Adventures in Mama-Land

My mother recently spent two Shabboses (Shabbatot) with us here in Israel.  In her honour, I actually put together an unprecedented TWO divrei Torah in a row.  This is the second one, which was not too fancy because I was just planning to say it over privately over lunch but then we ended up having guests, and I think it went over nicely.  Sorry it’s too late for this year – I was too busy visiting to post! ----- Last week’s parsha, Vayeitzei, ended in sort of a cliff-hanger, as Yaakov set off to reunite with his brother Eisav. As this week’s parsha opens, we see that Yaakov is preparing for his meeting with Eisav – and he is very, very afraid. This fear reminds us, as it should, of several parshiyos from now, when the shevatim go down to Mitzrayim and are afraid of Yosef when they realize who they have been dealing with there. There are many similarities here anyway: parting on bad terms, a separation of decades, a reversal of fortunes (Yaakov, the mild-mannered son...

  How many dreams does Yosef have in this week’s parsha? I’ve always thought it was two. Maybe you did, too? But if you look very carefully into the actual text, you’ll notice something funny. (Or, if you’re like me, you won’t – at least, not at first.) Here’s how Yosef’s dreaming begins: What’s the sequence here? 1. Yosef has a dream, tells his brothers, and they hate him more. 2. Yosef begs his brothers to hear his dream. Huh? Didn’t they just hear him tell a dream? Of course they did, because the Torah says right there that hearing his dream made them hate him more. After this, the Torah goes on: 3. Yosef tells his brothers a dream where they are gathering sheaves (wheat). This is often called his first dream. (Is it really???) 4. Yosef tells his brothers a dream where the stars, moon and sun are bowing down to him. This is often called his second dream. I’m sure you see the obvious question. What did Yosef tell his brothers in #1? According to most interpretation...

בראשית / Bereishit / Bereishis / Genesis 37:1-40:23 Printable PDF version here . Parsha narrative overview here . Copywork sheet & additional activities available here . You all know the story of Yosef the dreamer, Yosef the favourite; Yosef the schemer; But did you know that he was also quite grand? The dandiest beauty in all of the land. Now, don’t you be shocked, and don’t feel alarm, But Yosef’s good looks led him to great harm. You might think that nice-looking folks have it easy, But Yosef’s rough life proved it wasn’t so breezy. You see, people judged him by how he appeared, In awe from afar and more so as they neared, But they all thought he must be quite a snob With his fanciful coat, his hair snipped in a bob. His brothers never could trust his good looks, Though he spent his time learning, with Yaakov, in books; They feared he would steal th...

Adapted from the Vayishlach pages of Parsha Pages for Sefer Bereishis , this is a basic overview of the continuation of the story of the twelve shevatim (tribes) in a traditional “Q&A” format, which can be easily reworked for kids of any age.  Answers in brackets are the usual, traditional or common answers, from the parsha text and midrash.  But be open to anything your child might have to say!  Please read on below the narrative (**) for a description of how we use them in our homeschool!  I also have several copywork sheets to go with the weekly parsha. יעקב now had twelve sons, who were mostly all grown up. Which son was most special to יעקב ? ( יוסף ) Why was he special?   (he was born from רחל , he learned תורה with יעקב ) יעקב gave יוסף a special gift… (the כתונת פסים – coat of many colours) יוסף ’s older brothers didn’t like the special attention יוסף got! Then, יוסף had two dreams. In the first dre...