| Teaching Jewish Values to Young Children |
Ora Genkina Phone: (617)-264-9615,
"Talmud Torah kneged kulam"
Final Project (age 2,5-5)
December 18, 2000 Instructor: Susie Rodenstein
“These are the things of which a man enjoys the fruits in this world, while the principal remains for him in the hereafter, namely: honoring father and mother, practice of kindness, early attendance in the schoolhouse morning and evening, hospitality to guests, visiting the sick, dowering the bride, attending the dead to the grave, devotion in
prayer, and making peace between fellow man; but the study of Torah excels them all.” (Mishnah Peah 1:1; Talmud Shabbath 127a)
The Jewish tradition is committed to the study of classical texts -- the foundation of Jewish values. Why does Torah study play the most important role in moral education? Moreover, the very act of studying these texts is regarded as a moral (religious) act (Chazan, 1980)?
The whole Jewish world is included in the Torah's text: stories about first people and our patriarchs, history of the Jewish people, holidays, laws regarding man's relationship with God and laws about relationships among people. “Torah is weighed against all of the mitzvot because the study of Torah leads to their performance” (Talmud, Kiddushin 40b).
From this statement is obvious the critical role of the teacher. She/he is responsible for translation of this knowledge into daily life. The teacher is the leader and the initiator of the learning experience. To create a positive classroom atmosphere, to make the subject interesting for children, to develop attitude and motivation in learning process is very important for success in teaching Torah.
It is also important to convey the feeling of wholeness in the Torah. It is not just separate stories; it is one long story that lasts throughout the year, with each parsha connected to others. My course is based on the weekly portions and holidays. The main idea of the program is to make each child an active participant of this interesting long story during the whole school year. We act out the story, we make art projects, we play games and learn songs in Hebrew related to the parsha, and we live the life of the Bible characters. Also, I send the letters for parents with the parsha story and with activities that we practiced in class or some activities for home. Sometimes we receive feedback to those letters. For example, when we learned about the desert (parsha Lech and others), parents dressed their son in a shirt with a picture of the desert, and other children brought toy camels and donkeys for traveling Avraham with his family.
Each parsha includes some mitzvot. We try to learn age appropriate mitzvah from the weekly portion. When we teach the weekly portion, it is also important to point the children to the source of the story, such written Torah or Midrash (see parsha Lech below).
According to Jewish tradition, a human being has a choice of good or bad through the freedom and responsibility of free will (Sarah G. Efron “Jewish moral education and character education: a comparison”). Discussions in the circle time and open-ended questions help children in development of the individual's power of judgement. “The classical text conveys moral content, but at the same time it encourages the student to use his/her power of judgement and choose between contrary views on the basis of relevant facts, reasons and principles” (Dorff, 1980). Obviously it is not age appropriate to open a Talmud discussion in preschool. But while discussing the Hanukkah story, it is very useful to open a discussion: should we light Menorah right now or it will be more reasonable to wait 8 more days? Children usually give different answers, they start to think about doing mitzvahv. Their understanding of the miracle with the oil: what was the miracle, why was the miracle, became more deep. Each text in Torah allows the teacher to open such a discussion. “Educate a child according to his own path, and even when he grows old, he will not stray from it” (Proverbs 22:6).
One more special feature of this related course is the possibility to continue the same stories next school year on a higher level of understanding.
From the parsha “Bereshit” :1 we learn about Shabbat. Children like to play Shabbat games. They like to play as Aba and Ima, reconstruct the atmosphere of holiday and hospitality in the Jewish home. They practice saying Kiddush and bracha, and entertaining “guests” on Shabbat lunch.
From the “Bereshit”: 2 and “Noah” we learn responsibility in caring for the environment (Bal Tashchit - do not destroy) , how to cultivate and protect the plants, how to take care of the animals and protect them, how to use them for human needs (see web and activities).
From the parsha Lech Lecha we can learn mitzvot of Tzdaka and Pidyon Shevuyim - to free people taken captive (see activities).
From the parsha Vayeira we learn mitzvot of hospitality and honoring parents. We discuss about “korbanot” as expression of Avraham's and Itzhak's thanks and devotion to Hashem. Talk about “mesirut nefesh” - self-sacrifice of Itzhak.
From the parsha Chayei Sarah we can see that the family is the base of the Jewish life. We can learn mitzvot: attending the dead to the grave, dowering the bride, kindness to animals and gemilut hasadim.
