Mishpacha! - FTL #6

WELCOME

Have people in the family take turns reading one of the lines of this introduction:

• When we were together in March we spent our time thinking about how grandparents, parents and children interact and affect one another. 
• In Hebrew we name the way we interact as L’dor Vador - From Generation to Generation. Dor is the Hebrew word for Generation.
• You are about to spend some time studying more about how the Jewish tradition teaches us about how we should think about the generations that come before us.Generations impact us and us them ... 
• Before we do that learning, let’s have some fun and play a game with the Dorot/Generations from that come from our sacred stories.

Follow these instructions to play Biblical Family Tree Bingo:

• Print out this sheet of the family tree of Abraham and Sarah.
• Print out this sheet that lists the same family tree without most of the names.
• Print out and cut up these cards of the missing names.
• As a family study and review Abraham and Sarah’s family tree.
•       Who are the grandparents? Great-grandparents? 
•        Do you have any of the same names in your family?
•        Which names are you familiar with because your know their stories in the Torah?
• Then, take turns (in teams or on your own) seeing if you can fill in the family tree without looking at the sheet. See who can do it the fastest.

THINKING ABOUT OUR OLDEST GENERATION

A Jewish Text Encounter:

• Print out this sheet that has 4 teachings from the Jewish tradition that say something about how we might think about people in the oldest generation. 
• Split these teachings up among your family group. 
• Each person should read her or his teaching to the rest of the family group. 
• Each person should explain what she or he thinks the message or teaching is about someone who reaches the 'oldest generation'.

After sharing these teachings and your interpretations of them:

• Which one do you find most accurate?
• Which one is the most important teaching to remember?
• Which one would you change and how would you change it?

GIFTS, BLESSINGS AND CHALLENGES

Have people in the family take turns reading these following lines:

• The Jewish tradition wants us to know that there are gifts, blessings and sometime challenges that generations can give to one another.
• This sharing goes both ways -- it is not only the older generations who share these things with the younger generations, but the younger generations who give the older ones.
• In Hebrew we use the phrase: L’dor Vador - which means: From Generation To Generation - to describe this sharing.

Follow these instructions to do the L’dor Vador - From Generation to Generation Exercise:

• Grab two blank sheets of paper and draw a line down the middle of each sheet.
• On the top of one sheet write: What The Younger Generation Shares with the Older.
• On the top of the other sheet write: What The Older Generation Shares with the Younger.
• Take the first sheet and list as many Gifts and Blessings you can think of that the Younger shares with the Older on one side of the sheet and on the other side write down as many challenges you can think of that the Younger Shares with the Older.
• Now do the same things for the second sheet.

Questions to ask one another:

• Compare the Blessings and Gifts AND the Challenges for each sheet. What is similar and different?
• What Challenges would you like to change the most? How would you change them?
• What Blessings and Gifts are most important to you?

TELLING OUR STORIES

MUSIC FROM THE HEART FOR THE HEART

• Wrap things up by listening to this song by Josh Nelson (that was playing during our closing ritual) about L’dor Vador. You can find the lyrics here if you want to read them as he performs the song.