A Fruitful Week

This weeks Torah portion tells the story of the splitting of the sea- and the Jewish people's exodus from Egypt. There are so many interesting details that we don't get to explore when learning this story before Pesach, so it was a great opportunity to learn an important life lesson that applies all year round!!

We began with learning the story of the Jewish people miraculously crossing the see - as it split in half! We used mini figures to demonstrate as the story was told.

Splitting of the Sea Art!

As we got deeper into the story, we learned that Paroah actually TOLD the Jewish people to leave!  He even helped them to leave! But then he suddenly changed his mind! Pharoah had a change of feelings!

We spoke about emotions and what makes us feel the way we feel. And that those feelings can pass through us very suddenly!

The way Pharoah dealt with his emotions, was not the way we should act.

What to do when we have such BIG emotions?

Using this poster (see pic below) we explored 4 important steps to take when we feel a very strong emotion, before we do anything else! 

 These are important steps to take for YOURSELF and FOR OTHERS!

Pharoah- Screamed and got mad. Then it led him to get "physical" and began "fighting." He did not talk about it or try to fix why he was having these feelings!

Some Jewish people were scared, they said let's go back to Egypt! They didn't know where they were going or what would happen to them!  Some were excited, they said let's keep going, even if there was an ocean in front of them! Some were confident, that they were really free, and wanted to fight with the Egyptians, some wanted to just daven to Hashem!

Visualizing their feelings, and realizing we also can feel the same way throughout our day!

 Hashem sent a layer of dew that protected the Mun- the miracle food that the Jews ate in the desert.
One layer on top and one on the botton so it wouldn't get dirty.

The Mun looked the same, but it could taste like anything you wanted! 

 We got to play a game where we could taste it without seeing the food and had to guess what it was! It was interesting to experience taste without sight- which was what the Mun was like!

Tu B'shvat- Birthday of the Trees

Trees give us so many things! The children were asked, "What comes from Trees?" 

They provided all sorts of great answers such as:

Wood, shade, Fresh Air, delicious fruits.

Exploring the soil that trees grow in.

The children enjoyed all sorts of woodwork activities in celebration of the wood that comes from Trees!

Emma's creating her own talking fruit tree!

Shivat Haminim- 7 Fruits that Israel is blessed with

Yud Shvat- 70th Anniversary of the Rebbe's Leadership

After preparing for this day over the last week, it was special to actually celebrate the day with a "farbrengen!" We sang some special "nigunim", made L'chaims with grape juice, and spoke about the Rebbe's message that this world is a garden, and that our job as gardeners is to plant fruits, and flowers, which are our Mitzvah's- that beautify the garden.

This message lines up perfectly with Tu Bshvat- the birthday of the trees, when we enjoy many fruits. We used a variety of fruits to create a fruit flower Garden! and of course made a blessing on it, and enjoyed eating them!