Weekly letters for parents (Bereshit: 1-25)
Bereshit
This week we started to read the Torah from the beginning -- from the book of “Bereshit”. We learn how Hashem created the world.
First day: light and dark -- “or” and “hoshech”.
Second day: the ocean and the sky -- “maim” and “shamaim”
Third day: the land with all the plants
Forth day: the sun, the moon, and the stars.
Fifth day: the fish and all sea animals to swim in the ocean, and birds to fly in the sky.
Sixth day: all animals that live on the land and the first people: Adam and Havah.
Seventh day: Shabbat.
Each day has a pair (try to guess which one?). First - Fourth, Second - Fifth, Third - Sixth. Only Shabbat has left alone. It was very upset because of that. It came to Hashem to ask Him to find a pair for him. Hashem looked for a pair and found the Jewish people. My people will be your pair, - said Hashem. Shabbat was very happy and the Jewish people were very happy to celebrate Shabbat. They said: "Thank you Hashem for such a wonderful present!" Every Friday we light candles and we say: “Welcome Shabbat”, and we make Kiddush. We also say: “Thank you, Hashem, for the day of rest and for reminding us about the creation of the world”.
Activities:
Collages of seven days of creation (one big poster or 7 pictures for each child).
Materials: gold and silver contact paper, glitter, star stickers, star macaroni and black paper for 1-st and 4-th days. Blue and white tissue paper, fish and birds stickers for 2-nd and 5-th days. Brown and blue paper with green tissue paper and stickers of flowers, trees or real leaves, animal stickers and people (boy and girl) for 3-d and 6-th days. Candles, Kiddush cup, hallah and Jewish family at the Shabbat table for the picture of the 7-th day.
Hebrew words: bereshit, shamaim, maim, or, hosheh, shabbat
Songs: “Yom rishon -avoda…, “Shalom alechem”, “Bim-bom”
The First people
Bereshit 2:15-25
Hashem settled the first man Adam in Gan Eden, in a very special beautiful garden, and instructed him to care for all the plants and animals and to protect them. Hashem also allowed Adam to eat almost all the delicious fruits and vegetables in Gan Eden, except for fruits of one tree in the middle of the garden. That tree was called "etz daat tov ve ra"; which means knowledge of good and bad things. Hashem forbade Adam to eat the fruit of this tree, because it was very dangerous for man's life. Hashem also decided to make helpers and friends for the First Man. He made all the animals and birds and brought them to Adam. G-d asked Adam to give names to every one of animals and birds and fish. It was a really difficult job to find an appropriate name for everyone. Adam did very well. For example he called a fly - "zvuv" because of it's sound, a butterfly - "par-par" because of it's two wings, a donkey - "hamor", because it works hard, and lion - "aryeh" because of his roar. Adam gave the names to all the animals and birds and fish, but he could not find a friend like himself. And Hashem decided to help Adam and make him a friend. He put Adam to sleep and gave him an operation. He took a little bit from his bones and muscles and made a woman. After that Hashem woke him up and brought the woman. The First Man was very happy that he found an appropriate friend and helper like himself and he called the First Woman -"isha" which means "wife". Hashem was pleased with them too and instructed the First people to live in Gan Eden with their children, to enjoy, to take care, and to protect environment.
Activities:
Bring in animal toys or pictures cards.
1. At circle time:
a) Talk about where these animals live, what they eat, how they sleep (what position)?
b) Let each child pick one animal and ask why he/she likes this animal and how to take care of this animal.
c) Ask children to give a name to that animal
4. Color or decorate pictures of different fruits and vegetables, fish, birds, and animals (use different materials).
5. Make puppets of animals (sock or paper bag). We will use them later to act out the story.
6. Make a little theatre show. Act out the story with children. Each animal comes to Adam. He should try to guess what animal the children are showing him. Then Adam gives it a name and tries to make friends with it. He plays with everyone, has fun, but cannot find an appropriate friend for himself. He feels lonely. At last, he goes to sleep and Hashem brings him a girl. When Adam wakes up, he finds the girl and they are happy and play together and care for each other and everyone in Gan Eden. The First people give thanks to Hashem. They are very happy.
7. Bring plants to the classroom and let the children take turns watering them.
Noah
Adam and Hava had sons, grandsons and great-grand-grandsons… After ten generations, there were many people in the world. Some of them started to fight each other. They did not take care about the animals any more, and all the animals became very angry and dangerous. People hurt each other, punched and hit their friends, brothers and sisters. They did not listen to their parents. Even more, they did not want listen to Hashem and follow his good rules.
