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! 

Lech Lecha and Vayera: Sand and Stars

These two parshiot include Hashem's promise that the descendants of Avraham and Sarah will be as numerous as the stars in the heaven and the sand on the ground.

These two images are deep, meaningful, and relatable.

 First we sat with chumashim and reviewed the relevant pesukim.  Some of the girls were more engaged in the textual learning than others. There was a lot of, 'but what's the project???'

Key points:

• Neither stars nor sand can ever be effectively counted.  There is a mind boggling amount of each. 
• Both of these objects are significant and we, as Jewish people, should try to emulate their unique traits.

Star Traits (this list is not exhaustive)

• Beautiful
• Admired, looked up to.
• Fill the darkness with light
• People use them for guidance
• Symbol of the Jewish people (Star of David)
• Timeless

Sand traits

• Grains must work together- unity
• Unassuming and powerful! The power of sand to stop water and fire.

Stars are incredible but they must be separate from each other.  Sand is walked all over.

We need to harness the positive traits and work on ourselves to minimize the negatives. 

I told the girls we would need to sleep on these significant ideas.

"But what about a project!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

Then I showed them how they would sleep on it.

Step 1: Coloring sandpaper

I gave each girl a sheet of sandpaper. They enjoyed gently rubbing it. Gabi pointed out that sandpaper was another special thing only sand can do.

 With fabric crayons, the girls decorated their page. Stars were encouraged.

 Step 2: White pillowcases and the iron.
I placed an unloved towel down, placed the sandpaper face up, pillowcase on that, iron on medium setting on top.

After the sandpaper image was transferred onto the pillowcase, the girls drew more images for transferring. 

 (When I explained the image would be a mirror image, Cohava cut off where she wrote the date. Ruti didn't because she is still in the backwards writing stage!)

 Using the sandpaper as a transfer creates a unique texture to the print.

Now they can sleep on it!

Yesterday Tova said, "Dinner is special for the perasha!" I stared at her, confused. "Because they are Morningstars! And stars are in the Torah this week!"

Tova has been reinforcing this lesson at school where she glued sand to one side of a paper and glitter to the other.

Sand play is always a popular option. We worked on 'star' play with the lite-bright.

 Ruti really made it a star!

Vayigash- Say it before you go!

The ultimate resolution and denouement occur in this week's perasha.  It is all very happily ever after (for a little while) but there is a dearth of perasha projects on Vayigash.

I looked at Yaakov's preparation to leave Israel for Egypt. He brings a sacrifice and then has a conversation with Hashem.  I connected this with Tefilat Ha'derech, the prayer we say before travel.

In school we talked about travel. We played, "I'm going to Mitzrayim and in my suitcase I packed...". The kids really enjoyed it. Then they voted on how they thought Yaakov and his family traveled to Egypt. They were disappointed that 'car' was incorrect.

In pre-school, 3rd grade, and at home, we made tefilat hadrech cards/key chains! (And talked about sacrifices not being allowed on airplanes).

On the back they glued a poem I wrote

"Before I travel a long way
I take a moment to stop and pray
Like Yaakov, when he went away
Tefilat Haderech is what I say"

1) Cut out words and glue to cardstock ( I found pre-cut ovals).
2)Decorate paper.
3)Poke hole in top and laminate.

4) String beads onto a zip tie. (I love zip tie beading, like we did here for Vayetzei)

 Tada

 Rocking it, with Tefilat Hederech on my handbag!

My initial plan was to focus on the social emotional pieces, as they are more intense than anything we generally face. I read some blogs about the best way to say 'I'm sorry', and made an action plan. I gathered the family, and the whole plan collapsed with too many emotional pieces for me to contain! The little girls stayed and made these, but the concept was too hard for them.  (Sometimes people ask me how I come up with so many great ideas. Sometimes I come up with great ideas that just don't work out,)

May Hashem help keep our failures small, our successes huge, at home and on journeys!

 This was a neat image puzzle that spelled out 'Tell the Truth" we pretended it was hieroglyphics. When I find the link I'll share it.

Shemini: Kosher Puppets

This morning on the way to school my daughter's expressed great jealousy towards my students. Some complaints were legitimate, while others were far-fetched. The most legitimate complaint was that since I returned to teacher I barely do parasha projects with them. I brought home for the girls the same project I did at school. 
Shemini has a lot in it; consecration of the Mishkan, the misdeeds of Nadav and Avihu, and laws of keeping Kosher. Whow! We focused only on kosher, specifically on animals. 
To be Kosher animals must 1)chew their cud 2) have split hooves. My girls can recite this parrot like, but understanding cud chewing needs further exploration. To make these two elements fun, we made cud chewing puppets.

One coloring page was split hooves and the other was an animal face. 

 The cow was from here. And the sheep here

  Then I got these split hooves to add to it. 

 Everyone enjoyed the coloring, cutting, and gluing onto a brown lunch bag. 

The result is a kosher puppet with split hooves, that chews its cud (opens and closes its mouth). 

I showed the girls this pig picture and we discussed how split hooves aren't enough. We couldn't make a pig puppet.

 But we made some lovely kosher puppets!