Lesson 7

Hi! I'm Tzippy the bird. I was flying by when I heard how love and awe of Hashem are compared to wings of a bird! Every Mitzvah that you do is precious and when you do it with love and awe of Hashem, the love and awe become wings for the Mitzvah and they help your Mitzvah fly straight up to Hashem.

My trip to Florida will have to wait. I want to help teach the children about the third of the Aseret Hadibrot, "Do not make an oath using the name of Hashem, your G-d, in vain," and I want them to understand how it relates to awe of Hashem.

The last time I flew by you learnt about how much Hashem loves you from the first two of the Aseret Hadibrot. Hashem loves you like a parent loves his child. He took you out of Egypt with love and doesn't want any form of idol worship to get in the way of your relationship with Him.

There is another emotion that you need to feel, that can be learnt from the third of the Aseret Hadibrot. Lightening, crashing waves, a rainbow, sunset... this evokes... Awe, Respect and Fear before Hashem!

Imagine hiking in freezing cold weather. You see a warm blazing fire at the campsite ahead. You wish you could fly, but run instead, towards the fire to warm yourself up, but you also know to be careful, from fire you need to be fearful. The same is true with your relationship with Hashem. You need to express your love by doing Mitzvot so that you could get as close as you can to Hashem. At the same time you need to express awe, respect and fear by not swearing in the name of Hashem for no reason.

It was fun watching a game where the kids had many different cards with examples of oaths. They divided them into four categories. Obvious facts, false facts, Impossible actions, and swearing not to do a Mitzvah.

Here are some examples of oaths that I won't make.
1. I (will not) swear in the name of Hashem that I have two wings.
2. I (will not) swear in the name of Hashem that I have four legs.
3. I (will not) swear in the name of Hashem that I can make a scrapbook.
4. I (will not) swear in the name of Hashem that I won't help and care for other birds.

You should also treat the written name of Hashem with respect. If a book with Hashem's name falls on the floor you should quickly pick it up and kiss it. The Torah scroll is covered with a beutiful velvet covering and is kept in a special ark. When the Torah is taken out, you all stand up and kiss it lovingly. The Mezuzah is kissed whenever you enter or leave your homes (or nests) and the Tefilin is also kept in a special velvet bag and kissed when you take it out and before you put it back.

When holy books, Torah scrolls, Mezuzot and Tefilin can no longer be used they are called Sheimot which means names (of Hashem) and are not thrown out in the garbage. Instead they are placed in Geniza, which means hidden, a special place designated for Sheimot, or they are buried under the ground.

The kids had fun picking up all the papers that were scattered on the floor,(it's too bad that there weren't any papers on the ceiling,) and deciding which papers could go in the garbage and which should go into the home made foam Sheimot box. When no one was looking I peaked into the garbage and there were some papers with interesting words on them, like peanut butter, socks, chocolate chips, ketchup and crayons. Do you think you could explain those words to me in bird language?

Bye for now! Tweet tweet tweet!

Chanukah

Hi! My name is Benny. My Zaidy told me the amazing Chanukah story. If you want to hear it too just go to http://www.chabad.org/multimedia/media_cdo/aid/339285/jewish/Miracle-Lights.htm

Now see if you can answer these questions.

1. How can we see that the Jews in the days of Chanukah kept the first of the Aseret Hadibrot: "I am the Lord your G-d who took you out of the land of Egypt" ?

a. They adopted the greek way of dress, language and sports so that Hashem could take them out of Greece.
b. They believed in Hashem, so they made a small Jewish army called the Maccabees and trusted that although they were few in number, Hashem would help them win over the massive Greek army.
c. They forced the Jewish culture onto the Greeks.

2. In the first of the Aseret Hadibrot we learnt that Hashem wants us to look for Him in every part of our lives. How did the Jews clearly see the hand of Hashem in the story of Chanukah?

a. The Latkes (potato pancakes) didn't burn.
b.The Greeks offered to pay for all the jugs of oil with broken seals.
c. One pure jug of olive oil lasted for eight days.

3. How can we see that the Jews in the days of Chanukah kept the second of the Aseret Hadibrot: "Do not have for yourselves other gods besides Me" ?

a. The Jews refused to bow down to idols and were ready to give up their lives for Hashem.
b. When the Jews won the war they made the Greeks clean up the mess they made in the holy temple and asked them to please take their idols with them.
c. They refused to write a 1,000 word essay about the importance of sacrificing a pig to an idol.

4. Who is our enemy today that wants to stop us from connecting to Hashem?

a. The evil inclination
b. King Antiochus
c. King Latke of Greece.

5. How can we be victorious over our enemy?

a. By pouring eight cups of oil over our enemy.
b. By joining the army of Hashem and fulfilling all the Mitzvot of our commander-in-chief, Hashem.
c. By joining the Greek army and learning how to ride elephants.

Happy Chanukah!!

Lesson 6

Hi! I’m the diary of Yosef, who was the second to the king of the land of Egypt! I have to tell you that Yosef wasn’t always so rich and powerful. I invite you to flip through my pages and read about the many challenges and troubles that Yosef had to face.

“My 11 brothers are worried because I told them about my two dreams. In the first, 11 stars bowed down to my star. In the second, 11 bundles of wheat bowed down to my bundle…”

“My brothers took away my beautiful striped coat that father made for me and threw me into a pit. Then they sold me to some Arabs who were on their way to Egypt…”

All the kids made pictures of sad and angry faces and wrote about how they thought Yosef felt in their pretend diaries.

