Adventures in Mama-Land

Sitting here in Toronto, the big difference between Israel and the world I grew up in is obvious.  I heard this in a shiur yesterday from Rabbanit Chana Henkin, who said, "There's nothing like water to emphasize the difference between inside and outside Israel." Toronto, in particular, is a deliciously watery place.  Perched on the brink of Lake Ontario, nestled between two (kinda, used-to-be) mighty rivers.  The water here makes me happy.  Sort of. But you know where else had a lot of water? Babylon.  (Again, this is not my idea, it’s Rabbanit Henkin’s; I just wrote it down.)

Almost every year, my mother corners me to give a dvar Torah at a ladies’ Shalosh Seudos (Seudat Shlishit) our shul organizes at different homes around the community.  She always hosts the one closest to her birthday, which happens to fall out this week. Weirdly, even though I have done it a bunch of times, it always seems to happen on a different parsha, so I cannot just reuse another one from a previous year.  (Would I do it if I could?  Um, heck yes?) So here’s this year’s.  If you are within walking distance, please come to my mother’s place for party sandwiches and more.  But if you’re coming on Shabbos, please don’t read it!  I wouldn’t want to ruin the wondrous moments of shock and surprise (mainly when you realize just how long this thing is going to be and decide to stay away…) Here’s a list of previous summer divrei Torah, in case you’re vastly curious and/or slightly masochistic: Parshas Re’eh Parshas Chukas (2009) Parshas Chukas (2011...

As I seem to say often, this craft is a little late for this year, but on the bright side, it’s WAAAAAY early for next year! ה' אֱלֹקֵיכֶם הִרְבָּה אֶתְכֶם וְהִנְּכֶם הַיּוֹם כְּכוֹכְבֵי הַשָּׁמַיִם לָרֹב: “G-d has multiplied you, and look – now today you are as many as the stars in the heavens.” Inspired by Creative Jewish Mom , we had some friends over to help us recycle some styrofoam trays (they came with corn on the cob, which is the worst way to buy corn (shrink-wrapped from the US – ugh!), but the best way to get styrofoam trays because there’s no concern about washing off meat or fish residue! I have tried stamping with styrofoam before without much success, but she offers the tip that you MUST use a “thin coat of not-runny paint,” and I ran with that and discovered that I have always used too much paint in the past, and sometimes watered it down too much.  Just a thin layer of full-strength paint, right out of the bottle, painted onto the stamp, is exactly the right th...

דְּבָרִים / Devarim / Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22 Click for printable PDF version . Don’t forget to read this week’s Parsha Poem AAACK! NO PARSHA POEM! (I think only 1 or 2 are missing at this point from the entire yearly cycle…) and parsha overview .  Plus… copywork and parsha activities – something for every week of the year! פָּרָשָׁת דְּבָרִים Parshas Devarim דְּבָרִים / Devarim / Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22 [1] Before all the rules, Moshe starts with good news A wonderful message to give all the Jews: Hashem loves you forever, his Earthly ally, He’s multiplied you like the __________ of the sky! [2] You might think it’s fun to be a good judge, As jolly and funny as bars of sweet fudge; But in fact, Moshe says, it is really hard work, For each case you must do this and not be a jerk. [3] In the tale of meraglim, Moshe has a surprise By saying he really agreed with those guys; The ones who all told him, “we must go and see!” Now tell me, just what could his reasoning be?...

This is a basic overview of the parsha story in a format that can be adapted for a wide range of ages. Sources include parsha text, commentaries and midrash.  When introducing midrash or other non-pshat elements, I  use the words “some people think” or something similar. ( find out why )   Please see the Vayeishev overview for how we use these narratives  in our homeschool.  I also have copywork sheets to go with the weekly parsha (Devarim is up now, including 2 levels of copywork for littles and middles)… enjoy! בס״ד Last week, we finished reading Bamidbar. Now, we’re starting the very last sefer in the entire Chumash! This is a very strange sefer (book) indeed. Each one we’ve learned so far told part of the story of bnei Yisrael: Bereishis had the most story in it, talking about over 2000 years of history; Shemos tells about more than 100 years; Vayikra is pretty small, with only 14 months of the story, and Bamidbar is a long one, because it talks abo...