In this week's parsha, there were a number of smaller activity ideas that caught my attention. Different activities apply to different learning levels, and some are more easily modified up or down for varying age learners. Below I've listed each passage pertaining to the activities, with the specific activity ideas summarized directly below the applicable passage.
"Hashem spoke to Moshe, in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the second year from their exodus from the land of Egypt, in the first month, saying: 'The Children of Israel shall make the pesach-offering in its appointed time. On the fourteenth day of this month in the afternoon shall you make it, in its appointed time; according to all its decrees and according to all its laws shall you make it.' Moshe spoke to the Children of Israel to make the pesach-offering. They made the pesach-offering in the first [month], on the fourteenth day of the month, in the afternoon, in the Wilderness of Sinai; according to everything that Hashem had commanded Moshe, so the Children of Israel did." ~Bamidbar 9:1-5
"In the second month, on the fourteenth day, in the afternoon, shall they make it; with matzot and bitter herbs shall they eat it." ~Bamidbar 9:11
- Calendar activity- In the above passage we are given dates for when the Israelites first offered the pesach offering in the desert, and then when they offer the secondary pesach offering for anyone who was impure at the time of the first offering. Using a calendar, students can map out the dates given in this passage, and they can also compare them to the dates listed on modern-day Jewish calendars to make the connection between the dates listed in the passage and the dates on which we now celebrate Pesach and Pesach Sheni.
*****
"Hashem spoke to Moshe, saying, 'Make for yourself two silver trumpets- make them beaten out, and they shall be yours for the summoning of the assembly and to cause the camps to journey. When they sound a long blast with them, the entire assembly shall assemble to you, to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. If they sound a long blast with one, the princes shall assemble to you, the heads of Israel's thousands. When you sound short blasts, the camps resting to the east shall journey. When you sound short blasts a second time, the camps resting to the south shall journey; short blasts shall they sound for their journeys. When you gather together the congregation, you shall sound a long blast, but not short blasts. The sons of Aaron, the Kohanim shall sound the trumpets, and it shall be for you an eternal decree for your generations.'" ~Bamidbar 10:1-8
- Codes- The above passage gives directions for Moshe to make two silver trumpets and use different combinations of blasts to indicate different messages to the groups of Israelites. Students could first map out the different blasts and what they indicate- long blasts? short blasts? combinations of long and short? number of each type of blast? Younger students could role play having the teacher sound a trumpet or call out a sound in a certain way and following different directions (move to the front of the room, sit down in a circle, sit down at the project tables,...) based on the sounds made. Older students could use this as a launching point into a discussion of other coding that is used- morse code, for example- and create a code of their own to then share with the group.
*****
"Moshe said, 'Six hundred thousand foot soldiers are the people in whose midst I am, yet You say I shall give them meat, and they shall eat for a month of days!...'" ~Bamidbar 11:21
- Rounding numbers & Comparing numbers- Rashi on this passage wrote about how when Moshe is complaining about having to provide meat for the Israelites after they complained about the manna, he lists the foot soldiers at an even 600,000 men, yet when we read about the census in Bamidbar 1:46, there were 603,550 soldiers counted. What happened?
- Rashi offers 2 explanations:
- Moshe was not focused on the detail of the specific numbers. Thinking about it, this makes sense- when you are upset or excited about something, you are focused on the big picture or larger situation, not the very specific details.
- Students can talk about how we round numbers mathematically. Find the greatest place value that we want to round to, and then look at the next smaller place value. If the number in that place is 5 or greater, then we round our desired place value up by one number; if the number in that place is 4 or less, then we round down by keeping our desired place value at its current number. In Moshe's excitement, did he round accurately according to the rules of mathematics?
- Moshe was only referring to the men who left Egypt, who were the ones who complained, since only those who left Egypt had something to compare their experience to and say that this was worse.
- Students can refer back to Shemot 12:37 to compare the numbers. Students can calculate that, based on this comparison, there were therefore 3,550 men who were born and raised in the desert.
