Hadracha Training Session – The Eternal Question

Written by: Naomi Rosenblatt, Jonathan Moses

Age: Hadracha

Goals:  This is a series of activities and discussions designed to cover the gamut of hadracha skills and related issues.

The Peulot are ordered in three chronological steps: 1^st, the chicken, 2^nd the hatching, and 3^rd, the egg.  Explain to the madrichim as you begin that the peulot will be given in this order.  At the end of all the peulot, you will have a brief discussion on why each peula was named the way it was, and why on earth we put them in this order (hey, isn’t the egg before the chicken?  And why is hatching before the egg and after the chicken?!  Patience, dear friends, all in good time…).

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#1 – The Chicken

Goal: To help the madrichim think about how to approach different difficult situations to deal with when running peulot. (Also to demonstrate really cool Israeli names to the madrichim to make them feel more Zionist J)

For each scenario, select a few actors.  Give them a minute to read over the scenario, then give them 1-2 minutes to act it out.  Don’t give them hints as they act – see how they improvise and work through the situation on their own.  After each scenario, take 5-10 minutes to discuss with the group.  What did the actors do correctly or incorrectly?  What might be a better approach to dealing with the situation?  How might such a situation be prevented in the first place?

Scenario #1: Tzvia is running a peula, and all seems to be going well until Ortal complains that she’s bored and doesn’t want to do the peula.  She doesn’t see why they have to learn stuff – her parents think that Bnei Akiva is stupid anyway.

Scenario #2: Yigal is a madrich in Bnei Akiva.  It’s a Sunday afternoon, and he’s at the mall hanging out with his friends.  Suddenly, he sees a chanicha, Vered, from snif nearby.  His friends are joking around and talking about some not-so-appropriate stuff (like lashon hara), when Vered recognizes him as a madrich from her snif, and comes over.  Vered isn’t Yigal’s chanicha, and Yigal isn’t in snif now – he’s with his friends.

Scenario #3: Barak is giving over a peula to the chanichim.  Off in the corner, Ben-Tzion, the co-madrich, is having a side conversation with another chanich about soccer, and is occasionally piping up and making comments like, “Barak, we don’t really have to talk about that.  It doesn’t have anything to do with anything.”  It’s clear that he’s trying to look cool in front of the chanichim.

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#2 – The Hatching

Goal: To help the madrichim learn the difference between “dumbing down” complex, difficult topics and contorting simple games to fit to a message.

I) The Peulot

Pick 4 madrichim to be the “peulot planners”.  Split them up into two pairs: A & B.  Have all the madrichim pick a game, and then send off group A to come up with  a peula that uses that game and gives over some sort of important and useful message or moral.

Then have all the madrichim pick a noseh (ex. Aliya, pidyon shvuim, the secular/religious nature of the Israeli government – makes sure it’s a somewhat “meaty” topic).  Then send group B off to the side to come up with a quick peula (a story, game, sicha) to address the noseh.

Bring back group A, and have them give over their peula.  (Ideally, group B should be back and participating in the peula, but they shouldn’t be required to come back if they need more time to plan).

Then bring back group B, and have them give over their peula.

II. The Sicha

Start up a discussion with the madrichim in comparing the peulot:

• How did each peula run? 
• How effective were they in giving over their message?
• Ask groups A & B: how hard/easy was it to come up with a peula?  Do you think the method you used did justice to the message you gave over? 
• Was it hard or easy to make the peula meaningful?  Was it hard or easy to make the peula fun?

• Ask the madrichim: what do you think about the potential to “dumb down”
  complex/difficult/non-juvenile topics vs. the trying to embellish simpler ideas?

• What is there to be gained from asking the chanichim to “stretch” to grasp more difficult concepts?  What is there to be lost in always “bringing something down” to the chanich’s level?

Keep in mind that there are no completely right or wrong answers.  Each method has its pros and cons – but the madrichim should learn to appreciate the importance of asking the chanichim to “stretch”.

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#3 – The Egg

Goals:  To help the madrichim see that they know a lot more than they think they do!

Many madrichim seem to lack the self confidence in their own knowledge base about Israel, Zionism, Judaism, and difficult, opinion-based issues.  It’s important to get them to realize that they already know a lot more than they think they do, and even if there’s something they don’t know, it’s easy to find out.

