Goal: that the Chanichim will understand that we must try to acknowledge and be aware not only to “myself” but also to the difficulties and needs of our surroundings and the whole of Am Yisrael, and care for them.

Materials: cups of water, a blindfold of sorts, pieces of paper with acheinu on it

This issue is brought up in context of the missing I.D.F soldiers- 3 of them are probably dead by now.

Instructions:

# A story: once upon a time in a very far kingdom lived a king. He was a great king and all of his people admired him. One day the king woke up in the morning with a very high fever and a strong headache. The week passed and he didn’t get better, a lot of doctors tried to find a cure for the king but they couldn’t find one.

One day a special doctor came to the country. He met the king and said: “All the people must come tonight to the castle yard with one cup of coke and pore it in to the king’s pool. The king will swim in the pool the next morning, and then he will be healthy again by noon. Seems easy, right”? But there was one problem- Coke in this kingdom was the most expensive product in the market. Yet everyone wanted their great king to get better so they decided they’d do it. When the night came, the first man wanted to go bring the cup of coke to the pool. But as he stepped out of the door he thought to himself: “the Coke is so expensive and I like it so much maybe instead of the coke I’ll put some water in the poll, no one will pay attention for one cup of water”

(On this point you give to one of the Chanichim some water to put in the pool.)

# Madrich-

From now on it is more or less the same idea. Everyone put water instead of coke in the pool. Tell about the same number of people like your Chanichim and give each one of them a cup with water to put in the pool while you’re telling the story.

The king woke up in the morning and what did he see???

(If you want you can say he died)

# Discussion:  -what was the problem in this country?

                       -Why did it happen?

Madrich: when we have a community that everyone in it cares only about his needs- nothing can be accomplished.

# Take out the missing soldiers’ pictures and tell to the Chanichim about these events. A few years ago, the “Hizballa” (a terrorist organization) captured three Israeli soldiers. The I.D.F has found evidence, which show that they might be dead. Besides them we have six more missing soldiers that we don’t know if they are alive or not. Those people are part of our nation, we can’t leave it like that, and we must care for them and try and help.

# Warning - this part doesn’t suit all the groups!

(It might be good for Taf.)

 If you want to emphasize to your Chanichim the feeling of the missing soldiers’ families you can Play the game “blind cow”

The game: Choose one kid and make sure his eyes are closed (with a scarf, shirt, etc’) His aim is to catch as many kids as possible. The rest of the kids run away and try not to get caught.

Madrich: ask the covered eyes Chanich how did he feel?

               Talk about the feeling of the families that don’t know if their

               Sons are alive or not.      

# So what can we do about it?

·                    להתפלל (to daven) give every Chanich a paper with “אחינו כל בית ישראל” and explain it to them.

·                    Send letters to the government

·                    Sign on in the web site

# Conclusion: we must be aware to other people needs we have to think about things that are going on around us. If every one of us will try to make a different together we can change things.

Suitable for Shabbat