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   (more…)

A little messy, a lot of fun.  A hands-on Shavuot art project and lesson for ages 2-5.

* This holiday is sponsored by the numbers 7 and 10*

Teacher Review
Exodus 19:14 -17 Moses climbs up the mountain, the people prepare, the mountain shakes with excitement
Exodus 20: 2-18  Ten Commandments

For the art project
Supplies:  sturdy paper, glue, glue bowls and brushes, fine sand, tissue paper cut into squares

Lesson
Begin with a quick reminder of our path out of Egypt, across the Sea of Reeds. And here we are now in the desert wilderness surrounded by…  sand! Where are we going? How will we get there? What does it feel like to have the sand under our feet and the sun over our head?

Paint the bottom of the paper with a light brush of glue, start sprinkling sand onto it to be the desert ground.

Open a Jewish calendar and count together (in Hebrew!) from the days of Passover to the holiday of Shavuot, 1(echad)  2(shtayim)  3(shalosh) 4(arba)  5(chamesh)  6(shesh)  7(sheva)  and again 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 etc. 7 times over until you reach Shavuot. 

That’s how long our great great great great…great grandparents walked on the sand in the desert.
Sprinkle some more sand. Until… we reached Mt. Sinai.   (more…)

On Shavuot we gather together the Spring Harvest and decorate our sanctuary (both in our Temple and in our home) with flowers and wheat and all kinds of beautiful growing things.

How to make this a personal practice?

Look back at your year… Gather memories, accomplishments, photos, meaningful moments. Capture these images all together and take the time to reflect on the seeds you have nourished all year.

Shavuot also celebrates the moment we received Torah on Mt. Sinai.  How to honor Torah with our children?

With my youngest students, I like to collect mitzvot all year long. At the start of every class we think back over the week and each child tells of a moment when she or he took action to make the world a better place, to help another, to take care of the self.  We write their mitzvot on a construction paper leaf.  By the end of the year, we have quite a collection!  Here are a few examples,

Paying attention by saying a “thank you” Bracha for the food we eat
Making the world “right” by contributing Tzedakah
Lighting Shabbat candles to take time in life to rest and spend time with each other
Sharing, helping, noticing, loving
See? These are things we do every day! 

In celebration of Shavuot we gather our Mitzvah leaves.  We look at a year’s worth of efforts and hard work.

We study the different kinds of Mitzvot we have done as listed in the Eilu D’varim prayer below.

When God Made Moms
by Erma Bombeck
 

By the time the Lord made mothers, he was into his sixth day of working overtime. An Angel appeared and said “Why are you spending so much time on this one”? And the Lord answered and said, “Have you seen the spec sheet on her? She has to be completely washable, but not plastic; have 200 movable parts, all replaceable; run on black coffee and leftovers; have a lap that can hold three children at one time and that disappears when she stands up; have a kiss that can cure anything from a scraped knee to a broken heart, and have six pairs of hands.”

 

The Angel was astounded at the requirements for this one. “Six pairs of hands! No Way!” said the Angel.

The Lord replied, “Oh, it’s not the hands that are the problem. It’s the three pairs of eyes that mothers must have!”

“And that’s just on the standard model?” The Angel asked.

The Lord nodded in agreement, “Yes, one pair of eyes are to see through the closed door as she asks her children what they are doing even though she already knows. Another pair in the back of her head, are to see what she needs to know even though no one thinks she can. And the third pair are here in the front of her head. They are for looking at an errant child and saying that she understands and loves him or her without even saying a single word.”

The Angel tried to stop the Lord. “This is too much work for one day. Wait until tomorrow to finish.”

“But I can’t!” the Lord protested, “I am so close to finishing this creation that is so close to my own heart. She already heals herself when she is sick AND can feed a family of six on a pound of hamburger and can get a nine year old to stand in the shower.”

The Angel moved closer and touched the woman, “But you have made her so soft, Lord.”

“Yes, she is soft”, the Lord agreed, “But I have also made her tough. You have no idea what she can endure or accomplish.”

“Will she be able to think?”, asked the inquisitive Angel.

The Lord smiled and replied, “Not only will she be able to think, she will be able to reason, and negotiate.”

The Angel then noticed something and reached out and touched the woman’s cheek. “Oops, it looks like you have a leak with this model. I told you that you were trying to put too much into this one.”

“That’s not a leak.” The Lord objected. “That is a tear!”

“What’s the tear for? the Angel asked.

The Lord said, “The tear is her way of expressing her joy, her sorrow, her disappointment, her pain, her loneliness, her grief, and her pride.”

The Angel was impressed. “You are a genius, Lord. You thought of everything! Truly, You do all things well… Moms are truly amazing!”

