VAYAKHEL/ PEKUDEI
Chazak, Chazak Venischazake,
My mother baked a Parsha
cake.
What is a Parsha cake you ask?
This sounds like it is a hard
task.
It’s not too difficult you’ll
see,
It’s fun for your whole
family.
Friends and neighbors will be
in awe,
It’s something that they
never saw.
They’ll ask you when you
learned to bake,
You’ll tell them it’s a
“piece of cake”.
With activities you'll be
able,
To learn Parsha at the
Shabbat table.
Every week so much you will
learn,
And all your neighbors will
return.
Parsha activities are so
unique,
You’ll be excited for next
week…….
PARSHAT VAYAKHEL
PARSHA POINTS:
· At the beginning of the parasha, Bnei Yisrael are once again commanded
to keep the mitzvah of Shabbat, and are forbidden to light fires on Shabbat.
· In parashat Vaykhel, all the commandments about the Mishkan are
executed. The Torah details the articles that were donated to the building of
the Mishkan by Bnei Yisrael.
· Betzalel ben Ori is made in charge of collecting and designing the
vessels of the Mishkan and Ohaliav ben Achisamach is his assistant.
SHABBAT IMABBA:
Here
is a great way for my father and I to learn a little bit of Parsha each
week, even though we live far from each other.
( I like the play on
words of Abba in the word Shabbat and bat (daughter...) and Imabba meaning "with Abba" and Ima
Abba written together! Thanks Abba and Ima :-)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY WONDERFUL ABBA ad meah veesrim! Thank you for learning with me every week! That is why I continue this blog! I love learning with you.
This
week's
parshah of VAYAKHEL starts by saying: "And Moshe gathered together
all the Community of Israel." (Exodus 35:1). According to Rashi,
Moshe gathered all of the Community the day following
Yom Kippur, when Hashem had forgiven Bnei Yisrael for the sin of the
golden calf. He gathered everyone to charge them with the building of
the Tabernacle.
This
gathering consisted of all of Bnei Yisrael , the entire community. The
Olelos Efraim sees a homiletical lesson in the assembly of the people on
the day after Yom Kippur.It is not enough to be forgiven on Yom Kippur itself, we must be able to carry this for the entire year.
The pasuk continues and says: "These are the things that Hashem commanded to do them". Hashem commanded the Bnei Yisrael to have achdut amongst each other. Wake up Bnei Yisrael- where is the Achdut???
Thought
of the week:
The Torah tells us that every man and woman who wanted
to contribute towards the building of the Mishkan, brought their contribution
as an offering to Hashem. The Alshich notes that the Torah uses the word
"every" to make an important point. The Torah wants to teach us that
Hashem was equally pleased with the small contributions of the poor as he was
pleased with the large contributions of the wealthy. To Hashem, the most
important aspect of giving was not the amount, but rather the purity of the
donator's intent.
There are many Jews who give tzedaka generously but
who nonetheless feel that their mitzvah is not as significant to Hashem as the
large donations of their wealthy neighbors. The Torah here teaches us that we can
all equally rejoice in our mitzvah, because to Hashem, it is the intent rather
than the amount that is important.
PLAYING WITH THE PARSHA:
·
This week the Parsha talks about
Bnei Yisrael contributing their time and talents. Discuss with your kids what they are talented
in. If your child is musical, maybe
arrange going to a nursing home or hospital.
If they are good with kids they might be able to help out a mother in
need. Be creative with your kids. Every child has strong qualities.
·
This weeks parsha talks about
cooperation and working together. The
game Jenga is a lot of fun. Jenga
consists of 54 wooden rectangular pieces. You layer 3 rectangular pieces on the
first row and then 3 more rectangular pieces in the opposite direction on top
of that. You continue until you finish
using all the pieces. Each player in
turn pulls out a piece without knocking the tower over. This focuses on concentration and working
together. Talk about cooperation.
·
Put a puzzle together. Talk about how details are important and
trying to fit everything together to get the whole picture. Discuss this with this week’s parsha with
building of the mishkan and everything had to be complete.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
Contributions:
What you will need:
1. All kinds of candy that you have
in your house.
2. Serving plate with dividers.
· These candies represent all the
contributions that the Bnei Yisrael contributed towards the mishkan. I particularly love this dessert because this
Parsha falls out between Purim and Pesach and is a great way to get rid of
leftover candy!
PARSHAT
PEKUDEI
PARSHA POINTS:
· The parasha begins with an even more detailed description of the
materials that dedicated to build it.
· The garments of the Kohanim (bigdei Kehuna) are made: first the Ephod
and the Choshen, then the shirts, hats, pants, belts and finally the tzitz.
· When everything is done, the vessels are brought to Moshe. Hashem then
commands Moshe to build the Mishkan, put all the vessels in their place and
anoint them with the oil of anointment. Moshe finishes putting the Mishkan
together on the first day of Nissan, in the second year of yetziat mitzrayim.
