INTRODUCTION:

Welcome/Framing (10 minutes)

• Welcome everyone! Do a go-around of names, pronouns, and an ice breaker to get to know folks better.
• SAY: The high holidays are a time for teshuvah. Teshuvah is often translated as “repentance,” but it literally means “to return.” This is a time of year to return to our true selves. Shabbat Shuvah (from the word teshuva) is the Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. It’s a time when we focus deeply on the process of returning to our actions from this past year and asking for forgiveness. Tonight/today we will explore Torah on the topic of teshuvah in the style of collaborative poetry. Following our Torah swap–with the themes of renewal in mind–we will then swap our clothing to refresh our wardrobes!

Torah Swap (30 minutes)

• SAY: In a moment we will each pick one piece of Torah at random from this bag/basket. I’ll set a timer for 5 minutes and in that time you will read the piece of Torah and write a short response to what you read. It could be a few sentences, a poem, a few bullet points, a smattering of random words, the world is your oyster. Just make sure to leave room for two other people to respond below your prompt. At the end of the 5 minutes, you will fold back the part of the paper with the Torah so that only your response and the blank space on the page are facing you. After that, you will put your paper back in the bag/basket and we will begin this process again.
  
• Round 1 (5 minutes)
  • Invite participants to pick one piece of Torah from the bag/basket at random.
  • Give participants 5 minutes to read and respond to the Torah.
  • Tell participants to write their responses directly below the piece of Torah on the page.
  • Next, they will fold back the part of the paper on which the Torah is located.
  • Then, they will place the piece of paper back in the bag.
  • Finally, each person will pick a new piece of paper (if you pick your own, pick a new one).
    
• SAY: Now we will do the same process again but this time we will respond to the response that was just written!
  
• Round 2 (5 minutes)
  • Give participants 5 minutes to read and respond to the response written on the page (don’t look at the original Torah text, only read and respond to the previous written response).
  • Tell participants to write their responses directly below the first response on the page.
  • Next, they will fold back the part of the paper on which the first response is located.
  • Then they will place the piece of paper back in the bag.
  • Finally, each person will pick a new piece of paper (if you pick your own, pick a new one).
    
• SAY: Now we will do the same process again and again we will respond to the response that was just written!
  
• Round 3 (5 minutes)
  • Give participants 5 minutes to read and respond to the response written on the page (don’t look at the original Torah text, or the first response only read and respond to the previously written response).
  • Tell participants to write their responses directly below the second response on the page.
  • Next, they will fold back the part of the paper on which the second response is located.
  • Then they will place the piece of paper back in the bag.
  • Finally, each person will pick a new piece of paper (if you pick your own, pick a new one).
    
• Round 4 (10 minutes)
  
• SAY: Now we will take the papers we have chosen and read aloud everything that is on the page (from the Torah through the third and final response).
  
• Group Reflection (5 minutes)
  • Invite the group to reflect and discuss that experience and what they just heard with discussion questions like:
    • What themes/patterns/similarities did you notice across the different responses written?
    • What was your experience responding to a piece of Torah?
    • What was your experience responding to another person’s response?
    • How did it feel to collaborate in the learning/creation of Torah?
    • How do you want to take the learnings from this experience and bring it into this high holiday day season/the coming year?
    • How do you relate to the concept of teshuva (return/renewal)?