiym) saw (ra'ah - perceived and regarded, appeared and presented Himself as, became visible as, found delight in, and distinguished that) the light (`owr) was good (tabab - pleasant, cheerful, and agreeable; of a higher nature; beautiful, valuable, beneficial and prosperous, thus reliable and true). And God (`elohiym) separated (badal - divided and set apart) light (`owr) from darkness (hosek - obscurity, that which shrouds in blackness, veils by withholding knowledge, imperfects and clouds revelation with sinister suggestions, concealing and mystifying by way of ignorance and confusion). 5God (`elohym) called (qara') the light ('owr) day (yowm - warm). And the darkness (hosek - obscurity, that which shrouds in blackness, veils by withholding knowledge, and clouds revelation with sinister suggestions, concealing and mystifying by way of ignorance and confusion) He called night (layil - time of darkness and gloom, the absence of light). The end of the day (`ereb - evening, night, darkness, and sunset; the mixed together and interwoven fabric or material; the mingling and joining together of things; that which is pleasing, agreeable, and pleasant; the pledge, exchange, undertaking, and fellowship) and the beginning of the day (boqer - morning or sunrise; from baqar, meaning to seek, search, enquire, and consider; to reflect) existing as (hayah) one (`echad - unified) day (yowm).
Once you have read through the amplified scripture – read through the scriptures again in the bible you use most often with your children. We use “The Scriptures” from the Institute for Scripture Research. The only reason we use this translations is because it has the correct name for YHWH. The purpose of reading the amplified scripture passages, then reading them in your most often used English translation is to show your children very early that any bible they buy off the shelf is woefully inadequate. Train them early to understand that every bible in print is at best incomplete and more often wrong and corrupt. This will show them that they cannot rely on a translated bible. While it is okay for use in a pinch, when they sit down to truly study the Torah, Prophets, and Psalms – they need to prepare to do lots of digging.
Hands on activity: Check James’ translation. Choose any verse from the above passage. Look up each of the Hebrew words in the verse and see if you come up with the same translation. For very small children – you may just do 2 or 3 words in a verse. Use various resources to look up the words including a Strong's Concordance, Logos software if you have it, and a good ole' Google search is always in order as well. Allow them to choose any one word they like and write it in their Hebrew words book.
Additional Resource:
http://bible.cc/genesis/1-1.htm This is great for showing parallel passages of bible verses. You can use this to look up the verses we went over in an amplified fashion
Additional Resource:
http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0101.htm this site give the Hebrew and English of Genesis chapter 1. I am not vouching for the accuracy of this site. What I am using it for is there is a link at the top that says "Listen to the chapter in Hebrew". This may be a fun activity for your children to listen to the verses you went over being read in Hebrew.