Terumah - Borehamwood and Elstree Synagogue

igniting your shabbat services
Terumah
HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE
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
Parasha Summary
Terumah
nn We now begin to read in detail about how the Jewish people made
the Sanctuary for God (Mishkan).
nn In our lives now, the modern day equivalent of this is a shul/
synagogue.
nn 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
Pre-nursery to Reception
Tots
Terumah
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.
YEAR 1 & 2
Ages 5-7
Terumah
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:
nn Split the children in to two groups.
nn A child from one group has to describe one of the items below to the
other group, without saying what it actually is.
nn The other group have to try and guess what is being described.
nn 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
YEAR 3 & 4
Ages 7-9
Terumah
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:
nn
Split the children in to two groups.
nn
A child from one group has to describe one of the items below to the other group,
without saying what it actually is.
nn
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.
YEAR 5 & 6
Ages 9-11
Terumah
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:
nn What is a shul for?
nn We use it to pray to God, but we could do that from home – so why go to
shul?
nn A communal prayer can have more impact than many individual ones.
nn What would we miss out on if we didn’t have a shul?
nn The concept of a community is very important in Judaism.
nn We should invite people who need meals, visit people who are sick, give
charity to those who need it.
nn It is also a great place to socialise (not through talking during the service
though!)
Youth service
Ages 12-18
Terumah
Dvar Torah
This 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.
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