Mishpacha!: Mishpacha!

MISHPACHA!
FAMILY TIME LEARNING
SESSION #1

Use the following steps to guide you through some on-your-own Family Time Learning.

1) Hello from Rabbi Mo!

2) The Rest of the Story - Watch this explanation of Joseph and His Brothers: Part II (a.k.a. The Rest of the Story). Pay attention to how Joseph and his Brothers' idea of their RESPONSIBILITIES may have changed from the 1st part of the story.

3) Sicha (Discussion):
First, make sure that everyone understands what is happening in the story. Review the 5 W's (Who, What, Where, When and Why). You can find some resources below on Joseph.

Then, Take some time as a family to respond to these questions:

Magic Circle: Begin by having each family member fill in the blank to the following statements:
The brothers decision to protect Benjamin made me feel _______________.
Try and explain your responses to each other.
Why do you think the brothers felt responsible to Benjamin?
Why do you think they did not feel responsible to Joseph when they threw him into the pit?
How do you think Joseph felt when he saw the brothers taking responsibility for Benjamin?

4) A Little Theme Music

Listen to this music from the Yom Kippur service for one minute (start it at about :56 into the video).

Everyone in the family rate what they think of the music on a scale of 1 to 10:

1 - Sad, 10 - Happy
1 - Upsetting, 10 - Calming
1 - Ugly, 10 - Beautiful

Someone in the family explain about this prayer ... It is a prayer called Kol Nidrei that is sung at the beginning of the day. The prayer tell us we made many promises to be responsible for all kinds of things. And, it says that we can start fresh with those promises and responsibilities in the New Year. When we listen to this prayer we think about the responsibilities we kept and those we did not - about our good choices and our bad choices. (You can find the link to the translation below.)

5) Our Responsibilities

As a family brainstorm and write down a list of your responsibilities: (examples to get you going: brushing teeth, listening to others, taking care of a pet, speaking up for yourself, etc.)

Which ones are hard for you? Why?
Which ones are easy for you? Why?
Which ones were you good at? How did it make you feel? How did it make others around you feel?
Which ones were you not so good at?
How will you improve on these?
Determine which ones are the 3, 5 (you chose the number) that are most important responsibilities to keep.
Think of a few examples when someone else was responsible for you. How did you feel when this happened?
Think of a few examples when you took responsibility for yourself or someone else

Listen to the Kol Nidrei music again (starting at the same place) ... and while you do think about all of the things on your list ... which ones you were good at, which ones you need to work at; which ones are hard and which ones are easy.)

Make a nicer version of the list (or use the one you made) and hang it somewhere in the house for everyone to see during the High Holydays.

5) Storytime

Listen to this story from Rabbi Mo about a specific kind of responsibility.

6) A Little More Theme Music

Listen to this song, Responsibility by Naomi Less, and read the lyrics while you listen. You can find the song in your Mishpacha! play list or here on the web. You can find the lyrics here.

Compare the song to Kol Nidrei - What is different? What is similar?
Noaomi Less uses the Hebrew phrase: "Kulanu arevim zeh ba-zeh". From the rest of the song can you guess what it means? (It means: we are all responsible for one another)
End the lesson by having each person try and say aloud this Jewish value sung in the song: Koo-lah-nu ah-reh-veem zeh bah-zeh. First individually and then together.

Some Helpful Resources on:
Joseph and His Brothers:

Kol Nidrei:

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Mishpacha! - FTL #1