Teach the story of Barak and Devora

Stratego Cards

Background: The story of Devora starts as all other stories in Shoftim do, with the Jews behaving badly and Hashem punishing them and sending another nation to conquer and oppress them. In this case, the oppressor is Yavin, king of Canaan, and his general Sisera. When Am Yisrael return to Hashem, a shofet comes and liberates them from the enemy.

Game 1: Shofet Human Stratego

Cut up the attached cards to make two sets of cards. Divide up chanichim into two teams. Give the cards out to the two teams, making sure that each team has the same cards, so that neither has an unfair advantage. Make sure each team gets at least a 1, 2, and spy. The cards should be folded so that no one can see their number (or put inside an envelope. Otherwise it might be necessary to write the numbers on thicker paper.) Instruct the chanichim not to look at their numbers. One madrich (or two, if there are a lot of chanichim) serves as the Shofet. He sits in one set location. When play begins, chanichim begin running around. Chanichim from the two teams can challenge each other by tagging someone. Once this occurs, the two chanichim go to the Shofet and each hand in their numbers. The shofet judges, and whoever has a higher number wins and continues to play. The Spy is the only player who can beat the 1. Whoever loses is given a new number (make sure it’s a number from his team’s pile), until all the numbers are used up. When a team runs out of numbers, the players start getting out. When one team has no more players, the other team wins. You can play a few rounds, so that a chanich who had a low number the first round may have the opportunity to be a spy, 1 or 2 the next round. This game should take up much of snif.

Discussion: Devora was another one of the Shoftim. She was from Ephraim. When Yavin was oppressing the Jews, the people eventually did teshuva and asked Devora to lead them and save them. Devora used to always sit in the same place, underneath a palm tree, and all the people would come to her when they had disputes (just like in our game.)

Game 2: Wink

Have all the chanichim sit around in a circle. Have one chanich go outside. While s/he is outside, pick a chanich in the circle to be the murderer. Bring the other chanich back inside the room, and have him stand in the circle. The murderer begins looking around the circle. If s/he looks at someone and winks, that person must elaborately die. Meanwhile, the person in the middle tries to figure out who is the murderer by trying to catch someone winking or by seeing who everyone else is looking at. S/he gets three guesses.

Discussion: Devora sent for another leader, a man named Barak, to lead Am Yisrael in battle. Barak, however, only agreed to go if Devora came with. In the battle, Hashem confused the army of Sisera, and they all fled. Sisera ran to a tent of a friendly nation and asked to be hidden. The woman within, a lady named Yael, took him in. However, she gave him milk to make him fall asleep and then killed him by driving a tent peg through his head.

Game 3: Song Marathon

Divide the chanichim into two teams. Pick a random category of songs that has many different songs that would qualify. (An often-used example is “songs that have the word ‘blue’ in them.” You can be creative here: songs we sing on Simchat Torah, songs about weddings, songs with the word “torah,” etc. Give the teams a few minutes to make lists of songs that fit, and then begin the contest. Start with one team, which must sing one song that fits. As soon as they do so, switch to the next team, which must do the same. No song may be used twice. The first team to run out of songs is defeated.

Discussion: Following the victory, Devora composed a song which she sang to thank Hashem. We call this Shirat Devora. It is often compared to Shirat HaYam, ie Az Yashir, which was sung by Miriam after the crossing of the Yam Suf.