“lashon Hara” And Caring For Each Other - "חיים ומוות ביד הלשון"

1) Everybody will sit in a circle on the floor and will hold hands. The madrich/a will start by squeezing the hands of both chanichim sitting next to him/her, they will pass on the squeezing around them. The chanich/a that got squeeze in his/her both hands in the same time, get out of the game. Continue with the game as much as you want.

 The idea behind the game is that rumors just like the squeeze spread fast and can hurt a lot. That mean you have to think before you speak, and try not to say “Lashon Hara” because it will hurt somebody. (5 min)

2) The madrich/a will pass the picture around the chanichim. Ask them to look on the picture and to answer the next questions:

- What are those people doing?

- What do you think they are talking about?

-          - Who do you think started all of this?

-                      How can we know if they say right things? Good things? Bad things? … Ask them to make up the story behind the picture. (12 min)

3) The chanichim will stand in a circle. The madrich/a will go to one of the chanichim and whisper in his ear- “go to the smartest kid in the room”. This chanich/a will go to the smartest kid and whisper in his ear- “go to the funniest kid in the room. The smartest kid will go to the funniest kid and whisper in his ear- “go to the kindest kid in the room” and so on… you can think about different kinds of characters. Very important: Ask the chanichim to choose just good characters, that they won’t hurt each other. It’s also very important that the other chanichim won’t know what the kid whisper, and why they choose to   go to that specific chanich/a. After that, all the chanichim that participate in the game will tell why they choose those chanichim (because he/she smart, funny….). Ask your chanichim: - Do you like when people say good things about you, and what if it a bad things, especially when it is behind your back? (5 min)

5) What do you think will happen if we play this game using bad characters?  We can compare this game to a situation when people speak “Lashon Hara” in a class, in a Bnei-Akiva group… through this game we understand the feeling when people speak behind your back especially when it is bad things, it is a very unpleasant feeling. It is the same feeling, when people speak “Lashon Hara”.  (3 min) 

6) Place on the floor cards with different values (3 identical cards for each value). Every 3 chanichim should make their own “card list” .on the top-the value that is most important to him, on the bottom-a value that he cares about least.

Show the chanichim the differences between their lists and discuss them.

7) Each chanich will get three different big papers say:

“I feel sorry for him, but I can’t do anything”

“I will defiantly do something about it”

“I don’t care”

The madrich will read the stories and the chanich will raise his answer

Avi is sick, so he missed school today. He missed a very important physics class.

·        What will you do?

·        A chanich who feels that he would do something – what will you do?

·        If you have a test tomorrow – will you still help him catch up on what he missed?

Your friend might not make the baseball team, because he isn’t good at one thing that you are really good at.

·        How do you feel?

·        What is more important- helping him or your chances to get into the team?

·        How could helping him affect your friend

A popular group of girls/boys in your class is making fun of a new student that has just joined your class recently.

• What would you do?

• Your best friend tells you that if you become the new girl’s friend, she doesn’t want anything to do with you. – Does it change anything?

• What are some ways you can help the new girl?

A friend of yours lied to his parents. He told them he is going to your house but he really went to a place he is not allowed to go to on his own.

·        What will you do?

·        Do I have to care about the relationship between my friend and his parents?

·        If his mother calls me – what should I tell her?

8) Talk to the chanichim about the importance of caring about something. Encourage them to feel more responsible to the members of the group. Caring about someone starts with saying “good morning “or asking, “How are you”. You can give your chinchim an example of someone in history that changed something in the world because he cared.