Beth+Elohim-+Darfur,+Pesach

The Whole Mishpachah Gimilut Hasadim track Session 3: Darfur and Pesah


 * //“Love the stranger, for you were strangers in the//** **//land//** **//of//** **//Egypt//****//.”//**
 * //~Deuteronomy 10:19//**

This program is about the crisis happening in Darfur and the ways in which we, individual Jews and the collective Jewish community can respond. Our text focus will be “Love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt,” and we will learn lessons about advocacy and standing up for ourselves and others through our Passover story.

The program takes place at Jillian’s bowling alley, and the participants will engage in a bowl-a-thon to raise money to support the Sudanese Education Fund.

Timeline: 9:45-10:00- Registration (front room, snacks available) 10:00-10:10- Welcome and set-induction (front room) 10:10-10:20- Darfur learning (front room) 10:20-11:00- Pre-K through Grade 2 kids bowl (lanes) 10:20-11:00- Older kids and adults do learning (back room) 11:10-11:45- Older kids and adults bowl (lanes) 11:10-11:45- Pre-K through Grade 2 kids learn (back room) 11:45-12:30- Lunch an learn with families (back room)
 * 11:00****-** **11:10****- transition time**


 * 9:45-10:00****:** Registration, the music video “If Everyone Cared” by Nickleback will play on the video monitors. Participants will be guided to watch the video. Kids who are Pre-K through grade 2 should get their bowling shoes. **There will be a craft activity for families to do as well.**


 * 10:00-10:10****:** Welcome participants. Review the song “If Everyone Cared.”

· What sorts of things did the people in the video do? · Were the people who organized these actions famous or rich? · Were they directly affected by the issues that they fought? (some yes, some no) · These two verses from the song represent the big ideas for Gimilut Hasadim:

And as we lie beneath the stars  If everyone cared and nobody cried We realize how small we are  If everyone loved and nobody lied If they could love like you and me If everyone shared and swallowed their pride Imagine what the world could be We'd see the day when nobody died


 * 10:10-10:10:20****: Intro to Love the Stranger and** **Darfur**

· In our first TWM session, we learned to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. In the second session, we learned that all Jews are responsible for one another. Today, we’re going to tackle what might be the hardest of our Jewish values, to love the stranger. · What does it mean to be a stranger? · Can anyone thing of a time when Jews were strangers? Egypt! With Passover coming up, we thought this was a perfect time to learn the Jewish lesson: //“Love the stranger, for you were strangers in the// //land// //of// //Egypt////.”// · Hold up a map of Africa. Ask someone to find Egypt. Ask what we Jews were doing when we were in Egypt (we were slaves). · Do you think that there are slaves today? There are. Unfortunately, there are slaves in many places in the world. We’re going to learn about 1 place in particular; Darfur, in the country of Sudan. · Invite Panther Alier up to speak.


 * Divide into groups- little kids to bowl, older kids and adults to back room for programs**

Pre-K through Kindergarten kids

· Welcome kids, introduce yourself and help them get settled. · Read “Miriam and her Brother Moses” with the kids. Take your time; we really want the kids to understand the story. Make it as interactive as possible. There are wonderful questions along the bottom of each page. · Some questions to ask during the story, but make your own up as well:

Do you think Miriam liked being a slave? What would she have liked to do instead? Is Miriam a little girl or a grown-up? She’s a little girl!

Why did Miriam dance when the soldier came by? She didn’t want him to see the baby. She was very smart and brave, wasn’t she?

Why do you think Pharaoh’s daughter was so nice when she found the baby? Didn’t she realize that the baby was an Israelite?

What did Miriam suggest to Pharaoh’s daughter? Once again, Miriam was very smart, wasn’t she? Is it good that Pharaoh’s daughter, Moses’ mom and Miriam are all happy?

How did Miriam teach Moses about his Jewishness? She’s just a little girl! How did she know what he would like (all kids like to sing and play games)

Was Pharaoh’s daughter brave when she introduced her adopted son Moses to her dad? What did her dad want to do at first? How did she get her dad to let her keep Moses?

How did Miriam know that Moses remembered her? Do you thank that any of this would have happened if it hadn’t been for Miriam?

· When we think of Passover, we usually think only about Moses as the leader who helped free our people. But, now we understand that it takes a lot more than one person to do a job like that. · Do you think that any of you could do something important and helpful like Miriam did? · Remember earlier today, how the man named Panther spoke to us about how people are being hurt in his country? · Would you like to do something kind of like what Miriam and Moses did to help the people in panther’s country? · Give kids papers with the phrase: “Love the stranger for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” on them. Ask kids to draw a picture of themselves helping other people.