Happy Mother’s Day!

..Erma Bombeck

from the site, www.angiesrealm.com

By Shira Kline, based on a folk tale, origin unknown.
Please let me know if you have the source!

Chana was just about that age. That age when she wanted to know everything, felt like she should know everything, and sometimes got a little mad if someone else knew everything. Chana did very well in school and was often heard saying, “I know, I know.” When her mom asked her if she would like to go to the museum to see the new exhibit on ancient Egypt, Chana just said, “I already know about all that stuff.” And when Chana’s dad asked her if she would like some help with her writing homework, she said, “Dad! I know how to do this. I don’t need any help!” And so, Chana’s mom and dad let her do her thing and sometimes tried to stay out of her way.

One day, something came up that Chana did not know.

Her Religious School teacher asked, “How can we see God?” At first Chana thought, “Well everyone knows that God is everywhere. That’s a weird question.” And when one student suggested, “Maybe we can see God in heaven,” Chana thought, “You can’t see heaven!” She listened to a few other answers from her class mates, but none of them seemed to make sense. See God in a mountain? See God in the ocean? This started to make Chana feel upset! How do we see God?

Later that evening at home, Chana told her parents about her dilemma. She was truly puzzled by this question.

Chana’s mom smiled and said, “Well, what do you think God looks like?” The last thing Chana wanted to do was admit that she didn’t know, so instead she crossed her arms, furrowed her eyebrows and pursed her lips.

“Well,” said Chana’s mom, “I’ll tell you what I know. God looks like love.” Chana’s eyebrows shot up with surprise and her chin pushed forward. She looked away, silently considering what in the world her mother could be talking about. “I think,” Chana’s mom continued, “ that God looks like shining light and warmth.” Slowly Chana’s lips formed a frown as she doubted that her mother even understood the question. Chana’s mom didn’t seem to notice. “God looks like life!” she went on. “And life is full of color and questions and laughter and even crying. God looks like all of these things.”

Finally Chana could hold it in no longer. “But Mom! How? How do we see God? That’s the question!”

“Oh! That’s the easiest part” Chana’s mom said with a smile. Chana sighed and looked up at her mom impatiently. She watched as her mom got up from the table and went into her bedroom. She came back with a mirror in her hand and offered it to Chana. With a slight roll of the eyes, but curious eyes at least, Chana accepted the mirror and did what anyone does with a mirror. She gazed into the mirror and saw her own reflection. Chana’s mom sat back and smiled an even bigger smile. “See?” she asked.

“See?” repeated Chana. “See what?”

Her mom looked patiently over Chana’s shoulders so that she could see her daughter’s face in the mirror. “See the shining light in your eyes?” Chana’s eyes widened and she held the mirror closer. “See that expression? Wondering, questioning, guessing? See how your face is so full of life?” By this time, Chana was holding the mirror so close to her face that her breath fogged the mirror just a bit. “See that? See your breath?” her mom asked excitedly. “That’s how we see God! We see God in our ourselves!”

Suddenly Chana burst into laughter and she smiled a big wide grin up at her mom. “How did you know all that?” she asked. Her mom’s eyes twinkled and she answered, “Oh, these are the things that a mother knows.” Together they looked into the mirror and saw as their own reflections radiated love and warmth and color and questions and laughter and even some crying.

“Thanks mom,” Chana said quietly with a hug.

Happy Mother’s Day!

This year for Pesach, I have been very inspired by my friend Billy Jonas‘s song, “Eyes Wide Open.” I figure, how are we going to journey from our “narrow place”* (our Mitzrayim, hebrew for Egypt) to a life filled with open opportunity, abundance, flexibility and expanse without our eyes wide open?

Billy sings:
You got no idea where to go – what to do
No idea what will pull you through
No idea – well it’s up to you
To keep your EYES WIDE OPEN

Cuz there’s a miracle – waitin’ in the wings
There’s a miracle, gonna make you sing
There’s a miracle – just one thing:
Keep your EYES WIDE OPEN

Check out the song!!

*”In Hebrew, Egypt is called Mitzrayim. According to the text on Jewish mysticism, the Zohar, the name is derived from m’tzarim, meaning “narrow straits” (mi, “from,” tzar, “narrow” or “tight”).”
-From “Self Liberation” by Lesli Koppelman Ross, originally published in Celebrate! The Complete Jewish Holiday Handbook

This year for Pesach, what will YOU do to wake up and open your eyes to the miracles in your life? 