*****
"Moshe left and spoke the words of Hashem to the people; and he gathered seventy men from among the elders of the people and had them stand around the tent. Hashem descended in a cloud and spoke to him, and He set aside some of the spirit that was upon him and gave it to the seventy men, the elders; when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, but did not continue to do so. Two men remained behind in the camp, the name of one was Eldad and the name of the second was Medad, and the spirit rested upon them; they were of those who had been written, but they had not gone out of the Tent, and they prophesied in the camp." ~Bamidbar 11:24-26
- Probability- In the passage above, Hashem instructed Moshe to gather 70 elders to help in the spiritual guidance of the Israelites. Rashi explains that there were supposed to be 6 elders from each tribe (12 x 6 = 72) who were to gather and draw lots. The lots would indicate 70 spiritual leaders and 2 who were not able to attain prophetic status. Eldad and Medad, however, assumed that they would not achieve prophetic status, so they did not join the group. When the lots were drawn, 2 of the present elders drew blank lots, and the lots for Eldad and Medad were left undrawn. A few questions to begin thinking about this statistically:
- What was the probability of each elder drawing a prophetic lot? What was their probability of drawing a blank lot?
- Was their probability changed in any way by Eldad and Medad abstaining from drawing lots?
- What percentage/fraction of the elders achieved prophetic status? What percentage/fraction of the elders did not achieve prophetic status?
In Vayikra 12:2-5 we learn about the Biblical periods of impurity after a woman gives birth. We learn that after giving birth to a son, she is impure for one week (7 days) and she may not touch holy items or partake in eating the terumah for an additional 33 days. At the end of the 40 day period (7 + 33 = 40), she brings sacrifices. After giving birth to a daughter, she is impure for 2 weeks (14 days) and she may not touch holy items or partake in eating the terumah for an additional 66 days. At the end of the 80 day period (14 + 66 = 80), she brings sacrifices.
Doubling Numbers & The Sums of Numbers:
If we look at the timeline for a woman's post-delivery impurity and offering of sacrifices, we can see that the timeline after the delivery of a daughter is double the timeline after the delivery of a son. Let's take a minute to break it down piece by piece:
Post delivery impurity:
Son- 1 week (7 days)
Daughter- 2 weeks (14 days)
Additional time before bringing sacrifices:
Son- 33 days
Daughter- 66 days
Total time post-delivery until sacrifices are brought:
Son- 7 days + 33 days = 40 days
Daughter- 14 days + 66 days = 80 days
As a teacher, I have seen students many times find a pattern in the way numbers work together and automatically assume that the pattern will apply to all numbers. Sometimes their assumption is correct and they have found an accurate pattern in number theory; other times students stumble upon a neat trick that works with specific types of numbers but cannot be extrapolated to other numbers. Without thinking about and testing their pattern, students may inadvertently apply a neat trick as a greater application in number theory.
With this in mind, I propose the following investigation for students:
If you double two numbers, will the sum of the doubled numbers always be double the sum of the original numbers? (Note that this investigation is applicable for students of any age who aren't yet certain of the answer and explanation of why.)
Students can test this by picking a variety of different numbers and checking what happens when they double the numbers and compare the sums of different numbers- original and then doubled. Students can work in partners or individually and compare their findings with their classmates. It's important for students to consider that, while they can't test every number, if enough numbers follow their pattern, they can feel confident that their pattern holds true for most numbers.
With enough testing, students should develop the basic premise of the theorem:
If a + b = c, then 2a + 2b = 2c
Through their testing, at least some students (at least by grade 5+) should develop enough of a thought process about their testing to begin to explain why this is true.
Some follow-up investigations:
Math related-
*Does this hold true when you add more addends to your original addition statement? i.e. if you add three numbers, will the sum of double those 3 numbers be double the original sum? 4? 5? etc. Why?
*Does this hold true for subtracting numbers?
*Does this hold true for multiplication? division?
*Does this hold true for negative numbers? fractions & decimals?
The more scenarios and number sets that they test, the stronger theory they can develop for use in their future work.
Math & Parsha related-
*Specifically related to this week's parsha, when you convert 33 days and 66 days into time measured in weeks & days, will they still appear to be doubled at first glance? Can you explain your findings? Based on your findings, do you think there's a reason that the Torah may have listed the time periods in the way that they are listed?
