"Moshe commanded the people on that day saying, 'These shall stand to bless the people on Mount Gerizim, when you have crossed the Jordan: Shimon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Joseph and Benjamin. And these shall stand for the curse on Mount Ebal: Reuven, Gad and Asher, and Zevulun, Dan and Naphtali...'"~Devarim 27:11-13
Some activity suggestions:
- Younger students can talk about dividing the 12 tribes evenly between the two mountains. How many should be on each mountain? Connect the separation to division of 12 by 2-- will have 6 on each mountain.
- Pattern finding: If you cross-reference with charts of children from each mother (Rachel, Leah, Bilha, and Zilpah) and the birth order of the 12 sons, can you find any connection between the siblings who were grouped together on each mountain?
- For Older students- if we take the most recent census information- from Bamidbar 26:1-51, we have a listing of the numbers of men in each tribe. Taking these numbers, was the division of people equal between the two mountains? Did one mountain have more people and one have fewer people? Could there have been a different way to divide the tribes that would have made the division more equatable between the two mountains?
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