     When the people of Israel crossed through the Red Sea, they witnessed a great miracle. Some say it was the greatest miracle that ever happened. On that day they saw a sight more awesome than all the visions of the prophets combined. The sea split and the waters stood like great walls, while Israel escaped to freedom on the distant shore.  Awesome. But not for everyone.

Two people, Reuven and Shimon, hurried along among the crowd crossing the sea. They never once looked up. They noticed only that the ground under their feet was still a little muddy –like a beach at low tide.

“Yucch!” said Reuven, “there’s mud all over this place!”
“Blecch!” said Shimon, “I have muck all over my feet!”
“This is terrible,” answered Reuven. “When we were slaves in Egypt, we had to make our bricks out of mud, just like this!”
“Yeah,” said Shimon. There’s no difference between being a slave in Egypt and being free here.”

And so it went, Reuven and Shimon whining and complaining all the way to freedom. For them there was no miracle. Only mud. Their eyes were closed. They might as well have been asleep. (Exodus Rabbah 24:1)

Excerpt from The Book of Miracles, A Young Person’s Guide to Jewish Spiritual Awareness by Lawrence Kushner, one of my favorite teachers.  Re-printed with permission.  (Jewish Lights Publishing)

Rabbi Kushner teaches us that “to be a Jew means to wake up and to keep our eyes open to the many beautiful, mysterious, and holy things that happen around us every day.”  Celebrating Pesach offers us an opportunity to witness and take part in our daily miracles.  Whether big or small, honoring these moments will help us make our way from dark to light, constriction to expanse, personal slavery to freedom.  

Click HERE for ways to celebrate Pesach in your home!

Notes for the Narrator:

• This is a completely interactive experiential re-telling of the Pesach story for an early childhood audience and their parents.
• When you see a word all in caps, this is a word you wait for the audience to say with you.  They know these answers because they understand the implied clues.  They may also recognize the answers as lyrics from a song or are familiar with the story.
• Ideal room set up with ample open space, parents and children sitting together on the floor, so that you can move in and out of the group, and so that you can all boogie (of course).
• Children and adults are called on to play different roles.  At times you will narrate the dialogue and other times you will cue the participants to say lines. Throughout the story, I address the audience as “you,” “we,” “storytellers,” and/or I “role” them in a character and call them by this name.
• Musical accompaniment on the guitar is very helpful as it layers the story with a soundscape, creating a soundtrack for the story.  Try a range of strumming styles from dramatic loud tremolo to light and gentle picking.

SONG:
Everybody Has a Story (Craig Taubman, www.craignco.com)

NARRATOR:
A long long long long long… Storytellers, help me out with the “long long longs”

(gesture to audience, play sounds effect on guitar) “…long time… AGO! Our great great great great… We need a LOT more of these “greats!” (elicit more “greats”) Our great grandmas and grandpas were living in Egypt, smooshed together in a narrow place where they could barely look this way or that.  They didn’t get to go to playgrounds, they didn’t get to eat ice cream, they didn’t get to play with their friends and buy new clothes, they’re were stuck in this place. (This is my way of inserting the translation of “Mitzrayim,” the Hebrew word for Egypt, which means “Narrow Place.”)

They had to work all day and all…NIGHT!  When it was dark and when it was …LIGHT! Whooooo it’s hot out here in the ….DESERT.  Well, we got a lot of work to do so everyone take out a big heavy hammer (mime taking out a giant hammer and swinging over your head, quickly moving back to the guitar to emphasize each bang with a loud strum in the key of the song) and…BANG!   BANG!  3 bangs… BANG BANG BANG!  (act out this entire song)

SONG:
Building Cities (CD: ShirLaLa Pesach, song by Shirley Cohen)

NARRATOR:
We were slaves and it was hard!!  But there was one young man (Identify a child who is paying close attention) probably just a bit older than you (addressing this child) who says, ‘No. I can’t take this.  I know this is my family and I’m gonna miss them, but I just can’t do it. (at this point, I’m not expecting this child to repeat these lines, rather I’m narrating the story and engaging each audience member personally) This is awful.  I gotta get outa here.’

And he left! (guitar accompaniment takes on “mysterious” sound, minor chords perhaps, to introduce this new, strange character and foreshadow his upcoming bravery.)

He went up into the hills. (Gesture with the neck of guitar, eyes and arms guiding everyone’s imagination into the hills of Midian.) And here, he stayed.  He became a….   SHEPHERD! He took care of….. SHEEP!  Storytellers, we need lots of sheep now.  “Baa baa baa!” And there he was tending to his sheep one fine day (Gesture for more “baa baa.” Guitar accompaniment switches to light gentle picking for us to imagine a calm and peaceful life up there in those hills) when suddenly… (guitar chords change to reflect something new, a question coming)…

(Point directly towards a spot in the center of the room) What’s that over there? (Elicit these answers from the audience.)

