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Unit #1:
Background – “Go to the Land that I will show you”
Goals
1. To acquaint the children with the story of the promise to
Abraham – the founding story for the bond between the Jewish
people and the Land of Israel.
Process
1. Read the story about the promise to Abraham (10-15 mins.)
2. Discuss the story with the participants (10 mins.)
3. Creative activity – three options: dramatize the story /
comics / movie (15 mins.)
4. Present the creative works to the whole group (10 mins.)
5. Conclusion (5 mins.)
Materials
1. Story of Abraham
(Appendix 1)
2. Materials for the selected creative activity – theater
props, posters, paint, scissors, glue… Comic strips
(Appendix 2)… “Film” sheets
(Appendix 3), pens, markers,
felt pens, modeling clay…
Course of Activity
1. Story time: Abraham and the Promise – story based on the
midrashim
(Appendix 1). The facilitator reads out the story
to the participants.
2. Discussion with the participants:
- What is the name of the Promised Land that God promised to
Abraham?
- When did God tell Abraham what he had to do?
- Why didn’t Abraham ask God any questions? What did Abraham
know about the Land of Israel?
- Do you think it was hard for Abraham to leave his family?
- What do you think Abraham told his family when he left the
place where he was born? Complete this sentence: “Mom, I’m
leaving home….”
Facilitator: As you know, throughout history Jews lived in
the Land of Israel / left their homes like Abraham and Sarah
and returned to the Land of Israel, of all the countries in
the world.
- Why the Land of Israel? What does Israel have that other
countries don’t have?
- Do you think that because of the story of Abraham and our
ancestors, Jews still keep on coming to live in Israel?
- Do you know anyone from your family who has moved to
Israel?
- If your parents told you that you were moving to Israel
tomorrow, would you be happy or sad? What things would scare
you?
- If you could put one thing in your suitcase from home and
take it with you to your new home in Israel, what would you
choose?
3. Additional activities:
Option 1: The participants prepare a short play telling the
story of Abraham. Characters: Abraham, Sarah, Abraham’s
mother, Abraham’s father, the father’s friends, the voice of
God, Abraham’s friends, brothers and sisters, sun, moon… The
play could be prepared as a puppet theater.
Option 2: Comic story of Abraham and the promise – the
participants are given comic strips showing the various
events in the story
(Appendix 2), and they have to complete what the
characters are saying in the bubbles.
Option 3: Abraham and the Promised Land – The Movie!
(Appendix 3)
The participants are given a page that looks like a strip of
film. They must fill in one scene from the story in each
square.
4. The participants come back together and display their
artistic efforts / perform the play.
5. Conclusion: In our session today we have heard about the
story of Abraham who left his family, his friends, and his
country to come to the Land of Israel. God promised the Land
to Abraham and all his children. We know that throughout the
generations Jews maintained their connection with the Land
of Israel, and many years later they established the State
of Israel.
In the next session we will learn a little about the people
and events involved in the establishment of the State of
Israel in the Land of Israel.
Appendix 1: The Story of Abraham
and the Promised Land
When Abraham was three years old, he came out of the cave
and thought to himself: Who created the sky, the earth, and
me? He looked into the sky and saw the sun. Abraham said to
himself: It must be the sun that created me. All day long he
prayed to the sun.
In the evening he was that the sun was setting in the west
and the moon was rising in the east. When he saw the moon
surrounded by stars, he thought to himself: The moon created
the sky, the earth, and me, and these stars are its viziers
and slaves. He stood all night praying to the moon.
In the morning, the moon set in the west and the sun rose in
the east. Abraham thought: It isn’t the sun or the moon.
There is some master over them both that we cannot see and
we cannot touch; I should pray and bend down to this master.
A few years later, Abraham was walking with his father and
saw his father and his friends bowing down to idols. Abraham
asked his father, “Are these idols God?” His father replied,
“Yes, my son.” Abraham said to his father and his friends:
“How can these idols be God? After all, we can burn them in
a fire or throw them away.” His father did not know how to
answer his son and his friends drove Abraham away. That
night Abraham was unable to sleep. He turned over in his
bed, counted sheep, but nothing helped him. He just couldn’t
fall asleep. Abraham asked himself: Where is God?
Abraham got out of bed and walked in the light of the moon
and stars, wondering where God was. As he walked he suddenly
heard a mighty voice calling him: “Abraham, Abraham.” At
first Abraham didn’t understand where the voice was coming
from and who was calling him. But the voice went on:
“Abraham, Abraham.”
Abraham listened to the voice and answered: “I am here. Who
is calling my name?” God replied: “I am the God you have
been searching for since you were a child. I do not have a
body and you cannot see me, but if you listen carefully you
will hear me and know what you must do. I am the God of the
sky and the earth, the sea and the land. Now that I have
revealed myself to you, ‘Go away from your country, and from
your family, and from your father's house, to the land that
I will show you. This is the land where you and your
children will live, and to which you will return again each
time. For this is the land that I, God, promise and give to
you and all your descendants – the Land of Israel.’”
