Torah Teasers
Quick Activities for Exploring The Torah Portion in Many Different Ways
JYDA 2015
So often we rely on Parsha Plays (whether new ones written by our USYers or the old classics written by Stan Beiner) as the way to teach a parsha. But there are many other ways, including ones that take a much more in depth look at specific words or sentences. The question is how do we go beyond just the parsha play to bring the concepts, ideas and stories of the Torah portions into the students everyday lives, especially when some of the Torah readings are boring even for adults who understand every word of the Hebrew.
Part I - How would you teach what could be a boring story in engaging ways?
Part II - How would you use this idea to teach Parashat B’Shallach (for example)
● Use GodCast
● props to tell stories
● create your own sedra
● Use food that can be connected to the Torah story- Incorporate food into a scene from the parasha such as Matzah as an example of bread that didn’t have time to rise as the Israelites were leaving Egypt. Or have them create the splitting of the Red Sea scene by interpreting the text with food (lots of icing required!)
● Invite a guest speaker that has experiences related to the Torah story
● Create an art gallery of the Parasha. If Shabbat, use cut out pages of magazines, use images to get participants to interpret the P’sukim from the text on their own.
● Chevrua news study- connect parasha to something happening in the news, using newspaper
● have them write down or think of one question that really bothers them or confuses them about what they have read
● Have them imagine how they would respond if they were living/experiences what is described. Have them come up with pretend conversations of what could have taken place.
● Put characters on trial - Review the role of each character (Pharaoh, Miriam, Moses, God). Have participants come up with interview questions to ask each character. Have a volunteer sit in the “hot seat” and interview that person as if he/she were that character.
● Create a human board game - Create an Escape from Egypt adventure board game where the participants are the “pieces” and they have to travel around the board game according to what happens to the Israelites in the parasha. Have them face challenges and opportunities at different points as they move around the board. End at Mt. Sinai.
● Debate- Have one team defend Pharaoh and one team defend Moses. Debate if the Israelites should have been allowed to leave with Gold and Silver (see Pasuk that explains this)
● interpretive movement- Crossing of the Red Sea, Mi Chamocha
● Interpretive Art - draw 2 images representing slavery and representing freedom (weekday)
● Videos/film- use examples of the Exodus in film and have participants compare the interpretation to the Torah text (weekday). Examples: Exodus Gods and Kings, The Ten Commandments, Prince of Egypt
● Prompt a controversial conversation with a statement where they fill in the rest of the statement
● re-write the story in the voice of a child who may have been there
● Use props or visual aids- Use team building, trust or initiative task games to challenge the participants to “cross the Red Sea.” Use water as a prop to help them imagine as if they were there at the bank of the red sea
● Jigsaw teaching method- Have small groups learn different parts of the parasha and then create new groups mixed with group members of the original groups and have them teach each other their section.
● Use electronic media (weekday)- Connect B’shallach and freedom to modern news/Gregorian Calendar such as Martin Luther King Jr. and civil rights (freedom theme, Moses and non-violent advocacy)
● Interpret through dance- Discuss story and unpack the feelings they would have had in the situation, i.e. leaving the familiar, trust in a leader who claims Divine authority, seeing your enemies in close pursuit with a body of water ahead of you, etc. Ask group to illustrate these feelings through motions or movement.
● Scavenger Hunt- Set them up in teams and give each group a couple of Psukim from the Parasha. Weekday: Have them recreate the story by taking pictures with cell phones or a digital camera. Shabbat: Hide photos around the room or building and have them put the story together by providing clues that help them find the photos.
● Hebrew Hashtag (Weekday) - Tweet their response to the Parasha or teach them key vocabulary and have them tweet the Hebrew word and connection to the parasha.
● Interactive games - Use improv games to re enact parts of the parasha. Examples: Cross the Red Sea using props, for Miriam’s Song of the Sea, create a rap based on feelings of joy following crossing, trust games to explain the Midrash of Nachshon who took the first step into the water.
● Songs that relate to the Torah story - Sing Mi Chamocha and relate to what is happening in the parasha. In teams or pairs, have them brainstorm other songs of celebration they would sing if they experienced the miracle of parting of the Sea.
● The Moral Mural/Painted Torah (weekday) - Brainstorm themes of the parasha and have participants paint a chosen theme of the parasha on a scroll. You can divide them into smaller groups to focus on specific P’sukim.
● Movie Casting- imagine you are casting the characters in the parasha in a movie. Who (according to today’s movie and TV stars), would you cast as Pharaoh, Moses, Miriam, Israelite Slave 1, Nachshon, God, etc.
● Powerpoint (weekday) - tell the story through creative,funny slides using cartoons or relatable pictures that the participants can identify with. For example: Post the pasuk that means mean Pharaoh and show a silly picture of yourself. Incorporate discussion questions in between images and photos
● Point of View- Tell the story from perspectives of various characters
● Mock News Report
● Use the text as song lyrics
● Mime - Have participants act out a Pasuk in mime and have the audience members guess which part of the story it is.
● Recall events of the story “popcorn” style where participants pop up to tell the story one step at a time, in order
● Write a diary entry or journal entry of someone who experienced the Exodus or the splitting of the Red Sea.
● Write a letter or imagine a conversation between two characters - Example: Moses and Aaron at the Red Sea
● write an ethical will from one character to his children
● ME-cha Mocha - write a song or Tefillah after you have witnessed the crossing of the Red Sea
● Use the idea of Al Cheyt (confessing our sins) and create an Al Cheyt from the point of view of a character who may have done something wrong
● Alternate Ending- How would the story change if you changed one little detail?
● Create a machine- invent a machine that could be used to benefit the characters in the story. Use items around the room to “build” your machine
● Use creative movement to tell the story without words
● Make a midrash based on Homemade Midrash by Jo Milgrom
● create a ceremony for an event that happens in the story
● Book it!- What would this parasha be called if made into a book? A movie?