"You shall take the two shoham stones and engrave upon them the names of the sons of Israel; six of their names on one stone, and the names of the six remaining ones on the second stone, according to their birth." ~Shemot 28:9-10
Rashi 28:10-
according to their birth- Rashi explains that this means that their names were to be written in the order in which they were born. In his explanation, Rashi elaborates to tell us that based on this ordering of the names, they were not just divided 6 names on one stone and 6 names on the second, but they were also divided evenly by the number of letters that were engraved on each stone.
according to their birth- Rashi explains that this means that their names were to be written in the order in which they were born. In his explanation, Rashi elaborates to tell us that based on this ordering of the names, they were not just divided 6 names on one stone and 6 names on the second, but they were also divided evenly by the number of letters that were engraved on each stone.
The brothers' birth order is discussed, among other places, in Parshat Miketz.
Listed in order, as the names were divided on the stones, the brothers were:
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I've included the Hebrew spellings in the charts above, since this is the basis for the calculation of number of letters.
Investigation for Younger Students:
With the pasuk and Rashi's explanation in mind, younger students could have a discussion, first putting the brothers' names into birth order, followed by an activity wherein they separate the names into the two groups of six. After writing out the names in the two separate sections, students can count the letters on each "stone" to discover the 25 letters on each. A modification for early literacy students could be to have the names pre-written for students to identify, cut, and paste. For higher ability levels, students can count the number of letter per name, record their numbers next to each name, and add them up at the end, rather than counting out all the letters on the stones.
Some statistics investigation for Older Students:
After discussing Rashi's insight into the pasuk, older students could graph the number of letters in each brother's name. They could calculate the range, mean, median, and mode of the number of letters in the brother's names. Knowing that there are 25 letters on each stone, how do the range, mean, median, and mode of each stone compare to each other and compare to the range, mean, median, and mode of the total group of 12 names?
Elementary level statistics for this investigation could include making a pictograph or tally marks representing the number of letters in each brother's name. Elementary students of varying ages can graph the information on a line plot (or statistical dot plot)- a simple number line with a dot or x above each number to represent the number of letters in each name. For example, if one name has 6 letters, you put a dot over the number 6 on the number line; if another name has 3 letters, you put another dot over the number 3 on the number line; if two names have 5 letters, you put two dots over the number 5 on the number line. Older elementary students can begin to incorporate aspects of the more complex statistical calculations, possibly looking at one statistical average across the different groups (whole group and each of the two stones), rather than calculating and comparing all of the statistical averages. They can also analyze the similarities and differences between the shapes of the 3 different line plots.
Other analytical possibilities:
What fraction of the total letters is each brother's name? What percentage?
What fraction of each stone is each brother's name? What percentage?
How do the fraction/percentages compare from whole group to individual stone for each name?
Older students could use their calculated percentages to display the information in a circle graph.
With the pasuk and Rashi's explanation in mind, younger students could have a discussion, first putting the brothers' names into birth order, followed by an activity wherein they separate the names into the two groups of six. After writing out the names in the two separate sections, students can count the letters on each "stone" to discover the 25 letters on each. A modification for early literacy students could be to have the names pre-written for students to identify, cut, and paste. For higher ability levels, students can count the number of letter per name, record their numbers next to each name, and add them up at the end, rather than counting out all the letters on the stones.
Some statistics investigation for Older Students:
After discussing Rashi's insight into the pasuk, older students could graph the number of letters in each brother's name. They could calculate the range, mean, median, and mode of the number of letters in the brother's names. Knowing that there are 25 letters on each stone, how do the range, mean, median, and mode of each stone compare to each other and compare to the range, mean, median, and mode of the total group of 12 names?
Elementary level statistics for this investigation could include making a pictograph or tally marks representing the number of letters in each brother's name. Elementary students of varying ages can graph the information on a line plot (or statistical dot plot)- a simple number line with a dot or x above each number to represent the number of letters in each name. For example, if one name has 6 letters, you put a dot over the number 6 on the number line; if another name has 3 letters, you put another dot over the number 3 on the number line; if two names have 5 letters, you put two dots over the number 5 on the number line. Older elementary students can begin to incorporate aspects of the more complex statistical calculations, possibly looking at one statistical average across the different groups (whole group and each of the two stones), rather than calculating and comparing all of the statistical averages. They can also analyze the similarities and differences between the shapes of the 3 different line plots.
Other analytical possibilities:
What fraction of the total letters is each brother's name? What percentage?
What fraction of each stone is each brother's name? What percentage?
How do the fraction/percentages compare from whole group to individual stone for each name?
Older students could use their calculated percentages to display the information in a circle graph.
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