After the Mishkan is done, the ananei hakavod (Hashem's glory) rest over the
Mishkan.
Thought
of the week:
The
Gemara in Brachot tells us that Torah is one of four activities that require
chizuk. According to Rashi, this means that success in these activities
requires a person to constantly channel all of his energy into them. This
important message is reinforced by our minhag of saying Chazak Chazak
Venitchazek when we finish reading each of the five Seforim in the Torah.
After
completing a task, the natural tendency for a person is to want to move on to
new frontiers and challenges. While it is important for a person to cover new
ground in the Torah, it is also critical to review what was already learned.
Regarding the learning of Torah, the Gemara in Chagiga teaches us that you
can’t compare a person who learned something one hundred times to a person who
learned it one hundred and one times. The Gemara in Sanhedrin teaches us that a
person who learns and doesn’t review is like someone who plants but does not
harvest. Each time we review something in the Torah, not only do we commit it
more to memory, but we very often uncover something new and exciting that we
never noticed before.
PLAYING WITH THE PARSHA:
·
You need a bar of chocolate,
knife and forks, a dice, and a bag with items of clothing that the kohen needed
to wear. The first person rolls the die followed by each person in turn. When
someone rolls a six he then opens the bag of clothing are and starts putting
them on. Once he is completely dressed he can then start trying to eat the bar
of chocolate, with the knife and fork of course, cutting one square at a time.
While this is happening, the next player continues rolling the die until someone
else throws a six. The person who is eating
the chocolate has to stop and get undressed while the next person tries to get
dressed and start eating the chocolate etc... The game obviously ends once the
chocolate has been eaten.
·
Count out and fill a glass jar
with gold, silver and copper candy. Each child should try to guess how many
candies are in the jar. The child with the closest guess is the winner of the
candy.
·
Go around and collect items on a
tray. Lay them all out and pass the tray around. Remove the tray and have everyone
list what was on tray. The one that lists the most objects is the winner. Discuss
how Moshe had to inspect everything in the mishkan and make sure everything was
all right.
Our family does
this activity every Shabbat. We all try
to think of how we could help people all through the week. You should have as much enthusiasm helping
one another as the Bnei Yisrael did!
In
this week’s Parsha, Moshe asked the Bnei Yisrael to donate their time,
their talents, and materials for the construction of the Mishkan. The Bnei Yisrael
responded with a lot of enthusiasm.
Hashem created
every one of His children with special talents. Every person is unique. Go
around the Shabbat table and have everyone think about one of their talents and
how they could help another person. For
example, if someone is musical, have them think about going to an old age home
and performing there.
Then everyone
should take a turn and say something good that they did for someone this past
week. It could be helping out a friend,
your parents etc…
PARSHA PUZZLE:
You cannot plow, reap,
gather, knead,
Winnow, grind, sift or plant
a seed.
Bad from good you can’t
separate,
You cannot bake, so please
just wait.
You can’t shear, bleach,
comb, spin or dye,
You can’t sew, weave, tie or
untie,
Thread a loom, arrange
thread, prepare,
Remove material or tear.
Slaughter, skin, salt,
smooth- almost done,
We learn all these from the
mishkan.
Making ruled lines, cutting
or a trap,
There will be so much time to
take a nap.
One cannot build, carry or
destroy,
Follow Mitzvot, you will have
such joy.
Blow out a fire or ignite,
Melachot you should do them
right.
You cannot add the final
touch,
Can you guess??? You
learned so much!!
FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
The
Shechinah descended in a cloud:
What
you will need:
1. Chocolate cake
2. Chocolate cream
3. Rich’s whip
Use 3 separate bowls.
Chocolate
Cake Recipe:
1
cup sugar
1
cups flour
1/3
cup cocoa
1/2
teaspoon salt
3/4
teaspoon baking powder
3/4
teaspoons baking soda
1/4
cup oil
1/2
cup non dairy creamer
1
teaspoon vanilla extract
1
large egg
1/2
cup of boiling water
Preheat
oven to 350 degrees.
Combine
all the ingredients together and beat with an electrical mixer. Pour into a round 8 inch pan.
Bake
for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Chocolate
cream:
100
grams margarine
¾
cup sugar
6
tbs. cocoa
2
Tbs. oil
1
Tbs. vanilla
Place
all these ingredients in a bowl. Mix in
a mixer for about 1 minute. Put in 2
eggs one at a time.
Rich’s
whip:
Use
4 small containers of Rich’s whip or 2 large one. Pour them into a bowl and mix in a mixer until it becomes stiff- about 5
minutes.
· Place the cooled chocolate cake on the
bottom of a trifle bowl.
· Spread the chocolate cream on top.
· Whip the Rich’s whip and spread it on top.
This resembles the Shechina in a
cloud. This is a “heavenly" dessert!
Enjoy! Have a great Shabbat!
Looking forward to seeing you next week!
Ruchie
