To familiarize the Chanichim with the goal of Torah Va’Avodah—to establish a model society in Israel which will serve as an Or Lagoyim—and to emphasize the Spectrum of varied roles that must be filled in order to accomplish this goal.

-4 bags of material (to build some sort of structure)
-Story (attached)
-Make the following cards attached (in both blue and white, enough for everyone on each of two teams to have one):
-2 Flags
-Building set ie tinker toys, construx made up of building pieces and of connectors. (approximately 26 building pieces and 7 connectors)

Torah Va’Avodah Peulah

Goal: To familiarize the Chanichim with the goal of Torah Va’Avodah—to establish a model society in Israel which will serve as an Or Lagoyim—and to emphasize the Spectrum of varied roles that must be filled in order to accomplish this goal.

1^st –3^rd Grade:

This Game rocks—all you need to do is to prepare a little bit before Shabbat!!

“Build—See—Run—Build”

Divide the Chanichim into 2 (or more) teams, with at least 8 chanichim per team. (You may have to put two groups together to run this peulah effectively).

Divide each team into 4 groups-2 builders, 2 seers, 2 runners and 2 rebuilders.

Send the 2 Rebuilders from each team to a separate room (with a madrich/a, who will have a short game etc. prepared to keep them occupied).

Send the 2 Runners from each team right outside the original room (with a madrich/a, who will have a short game etc. prepared to keep them occupied).

Give the 2 Builders from each team a bag of materials and have them build the most creative structure possible (keeping in mind the halachot of Shabbat).

Once they are finished, the 2 Seers must look at the object, go outside the room and describe the object to the 2 Runners.

The 2 Runners must then run to the Rebuilders and describe the object to them.

The Rebuilders must then open their bag (which contains the same materials as the original bag) and attempt to rebuild the original structure.

No group may do another’s job. The group that finishes first and that has the most creative structure and the closest replication structure Wins!!!

**The goal of this game is not only to teach teamwork, but to emphasize the fact that having many Different people doing many Different things leads to success.

Story:

Note to Madrich/a: Please feel free to adapt this story to your group’s age/interests/personalities.

We have purposely given only an outline because we feel that only You can fill in the details necessary to make this a successful story!

-Two teams decide to have a Home-run Hitting Contest.

-One team, led by Jon, rounds up all the biggest strongest kids on the playground.

-The other team, led by Tova, gets some bigger kids, some smaller kids, and some in between.

-Jon’s team Wins-by a landslide-in the hitting contest.

-Next, the teams decide to have a real baseball game.

-Jon’s team has a lot of great hitters, but none of them can pitch and some of them can’t even catch!

-Tova’s team, on the other hand, has some decent hitters, a great pitcher and some great fielders.

-Jon’s team hits first and gets 3 runs before their half of the inning is up.

-Tova’s team gets up to bat and scores 1 run, then another, then a third…Jon’s team just can’t catch the hits and can’t make any outs! Finally Jon’s team, losing 59 to 3, gives up and heads back to the swing set.

Moral? In artificial competitions one type of person may win (i.e. the biggest, strongest team will win the hitting competition). In a real game, the team with the most diverse, varied people will win (the team with good fielders as well as some good hitters won the baseball game).

Torah Va’Avodah is about Real Life—It’s about building a real, model society in Israel. In order to achieve that goal, we will need all types of people (including everyone in your snif groups) to participate and contribute using their own personal talents and abilities!

Grades 4-6

The following GAME, if done correctly, can be the be the most fun your chanichim have had since…uhmm…well, since a really long time ago.

Notes: You may want to involve many grades in one big version of the game, it works best with at least 20 Chanichim. You should also make sure there is at least some room for them to run (walk quickly) around…

“Human Stratego”

1.        Make the following cards (in both blue and white, enough for everyone on each of two teams to have one):

2.      Divide the kids into two teams and distribute the cards evenly among the teams.

3.      Explain that the goal of the game is for each team to be in possession of the other’s flag when the time limit is up (usually about 20 minutes).

4.      Each team is given a home base where they can put anyone they “capture”

5.      In order to capture someone from the other team (one of whom may be the Flag) you must come to within 1 foot of the person and yell “Halt!” Both players then reveal their cards and the one with the higher card captures the other and brings him/her to their home base, where they must stay for 45 seconds.

In the event of a tie, neither player is captured.

6.      To start the game, the players are given 3 minutes to disperse…(the player who is the flag may want to find a good hiding spot…) Make sure to give them boundaries and to set a time limit for the game. At the end of the time limit, the team which has more of the other team’s flags wins!

Moral of the game? Each player has something unique that they can contribute that no one else can. A team of all generals, or of all flags would lose! Only a team with all types of players can win!

Story:

Please refer to the story for 1^st-3^rd grade. (You may want to adapt the language to make it appropriate for your age group.)

Game #2:

This one can serve as a short intro to a sicha.

You will need some type of building set (tinker toys, construx…) made up of building pieces and of connectors. (approximately 26 building pieces and 7 connectors)

Divide the chanichim into two teams.

Allow one team to pick 17 pieces, telling them that their goal is to make the longest possible train of pieces on the floor. (Most likely, they will pick all building pieces and no connectors in order to make the longest line.)

Then let the second team try to make a train with the leftover pieces.

Presumably, the first team will win this round…but, Now tell both teams to use the pieces they have to build the best building they can—the first team, with only pieces and no connectors, will have a lot of trouble while the second team, with plenty of connectors, will be more likely to succeed.

Sicha:

Explain that Torah Va’Avodah is the philosophy/ideology of Bnei Akiva.

Our goal is to build a model society in Eretz Yisrael to serve as an Or laGoyim.

Torah Va’Avodah is how we plan to get to this goal.

A vital part of Torah Va’Avodah is that we need all types of people to join in. Without all types of people you can’t win a baseball game, you can’t build a building and you certainly can’t build a society!

7^th-8^th Grade:

Game:

Use the human stratego game described in the previous section.

For older kids, this game can be expanded—feel free to add extra cards, tricks or rules of your own. Feel free to expand the playing field and to make the game take longer.

Sicha:

You may want to adapt the story outlined above-it really can be appropriate to older kids as well.

In addition to the story and sicha described above, try some of the following:

What is the goal of TVA?

Our own Goal!? I thought that different hashkafot could have the same goals!!

Is the goal of TVA different than the ultimate goal of your average chareidi?

What are their goals?

What are our goals?

What is our/their ultimate goal?

·         All religious Jews share the ultimate goal of being ovdei Hashem. We simply have chosen a slightly different way of getting there.

·        All religious Jews share the hope for the establishment of a MODEL SOCIETY in Eretz Yisrael, which will serve as an Ohr Lagoyim. We have simply chosen to take a direct, active role in its establishment.

5 Principles Of TVA

1.      Joining in a creative partnership with Hashem.

2.      Integrating physical and spiritual aspects of Jewish life.

3.      Physically resettling Eretz Yisrael.

4.      Establishing a socially just, as well as halachically observant, society.

5.      Emphasizing the national existence of the Jewish people.

By asking the chanichim questions (What do we need to do to become an ohr lagoyim?) try to get them to come up with the principles.

 After explaining each principle briefly, ask the chanichim to form a single coherent (it can be a run-on) sentence which includes our principles and goal.

·        To join in a creative partnership with Hashem by establishing a halachically observant and socially just Jewish nation in Eretz Yisrael, whose members will integrate the physical and spiritual aspects of yahadut into an organic whole, will strive for  and will serve-individually and as a nation-as an Ohr Lagoyim.