The goal of this Peula is to impart to the chanichim the message that history is a relevant part of today. We do not only go to visit famous locations and graves in Israel for their historic significance. Rather, each place has an important impact on and relevance to our lives today.

Tiverya Peula

The goal of this Peula is to impart to the chanichim the message that history is a relevant part of today. We do not only go to visit famous locations and graves in Israel for their historic significance. Rather, each place has an important impact on and relevance to our lives today.

I.                    The Peula begins with 2 Triggers.

o       The chanichim play the game 1-10--wherein they must count to ten as a group without two chanichim shouting out the same number. The purpose of this game is really just to loosen them up and get them working as a group. It also will be relevant to the message of the Peula but is not crucial so if time is limited…

o       The second game is called “I am going on Mach Hach and packing______” Each chanich must fill in the blank in alphabetical order and repeat what all the people before him said as well. For example: Chanich  A: I am going on Mach Hach and packing Apples. Chanich B: I am going on Mach Hach and packing Apples and Batman. And so on. Each chanich must completely repeat the packing list.  (Obviously, this game can be tinkered with and does not need to start with “I am going on Mach Hach..” It can be the start of any sentence so long as it requires a “fill in the blank”.

II.                Photo Scavenger Hunt

               Split the bus into groups of 5-6 and while they have free time on the midrachov in Tiverya, ask them to take pictures of the following things:

1.    water (because Tiverya overlooks the Kineret)

2.    a picture of Torah v’avodah ( b/c R’Akiva is buried there)

3.    bird in a hand (b/c of the famous story in the Gemarrah with R’ Meir Baal Hanes)

4.    rock (b/c R’Akiva saw the rock being affected by the water)

5.    a man of the law (b/c the Sanhedrin judged in Tiverya)

6.    a picture of another country (You can see Jordan from Tiverya)

7.    Holiness (b/c Tiverya is 1 of the  4 holy cities)

8.    something hot (b/c it is said that in Tiverya is the opening to Gehennom)

9.    Gemara ( The Gemara was completed in Tiverya)

10.corpse (There are many important Kivarim there-R’ Akiva, Ramchal, R’ Meir Baal Hanes)

11. tea without flavor (is hot water—the hot springs of Tiverya)

12.picture of a group taking a picture of you (for fun)

13.picture of a native Tiberian (for fun)

14.One person from your group with two people they haven’t spoken to today (fun)

15.A scenic picture of Tiverya

16.A courtroom (because Sanhedrin was there)

17.Miriam’s well (Be’er Miriam was there)

*Do not give them the explanations that are in parentheses of why they are taking these pictures and they certainly should be encouraged to be creative about taking pictures of the above items.

III.               When they are all back together, ask them to try to figure out why they took pictures of those items and what the relevance to Tiverya was. Give them 7 minutes to work on it.

IV.              Back as 1 group, go around and let the chanichim tell you which items they understood and explain to them the reasons for all the items---This will be the informative part of the Peula!

V.                 Time to tie it all together! In 5-7 minutes, have 1 madrich get up and explain to the group the goal of the activities they did. When speaking to them, impart the following message: 

The goal of Mach Hach is not only about visiting historic locations. This program, and Judaism in general, is much richer and deeper than that. As Jews, we have an obligation to CONNECT to the past because it is an intricate part of our lives today. We don’t only visit Kevarim for the momentary interest of seeing a kever. It’s so much more than that: The kevarim that we visit belong to Jewish personalities who affect our lives today, every day. When we go to visit the Rambam’s Kever in Tiverya, it’s because the Rambam has a direct influence on us today because so many of our Halachot and perceptions of Jewish philosophy directly stem from him. We don’t look as the texts of these individuals as “ancient texts.” No! These are yesterday’s texts, today’s texts and tomorrow’s texts! 

      Then, explain the significance of the trigger---It was vitally important for each Chanich to remember what the previous chanich had said. Consider for a moment, that each Chanich is a generation so each generation in Judaism is so relevant to the generation after it. Chanich B could not move on without the decisions of Chanich A. Judaism is the same way: we do not only think about and consider today-Rather, the decisions and individuals of yesterday are vital to today. That is why we played the packing game and that is why we asked them to do the photo scavenger hunt: to make Tiverya’s history come alive and be captured today.