Under Her Palm Tree: A Story of Deborah, the Judge

For many years I have written Jewish- and Israel-oriented poetry, and have been published. Still, it was an aspiration of mine to write for children, having a love of children’s literature, both from the years of raising a child as well as years teaching Pre-school through Kindergarten. Some years ago, I wrote a series of stories and poems based on Jewish holidays and themes from Torah, appropriate for four- through six-year-olds.In addition to my roles as Learning Specialist and Lead Hebrew Educator at Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, NY, I assist in creating curriculum for our Kindergarten through Second Grade program. I was aware of a hole in the wealth of Jewish literature for children: that being, a dearth of stories about the biblical judge, Deborah. The attached story came about as a result of this lack and this need (for a curricular piece about Deborah).Along the way, in revising the text of this Deborah story, it became clear that it would best serve older age groups, ideally fourth through sixth graders. Initially I illustrated the story. The illustrations are more rudimentary and were meant to give a flavor to a possible publisher. Thus, I am not including them here.