• scenarios

Peula Parashat Ki Tisa

Age: 6^th grade girls

Theme: Kavod during davening and kavod for Hashem

Goal: That the chanichot should appreciate that Tefillah is an important part in our relationship with Hashem, and that when we daven, and during our lives, Hashem is right there in front of us.

Written by: Ronit Steinberg and Devra Laserson

1)      Courtroom: Pick four girls to each read a different scenario.  As each girl goes up, pick two girls: one to be the defender and one to be the prosecutor.  The girl reads the sheet of paper, and the prosecutor and defender each get a chance to say why they think she is “guilty” or “innocent”.  Then everyone gets to vote — is she guilty, or innocent?  If the madrichot feel that the girls did not vote totally correctly, ask them why they voted that way.

2)  The “Hello” Game:  : Line the chanichim up on one side of the room, and stand on the other side of the room, facing them.  Make sure that you are far away!  Then shout: “hello!!!” (or if you want, something sillier, like kinnimadooooooo!!!  Then they have to echo you in the same way that you shout skinnimadoo.  Slowly, move closer to one another.  As you get closer, say skinimadoo  in a quieter voice.  By the time you are right in front of one another, you should be whispering.

EXPLANATION:  When the Muslims pray, they shout, because they believe that G-d is very far away, and they have to shout for him to hear them.  But when we daven, Jews whisper, because we know that Hashem is right in front of us!  Just as you feel uncomfortable turning to your neighbor and talking when a person is standing an inch away from you, you should feel that way when you daven.  (If you want, you can demonstrate: stand with your face only an inch away from a chanich.  Ask, do you feel comfortable carrying on a conversation with your neighbor when Im staring at you like this?)

3)      If there’s time: A fun game, like murderer, or mafia.

Here are the scenarios.

 1) I left during davening to blow to blow my nose.  It was during psukay d'zimra and wasn't an emergency but I left anyway.

 2) I had an upcoming math test right after davenig.  I had to ask my friend a question. During the repetition of the Amida I asked her, "How do you  find the volume of a sphere?"

 3) I am one of those girls that in a skirt, just looks Jewish. My friends were pulling out the tulips  from the garden at the public park. I knew we  weren't supposed to pick them and that it would be a chilol Hashem if I joined in. But they looked like  they were having soooooooo much fun that I started to pick the tulips.

4) My class went to a Holocaust museum. I was talking with my friends as if we were in a very happy place. I knew it was supposed to be a solemn place but laughing and joking was really fun. When  we saw pictures of scared, screaming children, tortured women and men, and old, sad, poor people, I laughed and joked about how "silly" they looked.