Goals:
- To help teens think about blessings
- To help teens become familiar with Birkat Banim/Banot
- To show the direct connection between the value of family and Shabbat
- To help teens learn about two less-prominent Jewish heroes
- For teens to consider the topic of assimilation and their feelings about it
Room set-up:
- Large empty room with the same station set-up in multiple places around the room (base it on the final number of participants)
o At the front of the room, large sign:
§ Y’va’reh’ch’cha A-donai v’yish’m’recha.
Ya’ayr A-donai panav ay’leh’cha vee’chu’neh’ka.
Yee’sah A-donai panav ay’leh’cha, v’yah’saym l’cha shalom.
May God bless you and watch over you.
May God shine His face toward you and show you favor.
May God be favorably disposed to you and grant you peace.
- The stations should have index cards with these words written on them:
o My health x3
o My family’s health x3
o My friends’ health x3
o Becoming rich x3
o Good grades x3
o Getting into a good college x3
o Popularity x3
o Becoming famous x3
o World Peace x3
o End to world poverty x3
o Cure for cancer x3
o Find a husband/wife x3
o Find a girlfriend/boyfriend x3
o Have children x3
o Have a good career x3
o Other x3
Activity (50-60 minutes):
- Participants are split into groups of 8-10
- Introduction (sample script will follow) (2-3 minutes)
- There are teen facilitators in each who lead the participants through a process of choosing three index cards. The index cards that are chosen should be topics for which the participants have received blessings about or given as blessings. (5 minutes)
- Facilitators lead short discussion about why participants chose their card; not all participants are required to share their reason with their small groups (10 minutes)
- Bring all groups together (3 minutes)
- Transition to short conversation about blessings, how it relates to Shabbat and Judaism (7 minutes)
- Ask if anyone recognizes the blessing at the front of the room (even read it out loud) and where it can be found (5 minutes)
- (7 minutes)Explain that:
o it’s birkat kohanim, the priestly blessing
o Ahkenazim say it during Jewish holidays, like Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Pesach, Shavuot, etc.
o Sephardim say it every Shabbat
o It’s the second part of Birkat banim/banot, a blessing that Jewish parents traditionally give their children on Shabbat
- Read the passage about Ephraim and Menashe (3 minutes):
o The blessing for daughters refers to the four Matriarchs of the Jewish people: “May God make you like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah.” Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah were all raised in homes and environments filled with idol worship and immorality. Nevertheless, the Matriarchs used the force of their personalities and spiritual inclinations to live righteous lives set apart from that idolatry.
The blessing given to boys is Jacob’s blessing to Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Menashe. Jacob declared: “By you shall Israel bless, saying: May God make you as Ephraim and as Menashe” (Genesis 48:20).
You may have never heard of Ephraim and Menashe before. The blessing uses them as role models, instead of Joseph, Judah or any of Jacob’s other sons because they grew up in Egypt, and were surrounded by a foreign culture.
Jacob, Ephraim and Menashe’s grandfather, gave them this blessing because he was delighted to find that his grandsons’ “Jewish souls” had not only survived in the exile of Egypt, they had actually flourished. Perhaps anticipating that many future generations of Jews would be raised in environments similar to Egypt rather than the land of Israel, Jacob’s blessing to his descendants of the future was that, wherever their homes may be, they too should be able to create strong Jewish families in which Jewish faith and heritage would flourish.
- Split into small groups again (3 minutes)
- Teen facilitators lead discussion. Use the following discussion questions (15- 20 minutes):
o What do you think about Jewish assimilation in America?
o Do you think of yourself growing up in a foreign culture?
o How, if at all, does your understanding of Menashe’s and Ephraim’s experience change your understanding of what it means to be Jewish in America?
Sample Introduction:
Shabbat shalom! In front of you are cards with different things on which people bless others or blessings that you have personally received. Please take the next few minutes to look at all those topics and think about the things you have recently given or received blessings about. Take 3 cards that include those things that others have blessed you with and what you have blessed others with. Please take a few minutes to tell your group why these blessings are important to you.