Hello all! We had a FANTASTIC Sunday this week! T he kids
first got to talk about what they would bring if they had to suddenly leave
home in the middle of the night. We were discussing how in Lech Lecha
(the previous Shabbat's Torah portion), Abraham was told by God to leave and go
somewhere that God would show him. Where? What? All he knew was he had to
go. It is funny to teach and ask the same question years apart.
About 10 years ago the kids said things like : my Gameboy or Walkman.
90% of the kids said "my phone." Avery was perhaps the
smartest. She added "and my charger!" :) Hey: I can't judge.
Let me be clear: the baby albums and wedding photos would not be on the top of
my list. And this has nothing to do with my love for my children. I am a practical
gal: my glasses, cash, orthotics (can't walk without em), and some chocolate.
I can roll with whatever comes my way as long as I can see, walk, and eat
chocolate.!
The Sam Squared Dynamic
Duo then taught us during mifgash. The fellas had a great quote from
Robin Williams and a funny joke. They then had our activity as the
"Hillel Challenge." The kids had to hold the 1 footed pose for
as long as they could. Only 4 made it to 3 minutes: abs of steel!
We spent a brief minute
going to the beginning of our text, and discussing the first few lines of
Vayera. Now we have been working on this since September, and we are only
13 lines in, but WOW do we know the text, and YET! There was something
new. Saturday, we will read Vayera in our regular Torah reading. Last
Saturday night, during Mincha, we began reading the text. Rabbi Starr told us
that the first line says "God appeared" and a few lines in, we see
Abraham rushing to help the Angels. Why are these lines juxtaposed?
He said because when we help others, we are doing God's work.
I had never heard this explanation o f the text, and it was wonderful to
show the kids that we can ALWAYS learn something new in Torah. It is what makes
it so wonderful. And as a side note: Saturday night mincha/maariv service
is lovely. It is about 1 hour and 15 minutes, there is a 15 minute study and
nosh break in the middle, in which you have one on one clergy to congregant
learning, there is a beautiful havdallah service after, and it is totally kid
friendly. Try it sometime: you'll like it!
We revisited our section
of text on Sarah laughing. When we read closely, we saw that God relayed
the story of what Sarah did to Abraham, BUT BUT God told the story a bit
differently. He left out the portion where Sarah basically said "what: me
have a kid with that old geezer! Like that's gonna happen!" Why did
he lie? The rabbis tell us: Shalom Bayit. Peace in the house. Is it ok to
lie? to tell a white lie? There are texts upon texts of rabbinical literature
on this, but all I can say is: God did it. And the next time the inlaws are
over, that is my excuse ! "Why yes: lovely to see you!" :) The
children were fairly divided on the issue of white lies. Apparently, it
is ok to tell them to parents. You know: Shalom Bayit and all!
We then moved on to
discuss the laughing and we began with how ridiculous it is for a woman of
Sarah's age to be pregnant. I read them 3 ridiculous biblical
stories! So ridiculous that they seem absurd. The kids had to find out which
were the true ones and which was the lie. Well: they were all in the
TANAKH. The lie was that one was a lie! The kids found this funny. Who
knew? Pooping and peeing and collecting foreskins to marry someone in the
TOrah? That book reads like a Captain Underpants novel sometimes. BUt
hey: it is what gets the kids interested. :) 2 kids thought that Sarah
laughed because she thought the whole thing was ridiculous, and they thought
that she might be mocking God. The rest of the class thought that she
laughed because she was just uncomfortable and nervous and it was an
involuntary emotional reaction. We talked about how God LIED for Sarah to
Abraham. So if he lied to make her homelife better, was God offended?
Probably not.
Finally, we watched a
little Monsters Inc.. and talked about the value of laughter and the value of
laughter in Judaism. One of our mitzvoth is cheerfulness. Yes: it
is a mitzvah to be cheerful. So the kids had a mission to go out and this
week, in the face of maybe not being so happy all the time, to put on a smiling
face for others. We shall see.
HAve a great week and
see you Friday night for our wonderful religious ed Shabbat program.
On a final note: PLEASE
ask your child to bring in Minecraft app on their tablets or phones for the
next Sunday we meet. No kidding: we are going to do something with
Minecraft. T he free version is totally fine!
- Morah Leah
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