****

To Download the Complete Script, click HERE – ShirLaLa Pesach Script 2012

Happy Pesach everyone!  For talking points on the story and plenty of activities, printables and recipes please visit ShirLaLa’s Blog Sameach.

All my life I’ve heard people say, "I hate Passover, you can’t eat ANYthing!" And I’ve always shaken my head and said, "You need to come over to my house." Passover is straight up my favorite holiday because the food is SO GOOD! A large part of my Jewish identity was clearly formed by the gustatory traditions for each and every holiday of the year. My mom went to town creating our family’s food rituals mixing her Hungarian roots with a heavy handed cup of her love for Sephardic food. She also had the task of cooking almost entirely meatless menus for my vegetarian family.

To this day, every holiday throughout the year has a specific set of dinner entrees, side dishes, noshes, and desserts. But none more than Pesach! It’s always been a goal of my mom to make the holidays extra special by creating a wonderland of delicious and memorable foods. During Pesach she keeps the cupboards stocked with Pesadig candies and chocolate from Israel. As a child, when there was a birthday party to attend during the holiday, she sent us along with our own amazing treats. This also really helped to curb the difficulty of going through the American Easter holiday season with all the Easter baskets piled high with (non-Pesadig) chocolate.

Let’s see, a typical Passover day’s meals might include:

Breakfast:
The Grown-up Breakfast. This is broken up matzah in a bowl with coffee and warmed milk and sugar carefully poured over it. A Hungarian tradition. My brother, sister and I still cannot understand why any grown-up would choose this over the best pancakes every invented.

The Kids Breakfast. Matzah meal and egg white pancakes, each one a puff of love served with pure maple syrup – special for Passover.

Lunch:
Matzah Brie. Now every family has a different recipe, my mom’s is a loose scramble of sliced carmelized onions, whipped eggs, salt and pepper, and quickly soaked matzah broken up into large pieces so it stays crunchy.
OR
Moroccon Omelet. Diced potatoes, carrots, parsley and garlic baked into an egg omelet spiced with tumeric, salt and pepper.
OR
Lotsa Matzah! with a spread of cheeses and salads. Steamed artichokes left over from the artichoke petals served at seder with my mom’s home made mayonnaise – special for Pesach. My mom usually ate cottage cheese toped with diced fresh carrots, scallions, tomatoes and cucumbers so she could splurge on one whole matzah liberally spread with sweet butter and sprinkled with kosher salt. I can still picture her face as she prepared this exceptional treat for herself.

Oh yes, and the U-Bets chocolate milk! Growing up, chocolate milk was a special treat reserved only for Shabbat (no wonder I love Shabbat so much) and on Pesach we always had the jar of U-Bets Chocolate Syrup which lasted far longer than the holiday but just was not as interesting or appealing after those eight days. Special for Pesach: Brown Cows, a yummy drink of chocolate milk mixed with soda water.

NOSH:
Frequent refrigerator raids for matzah brickle (see below), chocolate covered strawberries or whatever other left overs we could slice off or dig into.
OR
Compote. A sweet dish of cooked dried fruits in their own thick syrup. One time she poured chocolate into paper muffin cups, creating chocolate shells and served the compote in those! I’m telling you, my mom holds nothing back when it comes to holiday food prep!
OR
More Matzah! with anything you can imagine on top, especially leftover charoset from the seder.

Dinner:
Matzah Ball Soup. Now my mom always makes two kinds of matzah balls. One for my dad, the traditional heavy German "cannon ball" matzah balls, a recipe passed down from his great-grandmother. And the 2nd kind is a lighter mixture based on a Hungarian recipe mixed with chopped almonds, parsley, fresh ginger and soda water. Also, because of the vegetarians at the table, French onion soup (no cheese) replaces the more traditional chicken soup.
OR
Kubeh (KU-beh)! This one we would fight over. One of the few exceptions of meat in the house, this is a Sephardic treat of thick breaded (matzah mealed) dumpling stuffed with spiced ground lamb and fried.
OR
Edam Cheese and Spinach Souffle, my sister’s and my favorite.

Desserts:
The Brickle. Quite possibly every chocolate lover’s fantasy, the brickle is a delectable sheet of broken up matzah, topped with toasted almonds, topped with home-made caramel, and topped off with a swirl of milk and dark chocolates.
OR
The Seven Layered Matzah Cake. 7 matzot soaked in wine and layered with a sauce of chocolate combined with rasberry jam, egg, butter, and brandy. One year, I completely O.D.’d on this cake and haven’t really been able to eat it since.
OR
Fresh Strawberries Dipped in Chocolate
OR
Coffee Flavored Meringues (most of these can be made non-dairy to go with the seder meal of lamb.)
OR
Flourless Chocolate Cake
OR
Pecan Bonbons. These may be a little over the top, but what else is a holiday for? They are pecan halves filled with butter cream laced with brandy, topped with a pistachio, and then dipped in chocolate.