Let us take a peek into the Torah scroll and see how Yosef really felt. When Yosef revealed himself to his brothers he said: “Don’t be distressed and don’t reproach yourselves…It was not you who sent me here, but G-d.”

Yosef was righteous, he didn’t get angry at his brothers at all. He believed that G-d is in control of everything that happens to us. In the end he saw clearly that all his troubles were part of a plan to get him to become second to the king in Egypt, so that he could provide for his entire family during the years of hunger.

After the kids heard this they were able to understand why anger is compared to idol worship. If a person remembers all the time that Hashem is the only G-d who is running this world, in the best possible way, he won’t get angry!

The next time you control your anger please write about it in your diary or you can write it right here in Yosef’s diary. Hurry there are only a few empty pages left.

Looking forward to reading a few new entries,

Yosef’s diary

Lesson 5

Hi! My name is Pat the Hammer. I live in Bob the Builders tool box. When Chanie walked into the playroom in a hurry, I hoped to be chosen to be used as a tool, to teach the greatest kids, the second of the Aseret Hadibrot: "Do not have for yourselves other gods besides Me."

Within five seconds, I found myself on the table together with many papers and toys. All of a sudden the kids started reading the strangest thank you cards I've ever heard.

Dear ATM Machine, ... Thank you so much for all that cash!
Dear tree, ... Thank you for the delicious apple!
Dear rain, ... Thank you for watering all my plants and making them grow!
Dear piano, ... Thank you for the beautiful concert!
Dear mailman, ... Thank you for the beautiful birthday present!
Dear mixer, ... Thank you for the black and white cookies!
Dear ax, ... Thank you for chopping down the tree!

At last I understood, and jumped up to explain. In the olden days people believed that there were many gods to serve. The god of the sun, moon, stars, rain, wind, and fire to name a few. Later they made idols of gold, silver, and stone, to help them concentrate when they prayed. Their mistake was that the sun, moon, stars, wind, and rain are just tools that Hashem does use to run this world. They have no power of their own! Thanking these tools makes as much sense as those silly thank you cards! We need to realize that Hashem is the only one to thank for everything, because He is the true creator!

The story of our forefather, Avraham, who broke all the idols in his father Terach's shop was a bit scary, especially because I was used as a tool to pretend to smash all the dolls around!

I was very surprised to learn, that there is still idol worship today! If anything gets in the way of our relationship with Hashem, it can be considered as an idol. The kids each wrote something that can be an idol today, on one paper, and what they would say to it on another. They sure had fun matching the papers together too!

The T.V., computer, DSI, horses, toys and games were all mentioned. I'm sure the kids learnt this lesson well and will be more aware to turn off or put away these things when they should, so that it shouldn't get in the way of listening to their parents, which is a big Mitzvah, and doing what Hashem wants!

Bang! Bang! See you later! I've got to get back to my tool box before Devorah Leah hides me somewhere!

Lesson 4

Hi! My name is Shaina, I am 9 months old. I was so excited to see that picture of myself on this scrapbook page. I think it's because I too experienced the first of the Aseret Hadibrot.

"I am the Lord your G-d, who took you out of the land of Egypt." G-d took the Jewish people out of Egypt once, but He wants each of us to break out of our own personal Egypt every day!

For the past few months I've been slithering around on my stomach to catch up with my siblings. I wanted to crawl but there was a little "Pharaoh" voice inside me that said that I wasn't ready yet. Today, I got rid of that silly king, and just started to crawl! I broke through my own personal boundaries and limitations!

My sister, Rochie, has studied almost all the Alef-Bet lettes at school. I'm sure that very soon she too will break out of her Egypt and read words, and then I'll get her to read me a good story!

My sister, Mushka, who is in the second grade, has lots of tests! A student who says that she can not get more than an 80% on her test is stuck in her personal Egypt. Getting a 90% is the way to go!

We also discovered three suitcases. (At first I thought they belonged to the Kaufmans.) From the items inside I realized that they belonged to famous people who experienced true freedom!

The first suitcase belonged to Helen Keller. Although she couldn't see or hear, she refused to be a slave to the "Pharaoh" within and despite her handicap she learnt to lead a meaningful life and even learnt to speak!

The second suitcase belonged to Rabbi Akiva. Did you know that he started learning the Alef Bet at the age of 40?! Akiva broke out of his Egypt and ended up becoming a famous Torah scholar and Sage who had 24,000 students!

The last suitcase belonged to a famous violinist whose violin string snapped during a concert. Instead of saying "I can't play anymore," he rearranged the music on the spot and displayed a true Exodus from Egypt.

We ended off by writing our own example of a situation where we thought we couldn't do something (on pink paper), and how we successfully broke through our limitations and did it (on green paper). Then we had fun matching the pink and green cards!

Here are some situations that the kids wrote about:
*I used to think that I could never ride a roller coaster...but then I rode it ten times.
*I used to think that I couldn't swim...but I broke through Egypt and now I can.
*I couldn't Hula Hoop...but then I learned to hula loop on my arm.
* I used to think that I couldn't open my locker on my first try... but I broke my Egypt and was able to open my lock on the first try!

Please feel free to post more examples in the comments.

Love,

Shaina