igniting your shabbat services
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
PARASHA SUMMARY nmoshe commands the Children of Israel to keep the commandments. nmoshe reminds the people about the Revelation at Sinai. It is important that everyone remembers this, in every generation. nmoshe sets aside three cities of refuge, for people who kill someone accidently, so that they have somewhere to escape to. nthe 10 commandments are again read out. nthe first two paragraphs of the Shema appears here. nwe are instructed to teach all Jewish traditions, commandments and laws to our children.
PRE-NURSERY TO RECEPTION Tots Parasha Song In this week s Parasha we read the 10 Commandments for the second time, which are the laws by which we live by. Here is a song about them. To the tune of We're all Going to the Zoo Tomorrow. The TEN commandments, the TEN commandments And this is what they say! Listen to your mum and dad, and do what they say Have a nice rest on the Shabbat day Don't take other people's things away It's all in the ten commandments The TEN commandments, the TEN commandments And this is what they say! I am Hashem never worship any others Never tell lies about you sisters or your brothers Enjoy yourself, don't envy others It's all in the ten commandments The TEN commandments, the TEN commandments And this is what they say! Don't take Hashem's name in vain Don't cause your partner any pain The people of the world must never be slain It's all in the ten commandments!
YEAR 1 & 2 Ages 5-7 In this week s Parasha we read the first two paragraphs of the Shema. This is a very important prayer, and is often one of the first that children are taught. n The Shema focuses on loving the one God with all one's heart, soul and might. n The Shema prayer is a central feature in Jewish worship and practice. n The prayer is written on the parchment stored inside the doorpost mezuzah and the tefillin. n It is a mitzvah (commandment) to say the Shema when waking up in the morning and before going to sleep at night. n At the end of Judaism s holiest day - Yom Kippur - the first two lines of the Shema are recited. n Traditionally a dying person affirms his or her faith by reciting the Shema. Go through the Shema with them and make sure they know it! Depending on the age of the kids, and whether they go to Cheder or Jewish school, it could be that you just do the first line, paragraph, or more. Here is the first paragraph transliterated; Cover your eyes with your right hand and say: Sh'ma Yis-ra-eil, A-do-nai E-lo-hei-nu, A-do-nai E-chad. Whisper: Ba-ruch sheim k'vod mal-chu-to l'o-lam va-ed. V'a-hav-ta eit A-do-nai E-lo-he-cha, B'chawl l'va-v'cha, u-v'chawl naf-sh'cha, u-v'chawl m'o-de-cha. V'ha-yu ha-d'va-rim ha-ei-leh, A-sher a-no-chi m'tsa-v'cha ha-yom, al l'va-ve-cha. V'shi-nan-tam l'-va-ne-cha, v'di-bar-ta bam b'shiv-t'cha b'vei-te-cha, uv-lech-t'cha va-de-rech, u-v'shawch-b'cha uv-ku-me-cha. Uk-shar-tam l'ot al ya-de-cha, v'ha-yu l'to-ta-fot bein ei-ne-cha. Uch-tav-tam, al m'zu-zot bei-te-cha, u-vish-a-re-cha.
YEAR 3 & 4 Ages 7-9 YEAR 5 & 6 Ages 9-11 In this week s parasha we read the 10 commandments, and the fourth commandment is about Shabbat. We all know what Shabbat is, as we have it every week, but how much do we know about the history of Shabbat? Encourage the children to discuss each point. 1. Creation - In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..." For six days God created. "And God saw all that He had made and, behold, it was very good... And God completed on the seventh day His work which He had done; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. "And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because in it he rested from all his work which God had created." 2. In the days of our Avraham and Sarah, the lamp Sarah lit every Friday evening miraculously kept burning all week, until the next Friday afternoon. When Sarah died the miracle of her Shabbat lamp ceased. But when Rebecca was brought to Sarah's tent, the miracle of the lamp returned. Once again the light of Shabbat filled the tent of the matriarch of Israel and radiated its holiness to the entire week. 3. In Egypt, Moshe saw that the Jewish slaves had no rest, so he said to Pharaoh: 'If one has a slave and he does not give him rest one day in the week, the slave will die. Said Pharaoh: "Go and do with them as you say.' Moshe ordained for them the Shabbat day for rest." 4. Double Manna - A month after the Exodus, the matzah that the Children of Israel took with them from Egypt was finished. For the next forty years, they were sustained by the manna. "Moshe said to them: 'This is the bread that God has given you to eat.'" Indeed, it was forbidden to leave manna from one day to the next, except on Friday. "God has given you the Shabbat. On the sixth day, He gives you bread for two days. Let each man remain in his place; let no man leave his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day." Today, we place two special loaves of bread, called challah on the Shabbat table and cover them with a cloth, to represent the dew-covered, double portion of mannah that came down from heaven in honor of Shabbat.