Abraham looked at the sky, at the place where this great
voice had come from to make its promise. God told Abraham:
“Now look into the sky and tell me how many stars there are.
Can you count them?” Abraham looked into the sky and saw
that he could not count all the stars. God told him: “Just
as you cannot count all the stars in the sky, so shall your
seed be in the world.”
Abraham accepted God’s command. On the same day he returned
to his wife Sarah and told her: “Come, Sarah, let us pack
our bags and set out for the promised land, the Land of
Israel. Our children shall be born and live there, and every
generation of our children’s children shall return to the
Land of Israel.”
The next morning Abraham gathered together all his family
and friends. Abraham and Sarah cried as they told them that
they were leaving their home, family, and friends… Leaving
their country of birth to go to the land the God had
promised to them and to all the coming generations: The Land
of Israel.
Appendix 2 –
The Story of Abraham and the
Promised Land – The comic
Appendix 3 – The Story
of Abraham and the Promised Land – The movie
Unit #2: Past –
“The Convoy Keeps Moving”
Goals
1. The participants will be exposed to the chain of
generations and the bond with the Land of Israel.
2. The participants will become familiar with the emblems of
Israel.
Process
1. Board game – The Chain of Generations (20 mins.)
2. Puzzle - Emblems + identity cards (30 mins.)
3. Conclusion (5 mins.)
Materials
1. Board game for The Chain of Generations
(Appendix 4)
2. Identity cards – one for each participant
(Appendix 5)
3. Markers, pens, glue.
4. Puzzles of the emblems of Israel (Magen David, menorah,
Western Wall)
(Appendix 6)
Course of activity
The Chain of the Generations:
Board game – organize according to the number of children in
the group
(Appendix 4).
Each group of four children receives a board and plays the
game. Alternatively, divide the children into four groups.
Each group gets a piece (the children in the group can take
turns throwing the dice). You may want to make a larger
board in this case. The pieces move round the board. When
they land on a square with a task written on it, the players
read the task and perform it.
Puzzle – Emblems and Identity Cards – Three stages:
1. The participants are given an empty “Israeli identity
card”
(Appendix 5). They write in their name and their
personal details and decorate the card.
2. The participants are given the pieces of a puzzle for one
of the emblems (map, flag, menorah
(Appendix 6) and put the
puzzle together as a group.
- After the puzzle has been put together, the facilitator
asks: Do you know this emblem? What is it? What do you see
in it – what different bits does it include?
- The facilitator gives a basic explanation of each emblem
(see the explanations in
Appendix 7).
3. After they put each puzzle together, the participants are
given a small picture of the emblem. They color this in and
add it to their identity card.
Conclusion
In this session we learned that throughout our history, the
Jewish people has always had a strong bond with the Land of
Israel, through the generations to the establishment of the
State of Israel. We got our own identity cards with
important Israeli emblems and we learned what each emblem
means.
In the next session we will get to know some of the
different places in the Land of Israel.
Appendix 4:
Board for the Chain of Generations
game
Appendix 5:
Identity Cards
Appendix 6:
Puzzles of Israeli emblems
Appendix 7:
Explanations of the Israeli emblems
(for the facilitator)
Emblem of the State of Israel - the emblem is a
shield, in the middle of which stands the seven-branched
Menorah, with olive branches to either side, and with the
word Israel at the base. Two versions of the emblem exist.
In one version the Menorah, the olive branches, and the word
Israel are all in gold against a dark blue background. In
other, these elements appear in white or silver-gray against
a blue background. The former version is usually used when
the emblem appears on its own, while the latter is used as
part of the president’s banner, or when the emblem appears
on pennants. The emblem often appears in black and white on
documents (the Menorah and the other elements appear in
white against a black background). In some institutions the
emblem appears in the form of a relief, with no real
difference in color between the design elements and the
background color.
The Israeli flag - the flag of the State of Israel
has a white background bearing two horizontal stripes in
dark azure. A Magen David appears between the two stripes.
The Flag Law describes the state flag as having a white
background with two stripes in dark azure across its entire
width, but inset slightly from the horizontal margins. In
the center of the flag, between the two stripes, a Magen
David appears in the same color as the stripes. The colors
in the flag are based on the colors in the Tallit.
Unit #3: Present
– The Beautiful and Flourishing Land of Israel
Goals
1. To become familiar with the map of Israel and important
places in Israel.
Process
1. Introduction: human map + discussion (15 mins.)
2. Israel memory game – fitting pictures into places in
Israel (10-15 mins.)