Grades 1-2 kids:

Adapted from //Youth Community Service,// Constitutional Rights Foundation, Los Angeles, Ca. Also found in //A World of Difference- A Prejudice Reduction Activity Guide// 5 similar looking lemons 1 orange
 * The Lemon Game**
 * Materials:**

· Divide children into groups of four. Give each group a lemon, but don’t tell them what to do with it · Tell class you forgot to do something, collect the lemons and put them into a bag. · Have a student from each group come up and choose his/her group’s lemon from the bag · Was that easy to do? Are you sure you have your own lemon? Let’s try this again. · Instruct groups to look at their lemon closely so that they can easily identify it (students are not allowed to mark it in any way) · Have groups return lemons to you, mix them up and have a child from each group choose his/her correct lemon · Was it any easier this time knowing that you had to find ways to make your lemon “your own?” Was it still really hard to tell the difference between the lemons? Those lemons were all pretty similar.
 * Set Up & Activity**

· Let’s think about people- are all people different? Is it ever hard to tell people apart? How do you do it? (you look for their differences, you get to know them)

· Let’s go back to our lemons, and let’s add an orange. · How do you think the lemons feel with an orange in the mix? (write down responses) · How do you think the orange feels, surrounded by all those lemons? Why? (write down responses) · Have you ever felt the way we think that orange might feel? · Is it okay to be different? When yes, when no? · Is it okay to treat people who are different from us differently? When yes, when no? · What if a person feels sad or is treated badly because they are different? What can we do to make them happy?

· Earlier today, we learned about the people in Darfur who are sad. They are very different from us, but they feel sad in the same way that we can feel sad. · When we were treated badly because we were different, someone stuck up for us. Review story of Moses defending the Israelite slave who was being hurt by the Egyptian taskmaster. What did Moses do that we can also do? He defended people! · Today, the people in Darfur need our help. Just like Moses stuck up for the Hebrew slave who was being hurt, we have to stick up for people in Darfur who are being hurt. · Remind students of our main idea: Love the stranger for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. · Have kids draw what it looks like when we help people who are different from us.

Older kids


 * 10:20-10:30****: Unfair vs. Unjust**

· Ask students if they know the difference between something that is “unjust” and something that is “unfair.”

· Hang a sign that reads UNJUST on one side of the board and a sign that reads UNFAIR on the other side.

· Invite kids to come up and read a card with one of the following statements on it. Ask the child’s opinion on which category the card should be placed. Have the student EXPLAIN his/her thinking. Go through all the cards in the same manner, calling on different students to read the cards. **Tape the cards on the board as you go. Place those cards where there is a difference of opinion between the two words.**

· Someone cuts you in line. · Someone burn downs your home. · Someone gives everyone a present but you. · Someone kills your brother. · Someone poisons your water. · Someone invites everyone to the movies but you. · Someone makes you clean up a mess you didn’t make. · Someone takes all your animals. · Someone attacks your mother. · Someone kicks you off your land. · Someone forces your sister to be their slave. · Someone breaks everything you own. · Someone steals all your valuables.

· Once all the cards have been used, explain that all these things under the word UNJUST are actually taking place in the world today in a country called Sudan and that this is not the first time such injustices are occurring there..

· Review map of Africa. Note where Sudan is. Note where Egypt is. Is “someone” trying to tell us something?

· What if I told you that our Jewish tradition tells us that we must act? Love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

· What can we possibly do, as kids, living all the way over here in America? Let’s look to our tradition for some inspiration: Have kids read story of Shifra and Puah (Exodus 1:12-22).

· Who were Shifra and Puah? Were they famous or powerful people?

· Who/what were they standing up to? Pharaoh- he had all the power!

· Was what they did by not killing the babies illegal? Yes. Why? Was it wrong? No- why?

· Who were Shifra and Puah standing up for? The Hebrews- they had no power!

· Do you think that we would be here today if Shifra and Puah had not done what they did?

· Why do you think God didn’t just take care of the situation? To teach us that we have to act.

· Many people in Darfur are in the same position that we were when we were slaves in Egypt. They have now power, and they need people like us to stand up for them. If we don’t, they might not be here in the future.

· Brainstorm: So what can we do from here to live our Jewish lesson of loving the stranger by helping the people of Darfur? Can you do something at your Passover Seder? How about in religious school? Regular school? **Really push kids to be creative and thing broadly.** Have kids write to the White House using provided cards.


 * Adults**

· Welcome, share names · Tell adults what their kids are going to be doing today · Provide basic information on what is happening in Darfur

· Hand out Million Voices for Darfur propaganda sheet · What //can// we do to stop this genocide? · What //will// history say if we don’t?

