Nasso- Activity ideas related to organization & calculation

"Hashem said to Moshe, 'One prince each day, one prince each day, shall they bring their offering for the inauguration of the Altar.' 

The  one who brought his offering on the first day was Nachshon son of Amminadav, of the tribe of Yehudah. And his offering was: one silver bowl, its weight a hundred and thirty [shekel], and one basin of silver, [its weight] seventy shekel in the sacred shekel, both of them filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a meal-offering; one ladle of gold, [its weight] ten [shekel] filled with incense; one young bull, one ram, one sheep in its first year for an olah-offering; one he-goat for a sin-offering; and for the sacrifice of the peace-offering, two cattle, five rams, five he-goats, five sheep in their first year- this is the offering of Nachshon son of Amminadav.

On the second day, Nethanel son of Zuar, prince of Issachar, offered...

On the third day, the prince of the children of Zevulun, Eliav son of Helon...

On the fourth day, the prince of the children of Reuven, Elizur son of Shedeur...

On the fifth day, the prince of the children of Shimon, Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai...

On the sixth day, the prince of the children of Gad, Eliasaph son of Deuel...

On the seventh day, the prince of the children of Ephraim, Elishama son of Ammihud...

On the eighth day, the prince of the children of Menasheh, Gamliel son of Pedahzur...

On the ninth day, the prince of the children of Benjamin, Avidan son of Gideoni...

On the tenth day, the prince of the children of Dan, Achiezer son of Ammishaddai...

On the eleventh day, the prince of the children of Asher, Pagiel son of Ochran...

On the twelfth day, the prince of the children of Naphtali, Ahira son of Enan...

This was the inauguration of the Altar on the day it was anointed, from the princes of Israel: twelve silver bowls, twelve silver basins, twelve gold ladles; each bowl was one hundred and thirty silver [shekels] and each basin was seventy; all the silver of the vessels was two thousand, four hundred in the sacred shekel. Twelve gold ladles filled with incense, each ladle was ten of the sacred shekel; all the gold of the ladles was one hundred and twenty [shekels]. All the livestock for the olah-offering: twelve bulls, twelve rams, twelve sheep in their first year, and their meal-offerings; and twelve he-goats for a sin-offering. All the livestock for the sacrifice of the peace-offering: twenty-four bulls, sixty rams, sixty he-goats, sixty sheep in their first year- this was the inauguration of the Altar after it was anointed." ~Bamidbar 7:11-88

At the end of this week's parsha we  learn about the gifts that were brought by the princes from each tribe for the inauguration of the Altar. Each prince took their turn bringing the gift from their tribe- each prince on their prescribed day over the course of 12 days. Although each tribe brought the exact same gift, the Torah repeats the gifts each time with the name of each prince from each tribe. At the end of the section, the Torah collates the information for us and tells the total amounts of each item that was brought altogether by the total 12 princes.

Activity thoughts:

• In Parshat Vayakhel-Pikudei this year, I wrote about organizing information in different ways to access the information for different purposes. In this week's parsha, we have an example of the same information being presented in two different formats. First, we are given the list of each individual prince with what they brought individually. Afterwards, we are given a collated list of the totals for each type of gift that was brought. Using multiplication (x12) students can check the calculation for the total amounts of each gift item brought. There are also total values of silver and gold listed, for which students can confirm the calculations.
• Younger students could start by looking at the individual gifts from single tribes. Which gifts were heavier? Which gifts were lighter? How heavy was the bowl? the basin? the ladle? Students could have individual students collect a model set of items to complete a mock set of the individual gift offering- maybe they could have a list to go through and make sure they collect all the necessary items. The students could then come together and put all their gifts together, sorted by type, to see the total amounts that were collected all together from all the gifts of the 12 tribes.
• Test your attention to detail- The Torah repeats the list of gifts 12 times- once for each prince. While the gifts brought by each prince were exactly the same, there are some differences in the text the way that some of the tribes donations are listed. Can you read through the 12 sections and see which sections are exactly the same and which ones are different? [Hint- Rashi comments on the differences to explain why they are different.]
• Rashi's meaning behind the values- At the start of the individual lists of gifts brought by each prince, Rashi breaks down the list of gifts to connect a deeper meaning behind the values that are associated with the different gifts. These explanations offer a more meaningful purpose to the specific gifts, while also reviewing numerical between other significant aspects of Judaism.