Make a “Portrait of the Divine” based on the Zohar… 
Teacher Review
Exodus 24: 9-11 (translation by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan)
9Moses then went up, along with Aaron, Nadav and Avihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders.
10They saw a vision of the God of Israel, and under His feet was something like a sapphire brick, like the essence of a clear [blue] sky.
11[God] did not unleash His power against the leaders of the Israelites. They had a vision of the Divine, and they ate and drank.
Lesson – part I
9Moses then went up, along with Aaron, Nadav and Avihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders.
Shavuot celebrates the revelation of Torah at Mt. Sinai. The Torah stories seem to reflect many different goings ups and downs the mountain. Sometimes just Moses, sometimes this particular group, the “70 elders of Israel.” They are considered to be representative of the entire community, the 70 different faces or voices of our people.
Ask: Which one of these voices are you?
With younger children, try using this sentence “I use my voice to..” and then echo back to them, “You are the voice of…”
10They saw a vision of the God of Israel, and under His feet was something like a sapphire brick, like the essence of a clear [blue] sky.
The beauty of 70 different faces is (at least) 70 different visions!
Ask: What was your vision? And what could that sapphire brick possibly have looked like? Some call it, “the footstool of God.”
11They had a vision of the Divine, and they ate and drank.
Why not have a delicious snack in honor of the moment?!
Lesson – part II
“Rabbi Yose said: ‘How are we to understand the words, ‘and they saw the God of Israel”? Who can see the Holy One? Is it not written: “No man can see Me and live”? It means that a rainbow appeared above them in radiant colors resplendent with the beauty of God’s presence.”
Make a portrait of the Divine. Explore color, using everything and anything you got. These students used glitter and tissue paper. Try cray pas, watercolors, flower petals, anything with color.
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Posted in Activities for home and classroom, Holidays, Resources, Shavuot, Stories, Torah
