There was a peaceful and inspiring atmosphere surrounding the students in Mrs. Lucy Lissard’s 6th grade religion class at Catholic High on Wednesday as they learned details of the Jewish religion from a visiting Rabbi.

“Today’s class isn’t about us trying to convert Rabbi Rand Burke to Christianity or him trying to convert us to Judaism, it’s about mutual respect for both religions,” Lissard explained.

The teacher reminded the class that Christians share the old testament of the Bible with the Jewish faith and that the New Testament is about Jesus Christ.

Both Lissard and Rabbi Burke opened up with a prayer from Deuteronomy 6:4-5 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”  

Rabbi Burke repeated the verse in Hebrew. 

With the atmosphere set, Burke began to delve into the history and culture that includes the Genesis of the Christian faith.

Burke talked about the Temples of the Jewish religion, there were two of them that included stories of  familiar names to Christians who study the Bible, such as Solomon and the Babylonians.  

The Rabbi then explained how the faith evolved from the burning of sacrifices in the temple to the present prayers being offered in synagogues.

Students were able to ask questions and learn similarities between the two faith systems.

You all don’t eat pork or bottom feeders right,” one student asked. “Did you ever sacrifice people,” another questioned. 

The Rabbi explained that the Jewish faith does not always follow the orthodox method of a kosher diet but has evolved in some aspects to include more weightier values in believers such as being kind to your neighbors.

“I think it’s important especially at a young age,” Rabbi Burke said. “Because when students go to high school and university and be exposed to different people in different walks of life having that discourse it helps them close that gap and lessons like this helps to unify the diversity in people,” he said

Burke is a student from Scottsdale, Arizona who is attending Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio. Burke is visiting New Iberia to teach and is spending 11 days at Gates of Prayer Jewish Temple during the season of the Jewish holidays Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (Jewish New Year and day of atonement).

Local Jewish businessman Larry Miller has been arranging the visits from Rabbis for the last 10 years, after his son Jordan Miller took Mrs. Lissards class. 

“Ten years ago Mrs. Lucy thought it would be a great idea for her 6th grade students to tour the Jewish temple,” Miller said. “She could only bring one class so I thought why don’t I bring the Rabbi to you.”

Students were also able to flip through the Torah. They learned that the skull cap worn by Jews called the Kippah represents God above us and the Tallit (prayer shawl) symbolizes God is all around us. Concepts that aren’t foreign to Christian believers as well.

“In the early 1800s we had a surge of Jewish thinkers who took part of the services from Catholicism and incorporated it into the faith,” Burke explained.

“They wanted to make Judaism a respectful faith in the area they were living which was Germany because it was a highly Catholic and Christian society,” Burke added. “They also wanted to make Judaism more accessible academically.” 

“I think it’s very cool to learn about another faith and what they do on a Saturday,” 6th grader Nicholas Gondron said referring to the Jewish Sabbath. “The most interesting thing is to learn about the shawl he had on and to learn that God is above us and all around us,” he added.

“I learned about the Jewish faith and how they write their words (from right to left)  and learn stuff from their faith and the timeline of their faith,” student Aiden LeLeaux said. “I thought it was interesting,”

When class ended Lissard said she would email Rabbi Burke with any further questions the students had concerning the Jewish faith.