Posted by Nicole P

Program Host	Regional
Host Region	Central Region West
Program Type	Aleph-in-Training (AIT) Brotherhood Convention Education Judaic Leadership Training Convention Social
Time Required	Less then 2 hours
Target Population(s)	Girls (BBG) Boys (AZA) Members Members-in-Training Alephs-in-Training Teen Leaders Convention Participants Freshmen Sophomores Juniors Seniors 8th Graders
Folds Targeted	Judaic Education Jewish Heritage Sisterhood
People Participating	60-100

Program Summary:

A regional, Judaic program relating the Mishnah to modern day situations.

Full Description:

This program is intended to relate religious text (in this case, Mishnah) to modern day situations. Each group is presented with a situation and then questioned about who is responsible for what in the situation. It requires people to think about their cognitive process and why it is that they believed that. After they are done talking about it, they are then told the view that is provided by the Mishnah, which they will again talk about.

Procedures
1.    Present the story to the smaller group (2 minutes)
2.    Chat about the story (8 minutes)
3.    Answer the questions below the story (15 minutes)
4.    The group will appoint a few people to share with the entire group (2 minutes)
5.    The larger group will come back together and share what they came up with (15 minutes)
6.    Share the Mishnah’s opinion with the group after the presentation of the opinion (3 minutes)

Group 1

Story
You and your friend are having a BBQ at a public park near a playground. You are marinating your meat in a glass bowl. You cook the food, it is amazing, and you enjoy a nice afternoon in the park. You see some people you know and run off to play a game of ultimate Frisbee on the grass field next to the BBQ. Your frisbee flies off target, and knocks the bowl off the table, onto the concrete floor, shattering into a million pieces. Your friend runs over and picks up a few shards, then throws them away (instead of recycling them) and returns to the game. You ask if it is clean, and he says “yes.” You glance over at the area, and see a few small shards, but don't think anything of them. you assume that anyone in the area would avoid the spill until have time to clean it up fully. 15 minutes later, a young girl running barefoot runs through the BBQ area playing a game of tag, trips and falls over the glass.  A shard of glass severs a tendon in her left hand. You hear a scream and glance over to find the girl in great pain and her parents wondering what happened.

Questions
-Whose fault is it?
-Who is responsible for paying for this girl's medical bill: the family, your friend, or you?
-What would Judaism say?

Mishnah
A pit belonging to two partners is deemed dangerous, if the first one passed by and did not cover it, and the second one did not cover it, the second one is liable for any injury that occurs as a result of the pit.

Group 2

Story
You are leaving for a camping trip right after school on Friday. You have all of your gear for the camping trip with you (including lighter fluid for the campfire) in your last period chemistry class. You are doing a lab including a Bunsen burner. You put your bag on the table to grab a pencil out, and go to the other side of the room to collect supplies. a classmate accidentally knocks your backpack into the lit fire of the Bunsen burner. Moments later, your bag catches fire and explodes sending shards of glass from broken test tubes and bits of flaming matter everywhere. Chaos ensues, and you realize that the lighter fluid had leaked.

Questions
-Whose fault is the fire?
-Who is responsible for paying for the damage—the kid who knocked your backpack into the flame, your chemistry teacher, or you?
-What would Judaism say?

Mishnah
If a camel laden with flax was passing through the public domain, and its flax entered into the store, and it [the flax] caught fire from the candle of the storekeeper and set fire to a building, the owner of the camel is liable.

Group 3

Story
Your friend lends you an inflatable air mattress. It has been used before, but it is in very good shape. You keep it for many years, using it any many occasions—camping trips, sleepovers, etc. Each time, it works completely fine. One day, your friend asks for it back, and you give it to her. She tries to inflate it, but notices that the air won't stay in. She looks around the mattress and notices a hole.

Questions
-Whose fault is it?
-Who is responsible for paying for a new air mattress?
-If you should pay for it, how much should you have to pay—price of a new mattress or price of the used one you were lent originally?
-What would Judaism say?

Mishnah
If one stole an animal and it became old in his possession, and their value depreciated, the thief pays their value at the time of the theft.

Group 4

Story
You are a professional bass player, and take pride in your beautiful antique standup bass. It is nearly 6 feet tall, and has an incredible, unique sound. You are asked to play with a clesmer band at a Bar Mitzvah in New York City. You have heard horror stories of instruments on airplanes, and are naturally nervous about flying your one of a kind instrument cross country. You call the airline and ask them if they can take special care of your bass, and they assure you that there will be no problems. You show up to the airport with your bass in a special protective case (just as they had told you to do), paid the extra care fee, and give it to the airline. When you get to baggage claim in New York, you find out that your bass has broken in half. Under further investigation, you find out that the bass was loaded into the plane first, and was crushed by all of the other luggage.

Questions
-Whose fault is it?
-Who should pay for the new bass/repair—the airline, or you?
-What would Judaism say?

Mishnah
If a person gave craftsmen a utensil to repair and the craftsmen broke it, the craftsmen are obligated to pay the value of the utensil.

Group 5

Story
You are cat sitting for your neighbor and everything seems to be going alright. You're changing its water and feeding it twice a day, basically giving it VIP treatment. One night you go over to feed the cat, and you find it with a clearly broken leg in obvious pain. You deduce that some animal came overnight and got in a territorial fight with the cat, scratching it from head to paw and breaking its leg.

Questions
-Is it your fault?
-Do you have to pay for the cat's medical bills? If the cat dies, do you have to pay for a new one?
-What would Judaism say?

Mishnah
If a man shall give his fellow a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any animal to safeguard, and it died or was broken or was carried off in a raid, without an eyewitness; the owner shall accept it and he (the safegaurder) shall not pay.

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