· Do we, as Jews, have an obligation to act based on our past? · Review Pesah story, emphasizing the deeds of 3 characters: Shifra/Puah, Pharaoh’s daughter and Moses. Each character represents a different mode of action: · //Shifra and Puah represent peaceful protest, resourceful acting, going against the  power structure in clever ways//

· //Pharaoh’s daughter is part of the power structure, yet she takes mercy on the  Israelite boy. Have people imagine what Pharaoh would have said to her when he discovered that she was raising a Hebrew baby. And yet she did it. What does this teach about her character? **It’s crucial to have insiders on your team**//

· //Moses: He had experience in the world of// //Egypt////, but he was also connected deeply  to the victims. He was a man with power who went against others with power.//

· How did the story unfold on account of the actions of each of these characters? · How do you think the story would have unfolded if they had not acted? · So, are you any of these types of people?

· Text study: It all depends on us vs. We can’t possibly be responsible for everything

· How do we reconcile these two texts in a world with so many troubles?

Should we Save the World? Must we Save the World? Why?

Whoever is able to protect against the transgressions of his own family and does not do so is held responsible for the sins of his family. Whoever is able to protest against the transgressions of the people of his community and does not do so is held responsible for the sins of his community. Whoever is able to protest against the transgressions of the entire world and does not do so is held responsible for the sins of the entire world. Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 54b

[Rabbi Tarfon] would say, “It is not incumbent upon you to finish the work. Yet, you are not free to desist from it. Mishnah Pirkei Avot 2:16

You shall love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. Deuteronomy 10:19

Review the Nickleback song from the beginning of the day
 * Closing Family Activity**

//And as we lie beneath the stars We realize how small we are If they could love like you and me Imagine what the world could be

If everyone cared and nobody cried If everyone loved and nobody lied If everyone shared and swallowed their pride We'd see the day when nobody died//

Questions to consider: · Does the fact that we are just one family mean that we can’t make a big difference in the world? · Do you think it’s possible to love people whom you don’t even know as much as the members of our family love each other? · Do you have to love people to want to help them? Do you even have to like them? · Is it possible to share everything that we have, and to do anything necessary to help other people?

Now think about this idea, from Pirkei Avot, an ancient Jewish book:

[Rabbi Tarfon] would say, “You don’t have to finish the work. Yet, you are not free to stop doing it.

· Now as yourself again- Does the fact that we are just one family mean that we can’t make a big difference in the world? · Do we have to try no matter what? · Why do we have to try?

Because…

You shall love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

As a family, list 5 things that you think people would say about the way that your family takes action to make the world a better place.

Now list 5 things that you wish people would say about the way that your family takes action to make the world a better place.


 * GO OUT THERE AND MAKE SURE THAT THE LISTS MATCH!**

The story of Shifra and Puah (with background) Exodus 1:8-22


 * 8.** And there arose up a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph. **9.** And he said to his people, the people of Israel are much too numerous for us. **10.** Let us deal shrewdly with them so that they will not increase; otherwise, in a war they might join our enemies, and fight against us; and rise from the ground. **11**. So they did set over them taskmasters to oppress them with forced labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses.


 * 12.** But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And the Egyptians came to dread Israel. **13.** And the Egyptians were ruthless with the Israelites; **14.** And they made their lives bitter with hard slavery, in mortar, and in brick, and in all kinds of service in the field; all their service, which they made them serve, was with rigor. **15.** The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, and the name of one was Shifra, and the name of the other Puah; **16**. And he said, “When you deliver the babies of the Hebrew women, look at the birth stools; if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” **17.** But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the boys live. **18.** And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and have but let the boys live?” **19.** And the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and deliver before the midwives come to them.” **20.** Therefore God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied, and became very mighty. **21.** And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses. **22.** And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you shall throw into the river, and every daughter you shall let live.”

From underneath the trees, we watch the sky Confusing stars for satellites I never dreamed that you'd be mine But here we are, we're here tonight

Singing Amen, I'm alive Singing Amen, I'm alive

[CHORUS] If everyone cared and nobody cried If everyone loved and nobody lied If everyone shared and swallowed their pride We'd see the day when nobody died

And I'm singing

Amen I, I'm alive Amen I, I'm alive

And in the air the fireflies Our only light in paradise We'll show the world they were wrong And teach them all to sing along

Singing Amen I'm alive Singing Amen I'm alive

[CHORUS (X2)]

And as we lie beneath the stars We realize how small we are If they could love like you and me Imagine what the world could be

If everyone cared and nobody cried If everyone loved and nobody lied If everyone shared and swallowed their pride We'd see the day when nobody died

We'd see the day, we'd see the day When nobody died We'd see the day, we'd see the day When nobody died We'd see the day when nobody died