Noah was the only person who was good and had a good family. His wife's name was Naamah. They had three sons: Shem, Ham and Yapheth, who lived with their wives. They loved and helped each other. Noah always listened to Hashem. However, those evil people laughed at him because of that.
One day Hashem told Noah that He was angry that the people were so bad and ruined the world that He had created. Hashem decided to destroy the world. He was going to put the whole world under the water again (do you remember the Second day of creation?) and create a new one. Hashem said to Noah that He would send the flood.
He wanted to save just Noah's family and two of each animal. He asked Noah to build a big boat, an ark ( “teivah” in Hebrew) where Noah's family, all the animals and the plants would be safe. Immediately, Noah started to build the Ark. He was building it for many-many years. Noah, his wife, and his sons brought the food for the animals and people into the ark. The animals came to the ark two by two. After Noah closed the door, it started to rain. The water fall down from the sky like a waterfall. Fields, forests, houses even the tallest mountains were covered with water. The whole world was drowned.
Noah, his sons, and their wives had to work very hard. They had to feed all the animals at the right time. Some of the animals were used to eating during the day, some of them -- at night. Once Noah was late to bring the meat to the lion, and he bit Noah's arm. They cleaned the rooms and watered the plants. They had no time to rest. However, they loved the animals and helped each other, and it was quiet and peaceful in the Ark.
Noah, Naamah, their sons, their wives, and all the animals had lived in the ark for one year. Then the rain stopped, the water had gone down, and the land had appeared again. Hashem told Noah to go out of the Ark and start to live on the land again. “Go and have a lot of children”, - said Hashem. He put a rainbow in the sky and said: ”This is a sign of my promise that I will never again send a flood”
And they all went out into the open air. They saw the beautiful rainbow in the sky, green grass, blue sky, and rivers, and they felt happy and free. Noah planted grains, grapes, and fruit trees. He built a “mizbeah” and brought kosher animals as “korbanot” for Hashem. He said: ”Thank you, Hashem, for saving our lives and for such a wonderful New World that you created for us”.
Activities:
Animals: puppets, collages, pictures. Learn different kinds of animals, what they eat, where they live, what they give people. Wild animals and farm ones; kosher animals and not kosher animals, etc.
Floatation: some kinds of thing are able to float and the others go to the bottom (do an experiment).
Rainbow: learn right order of the colors in the rainbow; paint a rainbow (a big one for the poster of Noah Ark and small ones for each child on the paper plates).
Games: children pretend to be different kinds of animals and show them to Noah. Noah has to guess what the animal is and to give it appropriate food.
Poster: make a big poster of Noah's Arc, decorating with collages of animals (children's projects) and with the Rainbow.
Hebrew words: mabul, teva, keshet
Song:
Lech Lecha
Noah had three sons, grand sons and great grandsons. After ten generations, there were many people in the world again. And they again started to forget Hashem and his good rules. They preferred to listen to strong people or to believe in monsters. They also believed in the strength of the fire, water or wind. They asked the wind: please, wind bring us clouds we need rain for our fruit trees. They asked the sun: please, sun let us swim and play on the beach in the summer. We do not want the rain weather. This means that they used to worship idols. They did not know that we have to ask for everything from Hashem, because only Hashem rules the whole world. Avraham was the first person, who refused to worship idols, and who started to look for Hashem and to connect with Him. Because of that, Avraham became the very first Jew in the world.
We learn “parsha” from the Humash; it is called the written Torah (“Torah shebektav”). Jewish Tradition saved us a lot of stories from the oral Torah (“Torah shebealpe”). It is called “Midrash Agadah”. Midrash tells us about Avraham's childhood (stories about selling the idols in his father's store, about looking for Hashem behind the sun, the moon and the stars; about King Nimrod who threw Avraham into the burning furnace).
This week's “parsha” begins with the first request of Hashem to Avraham. “Leave your country, your city, home of your father and mother and to go to another land”. (What is harder: to emigrate from one country to another or to go away from your home? What do you think?) Hashem promised Avraham that a great nation would begin from his family. Avraham's children, G-d promised, would be as many as the dust of the earth and the stars in the sky. Moreover, they would be able to give a “bracha” to all other nations.
