Adventures in Mama-Land

בְּמִדְבַּר / Bamidbar / Numbers 1:1-4:20 Click for printable PDF version . And don’t forget to read last year’s poem and parsha overview .  Plus… copywork and parsha activities – something for every week of the year! Welcome to the Book of Numbers … a special Quiz that’s all about Counting! [1a] Count the soldiers, Hashem asks, Be sure our side has plenty, But do not count the youngest men Whose age is less than __________! [1b] The parsha gives us helpful counts Each shevet’s soldiers, large amounts, But one thing’s still not clear in sight – How old are those too old to fight??? [2] Now while we’re counting, don’t you forget If you don’t know the number yet, You can’t just point and number Jews; So how to count and know who’s whose? [3] Here’s a question to ask at your seudah, The biggest shevet was Shevet Yehudah, But who’s the second-biggest one? You’d guess right if you said… __________! [4] Think we’re done counting?  Just hold up a bit Read through...

Welcome to a brand new Sefer of the Chumash! Bamidbar means “in the desert” or “in the wilderness.” We were there for a long time: forty years. (we'll learn why in parshas Shelach!) Remember that Vayikra has another name, Toras Kohanim (Torah for the Kohanim)? Bamidbar also has one: Chumash HaPekudim, the Chumash for counting. In English, it's called the Book of Numbers. Let's find out why! Do you remember reading a few months ago about Hashem counting bnei Yisrael. Now, He counts them again! Why does Hashem count us so often in the Chumash? Well, what kinds of things do you count, and when? Maybe you want a lot of something – like strawberries or a collection of toys. But sometimes, we count for a sad reason. Imagine you had a bag of marbles – shiny and glittery and colourful – and they all spilled! You'd round them up, of course, and then probably count to make sure they were all there. You’d be sad if some were missing – rolled under the sofa, or maybe gone for ...

בְּמִדְבַּר / Bamidbar / Numbers 1:1-4:20: Read it ;  hear it ;  colour it . Printable PDF version available here . Parsha narrative overview here .  No copywork this week – check back at the regular page next week! Thanks to Marc Chagall for this week’s amazing paintings! We’re counting and counting and counting again, Counting through snow and counting through rain; Hashem counts the Jews to show we’re unique – Each one so special, each day of the week.   Six hundred thousand – oh, my, how we’ve grown, Once a family of twelve, Hashem’s bounty has shown; Separate still, serving in their own way, Was the shevet of Levi, still known to this day.   You’d think that a people who’d been under stress, Would not have grown so to be more – only less; But slavery truly helped Am Yisrael, We grew, for Hashem and his brachos can’t fail.   But in all this counting and naming of sons, Two are qui...