3. Israel bingo (15 mins.)
4. Conclusion (5 mins.)
Materials
1. Memory game / bingo board
(Appendix 10)
2. Pictures of sites in Israel according to the number of
participants
(Appendix 11)
Course of activity
Opening:
1. Option A: Picture map
(Appendix 8)
The facilitator shows the children the picture map and asks
them whether it is familiar. What does it show?
Then the facilitator asks the children about places they
have been to or heard about in Israel, and marks them on the
map, adding other places they didn’t mention.
2. Israel memory game: The facilitator tells the children a
story about a visit to Israel
(Appendix 9). The children
have to try to remember as many details as possible. The
children are given the board for the game
(Appendix 10).
Stations are organized around the room, and each one has
copies of a picture of one place in Israel (one copy for
each participant). The children have to collect the pictures
from the stations and glue them on the right place on the
board
(Appendix 11). The participants gather together and
present their boards. The facilitator goes through the
different pictures.
3. Israel bingo (use new boards or use the same ones used in
the memory game –
Appendix 10).
The facilitator calls out words connected to the places
shown on the board. The children have to mark the right
place. For example, if the facilitator says ‘snow,” the
children mark Mt. Hermon. If he says “Western Wall,” they
mark Jerusalem.
Words for the facilitator: Snow, “Israel’s eyes,” the
biggest city, the capital, the Western Wall, the Temple, the
lowest place in the world, salt, tourists, Tiberias, etc.
Conclusion
In this session we learned a bit more about the map of
Israel and about some of the most important places in
Israel. In the next session we will decide what we want to
wish Israel for its 60th birthday.
Appendix 8:
Pictures of Israel
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Appendix 9: A Visit to Israel
Every year, all my family packs our bags and come to visit.
Every time there are new surprises waiting for us. It’s a
tiny country, but full of interesting landscapes and sites.
I’d like to tell you about our latest visit to Israel. This
was a very special visit. Everywhere we went we met a figure
from the history of this land.
It all started quite normally. As usual, my parents decided
that we were going to go on our annual trip to see our
relatives in Israel. We packed our bags and took the plane.
We landed at Ben Gurion Airport, which is named after
Israel’s first prime minister. As soon as the airplane doors
opened we remembered how different Israel is from our own
country. It was hot and sunny. We decided to start our
vacation straight away by heading north.
We began our trip at Mt. Hermon, the northernmost spot in
Israel. We didn’t realize that the northern tip of such a
small country could be so cold… We found that Mt. Hermon was
cold and snowy. We started to build a snowman and tried to
ski. As we skied down the mountain we met an Israeli soldier
who told us that Mt. Hermon wasn’t always part of Israel. He
said that they sometimes call the mountain “Israel’s eyes”
because it looks over Syria and helps protect Israel.
Then we traveled to the Sea of Galilee. This isn’t really a
sea, but a beautiful lake. In Hebrew it is called Kinneret,
which comes from the word for a harp, because the lake is
harp-shaped. The Kinneret provides drinking water for much
of Israel, and Israelis like to keep track of the water
level in the lake. The ancient city of Tiberias is situated
on the shores of the Kinneret. After we spoke to some
fishermen we saw someone walking on the water. It was Jesus.
The Sea of Galilee is very important to Christians and many
Christian pilgrims come to the lake.
We moved on to the port city of Haifa. Haifa is situated on
Mt. Carmel, a beautiful green mountain overlooking the
Mediterranean Sea. We hadn’t seen this much green for ages
so we decided to climb up the mountain. We met the Prophet
Elijah. He didn’t have much time to talk to us because he
was arguing with the prophets of other nations and trying to
convince them that their idols are not really gods. We
watched from the sidelines as Elijah brought down fire and
water from the heavens.
Then we headed south and found ourselves in Tel Aviv, the
first Hebrew city. The seaside in Tel Aviv is really great.
It’s a big, bustling city that never seems to stop for a
minute. They have theaters and dance troupes, museums and
discos. As we walked along, sweating in the heat, we met
Meir Dizengoff, the first mayor of Tel Aviv. He was hurrying
home, but he took a few minutes to tell us that where all
the buildings now stand there was once just sand. He saw
that we were interested in his city and invited us into his
home, which has been turned into a museum of old Tel Aviv.
This is the building where they declared the independence of
the State of Israel. We saw them make the declaration, and
outside everyone started dancing.
We started to travel uphill again and we could feel the air
getting cooler and clearer. We came to Jerusalem, the
capital of Israel and a holy city to three religions. We
found ourselves at Machane Yehuda Market, full of exotic
flavors and fragrances. Suddenly we met King David, a
ginger-haired man. He took us to the site where the Temple
once stood and suddenly we saw that he was crying. King
David said he was sad because the Temple had been destroyed
and only wall remained – the Western Wall.
