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Vaetchanan HOW to USE THIS GUIDE Vaetchanan igniting your shabbat services Vaetchanan HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE Vaetchanan Hello and welcome to Spark! Spark is 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. 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; its length; 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 gives you an overview of the weekly parasha, a song, activity, discussion or Dvar Torah linked to the parasha or any important event that week. It is separated into sections for different age groups but often you will find that an activity in one section will be suitable for children in another section. So, please take the time to read through it all – I know you are busy people but it will help you and ultimately the children. Please also try to read Spark during the week as sometimes some props will be needed. It will give you a chance to find them. 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. I hope that you and the children in your service will benefit from Spark2. As always your feedback would be welcomed. Shabbat Shalom, Sharon Radley [email protected] 2 PARASHA SUMMARY Vaetchanan n Moshe continues to speak to the Jewish people. He recounts how he pleaded with God to allow him to enter Eretz Yisrael. God refused this request but instructed him to climb a mountain from where he would see Israel. n Moses continues his attempt to impress upon the people the importance of following God’s commandments and the rewards which will result from obeying His words. n Moses designates three cities of refuge on the eastern side of the Jordan River. These cities provided refuge for an individual who murdered someone by mistake. n Moses recounts the story of the giving of Torah at Mount Sinai, and repeats the Ten Commandments n The parasha then continues with the first section of the Shema and its mitzvot of belief in God, love of God, teffilin, mezuzah and the study of Torah. 3 PRE-NURSERY TO RECEPTION Tots Vaetchanan Toddlers The parasha this week contains the words of the first paragraph of the Shema. Ask: Q. How many times a day do we say the Shema and why? A. Explain to the children that we are commanded in the Torah to say the Shema twice every day. We say it once at night and once in the morning. Q. What do we do when we say the first line of the Shema and why? A. When we say the first line we cover our eyes to help us concentrate as it is such an important line that tells us that Hashem is our God and that He is so powerful. Q. In which two places can we find the words of the Shema? A. The words of the Shema are inserted into our mezuzot and teffilin. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE 4 PRE-NURSERY TO RECEPTION Tots Vaetchanan Activity Prepare in advance some pictures of objects or symbols connected to the first paragraph of the Shema. Some examples would be an ear, a heart symbol, the number one, children, a house, people walking, a bed, teffilin and a mezuzah. You will need a few packs of these. Recite the Shema with the children and as you go through each section explain what it means and hold up the picture that corresponds to the words. For example when you are saying, “Hear, O, Israel,” hold up an ear! When you say, “Hashem is One,” hold up the number one! Now split the children into groups of about four and give them each a set of the pictures you held up. Read the Shema again and have a competition: After reciting each section of the Shema in Hebrew ask the groups to decide which picture matches it. The groups should choose one person to hold up the picture that they think is the correct one. Each correct picture earns the team a point. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE 5 PRE-NURSERY TO RECEPTION Tots Vaetchanan In this week’s Parasha the Ten Commandments are written for the second time in the Torah. The Ten Commandments are important rules by which we live. Here is a song about them: To the tune of: ‘We're all going to the Zoo Tomorrow.’ (The tune can be found on YouTube.) Hashem gave us the Ten Commandments, The Ten Commandments, the Ten Commandments Hashem gave us 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 Hashem gave us the Ten Commandments, The Ten Commandments, the Ten Commandments Hashem gave us 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 Hashem gave us the Ten Commandments, The Ten Commandments, the Ten Commandments Hashem gave us 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! 6 CHILDREN’S SERVICE Years 1-3 Vaetchanan Shabbat this week is called Shabbat Nachamu which means the Shabbat of Comfort. It is the Shabbat after Tisha B’Av and in shul we read the Haftara which talks about comforting the Jewish people for their suffering. The parasha this week contains the words of the first paragraph of the Shema. Ask: Q. How many times a day do we say the Shema and why? A. Explain to the children that we are commanded in the Torah to say the Shema twice every day. We say it once at night and once in the morning. Q. What do we do when we say the first line of the Shema and why? A. When we say the first line we cover our eyes to help us concentrate as it is such an important line that tells us that Hashem is our God and that He is so powerful. Q. In which two places can we find the words of the Shema? A. The words of the Shema are inserted into our mezuzot and teffilin. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE 7 CHILDREN’S SERVICE Years 1-3 Vaetchanan Activity One Prepare in advance some pictures of objects or symbols connected to the first paragraph of the Shema. Some examples would be an ear, a heart symbol, the number one, children, a house, people walking, a bed, teffilin and a mezuzah. Recite the Shema with the children and as you go through each section explain what it means and hold up the picture that corresponds to the words. For example when you are saying, “Hear, O, Israel,” hold up an ear! When you say, “Hashem is One,” hold up the number one! Now split the children into groups of about four and give them each a set of the pictures you held up. Read the Shema again and have a competition: After reciting each section of the Shema in Hebrew ask the groups to decide which picture matches it. The groups should choose one person to hold up the picture that they think is the correct one. Each correct picture earns the team a point. Activity Two Keep the same teams as above. Explain to the teams that the parasha this week also talks about the Ten Commandments. This is the second time they are mentioned in the Torah. The first time was in the book of Shemot. Ask each team to name one of the Ten Commandments. Take it in turns. Each time a team mentions one of the commandments correctly - give them a point. As a bonus round you can ask the teams if they can say the Ten Commandments in order. One team should say commandment number one, the next team should say commandment number two and so on. Each time a team says a correct commandment they receive a point. 8 CHILDREN’S SERVICE Years 3-6 Vaetchanan Shabbat this week is called Shabbat Nachamu which means the Shabbat of Comfort. It is the Shabbat after Tisha B’Av and in shul we read the Haftara which talks about comforting the Jewish people for their suffering. The parasha this week contains the words of the first paragraph of the Shema. Ask: Q. How many times a day do we say the Shema and why? A.
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