Vayetzei- a good night's sleep

The secret to a great night sleep is a pile of rocks. Or maybe just one rock. The perasha begins with Yaakov on the run from Eisav and stopping to sleep.   

11And he arrived at the place and lodged there because the sun had set, and he took some of the stones of the place and placed [them] at his head, and he lay down in that place.

יאוַיִּפְגַּ֨ע בַּמָּק֜וֹם וַיָּ֤לֶן שָׁם֙ כִּי־בָ֣א הַשֶּׁ֔מֶשׁ וַיִּקַּח֙ מֵֽאַבְנֵ֣י הַמָּק֔וֹם וַיָּ֖שֶׂם מְרַֽאֲשֹׁתָ֑יו וַיִּשְׁכַּ֖ב בַּמָּק֥וֹם הַהֽוּא:

Rashi explains that what started as multiple stones under his head fused into one over the course of the night.  The implications of this is the basis of many profound divrei Torah and something the girls addressed in perasha projects here and here. 

Recently Cohava was whining about her pillow being uncomfortable and I wondered was Yaakov the last person to say, "I'm tired! Where can I find a good rock pillow?" A little research revealed that hard pillows, made from rock, stone, or ceramics were the only options in the ancient world. Eventually the Romans and Greeks 'invented' soft pillows, although their purpose was for knees while kneeling and under the head of deceased, not for a good night sleep. 

Why were soft pillows not a logical choice? There were furs and wool readily available in the ancient world, not to mention leaves and pine needles (recommended for making a bed in various outdoorsy classes). 

In antiquity, pillows were not for a cozy night's sleep. Pillows served two purposes, to keep insects away from one's face and as a status symbol. Yaakov did not let his position of being on the run, with no possessions of physical worth stop him from realizing his holy status in service of Hashem. He collected the rocks as a pillow as a symbol of his connection to greatness (and to keep roaches off his face-eewww).

For our project we decided to felt rocks. This was a project I wanted to try five years ago on Ki Tavo, but I didn't have any wool. This year Ruti got a present for her birthday which uses wool to make a stuffie. Theoretically it was a great gift. It has only one star reviews on Amazon, as people wrote that it deteriorated instantly and their children were heartbroken. I commented then that if it failed, we would use the wool to felt rocks.
It survived for almost 6 weeks!

Honestly, the felting of rocks didn't go much better.

 First the girls collected rocks from the garden.  Then the fluffed the wool from the deceased stuffie.

 Then we wrapped a rock in the wool, wrapped the woolen rock in tulle, and agitated in warm, soapy water.

The wool was enough for 9 rocks, so Ruti found 3 painted rocks (a different birthday present of hers) and declared them an improvement on the 12 rocks Yaakov arranged for himself.

We must have missed something in the felting process, as by the end of Shabbat only 1 rock was still covered in felt.

The girls also enjoyed constructing Yaakov's ladder from a variety of toys.

Toldot -- Getting Hangry

Toldot has three primary scenes. First the birth of twins, Yaakov and Eisav, to Yitzchak and Rivkah, then the selling of the birthright for a bowl of soup, and finally Yaakov and Rivkah trick Yitzchak and get the birthright he was sold.

I have always been bothered by how Eisav becomes 'bad'.  I asked the girls if they had thoughts on this.  Gabi contemplated it. Cohava ran off to ask my husband.  He came in the room and said, "According to the Rashi, these twins were pretty indistinguishable in their youth. As teenagers there was suddenly a marked distinction between them. Yaakov's nature of sitting and learning had been nurtured by his parents and education, forming him into the righteous person he became.  Eisav's nature was more wild, and this was not harnessed. His education was not geared to his personality and interests and he became distant and just pursued his wild tendencies in negative ways.  Each child must be reared according to their unique nature."

"Good. Now we know!" Cohava announced.
"Get the Chumashim. I want us to learn it inside. I have a new idea I want to share. It is a little silly but I think there is a lot we can relate to in it."
We began to read the scene of the sale of the soup.

