Shemot- Names, Stop-Motion D'var

This is Cohava's Stop Motion- Start Learning video on Shemot. (My voice, her words and animation)

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! 

Pikudei Turn the Synagogue into the Mishkan

It has been a busy week, finishing the details of building the mishkan. Oh wait, that wasn't me. Bnai Yisrael has finished the mishkan in Parashat Pekudei. I was busy with other things. 

Not only does the week's Torah portion end the construction of the Tabernacle, it also completes Sefer Shemot. With Rosh Chodesh this week, it is definitely a time of completion and moving forward. By no coincidence, this week my husband and I are being welcomed into our new position as Rabbinic family at Sephardardic Bikur Holim. 

 What does the completion of the Mishkan mean? The relationship between the Jewish people and God is changing, as there is a now designated place to serve Him. In the mishkan, we are dwelling together, showing Hashem our devotion through sacrifice and ritual. Mishkan means dwelling and this is where Hashem dwells with us. 

But the word מִשְׁכַּן  Mishkan is also 'מי שכן', 'whose neighbor?' Just as this special house of God is for Him, one must be mindful of everyone in it. The people in the Mishkan are neighbors, they are a community, serving Him together. And being unkind, ignoring, or rude to one's neighbors, runs counter to the objective of working on a relationship with God. 

Sadly, we do not have the Mishkan, or the vessels from it today. It is replaced by synagogues. Synagogue is Greek for 'assembly'. Kal קהל and בית כנסת beit knesset, other words for our modern houses of prayer, have similar meanings. All are a group of people. 

The Mishkan was a building of incredible beauty, filled with the holiest artifacts. So are our synagogues! The Mishkan was the place for the most devout prayers. So are our synagogues! 

What is the difference between the Mishkan and the synagogue? The people truly regarded everyone around them as a neighbor. God dwelled in the Mishkan in a special way. Clearly this two elements are related.

When we regard everyone affiliated with our synagogue as a neighbor, we create the environment in which Hashem most wants to dwell. Are we a good neighbor to the people sitting near us? Did we warmly wish them a 'Shabbat Shalom' but still respect their prayers and space? Did we make sure that all of our neighbors have plans for lovely Shabbat meals? Did we make sure that our neighbors are well? When a neighbor has been away, have we asked after them? When someone is new to 'the neighborhood' how do we make them feel welcome?

We are not going to easily recreate the vessels or structure of the Mishkan. But every synagogue in the world should be working to replicate the ambiance of 'Whose neighbor?"


For this week's project the girls are working on actualizing this. For example, being kinder to all of the children at synagogue, not just their friends. We also did work on making a physical project.

At this site http://www.hochheimer.net/shira_classes/mishkan%20with%20labels.pdf there is a neat paper Mishkan building project.

But more important than the paper is the love that fills the building!

Shabbat Shalom!

Bo: This time it counts!

As I mentioned last week, the Torah portions relating to Pesach and the Exodus from Egypt, contain a storyline that my children know well. Parashat Bo has the last three plagues, the Angel of Death going over the houses of the Jews, and the actual Exodus from slavery. All big deals! But other than seder nights, they don't have a huge impact on our daily lives. However time, effects every moment. :)

Time? What are you talking about, Sharona? Well, first regarding the slaying of the first born it is written:

4. Moses said, "So said the Lord, At about midnight, I will go out into the midst of Egypt,

ד. וַיֹּאמֶר משֶׁה כֹּה אָמַר יְיְ כַּחֲצֹת הַלַּיְלָה אֲנִי יוֹצֵא בְּתוֹךְ מִצְרָיִם:

About midnight?!? Was everyone sitting their with their sundial checking his accuracy? How often were exact times given in the Torah up until now? 
According to my assessment (If there are more I missed please put them in the comments sections) we have: 

• the seven days of creation, making a week, counted out by Hashem
• Noah's time in the ark is counted in days, weeks, and months by Hashem
• years are recounted regularly, but those numbers are unusual by today's standards.

No one is clocking minutes, or hours. Weeks and months are counted by G-d. People count years, but their timing might be 'wrong'.

