Youth Activities for Parshat Emor

Parshat Emor begins with some laws relating to the Kohanim (Priests) and the service in the Mishkan (Tabernacle/Temple). The Parsha also revisits the , listing details of Pesach, , Rosh Hashana, and .

In addition to these holidays, the also describes the bringing of the Korban HaOmer, the sacrifice that is brought on the second day of Pesach. In commemoration of the Korban HaOmer, on the second night of Pesach we begin counting Sefirat Haomer, the 49 day count that leads us to the anniversary of the receiving of the Torah on Shavuot, the 50th day.

Although not mentioned in the Torah, on Monday evening and Tuesday we will be celebrating Lag BaOmer, the 33rd day of the Omer. The Talmud explains that during Sefirat Haomer, the days of the , 24,000 students of died because they were not treating one another with respect. We celebrate on Lag Baomer because we have a tradition that Rabbi Akiva’s students stopped dying on this day.

Additionally Lag Baomer marks the yahrzeit of Rabbi , who the , the original text on , is attributed to. It is customary to light on Lag BaOmer as a way of representing the light of Torah that Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai introduced to the world.

Kids Ages 0-5 food craft for Lag BaOmer

Kids Ages 6-12 (and the rest of the family) SEE, RUN, BUILD Respect & Communication Activity

Kids Ages 0-5

Get ready kids...we’ll be making a very tasty bonfire! Create a bonfire out of pretzel sticks and fruit roll-ups in honor of Lag Baomer

Kids Ages 6-12

Every year around Lag Baomer I focus on the message of V'Ahavta L’Reacha Kamocha- love your neighbor as you love yourself. We learned about this mitzvah last week, but it is very appropriate when learning about Rabbi Akiva and his students. We need to focus on how we treat others and work on improving our relationships with others. Consider playing a team building game with your family as a way to spark discussion about relationships, communication and showing respect for one another. My personal favorite is SEE, RUN, BUILD. ​

Have a parent or one of the children build a structure. Because we are playing this game with our own families and not larger groups whoever builds the structure should be the SEEer. The SEEers job is to see the structure and then describe it to the RUNner. But the RUNner never sees the structure- (s)he just waits outside the door of where the SEEer is and listens to what the SEEer says. The RUNner goes to another room and finds the BUILDer. The BUILDer has the same materials as the SEEer had (and maybe a few others to make it more interesting) and has to reconstruct what the SEEer built based on the description of the RUNner. The RUNner should not see the SEEers structure or the BUILDers structure. The key focus of this game is communication and working together to achieve a goal.