Adventures in Mama-Land

In this week's parsha, Lech Lecha, Hashem says he'll make Avram's descendents like stars.  We often crow about this – “We're so great,” we say.  “We're just like stars.”  And no wonder.  We get off to a roaring start this week.  You’ll forgive me if I’m thinking about outer space – I just saw the movie The Martian last night, and I think stars are totally awesome right now. But so – obviously – does Hashem. Yet that isn’t the most mindblowing thing about this week’s parsha.  It opens with the most promising beginning, of any story ever told.  Hollywood has nothing on this. Listen to this:  Hashem takes a homeless guy.  Literally.  He’s just been evicted, because he refused to follow the local religion in Ur-Kasdim, where he grew up.  He’s not a young guy, either.  He’s very, very old, and so’s his wife.  They have no children. So Hashem takes this homeless, barren man and makes the two biggest promises of history....

בְּרֵאשִׁית / Bereishis / Genesis 12:1-17:27 Click for printable PDF version . Don’t forget to read this week’s Parsha Poems (Lech Lecha Poem 1 and Poem 2 ) and parsha overview .  Plus… copywork and parsha activities – something for every week of the year. פָּרָשָׁת לֶךְ-לְךָ Parshas Lech Lecha בְּרֵאשִׁית / Bereishis / Genesis 12:1-17:27 [ 1 ] Leave your land, get on your way, Shlepping and trudging for many a day; For Hashem had spoken, and so we know, Avram went when Hashem said, “__________!” [ 2 ] Avram stood out among others around, Treading that holy and crumbling ground. But he wasn’t the first one to walk there or stand, Because there were __________ then in the land. [ 3 ] He changed his life at Hashem’s holy word, Moving though others might think it absurd. The very first Jew, and none more so than He, He came from across, so they called him __________! [ 4 ] BONUS The midrash says you’ve met me before But another “name” in those days I bore; Much olde...

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 ).  If you find these overviews helpful, or if there’s a typo, or something is confusing you or your kids, I’d love to hear from you.  Pretty please, with sugar on top? Were you ever having fun, doing something you liked, when someone called you away? You were probably annoyed. If it was a parent, or another adult, I hope you’d come anyway, but for a friend, or your little brother, you might say no. This week’s parsha starts w ith Hashem calling to Avram – the great, great, great (plus a few more) grandson of Noach. Avram was living where he liked, with family all around him, but Hashem said to go – and Avram went. It was the first of ten times Hashem tested Avram. Do you think Av...

Which is more nebbach …?*  * (definition and more fun words over here on Chaviva’s Kvetching Editor blog!) When I was a single mom with 2 little kids and everybody used to invite us for Shabbos meals?  I got so sick of being nomadic, shlepping from place to place, bringing gifts, dressing nicely, meeting strangers, kids on their best behaviour, pretending to like the food… well, it all just felt terrible at the time.  Very nebbach, like everybody was feeling sorry for us.  Like I was some kind of – gasp – charity case. OR Now that I am married with 4 kids and nobody, it seems, wants to have us for a Shabbos meal.  We don’t live in a HUGE community, but several families quite nearby have kosher kitchens and (seemingly) guests all the time: families, singles, couples… but never us.  I have no idea why!  We are always on our own, and I’m so sick of sitting in one place, everybody dressed all shlumpy around the table, never meeting anybody new, kid...

I guess the word “Gift” should be in quotation marks… since I bought it for myself.  A few weeks ago, I pre-ordered Biblegum Pop , one of Stereo Sinai ’s first two albums ( Biblegum Pop was released simultaneously with another album, The Revelation Will Not Be Televised ), and it arrived in the mail today – just in time to help me get some cleaning done around the house.  Which is no small task; to get the job done, it apparently takes a unique combination of smart lyrics from the Tanach, catchy electronic tunes… oh, and a couple of friends coming over for Shabbos Party tomorrow. The CD came with a personalized, signed letter from the band and this weird, lapbook-style nifty fold-up envelope that I will probably never figure out how to refold ever again.  Oh, and a bookmark that announces, “we steal lyrics FROM GOD.” Time to crack it open… The case will never be the same again.  Perhaps I’ll have one of the children try to refold it. I’d heard many of the tun...

בְּרֵאשִׁית / Bereishis / BEREISHIT / Genesis 12:1-17:27: Read it ;  hear it ; colour it . Click for printable PDF version .  And don’t forget to read last year’s poem ! Copywork and parsha activities – updated weekly. This week’s poem refers to one of the more obscure sections of Lech Lecha, which contains so much juicy stuff up front that this dreamy little sequence often gets forgotten… but it’s in there.  Read it yourself; it’s much as I’ve described it here. Oh, the animal parts, the animal parts Take out their livers, take out their hearts; Cut them apart and lie them all flat, Facing each other in two rows like that! It might seem strange, or even bizarre, To see them lie there the way that they are, But when the instructions come from Hashem, Please listen closely and just follow them. Three cows, three rams, a goat, bird and dove, Old Avram listened when push came to shove; Cut them all up and then laid them in pairs… Ignoring his neighbours’ curious ...

A bit late for this year, but perhaps it can still help somebody AND it’ll be here for next year… a quick activity I threw together for Parshas Lech Lecha. It’s VERY tough to think of a fun way for kids to visualize the Bris Bein HaBesarim, the odd little covenant that is sort of buried in this week’s parsha.  Cutting up animal parts?  Lining up the bloody halves?  Weird. The thing is, though:  it’s buried, but it’s major :  the promise that Hashem would make Avraham into a great nation… and one that would soon be enslaved in Mitzrayim (Egypt). This is a hard story even for adults to understand.  With children, two aspects are probably easiest to emphasize: 1) Avram did what Hashem asked, even if he didn’t understand, and 2) Hashem is making this COVENANT unconditionally and forever. Promises are one of the first “important” things children learn about; let them know that Hashem always keeps His promises! As always, if you download this activity, I’d l...

I love it when relevant Jewish/parsha/homeschool activities are super-easy to plan and throw together.  This one took about 15 minutes during naptime today. (Printable PDF file here ) (The verse, which I didn’t bother translating, is Hashem saying to Avram, “Look now to the skies and count the stars; it is impossible to count them.”  And He said to Avram, “So shall your offspring be.”) Not exactly a craft, but I think it’s cute.  It was meant to reinforce the message – the pride and responsibility – that comes with the legacy of being Avram’s “grandchildren.”  In my case, because their fathers were geirim* (converts), they are all literal grandchildren in a sense as well. You could use any clip art of stars and superimpose your own kids’ (shrunk-to-size) digital photos.  I borrowed this one . Naomi Rivka had so much fun cutting out her siblings’ pictures and pasting them on!  I think the activity had some novelty for her in part because we don’t do a ...