Avraham left “Ur Kasdim” for the desert with his wife Sarah and his nephew Lot. They had many friends who left with them. They helped Avraham to worship Hashem and took care of their farm animals. Avraham knew how to find water in the desert.
One day Lot separated from Avraham. He went to live in Sdom. It was very dangerous because there were evil people living in Sdom. Also, five kings were at war with each other. They captured Lot. Avraham ran to save his nephew. He beat all the kings and freed Lot. Lot stayed to live in Sdom.
Avraham's friends took many riches from those kings. Avraham separated one-tenth part from it as “maaser” to Hashem. Even now Jewish people give “Tzdaka” from the rich to help poor people buy food, clothes, wine for “Kiddush” and candles for Shabbat. Money from "tzdakah" helps people learn Torah and to travel to Israel. When we do the “Mitzva of Tzdaka” we remember the first Jew Avraham and we bless (give “brachah”) Hashem like Avraham-avinu.
Activities:
Desert: model of desert on the science table (sand, rocks, well with the palm trees and sheep of Avraham, snakes and cactus. Learn about the nature of the desert and animals. Children made the palm trees for the model of the desert.
Make big collage “Lech Lechah”: Children decorated sheep and camels, colored tent and the well of Avraham. They stuck the stars in the sky and glued the sand on the earth.
Make a "Tzdaka" - box: make "tzdaka” box for each child from the film boxes by decorating them with the silver contact paper and stickers with Jewish symbols.
Hebrew words: ohel, midbar, maim, bracha, Lot, Sdom, tzdaka, Midrash
Discuss in the circle time about responsibility to each other. Did Avraham afraid to fight for Lot? Is it easy or difficult to save somebody's life? What Avraham may to feel when Lot decided to stay at Sdom again after Avraham freed him?
Vayerah
Avraham and Sarah loved guests. Doors of their tents were always open to four sides of the world. They knew how difficult and dangerous it is to travel in the desert. Avraham gave the travelers drinks, food and let them rest in his tent. Avraham taught the people “brahot” before and after meal. He taught them to believe in Hashem who created the world (“shamaim ve aretz”). Many people loved Avraham and Sarah, respected them and started to worship Hashem. One day three travelers arrived. Avraham ran to meet them, invited to his tent and asked Sarah to make the best meal for the guests. They appreciated the kindness (“hesed”) of Avraham and they promised him that Sarah would have a new baby boy. Sarah laughed at them, she could not believe it because she and her husband Avraham were elder already. They did not know that those people were messengers of Hashem.
When the new baby boy was born, they called him Itzhak, because to laugh is “tzhok” in Hebrew. Avraham and Sarah were very happy. They loved their son the most in the whole world. Itzhak loved his parents very much too. He respected, listened to them and learned Torah from Avraham.
One day Hashem called Avraham and asked him to bring Itzhak like a “korban” to Hashem. In spite of the fact that he was very upset Avraham took his son and firewood and they went to look for the mountain to build the “mizbeah” for Hashem to sacrifice Itzhak. They found the Land “Moria” (“har Moria”) on the third day. Itzhak was ready to give his life to Hashem and they climbed on the top of the mountain together. Together they brought the stones, built up “mizbeah” and arranged the wood. At the very last moment Hashem stopped Avraham from sacrificing his son Itzhak. He promised again that Avraham's children would be as many as the dust of the earth and the stars in the sky. Because Avraham and Itzhak listened to G-d and almost gave there lives to the Lord he blessed their children. Hashem let him be able to give a “bracha” to all other nations.
Hashem showed Avraham the ram whose horns were caught in the bushes. Avraham brought that ram instead of Itzhak as a “korban” to Hashem. Midrash tells us that it happened in Rosh HaShana. Because of that we blow in the “shofar” which is made from the ram's horn and we read this story in the synagogues on Rosh HaShana.
Activities:
Make a tent - “ohel Avraham”. Set the table. Play the game “invite guests” - “Hachnasat orhim”. Let children play as Avraham and Sarah or make the Shabat party with Kiddush, or birthday party, or any holiday party including Thanksgiving party in this time.
Hebrew words: hesed Avraham, Itzhak, tzhok, korban, mizbeach, har Moria, bracha, shofar.
Song of Avraham's children: Ose shalom bivromav
Discuss in circle time: how we can express thanks to somebody? From just say: Thank you to give the present or to do some good deeds. How we can express devotion to Mammy and Dad? We have to help them all our life.
