igniting your shabbat services

Terumah

Terumah

Hello and welcome to Spark!Spark is a new idea from Tribe, aimed at facilitating the smooth running of Toddlers’ Services, Children’s Services and Youth Services across United Synagogue communities.

Firstly, thank you for offering to run a Children’s Service in your local shul. The US is very proud of the numerous Children’s services that are run every week across the UK, and we would not be able to do this without you!

Spark has been designed in order to help you run your Children’s Services. Obviously, every Children’s Service is different, in terms of how many children there are; what their age range is; how long it is for; and how knowledgeable the children are likely to be of this week’s parasha.

Ideally, where possible, a Children’s Service should consist of some time used to discuss the weekly parasha, and some time devoted to davening. Spark is aimed at the parasha part of the service. It gives you an overview of what happens in the weekly parasha, and then a song, activity, discussion or Dvar Torah to run with the children – depending on their ages.

After the parasha summary on the next page, Spark has been split into 5 sections. Larger communities may have 5 different Children’s / Youth Services running concurrently. Each of these will be able to use one section for their relevant age group. If your shul does not have as many groups, then you should use the section that best suits the age range of your participants.

It has been created in a way to be flexible, so that it can be run in 10 minutes, if you have a short service, or longer if you have the time. If you also look at sections for other age groups, you may even find that you would like to use the ideas and information from more than one of the sections.

It is important to note that Spark should help you to run Children’s Services, but it does not completely run it for you. It is not designed to give to one of the children to read out to the group for them to run themselves. You are running the Children’s Service, and Spark is here to help you do it.

Largely, no props will be needed, but ideally you should read Spark before you start the Children’s Service, so that you can think of further ideas to complement it.

We hope that you and the children in the Children’s Service will benefit from Spark, we thank and congratulate you for doing it; and as always we welcome your feedback.

Shabbat shalom,

The Tribe Education Team

HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE

Terumah

n We now begin to read in detail about how the Jewish people made the Sanctuary for God (Mishkan).

n In our lives now, the modern day equivalent of this is a shul/synagogue.

n Some of the components of the Mishkan were:

• The Ark, (the Torah is now stored in the equivalent in our shuls)

• The Mizbeach/altar (the modern day Bimmah)

• The Table

• The Menorah

• The Walls of the Tabernacle and the Partition

• The courtyard, where the sacrifices were brought

ParaSHa SUmmary

TerumahPrE-nUrSEry TO rEcEPTIOnTots

In this week’s parasha we read all about the items used in the Mishkan. Unfortunately we do not still have the Mishkan, but the modern day equivalent is our shuls.

Here is a song about Shul. (Encourage the children to do actions too.)

To the tune of ‘the wheels on the bus’.

The Torah in the Shul goes roll roll roll, roll roll roll, roll roll roll,The Torah in the shul goes roll roll roll... On Shabbat morning

Other verses:

The Aron in the Shul goes open and close.

The curtains on the Ark go swish, swish, swish.

The Yad in the Shul goes point, point, point.

The bells on the Torah go ding a ling ling.

The people in the Shul go pray, pray, pray.

TerumahyEar 1 & 2Ages 5-7

In this week’s parasha we read about all the items in the Mishkan. When the Mishkan was built, the Jewish people used it as a place where they would go to feel close to God. They would give sacrifices there, especially on Yom Tov. Unfortunately we do not still have a Mishkan, but the modern day equivalent to it is our shuls.

Activity:Play the following descriptive game with the children:

n Split the children in to two groups.

n A child from one group has to describe one of the items below to the other group, without saying what it actually is.

n The other group have to try and guess what is being described.

n Here is a list of things that can be found in a shul;

• Ner Tamid (Perpetual Light),

• Aron Kodesh (Ark)

• Bimah (Reader's desk)

• Menorah (Candelabrum)

• Sefer Torah (Torah Scroll)

• Yad (Pointer)

• Siddur

• Chumash

TerumahyEar 3 & 4Ages 7-9

In this week’s parasha we read about all the items in the Mishkan. When the Mishkan was built, the Jewish people used it as a place to worship God. They would give sacrifices there, especially on Yom Tov. Unfortunately we do not still have a Mishkan, but the modern day equivalent to it is our shuls.

Activity:Play the following descriptive game with the children:

n Split the children in to two groups.

n A child from one group has to describe one of the items below to the other group,

without saying what it actually is.

n The other group have to try and guess what is being described.

Here is a list of things that can be found in a shul:• Ner Tamid (Perpetual Light) - The eternal light is a symbol of the perpetual light which constantly burned

in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. It also serves as a symbol of God’s unwavering presence and of our undying faith in Him.

• Aron Kodesh (Ark) – The Torah scrolls are kept inside it. It is found at the front of the shul, usually to the east, so that when we face it, we are facing Jerusalem too. It is only opened for special prayers.

• Bimah (Reader's desk) – The bimah is the podium located in the center of the shul. The Torah is read from the bimah, and some of the prayers are led from there as well.

• Menorah (Candelabrum)• Parochet (The curtain that covers the Aron Kodesh)• Sefer Torah (Torah Scroll) – A large scroll of parchment onto which a scribe has written the 5 books of the

Torah.• Rimmonim (decorative bells on Torah)• Mechitzah - The Mechitzah is a divider separating the men's and women's sections of the shul. A

fundamental principle of prayer is to establish a relationship between one's self and God, so any possible distractions are eliminated. In some shuls instead of a mechitzah, there is a separate women's balcony.

• Yad (Pointer)• Sefer Torah Cover• Siddur• Chumash

After playing the game with the group, explain what each item is used for and why it is important to have these special tools for davening.

TerumahyEar 5 & 6Ages 9-11

In this week’s parasha we read about all the items in the Mishkan. When the Mishkan was built, the Jewish people used it as a place where they would go to worship God. They would give sacrifices there, especially on Yom Tov. Unfortunately we do not still have a Mishkan, but the modern day equivalent to it is our shuls.

Discussion Points: n What is a shul for?

n We use it to pray to God, but we could do that from home – so why go to shul?

n A communal prayer can have more impact than many individual ones.

n What would we miss out on if we didn’t have a shul?

n The concept of a community is very important in Judaism.

n We should invite people who need meals, visit people who are sick, give charity to those who need it.

n It is also a great place to socialise (not through talking during the service though!)

Terumah

Dvar TorahThis week we learn about the construction of the Ark - which would eventually hold the Torah, the Two Tablets containing the Ten Commandments, the broken tablets of the Ten Commandments (which Moshe broke when he saw the Jews worshipping the Golden Calf), and a small amount of Manna.

Additionally, the Torah states: "And you shall make two cherubs of gold..." (Exodus 25:18) These went on the cover of the Ark. Why were we commanded to place upon the Ark two cherubs (small winged angels, portrayed as children with)?

The ark symbolizes Torah study. The cherubs remind us to consider ourselves as young children when it comes to studying Torah - to study with amazement, freshness, openness and appreciation. No matter how much you know, compared to what there is still to learn, you have just begun. For this reason a Torah scholar is always called a student of a wise man. The greater wisdom one has, the more one realizes that he is lacking wisdom.

yOUTH SErvIcEAges 12-18

igniting your shabbat services

We hope you find our guide to this week’s Parasha useful.

Be sure to look out for exciting Tribe programmes in your shul.

Shabbat Shalom!

The Tribe Education Team

t: 020 8343 5656 e: info@tribeuk.com www.tribeuk.com