Kids

Shemot

Shemot Word Search

This week we begin the story of the Jewish people in Egypt becoming greater and stronger very fast and eventually being forced to be slaves to King Pharaoh. Pharaoh wants to make sure the Jews will never be freed, so he makes sure all Jewish boys are put into the river. Basya, Pharaoh’s daughter saves one baby whom she names Moshe.

Moshe is forced to run away to Midian and marries the daughter of Yisro, called Tzipporah. They have two children, Gershom and Eliezer.

Moshe is spoken to by Hashem at a burning bush and is told to go to Pharaoh and demand that the Jews be set free. When Moshe says – how will I prove that I am the right person to do this? Hashem tells him to throw down his stick and it would turn into a snake.

Moshe goes back to Egypt and is greeted by his brother Aharon, who is happy for his brother and together they go to Pharaoh with the message from Hashem.

Does Pharaoh agree? No! (Or, not yet! As in a few weeks he will let them go VERY dramatically). For now, he makes the work even harder. However, Hashem will eventually punish the Egyptians for all they did to the Jews and next week we begin the 10 Makkos! I U T X D S G W M M S L

Z Q Q N H E E U D M W G L C T N M C V F F O B X

J J C M O S H E V Z U H

X W E G P R U S H C D U

J B F R Q L A O W C B N X U Q F Z E A Y P C O M D O H V S R W G Q H I Y I D I U A M I M U R M U

E L E H I X O F I E K M

R P P E O S L A V E S O

R D Q S M E M F G D N O

ARON • MIRIAM • MOSHE • PHARAOH • PLAGUES • SLAVES • YOCHEVED • YOSEF

Tangram Challenge!

Using all the shapes on the left can you make the horse and rider shape on the right?

Hadassa lay crying on her bed. It had been a tough few weeks and it felt like it was just one thing after another going wrong. First it had been that part in the play she had really wanted to get but hadn’t. Then she had forgotten to do her science homework and the teacher had given her a demerit. On top of that, she had fallen out with Liora over a stupid ball game they had been playing in break. Then last week her whole family had come down with a stomach bug and so she had been feeling really unwell. The final straw was that she ended up missing playing her part in the show because she was feeling so sick. It was so unfair. Everything seemed to be going wrong for her.

The next morning was the start of the winter holidays.

“We are going to a butterfly house today,” said Ima as she hurried round the kitchen preparing lunch to take with on the trip.

“I don’t want to go,” said Hadassa sulkily.

“We are all going, it is a family outing. Abba has taken time off work especially.” Ima replied.

Grumbling, Hadassa packed up her lunch into her backpack. She, Chaim and Rivki piled into the car, while Ima and Abba strapped in Yehudis and Shloime.

“Going to see butterfly” chanted Yehudis excitedly as they drove away from their home.

Half an hour later the Greengold family arrived at the beautiful Hedgeley park.

As it was lunchtime they decided to have a bite to eat. Hadassa was still in a very bad mood, so she sat by herself, away from the rest of her family.

Abba came over and sat down next to her.

“You know,” he said, “sometimes Hashem gives us tests that are really hard. It’s hard for us to see why we need to go through these tests. It can be to fix something that is inside of us or it can be to bring out some potential inside of us. Chazal says that Hashem tests the tzadikim. They are the ones strong enough to withstand the test and become better because of it.” Abba put his arm around Hadassa.

“I know things are really tough for you right now, but b’ezras Hashem one day you will see that it is all for the best.”

After benching, the Greengolds entered the butterfly house. It was an amazing place full of different types of plants. There were butterflies of all colours and sizes everywhere you looked. Some were flying and some were perched on leaves.

Hadassa wandered off, away from her family. She noticed chrysalises hanging from the bottom of some of the leaves. One of them, she noticed, started to move. As she watched, it started to crack open and she could see a butterfly struggling to get out. She moved forward; she wanted to help the butterfly get out of its chrysalis.

“No,” said a deep voice behind her.

Hadassa spun around to see an elderly man in a Hedgeley Park uniform. He was pointing to the chrysalis she had been moving towards.

“We mustn’t touch it.” he continued. “I know it seems like it would be nice to help, but this process of struggling helps the butterfly develop its wings. If we were to help it out, it could drop to the ground and get damaged, because its wings aren’t able to keep itself up.”

Wow, thought Hadassa, as she ran back to join her family. Maybe that’s a mashal for what Abba was saying earlier. These struggles are really hard, but Hashem only wants what is best for us, so even though I can’t see it right now, these too are surely good for me.

Testing Times