Matzo Ball Soup

I know what’s for dinner…

Do you remember the story of Jacob and Esau the twins, the children of Rebeca and Isaac. One was red headed, a hunter, and hairy and the other was smooth and clever.
Esau (the hunter) was selling his birth rights to Jacob for a bowl of a red lentil soup; can you imagine…it probably smelled really good.
Later in the story Jacob, with the help of his mother, tricked his father and Esau for the blessings.  Well… I am not criticizing Jacob; he did what he needed to get what he wanted.  What can I say; the guy had a vision…or was it his mom’s dream?

After reading Beth’s post in upper west side mom, I knew what I was making for dinner: Lentil stew/soup garnished with some story telling of Jacob and Esau. Check out her recipe for hot red lentil soup.

You can read the story of Jacob and Esau in the Torah (of course) genesis 25-29, you may also get jacob's story at wikipedia

Enjoy your dinner

tali

Drawing the Torah

A year long project…ready…set…go…

This post is inspired by my good friend Natasha, whom last year has taken on herself to tell her son the stories of the Torah in the most creative way. she got 2 rolling pins from Target's dollar bin, a roll of paper from Michaels'.

while She was pulling down her paints and brushes and a whole lot of resources from the shelves, her son was rolling out a long stretch of the paper, ready to start with a year long project of drawing the Torah stories. She was telling the stories and her son was painting, scribing, and asking questions, unveiling the Torah, one story at a time.

This project has just ended with the celebration of Simchat Torah, while OUR project is about to begin.

^{story of creation (by Josh)}

^{Cain and Abel (by Josh)}




Noah's Ark (by Josh)
 
How to:

Pick a DAY:
The first thing we did after committing to do this project was to schedule a regular day. We have decided on Friday afternoon.

Get your SUPPLIES:
Unfortunately I will not be able to stop by and get supplies at Michaels’, but I will pull out a roll of trace paper left over from my architecture days, I still need to get rolling pins, paints and brushes are no problem.

• A roll of paper could be trace (semi translucent) or white paper can easily be found at arts and crafts stores.
• Assortment of drawing tools
• 2 rolling pins or wooden dowels. Glue one end of the paper to the rolling pin to create a scroll.

Get your RESOURCES:
Telling the stories should probably be a mixed of reading from the Torah, reading stories of  the Torah written by different authors, poetry, and Midrashim which are stories that have been developed by rabbis throughout history to answer the often puzzling questions raised by the Bible in a form of a folktale.
Many times I read the stories to my self and later tell the girls the stories from my head, adding some hand gesture and a change of my tone of voice to emphasize and create drama.

I have had long discussions with Natasha about resources. Reading straight from the bible seems like not such a great idea for kids. We both felt that it is hard to find well written stories of the bible both in English and in Hebrew.

I have compiled a list of books that was recommended by Natasha and some I found my self in my MATZO SOUP AMAZON BOOK STORE.

If you have any other books to suggest, I will be very happy to hear about them.

Here are some websites that post a weekly parsha for kids you may find helpful:
www.akhlah.com (English)
www.mibereshit.org (Hebrew and English)
www.myim.co.il  (Hebrew)
www.aish.com (English)

One last thought before you let me go:
There is something very poetic and old fashioned about parents telling the stories of the Torah to their kids. Drawing in response to stories is a great way to have kids engage with the story while practicing their drawing skills (I wrote more about this in growing up creative). And spending time together as a family is a great Jewish value.

We are now ready to dive in. I invite you to join us on this adventure.

Thank you Natasha for helping and coming up with this great activity.
I am sure she is reading this, so if you have any questions for her or myself feel free to ask.


tali

Lets talk about creation: Religion vs. Science is that the real question?

  On the way to school today Zoe asked me how come it took God only six days to create the world, how did he manage to plant all the flowers and the trees, pave the roads, build the cities and schools and everything else. It seemed to her like a lot to do in such a short period of time. I was wondering how come she was not aware of the Big Bang theory and blamed Oren for that, since he is the physicist ‘wannabe’ in the family. Then I was wondering what would I tell her if she was to ask me about the two different ideas for the creation of the world, what would I say?

  I was looking for answers online and found many long and tiring explanations for that same question. Most of the explanations were answered by raising more questions. But then I found an article in the Jewish Journal by Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater that I thought was a very useful discussion of creation. I liked how he made a connection between Earth and man’s responsibility in taking care of it instead of exploiting it. Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater was redefining the relationship between man and earth:

” This week, in Genesis, we are told, "God took the first human being, Adam, and placed him in the Garden of Eden, to work it and to watch it" (Genesis 2:15). Yet, a misinterpretation of an earlier verse has guided our human relationship to the Earth for too long. In the first chapter of the Torah, God says: "...Fill the Earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." (Genesis 1:27-28).
Dominion is too often read as "mastery over," freedom to control and use at will, which easily leads to exploitation. However, there are many commentators who understand the word "dominion" as correlating to "uniqueness." In this reading, humans have the unique responsibility to care for the Earth and its inhabitants. Rather than dominate, humans are called upon to make moral choices on behalf of the Earth, for we are the only creatures that God created with the capacity to reason and with the gift of free will; we alone have the capacity to destroy or protect the planet.” read more

So while scientists are trying to explain how it happened, the Bible is helping us understand our role as human beings in that creation, making us a part of it by being responsible for maintaining it and taking good care of it. So maybe our question should be redefined from WHO? and HOW? To WHAT? WHAT CAN WE DO TO HELP CREATION? 

 I think this is a great opportunity to bring this up with your kids, ask them if they have any ideas on how we can take better care of Earth. At home we will probably be making a list of the things we can do to take care of Earth (draw as well as write the different items) and have a daily chart to follow through, the chart can be part of the bedtime routine in a place you wont forget. I will let you know what’s on our list. Hope to hear what your kids had to say.