This is the time counted in Torah for the Jewish people. What about in the rest of the ancient world? We know Pharoh's sorcerers were watching the stars to keep time, but the earliest sundials  archeologists have found are from the same time period as the Jews leaving Egypt. (For more about time in antiquity check out this book or this site.) The idea of measuring time is a groundbreaking concept at this point in history and for this region of the world, it began in Egypt. 

Seven verses after Moshe's 'approximately midnight' announcement, the Torah;s narrative suddenly changes. 

א  וַיֹּאמֶר יְיְ אֶל-מֹשֶׁה וְאֶל-אַהֲרֹן, בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם לֵאמֹר.	1 And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying:
ב  הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה לָכֶם, רֹאשׁ חֳדָשִׁים:  רִאשׁוֹן הוּא לָכֶם, לְחָדְשֵׁי הַשָּׁנָה.	2 'This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.

This is huge! These verses might seem minor in comparison to big events like the plagues, but really this is more dramatic. This is the first commandment given to the Jewish people as a nation!!!

You might be thinking, "The first month? Rosh Chodesh, ok, its important: renewal, ebb-flow, but what is the big deal? Why is this the first mitzvah for the nation?" 

Try to picture not knowing time. Not just removing your watch and turning off your phone. You don't know the hour or minute. Although night/day is obvious, you don't know what day of the week it is. And certainly not what week, or month it is.  At this point in history, Egyptians have introduced a ten day week. I doubt that had much significance to a slave. For a slave, every day is the same unending torture. 

And now G-d commands, "You will keep time!" Although in modernity we are slaves to time, this is actually an enormous freedom. The Jewish people are now in control of time! Days, weeks, months, have meaning. Time is not only significant for each individual, in is crucial for community. They are experiencing time together. 

In case the importance of experiencing time together is difficult to understand, the entire world made it very clear this week. New Years! Why is New Years Eve such a night of celebrating? Because sharing the counting of time together is important. 

But don't worry if you didn't do anything on December 31st. As I am writing this, it is Rosh Chodesh! I am doing the first mitzvah Hashem gave to the Jewish community right now. How neat!

I am not a punctual person, but I deeply value time, and I am awed by it as Hashem's first present to the Jewish people. Moshe introduces it with the idea of an approximate hour that is between him, G-d, and the Egyptians. Then he clarifies time, as something for the nation to savor together. It binds us to each other and to Him. Each second/minute/hour/day/ MONTH is a gift from Hashem and we are commanded to know it, own it, and value it.


I am not sure if my girls understood the message. But they enjoyed making a project about keeping time.

Initially I planned to make sundials with them. But as I looked out at the skyline, I realized that sun is probably a prerequisite for the project.

I started by asking the girls about the different ways to know what time it is. First we spoke about clocks and then discussed other methods.

"If the sun is out," Cohava suggested. 

"Or if you are hungry, it might be mealtime," Gabi added.

I reminded them about sand timers as a lead-in to the activity but they surprised me with some new information.

"You could check the time like a fairy does," Gabi noted.

"Umm?"

"Right! Fairies take a dandelion and blow on it and however many thingies stay on, that is the time," Cohava explained.

"Our parsha project is going to be telling fairy time! Let's find some dandelions!" Gabi cheered. Needlesstosay they were pretty disappointed when I explained water clocks.

I showed them how our water pitcher is shaped a bit like a sand timer and asked it it would work. They tested it and concluded that it wouldn't. 

Then I gave them the only empty bottles I could find in the recycling bin. 

I cut the bottles in half and asked how they could put them back together. 

 Next, I drilled holes in the lids of the bottles, with the smallest drill bit we had. I thought the whole would be too big, but I was proved wrong. 

The girls situated the bottle halves properly with the lids on. I asked how long they thought it would take for all of the water to go from the top, through the hole, and fill the bottom. They were to mark on the bottle, ten minutes, one hour, whatever for the time they thought it would take to reach that line.

We quickly discovered that a milk jug is not ideal for this experiment. A soda bottle should work fine, but the shape and flimsiness of the jug, made it very difficult.

I hypothesized that all the water would drain through in under ten minutes. Thankfully, I had not put a wager on it, as it took almost 3 hours!

Later that evening when I discovered our bathtub drain is clogged, I was reintroduced to the slow speed with which water can move through a hole.


Value your time and make it matter! 

Shabbat Shalom!

Chodesh tov!