Hayei Sarah
When Sarah died, she was 127 years old. Avraham buried her in the “Machpela” cave in Hevron. He bought this place to bury his family. Midrash tells us that Adam and Hava were buried in the same grave 20 generation before.
Avraham worried about his son that Itzhak did not get married yet. Avraham sent his servant to his motherland to find an appropriate wife for his son. They put a lot of delicious food; beautiful clothes and jewels on the camels and the servant Eliezer left Eretz Knaan to the desert. When he came to Aram where Avraham's relative lived, he stopped next to the well. He thought: ”I would like to find the nice and kind girl like my master Avraham and Sarah. How can I recognize the girl? I guess that she should come to this well and I will ask her to drink. If she will bring me water and will offer to give it to the camels also, she should be the right wife to my master Itzhak. Just in the moment then he thought about that Rivkah came to the well. Eliezer asked her to drink and she brought water for him. Then she run to the well again and brought water for all the camels. There are ten camels and each camel is able to drink a bucketful of the water. What do you think is it easy or a hard job to water camels? Eliezer understood that she is the right girl who he thought about for Itzhak. He asked Rivkah if she agrees to be married to Itzhak, Avraham's son. She agreed and Eliezer gave her a gold ring and bracelets. When they came back, Itzhak brought her to the tent of his mother Sarah. Rivkah started to light Shabbat candles like Sarah did and they keep lighting the whole week. Rivkah started to make challot like Sarah did and they were fresh the whole week. The clouds came down and protected the tent of Itzhak and Rivkah from the hot sun. They loved each other. They opened the doors for the guests and travelers like Avraham and Sarah used to do.
Activities:
Color the picture “Rivkah and Eliezer next to the well” from the book “Bereshit” by Laya Block. Glue the jug on Rivkah's shoulder.
Act out the meeting between Eliezer and Rivkah. Let the girl who plays Rivkah bring the toy bucket of water to ten children who play the camels.
Discuss with children about custom of hospitality (hahnasat orhim) and “gmilut hasadim”.
Hebrew words: Rivkah, Eliezer, gmilut hasadim
Bereshit: “Creation of the World”
Text of the Torah allows to connect each holiday with the weekly portions. Rosh Hashana is the birthday of the World (parsha Bereshit), shofar is connected with the story about Akedat Itzhak, and Sukkot through the story of Ushpizin is connected with all of our patriarchs. Also, we can find a connection between the story of Yosef and his brothers (which we read on Hanukkah time) and the story of Hanukkah.
Story of Yosef and his brothers in connection with Chanukkah
Rewritten text: Bereshit 37:1-46:34
Chanukkah usually coincides with the learning of the weekly portions "Va-Yeshev", "Miketz", "Va-Yiggash". I think the story of Yosef and his brothers is the right moment for studying the ways of friendship between very different members of one family and also for the first studying of Beth Ha-Mikdash and of the special job of Kohen Gadol of lighting the Menorah.
Lesson 1
Yaakov came back to Eretz K'naan, where his father Itzhak and his grandfather Avraham lived before. Yaakov had twelve sons, and all of them were shepherds. Yosef was the favorite son of Yaakov. He loved to stay at home and learn Torah with his father. Yaakov presented Yosef with a very special coat of many colors called "ktonet pasim" in Hebrew. Because of that the others brothers envied and hated Yosef. Besides, he could understand and explain dreams. Once Yosef had some dreams. The first dream was about sheaves and the second - about stars and moon and sun. He saw in the dreams how 11 sheaves bowed to a special one in the middle and how 11 stars and the sun and the moon bowed to one special star. When Yosef told his brothers about those dreams they became very angry. "Do you want to be a boss or a king (Melech in Hebrew) over us?" - shouted the brothers at him - "It can't be! I have to be a king, because I am firstborn son!" - cried Reuven. "We have to be kings because we are the strongest and bravest people in the world" - cried Shimon and Levi. "I have to be the king, because I am the most important person and everybody listen to me" - thought Yehuda, but he didn't cry and scream -- he kept silent. All the brothers agreed that Yosef would not be their king and they never would listen to him.
The brothers were so angry at Yosef because of his dreams and for special, colorful coat - the ktonet pasim, that they threw Yosef into a deep-deep pit in the desert. They didn't want to listen to Yosef's cries. They grabbed Yosef's special coat the "ktonet pasim", tore it into pieces and sent it to their father Yaakov. Yaakov was terribly upset. He thought, that wild animals ate Yosef. Yaakov tore his coat too and mourned his beautiful son.