 

Step 1: The Game.  Have the madrichim split up into pairs.  Each pair will take turns playing.  Send one person out of the room, and have his/her partner pick 3 statements out of an envelope.  S/he must decide whether his partner will say if each the statement is true or false, and why.  Then call the partner back into the room, and ask him to say true or false to each statement, and explain why.  Based on the statements, you may want to run a brief discussion on a statement or two with the whole group after each turn.

 

 

Step 2: The Sicha.  Run a quick, informal discussion on general knowledge: are you an irresponsible madrich if you don’t know everything there is to know about Zionism, Israel, etc?  What about if you don’t pursue that knowledge?  Stress to the madrichim that part of the process of being a madrich is not only teaching, but also learning.  Oftentimes you learn a lot simply by making a peula, and doing the background research necessary to write create it.  A madrich should always be striving to increase his knowledge base.

 

 

The Statements – In no particular order

1. We must all make עליה

2. חפשי עם להיות תקותינו

3. “עבודה” means only ה עבודת

4. The חבר is thrifty

5. סניף is the best part of the week

6. !!צדק כהנה

7. It would be good to have a Jewish president

8. Every פעולה should have a fun part

9. Some people should just wear a mask all the time

10. Coconut is a fruit

11. The PLO was formed when the Arabs lost the Six Day War

12. The כותל was once a wall of the המקדש בית

13. קיבוצים are good

14. תורה and עבודה should be equal

15. No cheese is bad cheese

16. I want my kids to be עקיבא בני חניכי

17. South Africa is a crazy place

18. Theodore Herzl was also a doctor

19. Alligators are named Alfred and Snuffy

20. Palestine was the original name of the country now called Israel

21. We will we will rock you

22. Rav Kook discovered Australia

23. Dimona is a moon of Saturn

24. Socialism is your friend

25. We must get a דתי government in place RIGHT NOW

26. Bats are non-kosher birds

27. Every פעולה should have an educational part

28. 10 > 6

29. The book is better than the movie

30. Horse milk is delicious but expensive

31. אילת has ישראל ארץ קדושת

32. חמאת בוטנים is a suburb of ירושלים

33. A Stormtrooper could totally kill an Orc

34. הדרכה ends when מנחה begins

35. It is important to visit the nursing home once in a while as part of Snif.

36. There’s no bad time to play ירושלים אילת צפת

37. It should be illegal to burn the Israeli flag

38. There should be Snif on weekdays too

39. Thinking is good. TV is better.

40. Zebras are just horses with stripes

41. People who listen to “Jewish music” are cool

42. If we couldn’t get Israel in 1948, Canada would have done

43. Ariel Sharon became famous in 1956

44. None of the אבות ever entered ירושלים

45. רמב״ן lived in and named אביב תל

46. There are 2 main parties in the Israeli government

47. מפקד is indispensable

48. My opinion matters

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 #4 – The Eternal Question

Now it’s time for that sicha we promised in the beginning! (Hurrah!)  There are two questions that we will pose to direct discussion: there is no right or wrong answer, although we will tell you  what crazy ideas we came up with.

 

1^st: Why are the peulot named this way?  Pretty much any answer can work, but here’s what we think:  The Egg is where it all begins.  It’s the potential for, and beginning of life.  So too in hadracha: we start off with a basic knowledge base.  This knowledge, paired with ideology and passion, is what drives us towards hadracha.  Next is the hatching.  Once you have this egg, this knowledge, it’s time to hatch a plan (i.e. the peula).  The hatching is your means of arriving at the chicken.  And what is the chicken?  It’s the finished product.  Once you’ve taken your raw materials and transformed it into something solid, then its time to deal with all the clucking and other problems that come your way.

 

2^nd: Ok, so if that’s the interpretation of the peulot, why are they in reverse order?  Once again, anything can go, but we’ll give you our opinion again: just like the Eternal Question, hadracha isn’t simple.  The process is not a straightforward, linear progression.  Sometimes by writing a peula, you will gain knowledge.  Sometimes in giving over a peula, you will learn a lot about how they should be properly constructed.  Sometimes you gain basic knowledge while giving over a peula, because you learn something from your chanichim (one of the greatest feelings in the world!).  Only when you embrace the Chicken, the Hatching, and the Egg all at once can you truly perfect your henhouse. ;-)