Shelach Lecha . Middah/ Jewish Value Activity Early Years & Foundation Stage 0 - 5 Challah is our special bread for Shabbat. When we make our own challah, we set aside a piece of the dough and make a brachah. This mitzvah is called 'taking challah' - Making Challah for Shabbat Who likes challah? Ask each child to think of an adjective to finish this sentence: 'Challah is...........' e.g. tasty, soft, yummy etc. Are there different shapes of challah? Do some actions for making challah: Mixing the yeast, sugar and water Weighing and pouring the flour into a bowl Mixing the flour and yeast mixture Kneading the dough Cover it and leave to rise Knead again and shape Brush with egg Put in the oven Sing this song about challah: Tune: Pat-a-cake, Pat-a-cake Pat a cake, pat a-cake baker's man, Bake me a challah as fast as you can, Mix it and knead it as quick as you're able, So we can have it for our Shabbat table Key Stage 1 5 - 8 The parashah relates the story of the twelve 'spies'. They were told by Moshe to go to Canaan (the Land of Israel) and see how good or bad it was. Ten of them didn't tell the complete truth. They frightened Bnei Yisrael so much that they wanted to return to Egypt and ended up spending forty years in the wilderness instead. - Telling the truth See Bibliography - General Tell the story of the parashah from The Jewish Children's Bible - Numbers, pages 16 - 18. Talk about the fact that the spies, not telling the truth and frightening the people, led them into not trusting Hashem. Ask the children to give examples of the consequences of not telling the truth. Then, as the parashah is about the 'spies', play 'Jewish I Spy'. All the 'spied' items must have a Jewish connection. Key Stage 2 8 - 11 Numbers play a big part in this parashah. There are ten spies who give a bad report, which some say is the reason we have ten men to make a 'Minyan'. Ten men need to congregate to show faith in Hashem, just as ten men congregated together and denied their faith in Hashem. The spies spent forty days travelling through the land and, as a consequence of their bad report, Bnei Yisrael spent forty years in the desert - Important numbers in Jewish life This activity is called 'Judaism by Numbers'. Certain numbers appear regularly in Jewish life. For example: 7 - Seven weeks of the Omer The Shivat Haminim, the seven 'kinds' that grow in Israel 4 - The Arba'at Haminim, the four 'kinds' for Sukkot The Seder: four cups of wine, four questions of Mah Nishtanah, the four sons Write the following numbers, or more, on individual pieces of card. With the children sitting so that they can all see, hold up a card (previously unseen) and see who can first connect the number to something from Jewish life. 15       613       10       2 Think of other examples.