Lesson 2
At that time the brothers felt sorry for Yosef and decided to save his life. They sold him as a slave, a servant to another country -- Egypt. Yosef became a servant of Pharoh's helper there. Once Pharoh, a king ("Melech" in Hebrew) of Egypt had two strange dreams. In one dream he saw seven skinny cows eat up seven fat cows. In his second dream he saw seven thin ears of grain eat up seven full ears of grain. Pharoh wanted to know what those dreams meant so much that he became sick. But nobody in his country could help Pharoh to understand those dreams. Suddenly one of the best helpers of Pharoh remembered that one young Jewish servant, Yosef, could explain different kinds of dreams. They called Yosef and asked him to explain to Pharoh what the dreams meant. Yosef answered that only the one G-d could tell them that. Yosef asked Hashem to help him, and Hashem gave the answer to Yosef. Hashem let Pharoh know that after seven good years with a lot of food would come difficult years of hunger and they would have to store food for that bad time. King of Egypt was very happy and appreciated Yosef for solving his difficult problem. He ordered to change the very poor clothes of Yosef for very good ones. Pharoh gave Yosef a very special king's coat and golden ring and put him in charge of his kingdom. So Yosef became the second person in charge, after Pharoh, in the kingdom of land of Egypt.
Lesson 3
Soon the bad time came to Eretz K'naan, where Yaakov still lived with his 11 sons and their families. Yaakov sent his sons to Egypt to buy some food. When they came to Yosef, the brothers did not recognize him because he had grown up and wore rich Egyptian clothes. They bowed to him, as if to the king, and asked him to sell them food for their families. Then Yosef remembered his dreams and cried loudly and said to them: "I am Yosef. Is my father still alive? - Ani Yosef. Od avinu chai? I am your brother that you sold to Egypt". The brothers were very frightened of him and asked him to forgive them. They told him that their father Yaakov still missed and cried about him. And that they all missed him very much too. Yosef answered that he forgave them, because he understood that Hashem sent him to Egypt to save the lives of Yaakov's whole family. Yosef gave them a lot of food and presented the brothers with new beautiful clothes. He sent wagons for his father to travel to Egypt. Then Yaakov, with all his sons and their families, came to live in Egypt. When Yosef saw his father he fell upon his neck and wept for joy. Yaakov was very happy and all the brothers were too. They lived separately from the Egyptians in Eretz Goshen and were still shepherds. They lived there very well and became a very large family. People called them Beth Yaakov (Yaakov's home) or Am Israel (Jewish people), because Yaakov had two names: Yaakov and Israel.
Lesson 4
Hashem promised Yaakov to stay with his sons and great-grandsons to save and to help them always and anywhere. Many years later Hashem brought Am Israel out of Egypt and brought them back to Eretz Israel (formerly Eretz Knaan). Jewish people made a kingdom. Kings were from the family of Yehudah. King David (Melech Israel) wrote a special book of songs for Hashem that called psalms-Thilim. One of those psalms (133), "Hine ma tov u ma naim" tells about friendship between all brothers of Yosef, all Jewish people. Shlomo - HaMelech was son of King David. He built with all Jewish people the home for Hashem that called Beth Hamikdash. They wanted to be more close to Hashem to say thanks to Him for many good and miraculous thinks. People from Levi's family had a very important job in the Beth -Hamikdash. They lit the golden Menorah. Both the king from Yehuda's family and the Kohen Gadol from Levi's family who lit the Menorah had very special beautiful coats. On the front of the Kohen Gadol's coat was special breastplate - choshen. It was made from 12 precious stones. On each stone was written the name of one of Yaakov's sons: Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Yehuda, Issachar, Zevulun, Gad, Dan, Asher, Naftaly, Benjamin and Yosef. Do you remember how brothers hated Yosef for his special ktonet pasim? And how they were very sorry about that and missed their brother? In honor of love and friendship of all of Yaakov's sons and all Jewish people, the Kohen Gadol lit the golden Menorah in Beth-Hamikdash every day. One of great miracles happened in Chanukkah time, when oil in the Menorah burned 8 days instead of one. And we light our Chanukkiot to remember our Beth-Hamikdash when all Am Israel was like one loving and friendly family. And we thank Hashem for the great miracle that maintains our lives and our light.
