Places In Israel - מקומות בישראל

Maps of Israel, places in Israel (on paper), toilet paper, buckets to be filled with water, bowls, apples, cups, a limbo stick, a cut up maps of ISrael

This Peula will challenge the Chanichim to see how much they really know and refresh old knowledge about Israel. If they don't they will get a chance to learn some new things.

This Peula can be done playing the games one after the other or you can create stations, divide the chanichim into groups and have them switch stations every 10 minutes. If your chanichim are not into cooperating you can add an incentive to get them going- put up a chart and give them points for winning and give them a prize in the end.

We can start the Peula with a short story. This story actually shows the way people think about Israel and what Israel symbolizes to them. Please go over the story before the Peula, that way when you tell it you won't have to look at the story all the time, and it will be more interesting for the kids to listen to you telling the story.

When you get to the part where the goat starts pulling the boy, ask them where they think the goat is going to take the boy. In the end of the second paragraph, look at how the country is described. Can the Chanichim think of a Pasuk that is connected to that?( Erets Zavat Chalav Udvash) that is how it used to be described, do we still have the same description? At the end of the story ask them if they think that the old man was sad about not knowing the short cut to Erets Yisrael.

"The Fable of the Goat"/  S.Y. Agnon

There was a certain old man who was very ill and his doctors advised that he drink goat's milk. And so, the man purchased a goat. One day, quite without warning, the goat disappeared. A few days later, she returned, her udders filled with milk that had the flavor of paradise. The goat repeated this strange behavior from time to time until finally the old man said to his son: “I want to know where the goat is disappearing to?" 

The son tied a rope to the goat’s tail, and when she began to wander, he held on to the rope and followed. They entered a cave, and after a log time, they emerged in a fertile country flowing with milk and honey. When the son inquired of people where he was they answered:" You are in the land of Israel."

The son wrote a note to his father telling him what has happened. He told his father that he should join him in the Land of Israel by following the goat through the cave, as he himself had done. The son fastened the note to the goat's ear and she returned home by herself. When the old man saw the goat returning without his son, he was certain that his son had been killed. He realized that the sight of the goat would always bring him painful memories of his dead son and he slaughtered her. Only afterwards did he discover the note attached to the goat's ear. But what was done was done. The goat was dead, and the underground route to the Holy Land would remain forever secret.

Bur VeAm HaArets Beyediat HaArets

The chanichim should sit in a circle. Someone begins thinking of a name of a place in Israel( not telling the others of course).

He says the first letter and the person after him continues the next letter. This goes on until a name of a place in Israel is completed. This game requires everyone to pay attention and follow; a person should only say the letter one time so that if someone isn't really paying attention they will not be able to participate.

If someone says a letter that doesn't seem connected to the one before, the group can say something and then if the person was bluffing he is out of the game.  It would of course be great to play in Hebrew if possible- but if not it will still serve its purpose.

Match that place

Divide the chanichim into groups. Each group will get a blank map of Israel and names of 15 places in Israel. The group the finishes placing the places first and has the most amount of correct places wins!

A flight to Israel:

We are going to fly to Israel. The goal of this game is to get the chanichim to know a little more about certain places in Israel that are very popular.

Set up chairs in pairs like an airplane.

Hang up a blank map of Israel that has a few places on it that are marked.

Divide the chanichim into 2 groups.

You are a pilot in a flight to Israel. Tell your passengers that they are going to have a great experience in Israel.

Each group in its turn will get to choose one of the places that are marked on the map.  Once they choose a place they will experience a bit of what goes on the.

In each place there will be something to do which will require volunteers.

Har Chermon

Ask for 2 volunteers form each group. Each kid has to wrap the other chanich from his group with a roll of toilet paper from the top to the bottom.

The white toilet paper is like the snow that is on Har Chermon which is the place the Israelis go if the want to see snow.

Kineret, Hamovil Haartsi

Place 4 buckets two on each side of the room, on one side the buckets should be full of water, and on the other side they should be empty. Each group lines up and gets one cup per group. The groups have to have to move the water from one side of the room to the other; each time one person fills the cups and goes as fast as he can to the other side to fill the bucket. Give them about 5 minutes- depending on the size of the bucket and then check which group got the most amount of water on the other side. Make sure to check that and not the buckets that are almost empty because a lot of the water can fall out on the way. The kineret is the main source of water in Israel and the water is moved from it to the rest of Israel thru the Movil Haartsi.

Eilat

Ask for 1 volunteer from each group. Place 2 bowls full of water in them on a table and put an apple in each one of them. Each kid will have to eat the apple in the bowl without using his hands.  This is similar to going diving which is one of the attractions in Eilat.

Tel Aviv

Each group gets 50 cups. They have to form the tallest building they can with the cups. The group that builds the tallest building and finishes first to do sowings.

Tel Aviv is the city that has the most amounts of tall buildings in Israel.

Yam Hamelach

Two kids hole a broom stick and you play limbo. The kids have to go under the stick and each round the stick is put lower. This is of course because the Dead Sea in the lowest place in the world.

Yerushalaim

Cut up the map of Yerushalaim into a puzzle and hand it to the groups each group has to put it together and recognize the place... the group that finishes first wins.

Yerushalaoim is built out of a lot of neighborhoods and is famous for that, putting them all together creates what Yerushalaim is today.

* Challenge for the older chanichim

This is a game about the gates of Yerushalaim. (The answers should be in Hebrew)

-Keep it clean! ( Shaar Haashpot)

-They have a great smell! ( Shaar Haprachim)

-Not old! ( Shaar Hachadash)

-Help! ( Shaar harachamim)

-Another word for Yerushalaim, or the word for Erets Israel in the Bible. ( Shaar Tsion)

-The king of the animals. (Shaar Haarayot)

-Yosef is buried there. ( Shaar Shchem)

At the end of the Peula sits them all together and asks them what they learned from this Peula and if they think them they have to learn a little more about Israel itself?

A lot of times we focus on Israel as the chosen land and forget that it is made out of places and people. Getting the chanichim to know more about the place itself can increase their connection to Israel especially if it's thru fun and games.