Welcome to Spark2, the Tribe weekly parsha activity sheet for Children’s Service Leaders across the United Synagogue communities. Thank you for offering to run a service. The US is very proud of the numerous Children’s Services that are run every week across the UK and this would not happen without you. Spark2 gives you an overview of the weekly parsha, a song, activity or Dvar Torah linked to the parsha or important event that week. Every children’s service will be different, in terms of how many participants there are, their age range, its length and the varying abilities of the children. Please read through the document and find the activities that will best suit the needs of your group. It is advisable to read it before Shabbat in case there is some preparation that may be needed in advance. I hope you and the children at your service will benefit from Spark2. Please be in touch if you have any queries, feedback or if I can be of any help. With best wishes, Sharon Radley [email protected] Nitzavim Parsha Summary: Moshe gathers together all the Jewish people on the last day of his life and makes a new treaty between them and God. From now on each Jew, in every generation, will be responsible for himself and his fellow Jew. Moshe warns of the exile and destruction of Eretz Yisrael that will result from the Jewish people abandoning God’s laws. He assures them that they will eventually repent and will be returned to the Land. The relevance and practicality of Torah is mentioned – it is not something that is far away in heaven but something that is very close to us all. The punishment for serving idols is repeated. The parsha concludes by discussing freedom of choice and the mitzvah of Teshuva. Children’s Service: Tots-Year 3 In this week’s parsha the Torah talks about all Jewish people coming together before God - young, old, wise, officers, water carriers etc. We see that every person has an important place in the Jewish people and when we all come together, we create a special whole. Let’s practise our Achdut, our unity and play some games that help us come together as a whole – just like the Jewish people in the parsha. Activity 1: Ask the children to line up, first in order of height, then age, shoe size, hair length, hair colour (darkest to lightest), distance they are from home, birthdays and number of siblings. A higher impact version of this is to play it all standing on chairs – check safety policies first! Explain how they can only do this activity by working together as a team – we all need the information from each other in order to get the task done. When we work together we are showing our ‘Achdut’. Activity 2: The parsha also discusses the Mitzvah of Teshuva. Use the story below to illustrate what teshuva is. (Ideally this story should be acted out with dolls or puppets. If these are difficult to get hold of then tell the children the story instead.) You will need 2 children and one adult puppets/dolls. Once upon a time there were two little girls. One was called Sophie and one was called Jasmine (describe girls as the puppets or dolls look). They were very good friends and loved to play together. One Shabbat morning Sophie made a big mistake. When she saw Jasmine in shul she noticed that she was wearing a new dress. Sophie did not like how Jasmine’s dress looked and she said to her, “Ew, your dress is horrid! It looks so silly and the colours are yucky!” She stuck her tongue out at Jasmine. Poor Jasmine was very sad! Sophie had hurt her feelings! She thought the new dress was lovely. She ran to her Mummy and cried. Sophie watched Jasmine running away and saw how sad she was. “Oh no!” she thought, “What have I done? Jasmine is my friend – I shouldn’t have said that to her even if I didn’t like her dress!” Sophie’s Mum came over to her. “Sophie,” she said, “Why is your friend Jasmine so sad?” “Oh Mum,” said Sophie, “I said something really mean to her – but now I’m sorry –what shall I do?” “I know,” said Sophie’s Mum, “Let’s go and say sorry to Jasmine.” Sophie went to find Jasmine. “I’m sorry I hurt your feelings Jasmine,” said Sophie. “Please forgive me. Let’s be friends!” Sophie did TESHUVA. Talk about practical ways of doing teshuva or actions that may require an apology. Children’s Service: Years 3-6 In this week’s parsha the Torah talks about all Jewish people coming together before Hashem - young, old, wise, officers, water carriers etc. We see that every person has an important place in the Jewish people – the whole is much greater than the sum of all the equal parts. This concept is Achdut. Discuss how each person’s role is different yet we need the input of each individual in order to make up the whole. Activity: The following activity needs achdut in order to work. Every person needs to be on board so that we can complete the game successfully. Bring in a large piece of paper or material. Have all the children stand on the paper (there needs to be room for everyone’s feet!) Get the children to turn the paper over without anyone getting off the paper. You can make this task harder by doing it without talking. Alternatively, make a human knot and have one child untangle without anyone letting go of another’s hands. .