Sefer Shemot is a continuation of Sefer Bereshit through the story of Yaakov's sons. The same puppets can be used in the beginning of Sefer Shemot. The puppet of Pharaoh is the connecting character in the first four weekly portions of Sefer Shemot. Unlike Sefer Bereshit, where the main focus was the stories and the main activity was acting them out, Sefer Shemot can be studied through several large projects on themes in the book. Each project can last for weeks or even months. First of them is the preparation of Passover Haggada, which includes the story of Exodus (first four weekly portions of Sefer Shemot). Each child should make his/her own Haggada. It should be finished by Passover. The second project is the building of the Mishkan. It is discussed throughout Sefer Shemot and leads us into Sefer Vayikra. The same Mishkan is used when acting out travelling in the desert in Sefer Bamidbar.
The tradition of Torah study includes a yearly review of the same text. This addresses not only the human tendency to forget, but also gives us an opportunity to achieve a deeper understanding of the text. The story of Ushpizin described below helps to begin the second year of study of the weekly portions.
Play “Ushpizin”
Characters:
A
-- Avraham Avinu A.--
Hurry up, came l harry up! Today is very important last day of the Festival.
We are waiting a very special person in our Succah. I have to be first
to meet the guests. You see they are all my sons, sons of Avraham. I
love guests very much and my tent was always open for everybody. And
what about you, yeladim, do you like guests?
A.--
Shalom, bni Yitzchak, my dear son! How are you today?
Yitz.--
Aba, I found water in the desert and made a new well.
A.--
Good job, Yitzchak! You always give people pure water in the desert.
Yitz--
Look, Aba my son Yaakov is coming. Shalom, Yaakov, are you tired?
Y.--
A little bit, Aba. You see, I came from far-far Egypt, where I left
my twelve sons with their big-big families. They have a big property
and many animals (cattle?). They are very rich and strong now, but I
worry about they could become slaves of Pharoh in a future.
M.--
Don't worry about that, Yaakov avyinu! Hashem saved your sons and daughters.
He sent me, Moshe to take all bnei Israel out of Egypt. Every Jewish
family remembers about that on a special night. It called laila Seder.
-- Yeladim, do you remember 4 questions about that night - ha laila haze?
Y.--
And what a strange stick do you hold in your hand, Moshe?
M.--
Oh, this is a magic stick. Hashem gave it to me. I put it to the see,
and the see opened and let my people go to Har Sinay to get the Torah.
Hashem gave us Torah in the desert (Torah tziva lanu Moshe. Morashat
Kegilat Yaakov). We put Torah in the special golden box - Aron haKodesh.
It was in the Mishkan. All people built the Mishkan together. Seven
days we built Mishkan but on Shabbat we had a rest (Yom rishon - avoda).
Only my brother Aaron and his sons have a right to come in the Mishkan.
Look, Aaron is coming!
Ar.--
Shalom, Rabotai. Shalom my friends and teachers!
Y.--
Shalom our teacher Aaron hakohen. Such a beautiful breastplate
you have
Ar.--
Oh, this is a magic breastplate. It is call Hoshen. Hashem gave it to
me. It helps me to judge by justice.
Yos.--
Your Hoshen so colorful that remind me my ctonet pasim -
colorful shirt. My father Yaakov gifts with it me. Shalom, my dear friends
and teachers!
Y.
-- Shalom, my dear son Yosef! I miss you many-many years and so glad
to meet you in our Succah.
-- Aba, I am very happy. I love you and all my brothers very much. I forgave them long ago. I want to sing my favorite song “Hine ma tov umanaim”.
Y.
-Not now, my dear. We are not all together yet. We are waiting somebody
very important, guest of last night.
Yos.
-- Who is he?
Y.--
The King. King of Israel, David haMelech. When he will come
he build the Beit Hamikdash, home for Hashem in Eretz
Israel. It will be stronger then tent of our father Avraham,
it will be stronger even then Mishkan of Moshe and Aaron. Our King will
make it steady for ever.
-- Look, he is coming. (David, Meleh Israel hai, hai vekayam…)
Yeladim, now all of our guest are together and they going to make Kiddush for Yom Tov in the Succah. And we will make Kiddush tomorrow. Now we need to prepare Succah for celebration. Let us put your mats away and seat at the table to make a project (collage of the Succah).
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