YEAR 3 & 4 Ages 7-9 YEAR 5 & 6 Ages 9-11 5. At Mount Sinai we were given the 10 commandments, the fourth of which was regarding Shabbat. We are told to remember it, and to keep it. 6. We are told to do no work on Shabbat. What was defined as work came from the work done in the Tabernacle. 7. Moshe instituted for all generations that Jews should gather in their synagogues to read from the Torah on Shabbat - Jews throughout the world still do this every week. 8. The sages of the Talmud taught us to honor the Shabbat. "It was said of the sage Shammai that when he found a perfect piece of food, he would say, 'This is for Shabbat.' Then, if he found a better one, he would set aside that one for Shabbat and eat the first one." Another sage, Rava would personally prepare the fish for Shabbat. Rav Chisda chopped the vegetables. Raba and Rav Yosef chopped wood. Rav Nachman would be seen running about on Friday carrying bundles on his shoulders. Many of these were wealthy men who had numerous servants to do their work; yet they insisted on personally toiling in honor of the Shabbat. 9. Throughout the generations, our enemies have repeatedly attempted to take away Shabbat from us. When the Syrian-Greeks ruled the Holy Land, they forbade Shabbat observance. Many Jews fled the cities to live in the caves of the Judean hills so that they could keep the day of rest. Many were discovered and killed. Finally the Jews revolted and fought for the right to keep their religion. Their miraculous victory is celebrated to this day with the festival ofchanukah. In Rome, Jewish slaves were beaten for refusing to work on Shabbat. In Inquisition-era Spain, secret Jews gathered in underground cellars to light the Shabbat candles and make Kiddush. Under Soviet rule, Jews suffered hunger, imprisonment, exile to Siberia and worse for not working on Shabbat. Even in the Nazi concentration camps, Jews went to superhuman lengths to sanctify the holy day. And yet it has also been said that, "more than the Jews have kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept the Jews." 10. Though conceived as a "secular" state, the modern state of Israel passed a law, shortly after its establishment, declaring Shabbat the official day of rest. In most localities, commercial businesses are closed and public transportation does not operate on Shabbat; government agencies and government-controlled corporations are officially Shabbat observant.
YOUTH SERVICE Ages 12-18 Dvar Torah The Ten Commandments can be split in to two groups; those which are between man and man, and those which are between man and God. But where does honouring parents go? Many mistakenly interpret the commandment of honouring parents as reciprocation for the care the parents bestowed upon their children. The Torah however, views it differently. In the wilderness everyone, young and old; children and parents, were sustained through the manna which fell from heaven. Their clothes miraculously grew with them and were cleaned and pressed by the clouds of heaven. The parents did not have to work to earn a livelihood in order to be able to provide for their children. Nonetheless, under such circumstances, God commanded the honouring of parents. Thus, honouring parents is not an act of reciprocity in which the parents are "paid back" by the children, but even when parents do nothing for their children, they must be honoured merely because of who they are. Similarly, this is an extension of showing our honour for God, because according to Jewish faith, there are three partners in the creation of each new Jewish life: the mother, the father and God.
igniting your shabbat services We hope you find our guide to this week s Parsha useful. Be sure to look out for exciting Tribe programmes in your shul. Shabbat Shalom! The Tribe Education Team t: 020 8343 5656 e: info@tribeuk.com www.tribeuk.com