Tuesday 26 June 2012

Parasha Project Chukat

 Another week of fun!

Parashat Chukat starts out by describing the para adumah, the red heifer. I tried to explain this difficult concept to my girls, but settled for to, "It is too complicated for us to understand. We do it because we love Hashem and we don't need to ask 'why'. Just like when I ask you to do something for me, like putting your things away, you just need to do it, without asking 'why'?" Amazingly, three days later, I have not heard the
'w word' in that context.
The parasha then recounts Miriam's death. The girls and I eulogized Miriam. Gabi told the story of Miriam watching her baby brother. Cohava loves the story of Miriam and her tambourine, leading the women in song, after the splitting of Yam Suf. 
And this inspired parasha project number one.

Making Music Like Miriam
Last week, Riot! had wooden musical instruments for two dollars! I bought their tambourines and set out paint.
 Cohava and Gabi were very excited about painting.
 Gabi enjoyed mixing the primary colours to see what she could create. Cohava found this maddening.
 When the paint was dry, it was time to "Play Miriam". The girls tied on headscarves and sang, "Az YaShit" while banging on their new instruments. Even Ruti joined in the action, as they danced around her.

Moshe Hits the Rock

Project number two is not yet completed. The tambourines is my back-up in case this next one fails.
This is the parasha where Moshe famously takes his stick, hits a rock, and water comes out. We watched a Lego reenactment of the event.

I probably cannot make water come out of a rock with a stick. But I am trying to make a rock come out of water with a stick. We are making rock candy!

Rock Candy

Ingredients:
  • 4 cups sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • Clean glass jar
  • Icy-pole (Popsicle) sticks
Preparation:
In a medium saucepan, heat 2 cups of the sugar and the water. Do not boil! Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Gradually add the additional sugar, stirring continuously until all the sugar is dissolved.

Pour the solution into a clean glass jar and place the sticks inside. Wait for a really long time (like a whole week!).

It is my hope that by Shabbat we will have rocks on the end of the sticks. Most recipes call for strings, so I cannot be sure. Something is forming, but I don't know if they will be the rock lollipops I am hoping for. Maybe if I talk to it instead...






1 comment:

  1. Another wonderful post!! Love the pics of the girls being Miriam - lovely :)

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