30. And Esau said to Jacob, "Pour into [me] some of this red, red [pottage], for I am faint"

לוַיֹּ֨אמֶר עֵשָׂ֜ו אֶל־יַֽעֲקֹ֗ב הַלְעִיטֵ֤נִי נָא֙ מִן־הָֽאָדֹ֤ם הָֽאָדֹם֙ הַזֶּ֔ה כִּ֥י עָיֵ֖ף אָנֹ֑כִי

"What does 'עָיֵ֖ף' mean?" I asked.
"Tired."
"You are right, but is Eisav right? Does he need to soup because he is tired?" 
"He needs a nap if he is tired," suggested Tova.
"The word Eisav really means to use he doesn't know because it wasn't invented until thousands of years later. Do you know what 'hangry' is?"
"Happy and angry," guessed Ruti. I praised her guess and was amused that this is an emotion that is unique to her.
"Horribly angry?" Gabi asked. I was even more amused that her definition was something she knows so well. 
"Really hungry that you get mad," Tova suggested. I was astounded.
"Yes! Tova is right! It means so hungry you get angry," I explained. Cohava did not believe me it was a real word and looked it up online. She was shocked that it exists.
"Now that you know the word, can you think about how you feel when you get hangry and how it applies in the story?"
"Yeah, I make bad choices when I am too hungry," Gabi reflected.  "Eisav just got overwhelmed and made a bad choice."
Another proof on hanger being the cause of Eisav's downfall is that immediately after this story, the Torah recounts a famine in the land. 
How do we combat hunger? 
How do we combat hanger? 

B"H, for us it is not a matter of actually being able to afford food. It is eating well-balanced food items, in a timely manner, before hanger sets in. 
The girls and I embarked on menu planning. 

Truth: I am the one opposed to meal planning. To me it means pressure to have the right ingredients on hand, commitment to one item with no flexibility. I think I am in the minority as a parent opposed to organizing meals.

Eventually we came up with a plan that made everyone happy. The weekly menu is the same, but the flexibility is endless. In case you cannot read the dry-erase board on the fridge: 

Sunday- 'Sunday Special' all of Shabbats Greatest Hits on Repeat (aka leftovers from Shabbat).

Monday- Big Salad- this can be any kind of salad, the possibilities are endless.

Tuesday- Taco Tuesday- this could be tacos, spanish rice, nachos, burritos, any form of Tex-Mex.

Wednesday- Souper soup. Again endless possibilities. 

Thursday- Noodle night. Shabbat prep starts early. I will boil the noodles. If  have time it will be tuna casserole or something. If not, they can put on whatever they want.

Shabbat meals are Shabbat meals. That menu plan is always a google docs worth. 

I love the simplicity and open-endedness of this. The girls are very enthusiastic. 

Back on the parasha:

The younger girls are not as familiar with the parasha stories.
In addition to our Torah books, the girls enjoy watching this cute puppet show series. They like the puppets and want to do it themselves. I do have puppets and tell the story this way at school but there is never enough Rivkah to go around.
The girls enjoyed making paper bag puppets.

Shabbat Shalom! 

Chayeh Sarah- Girl Power

In Parashat Chayeh Sarah we mourn and eulogize the first mother of the Jewish nation.
Here is video, sharing a unique perspective on the most influential Jewish woman.

In addition to this memory, the girls and I looked at old blogs from this week's parasha.

Five years ago we made a well.  The older girls remembered this well [pun intended] and enjoyed retelling the story of Rivkah at the well.

Then we looked at how we decorated candlesticks four years ago.  They remembered the project well but only had a vague recollection of the passuk and Rashi we highlighted.

First we caught the younger ones up on the story of finding a wife for Yitzchak.  The girls brainstormed what Eliezer should look for and Ruti wrote it down.

For anyone who is not adept in Kindergarten writing, it says 'Jewish, tznua [modest], single, nice'. I thought this list was fantastic because the Torah explains how Rivkah was all of these.  Cohava thought it was funny to compare it to my husband wish list (Tall, broad, redhead, non-American English speaker, religious, zionist, intelligent, funny...).

Then I circled back to the older girls and we reviewed the text we learned in the candlesticks blog.

"Now we make the well!" announced Ruti. It wasn't my plan, but sure.

It took some time to figure out the mechanics of using a well, but they soon devised a method of teamwork.

For those who did participate.

"Ema, where are the glass candlesticks from Ikea?" asked Cohava.  She was initially disappointed that there were none but perked up when I said 'make dough for clay'.

Recipe:
2 cup flour
1 cup cornstarch
1 cup flour
2 T oil
1 (and a little more) cup water.

 mix

slowly add water

 knead

 roll. cut with cookie cutter.

 place each shape on an upside down mini-cupcake sheet.

 bake @ 250 F for 1 hour.

 Pop out, turn upside down (right side up) and back some more.

 Paint. We used acrylic.

I plan to spray shellac them later.

We will put tealights in them, make a beracha, and our Shabbat candles will fill our home with holiness like Sarah and Rivkah's Shabbat candles. Girl Power!

Shabbat Shalom!