Bereshit Bara…- Parashat Bereshit - בראשית ברא- פרשת בראשית

Goal: To show the Chanichim that the world is not a coincidence, that God controls everything and so that they will appreciate what goes on around them.

AND: to try and get the Chanichim to be familiar with the creation (or at least with Parashat Bereshit).

Materials: pictures of nature to show the chanichim

1)                  Ask the Chanichim stuff about the Parasha. See what they know. (have a tanach in hand) Additional questions are below:

                                                                                                                                                           ·                      What happened on each day? (specifically and/or generally).

                                                                                                                                                                                                           ·                      Who are Kain and Hevel (Cain and Habel)?

                                                                                                             ·                      How did Adam and Chava come to Earth? (Created, and from Gan-Eden).

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    ·                      What was before the world was created?

                                                                                                                        ·                      What came first: animals, birds, moon, light, sky, grass, people, fish, etc.

                                                ·                      OR any other question you have (you know your Chanichim’ level) – preferably on the creation.

2)                  Tell the Chanichim those two stories. Those are funny stories that would get them to think (not to difficult, but still not dumb… actually, define ‘dumb’). You can choose either one (they’re kind of the same):

(As you tell this story, take out your watch and show them every little detail. During the story add in the word “coincidentally” a bunch of times (like when something falls on the floor, and “coincidentally” attach to the watch). Get the Chanichim to say it with you.)

“This is how I got my watch. I heard the story from the man who sold it to me, and he actually found it on the floor of a factory. One day in an air-planes factory, one of the engines fell on the floor, broke into pieces, and one round piece fell on the floor next to the wall. After couple of years, the manger wanted to take out an old clock from that room. The clock was big and heavy, and some parts of it fell on the floor. One small quartz wheel fell on the floor and landed on top of that piece from the air plane’s engine. After 10 years the factory was closed, and the movers that moved all the things out dropped a little tiny battery on the floor next to those two pieces. After couple of days standing, a lamp broke off the ceiling, shattered on the floor, and a tiny piece of the glass just clicked on to the circle-like structure next to the wall. Years passed, other things broke, and more stuff got piled on. One day, an electric wire got close to the battery and in a tenth of a second got connected, charged the battery, got disconnected, but the pile that was next to the wall started ticking and became this watch that you see in front of you.”

(This second story serves the same purpose as the previous one, but is meant for older kids, or just if you want some more to-the-point story, with some explaining of who the Rambam was, and all that stuff.)

Long time ago, in Spain, when the famous Rambam lived, he was challenged by his Christian enemies to the question: prove that God created the world! The Rambam asked for a day and went to his home. In the morning he showed up in the palace, where his Christian enemies were waiting for him, with a marvelous picture. (Here develop the picture – explain the details, the colors, the texture and combination, and make it sound as magnificent as you can possibly tell) “Wow!” wondered all the people around him “It’s a really great picture! But how is it connected to the question?” “Be patient” the Rambam said “and I’ll tell you the weirdest thing that happened to me last night. Last night I went to sleep, and there were some colors, paints, pencils, crayons, and some papers on the table. There was a big storm, everything flew around in my room, and in the morning I woke up to find that during the storm, the wind blew the colors on the paper, and this was the result.” “This can’t be” his enemies laughed “this painting couldn’t have just been coincidentally created!” “Exactly” said the Rambam “and you think the complicated world was?!?”

The purpose of those stories is to show the kids that if such a small thing like watch or a painting couldn’t have been created coincidentally, the world was definitely created by someone very complicated and smart – GOD (“Surprise! Bet it wasn’t what you expected!” NOT! Oh well…)

3)                  Show them the pictures you have– pictures of nature that show how complicated the world is), try to develop a discussion, you can also tell them that you think this is all a mess, and humans made it better, and have them explain to you why you are wrong.

4)                  Take a Chanich and stand him in the middle of the room. Ask him “are you cold? Are you warm?” Move him around the room and ask him the questions several times more. Explain to them that if Earth was 1 mile closer to the sun or 1 mile further, we would have burn or freeze. Explain them that our world is exact, and everything is exactly where it should be – its right place.

5)                  Play “Mafia” with the kids (mainly for 2^nd and 3^rd grades) but with one main difference: the madrich should be the godfather, and the godfather gets to take one person out or put someone in every other turn. That way, there is someone controlling things who is above our ability to know or see, and he can turn the course of the game in one simple move.

As usual, play games with the kids, go beyond the peula and “Find the madrich inside you!”.