igniting your shabbat services Tzav

Transcription

1 igniting your shabbat services

2 HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE Hello and welcome to Spark! Spark is a new idea from Tribe, aimed at facilitating the smooth running of Toddlers Services, Children s Services and Youth Services across United Synagogue communities. Firstly, thank you for offering to run a Children s Service in your local shul. The US is very proud of the numerous Children s services that are run every week across the UK, and we would not be able to do this without you! Spark has been designed in order to help you run your Children s Services. Obviously, every Children s Service is different, in terms of how many children there are; what their age range is; how long it is for; and how knowledgeable the children are likely to be of this week s parasha. Ideally, where possible, a Children s Service should consist of some time used to discuss the weekly parasha, and some time devoted to davening. Spark is aimed at the parasha part of the service. It gives you an overview of what happens in the weekly parasha, and then a song, activity, discussion or Dvar Torah to run with the children depending on their ages. After the parasha summary on the next page, Spark has been split into 5 sections. Larger communities may have 5 different Children s / Youth Services running concurrently. Each of these will be able to use one section for their relevant age group. If your shul does not have as many groups, then you should use the section that best suits the age range of your participants. It has been created in a way to be flexible, so that it can be run in 10 minutes, if you have a short service, or longer if you have the time. If you also look at sections for other age groups, you may even find that you would like to use the ideas and information from more than one of the sections. It is important to note that Spark should help you to run Children s Services, but it does not completely run it for you. It is not designed to give to one of the children to read out to the group for them to run themselves. You are running the Children s Service, and Spark is here to help you do it. Largely, no props will be needed, but ideally you should read Spark before you start the Children s Service, so that you can think of further ideas to complement it. We hope that you and the children in the Children s Service will benefit from Spark, we thank and congratulate you for doing it; and as always we welcome your feedback. Shabbat shalom, The Tribe Education Team

3 Parasha Summary nwe continue to talk about the various offerings that one could bring to the Temple at different times. These include the meal, sin and gift offerings. nthe Kohanim are given many different instructions e.g. they must never let the fire in the Mishkan go out. nwe learn how to go about koshering different things, such as Kitchenware. ndetails of the prohibition to eat fats and bloods from animals. nconsecration of the Kohanim (priests).

4 Pre-nursery to Reception Tots Vayikra Parasha Song In this week s Parasha we read how the Children of Israel thanked God. Every morning when we get up the first thing we say, is Modeh ani, which is thanking God for allowing us to wake up in the morning. Modeh Ani; We open one eye, we open two, We say Modeh Ani, cause it means thank you, We wash our hands six times that s true, That s what every Jewish boy and girl must do Modeh Ani lefanechah Melech chai vekayam Shehezachtah bi nishmati Behemlah Rabah emoonatehah.

5 YEAR 1 & 2 Ages 5-7 This week s parasha is called, which means to command. It is called this because at the beginning of the parasha, God tells Moshe to command Aharon and his sons about how to do their job with the korbanot (offerings). Activity: n Play the game Simon Says with the children, substituting Simon for Moshe. n Choose one child to be Moshe. They should give all of the other children simple instructions to follow e.g. clap your hands, stamp your feet, or turn around. n If the instruction is preceded by Moshe says then the instruction should be followed. If it is not though, then it should not be.

6 YEAR 3 & 4 Ages 7-9 In this week s parasha we learn some details of Kashrut (the laws of kosher) what we may not eat, and how to kasher (make something kosher for use) kitchenware. Although Kashrut is a very complex subject, it can be at least partially understood on any level. Activity: n Play the word association game with the children (which could lead on to a discussion about the words used.) n Two children should sit in the middle of a circle. n Give them a key word, and they have to respond in turn, saying a word that is connected to the word just said. They must not pause before giving their answer, and they may not use a word already used. n Play continues until someone cannot think of an appropriate word, fast enough. n Then choose another child to challenge the winner. n Example key words Kosher, Meat, Kitchen, Saucepan, Blood, Prohibition. Ideally, invite the children around the circle to think of key words, that are linked to the parasha.

7 YEAR 5 & 6 Ages 9-11 In this week s parasha we read about the jobs that the Kohanim (Priests) did. Some of these jobs may have been more prestigious than others, but each role was a vital one and all needed to be done. Activity: n Assign each child a profession (e.g. doctor, lawyer, builder, or shop owner), and the children should collectively decide which roles are more or less important in a community. n They should decide together, and then stand in a line, from most to least important. n Example professions to use Rabbi, teacher, surgeon, rubbish collector, policeman, grocery shop owner Discussion Points: n What were the criteria for deciding which roles are more or less important? n Is it based on the skills that are required? n Is it based on the number of people doing that role that is it important? n Could the community survive without the five professions that were deemed to be the least important? n Is it true that all roles are vital in a community?

8 Youth service Ages Dvar Torah God commands the Jewish people: "An eternal flame should always be kept burning on the altar; it should never be extinguished." In the Temple, there was a special chamber where hot coals were kept burning, so that the fire on the Alter could be relit whenever necessary. When God commanded the Jewish people to build the Sanctuary, He said: "And I will dwell within them." Shouldn't the verse have said "I will dwell within it"? It says "them" to teach us that every Jewish person is like a miniature Temple. Every Jew must always have a fiery love for God in his heart, just like the fire which burns all the time on the altar. In the Talmud, our Rabbis teach us more details about this mitzvah: The fire on the altar was to be kept burning even on Shabbat and even when we are impure. In the same way, we Jews should always feel a deep love for God, whether we are on a level of Shabbat or on a level of impurity. What do we mean by "a level of Shabbat"? On Shabbat, we wish each other Shabbat Shalom. The Hebrew word Shalom comes from the root of the Hebrew word whole and complete (shaleim). We feel complete on Shabbat. We relax and we do not worry about our weekday work, acting as if it were completed. On Shabbat, we are also given an extra Shabbat soul that helps us pray better, learn better, and understand God's holiness better. But a Jew on the level of Shabbat might only pay attention to his learning and understanding, and he might ignore his feelings. So God reminds him of the "eternal flame... even on Shabbat." The burning love for God in our hearts should never lax. Then our Rabbis add, "even when impure." Even if a Jew is impure, he should dig deep into his heart and bring out the love for God which is always there.

9 igniting your shabbat services We hope you find our guide to this week s Parasha useful. Be sure to look out for exciting Tribe programmes in your shul. Shabbat Shalom! The Tribe Education Team t: e: info@tribeuk.com