Tzfat - צפת

Object: To get the Chanichim to realize that Halacha and Kaballah are not two polar opposites but they both work together to create the bigger picture of practicing Judaism. This is how we can approach a place like Tzefat which is so well known for both its Halachik and Kabalistic giants.

Tzefat
Kaballah and Halacha

Object: To get the Chanichim to realize that Halacha and Kaballah are not two polar opposites but they both work together to create the bigger picture of practicing Judaism. This is how we can approach a place like Tzefat which is so well known for both its Halachik and Kabalistic giants.

Trigger: Have two madrichim argue about whether Halacha or Kaballah is more important, or more "true Judaism."  Have the madrichim try and get the chanichim to cheer for their side - break that out into color war.

Break the bus into two groups one is Kaballah and the other is Halacha (it worked cute with the madrichim having it boys vs girls decide if this would work well with your bus)
Each team appoints a "runner" to get the mission for the team. The mission should be on a piece of paper within other pieces of papers so it takes a couple of seconds for the runner to find the piece of paper (this added an element of excitement to the race but again decide if this would work  well with your bus)

            1^st mission – the halacha piece of paper should say that there is a halacha to make kidush on Shabbat. Pretend like you are holding the cup of kidush (just a cup filled with water) and pass the cup from person to person until the end of the line of people on your team without spilling water. The Kaballah team's mission should say that according to the Kaballah when making kidush the Kiddush cup should be held from the bottom of the cup. By holding the cup in the way described by Kaballah pass a cup filled with water from person to person on your team. (Halacha should easily win  while kaballah has a very hard time passing the cup in this way)

            2^nd mission – Team Halacha – according to the Halachot of Shabbat it is not permissible to play instruments, dance, or clap your hands on shabbat because this may lead to fixing an instrument which is not allowed. Your mission is to generate the most amount of ruach that is halachikly permissible on Shabbat.  Team Kaballah – according to the kaballah one should sing and dance throughout shabbat to welcome the shabbat queen. In the loudest way possible and with the most ruach welcome in the shabbat queen. (kabbalah should win, Halacha should not)

            3^rd mission – Team Halacha – there are many halachot that we do on Friday night. Each person on your team must act out one of the halachot that we do on Friday night.  Team Kaballah – Kaballah prescribes many things to do Friday night. Each person on your team must act out those things that Kaballah tells us about Friday nights.  (here the teams should overlap in what they think is halacha or kabbalah)

Discussion: What did we see from the different activities?

                        Try to draw out from the kids that there may be some things that Halacha might be more "successful" at or in our day to day lives more prominent and there may be things that Kaballah might be more "successful" at or again in our day to day lives more prominent. But as we saw from the third activity they really combine and many times overlap to stand as different "perspectives" to the same thing.

To help us understand this….

What do we know about Kaballah?

             What are the main books and famous Rabbi's of Kaballah? (The Zohar, The Ar"i ….)

             What is the perspective that Kabbalah looks at Judaism from? (a more spiritual understanding)

              Do you view what Madonna is doing and the "pop Kaballah" as a good thing or not?

             How do you identify Kaballah in your own religious practices?

What do we know about Halacha?

What are the main books and famous Rabbi's of Halacha? (Rambam, Mishne Torah, Rav Yosef Karo, The Shulchan Aruch….)

What is the perspective that Halacha looks at Judaism from? (a more practical, legal understanding)

How do you identify Halacha in your own religious practices?

How do we combine the two?

Can they coexist?

To add some more depth you may want to bring sources for the missions and sources for the discussions.