Step 1: “Tale of 2 Cities”- tell a story about 2 cities with very different people. In 1 city the people all hated each other, and fought all the time. In the other city the people loved ach other, and got along great. The 2 cities had one thing in common- the people who lived in the 2 cities had no elbows. Their arms were like sticks, they couldn’t bend them. This was a big problem when they wanted to eat.

(now have the kids act out the people in each city. Put out a snack and have them try to eat the way you are describing)

In the city where no 1 got along the people were always hungry, because try as they may, they couldn’t get the food in to their mouths.

But in the city were everyone loved each other, no one went hungry.

Can you figure out why?

(have the chanichim try and figure out how the people without elbows ate)

their solution was simple. Instead of trying to get the food into their own mouth, they fed their friends!!!! 

Step 2: play about “Kamtza and Bar-Kamtza” (if you don’t know the story, look it up)Tell the story but have the chanichim act it out: they should act out the story, and move their lips when their character speaks.

OR

You stand in front of one of the chanichim, with their hands replacing yours. Tell the story and the chanich will do the hand movements.

Step 3: sum it up- from Kamtza and Bar Kamtza we see how much damage sinat chinam can cause. But if we have ahavat chinam, and help each other out, like the people in the second city, everything will be so much better. And as chachamim say: “Bet HaMikdash was destroyed because of sinat chinam, and will be rebuilt because of ahavat chinam”.