We left Jerusalem and traveled down to the Dead Sea – the
lowest place in the world, and a very hot place too. We saw
people floating on the water. In Hebrew the lake is called
the Salt Sea because there is so much salt in the water, and
in English it’s called the Dead Sea because even fish cannot
live in the water.
We traveled further south, passing through golden-yellow
deserts. Eventually we arrived in Eilat, the city at the
very southern tip of Israel. This is a tourist city with
hotels, beaches, and palm trees. People from all over the
world come to Eilat to go diving and to see the coral and
fishes. It’s warm there all round the year. From Eilat you
can see Jordan and you can also cross the border into Egypt.
Israel has made peace with both these Arab neighbors.
Appendix 10:
Israel memory game board
Appendix 11:
Pictures of sites in Israel
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Unit #4: The Future – Happy Birthday,
Israel! Goals
1. To celebrate Israel’s birthday.
2. The participants will think about what they would like to
wish Israel for its future.
Process
1. Introduction: Birthday celebration for Israel +
discussions (10 mins.)
2. The participants divide into groups and make “wish
candles” for Israel.
3. Group discussion (5 mins.)
4. Designing kites for the future of Israel (30 mins.)
5. Conclusion (5 mins.)
Materials
1. A birthday cake with the legend “Happy 60th Birthday.”
2. Six candles, cards, pens, felt pens.
3. Sketches of kites – thin card, wood sticks, glue, long
string, magazines, markers, paints, crepe paper
(Appendix
12)
Course of activity
Opening: The facilitator presents the cake bearing the
legend “Happy 60th Birthday.”
The facilitator asks the participants:
- Why did I bring this cake? Who has a 60th birthday this
year? Is 60 years a long time? How long has the country you
live in been in existence? Are you happy when you have a
birthday? Are you happy that the State of Israel has a
birthday? What do people do when someone has a birthday?
Wishes for Israel:
- The facilitator divides the participants into six groups.
Each group has to light a candle in honor of Israel and
prepare a special wish.
- Each group thinks of one thing it wants to wish Israel,
and then draws or writes it on the card.
- After the whole group comes back together, each group
reads out its wish and lights the candle
(please photograph
and send to the website).
Kites for Israel (See
instructions for making the kites –
Appendix 12)
Option 1: Each participant is given the sketch of the kite
and makes a kite with a collage of wishes for the State of
Israel (please photograph and send to the website).
Option 2: The participants make the kites in groups
(please
photograph and send to the website).
At the end of the activity the group can go outside and fly
the kites.
Conclusion
In today’s session we celebrated Israel’s 60th birthday. We
made wishes and hoped that Israel will keep on developing
well and that things will be good for people in Israel,
because Israel belongs to all of us – all the Jews in the
world.
Appendix 12:
Diamond Kite
Materials:
• butcher cord or thin garden twine
• scotch tape or glue
• 1 sheet of strong paper (102cm x 102cm)
• 2 strong, straight wooden sticks of bamboo or wooden
doweling 90cm and 102cm
• Markers, paint or crayons to decorate you kite.
1. Make a cross with the two sticks, with the shorter stick
placed horizontally across the longer stick. Make sure that
both sides of the cross piece is equal in width.
2. Tie the two sticks together with the string in such a way
as to make sure that they are at right angles to each other.
A good way to ensure that the joint is strong is to put a
dab of glue to stick it in place.
3. Cut a notch at each end of both sticks. Make it deep
enough for the type of string you are using to fit in to.
Cut a piece of string long enough to stretch all around the
kite frame. Make a loop in the top notch and fasten it by
wrapping the string around the stick. Stretch the string
through the notch at one end of the cross-piece, and make
another loop at the bottom. Stretch the string through the
notch at one end of the loop at the bottom. Stretch the
string through the notch at the other end of the
cross-piece. Finish by wrapping the string a few times
around the top of the stick and cutting off what you don't
need. This string frame must be taut, but not so tight as to
warp the sticks.
4. Lay the sail material flat and place the stick frame face
down on top. Cut around it, leaving about 2-3cm for a
margin. Fold these edges over the string frame and tape or
glue it down so that the material is tight.
5. Cut a piece of string about 122 cm long. and tie one end
to the loop at the other end of the string to the loop at
the bottom. Tie another small loop in the string just above
the intersection of the two cross pieces. This will be the
kite's bridle, the string to which the flying line is
attached.
6. Make a tail by tying a small ribbon roughly every 10cm
along the length of string. Attach the tail to the loop at
the bottom of the kite.
7. Decorate!
Tips:
• A properly located pivot point is generally located
slightly ahead of the centre of gravity.
• Cut away from you!
• pray can glue is really good for patching up paper kites.
• Stability is improved by the use of an effective bow and a
flexible tail.
• Hold your kite up by the string when you are finished to
see if it is balanced. You can balance it by putting more
paper on one side.
• Kites are different each time you make one, so slight
adjustments might need to be made for each kite.
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