“Ain Shimcha Ke’Hatarat Hasfekot”

(“There is no greater happiness then making a decision”)

Objective:

            This peula is her to teach the Chanichim two things one decision making skills.  The second thing they will get from this peula is how it connects to Purim.

It connects because when Esther was asked to go speak to Achasverosh about “law” that was sent out to kill all the Jews of shushan  She had a hard time deciding what to do to put herself first or put her people first and once she made the decision to go and speak to the king everything worked out well.

The Peula:

The beginning of the peula is a value clarification game.  Your role as a Madrich/a is to moderate the discussion.  The group must come to a conclusion, usually by voting.  Make sure each kid votes--abstaining is a way of avoiding thinking the issue through- don’t let them do this. 
The key to the success of a v.c. game is that the participants teach each other.  In general working something out for yourself is always more effective than being told what is right and wrong by a Madrich/a. 
So your just there to help them develop their ideas, don’t tell them your opinion- because there is no right and wrong.

Bomb Shelter
It’s a sunny afternoon in late August. You are sitting outside with your family and neighbors.  In the back round you can hear the soft rock music coming from your radio.
Suddenly, the shrill sound of the Emergency Broadcast System screams from your radio.  Everyone outside is quite and the broadcaster announce that an nuclear warhead has just hit New York, Washington, West beach and Connecticut-they have all been confirmed destroyed.  The newscaster reports the presumed annihilation of most major cities across the country.  WW3 has started and will probably be over within the next hour.
Through your fear and confusion you recall the taunts and jests you received over the past years for having maintained your bomb shelter.  Your shelter is probably the only equipped bomb shelter in the city and probably in the world. There are 15 (or however many are in the group) people standing with you in your backyard, but the bomb shelter only holds 4.  In the next 10-15 (however much time you want to give for this part of the peula) you have to decide who gets to survive this nuclear holocaust and begin the new world.

The Characters:

(We will be giving the kids note cards of different roles they will be playing.  We have already made the cards with the names so you don’t have to worry about making them. )
Jack Abramowitz- Rabbi, he is 34 years old.
Susan Smith- Biochemist, she is 30
John Meally- Policeman-he has his gun on him, 37 years old
Joan Grant- Cashier at your local CVS and she is 5 month pregnant.

David Hogan- Doctor, he’s 27 years old.

Ellen Fink- Teacher of math, science and English, she’s 38 years old.

Sam Buken- Farmer, he’s 40 years old.

Thomas Baldwin- retired, 68 years old, a veteran of WW2.

 Sally Dale- Student at a local college, 19 years old.

Paul Kent- Star quarterbacks of his college football team, 23 years old.

Tim O’rielly- Architect and builder, he’s 45 years old.

Jennifer Madison- She’s almost finished decoding human DNA, 49 years old.

Ethan Kurwin- High school student, 16 years old.

Alfred Reitman- invented the smallpox vaccine, almost done figuring out anthrax vaccine, 76 years old.

Molly Zimmerman- Kindergartener, 5 years old.

Doogie Houser- Child prodigy, 14 years old.

Hillary Banks- Ditzy rich girl, 25 yeas old.

Rob Kabst- multi millionaire, 50 years old.
*story and characters are taken from a JPSY activity.

How to make a decision?

            Tell the Chanichim that the best way to work out a tough situation is to think of why you and why you shouldn’t do it.  Then once you’ve listed at least three pro’s and con’s rate each one from 1-5 (5 being the strongest reason to do it).  Here is an example of what to do.

            Situation: you catch your friend cheating on a test- do you tell on him/her or do you just let it go?

Why to do it?

1)      Cheaters never prosper.

2)      It’s not fair to you.

3)      They’re not gonna learn anything from it.

Why not to tell on them?

1)      They are having a hard time in class.

2)      They’re a bad test taker.

3)      They’re my friend.

Now you rate each decision between 1-5. I’ll go through each reason:

Why to do it?

1)      4

2)      2

3)      5

Why not tell on them?

1)      3

2)      3

3)      4