Door’s always open, come on over!

Every year, our children learn to sing the "Four Questions". The Haggadah is actually filled with questions for the young and old alike. Let this holiday dinner (seder) be the opportunity to let all question run free. Sometimes it’s hard to address children’s questions on abstract topics and the harder parts of our history. This is the Passover challenge.

When you’re discussing these questions, whether just with your children or with many generations and voices at the seder table, be sure to share your voice as well. The Four New Questions speak to the whole human story, adults and children alike. And then, please share your voice with us. We look forward to hearing about the new insights this discussion brings to your Passover experience.

1. What does it mean to be free?

The Hebrew word for Egypt is "Mitzrayim." In English, it means "narrow place." What are the narrow places in your life? How do you know when it’s time to get out?
Do you think this has anything to do with the spring cleaning that many families do in preparation for Passover? Or the new spring season that bursts out of a long winter?

For young children, the concept of "free" may mostly be related to free time and free play (when they can choose whatever activity they like as opposed to structured classroom time). You can continue the discussion by asking how those times feel different from the rest of day? Can you imagine, if you never had free play?

Older children are ready to talk about America: The Land of the Free. What kinds of things make us "free"? Free to be you and me! This is a great time to talk about tolerance and justice. Are there still slaves in the world today?

How would your life be different if you weren’t free?

Our ancestors were heading to Israel, the land of milk and honey. What does freedom taste like to you?

Every year we read in the Haggadah that every one of us should think of ourselves as having left Egypt. Why is it so important to remember harder times?

2. Would you have left Egypt?

Did you know that four-fifths of the the Israelite slaves stayed in Egypt? (At least according to Rashi.) Now why in the world would they do that?

Would you have left Egypt (the known/familiar) and taken a risk?

Narrow places are sometimes the most comfortable! How can you tell if something so familiar isn’t actually good for you? Examples?

What kinds of risks do we take every day?
Why is it so hard to try something new?

For the youngest children:
What would have you take with you for comfort?
What would you miss the most?
What are you looking forward to?

How would your life be different if you stayed in Egypt?

3. Have you ever taken a leap of faith?

Not long after the Israelites finally left Egypt, the Pharaoh changed his mind and sent his army to chase them down. But that was only the beginning of this new drama. They had just reached the Sea of Reeds! How were they to cross? What would happen to them? With the Egyptian army rushing up from behind and the great Sea of Reeds spread out before them, what were they to do?

What would you do?

Here’s one legend from the Babylonian Talmud:

"When the Israelites stood by the Sea of Reeds, each tribe was unwilling to be the first to enter the sea. Then sprang forward Nachshon the son of Aminadav from the tribe of Judah and descended first into the sea… the sea saw Nachshon and fled."

The story goes, that Nachshon, impatient and perhaps without faith in Moses, stepped into the water. Trusting that God would help them, he walked right in to the depths until it reached his chin. Then he started to pray. Words that we use in every service "Mi Kamocha ba’Elim Adonai…!" Who is like you, making wonderous miracles (now would be a good time for one. Right now!!!)… and when the water filled his mouth and he could only gargle out the prayer, then THE SEA PARTED!

A beautiful story of faith, trust, and courage.

What or who do you think gave Nachshon that courage?
For what kinds of things do we need courage? Can you think of some examples of when you were the first person to try something new?

Describe a time when you had to do something you were scared to do, but you did it anyway.

Who are the modern day heroes and heroines that have leapt headfirst and changed the world?

4. Have you ever seen a miracle?

The Sea of Reeds parting is considered to be a magnificent miracle. One of our best! Do you believe in miracles?

A story from Exodus Rabbah:

There were maybe a million people crossing the Sea of Reeds that day. It took all night long. Two people, Reuven and Shimon were deep in the crowds moving across the land. Where the waters had parted, the earth was wet and soft. Reuven and Shimon took one look at the ground and said, "YUCK! It’s all muddy here! My sandals are getting dirty! Back in Egypt we had mud and bricks. Here it’s just mud and water. And it’s even worse! This is the wettest mud I’ve ever seen in my whole life! This is worse than Egypt!" Reuven and Shimon did not look up to witness the miracle.

What does it take for us to see a miracle?

What miracles, little and big, can we see every day if we are paying attention?