"These are the appointed festivals of Hashem, the callings of holiness, which you shall designate in their appropriate time. In the first month on the fourteenth of the month toward evening it is a Pesach to Hashem. And on the fifteenth day of this month is the Festival of Matzot to Hashem; you shall eat matzot for a seven-day period. On the first day there shall be a calling of holiness for you; you shall do no work of labor. You shall bring a fire-offering to Hashem for a seven-day period; on the seventh day shall be a calling of holiness; you shall do no work of labor." ~Vayikra 23;4-8
"...When you shall enter the Land that I give you and you reap its harvest, you shall bring the omer of the first of your harvest to the Kohen. He shall wave the omer before Hashem to be an appeasement for you; on the morrow of the rest day the Kohen shall wave it." ~Vayikra 23;10-12
"...You shall count for yourselves- from the morrow of the rest day, from the day when you bring the omer of the waving- seven weeks, they shall be complete. Until the morrow of the seventh week you shall count, fifty days; and you shall offer a new meal-offering to Hashem." ~Vayikra 23;15-16
"In the seventh month, on the first of the month, there shall be a rest day for you, a mention of shofar blasts, a calling of holiness. You shall not do any work of labor, and you shall offer a fire-offering to Hashem." ~Vayikra 23;24-25
"...But on the tenth day of the month it is the Day of Atonement; there shall be a calling of holiness for you, and you shall afflict yourselves; you shall offer a fire-offering to Hashem." ~Vayikra 23;27
"...On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Festival of Succot, a seven-day period for Hashem. On the first day is a calling of holiness, you shall not do any work of labor. For a seven-day period you shall offer a fire-offering to Hashem; on the eighth day there shall be a calling of holiness for you and you shall offer a fire-offering to Hashem, it is a restraining, you shall not do any work of labor." ~Vayikra 23;34-36
Calendars:
Understanding the concept of the passage of time is a very difficult one for children to grasp. Understanding how the ideas of "yesterday", "today", and "tomorrow" fit into our actual lives is very confusing. Once children understand the basic concept of how just 3 days in a row relate to each other, they work on understanding how longer periods of time fit together. It is common to hear children refer to anything in the past as "yesterday" or "last week" and anything in the future as "tomorrow".
Children work hard to create a framework for understanding these ideas through preschool and into early elementary. Mapping days on a calendar, although it may begin as a rote activity for some children, will ultimately help them piece together their understanding of the passage of time. By Pre-K and Kindergarten, many students are able to fill in blank calendar pages. They can start with a calendar page that has most of the information and just a few dates missing, which they can fill in from their knowledge of number sequence. As they are become more comfortable working with the calendar, they can begin with calendars that require them to fill in more and more missing pieces. Eventually, students reach a stage where they can be handed a blank calendar grid and be instructed to label the month and with just the information of the first weekday of the month, they can fill in an entire month. For example, if I tell a young student that May begins on Thursday and ask them to complete a calendar grid, they should be able to complete and hand back to me a completed May 2014 calendar. As their skills develop, students can fill in an entire yearly calendar with just the knowledge of the weekday for the 1st day of January (or any other day and date for the year) and whether or not it is a leap-year.
Once students are able to fill in dates, they can also look at their completed calendars to overlay holidays. This can be done even at the early levels where students are adding in just a few dates themselves. I could tell a student that Memorial Day is always observed on the last Monday of May. With this information, they can look at their calendar and mark the last Monday date in May as Memorial Day.
Parsha Connection:
In this week's parsha, we are given the dates for all of the holy days that are to be observed in the Jewish Calendar. Since there is quite a large section devoted to these dates, and we are given more information than just the dates, I tried to pull out some succinct sections to guide us.
First we need to know the order of the months in the Jewish year- and keep in mind that although the "Jewish New Year" is celebrated in Tishrei (as we'll see), the Jewish year actually begins in Nissan. The Jewish months, in order, are:
1) Nissan
2) Iyar
3) Sivan
4) Tammuz
5) Av
6) Elul
7) Tishrei
8) Cheshvan
9) Kislev
10) Tevet
11) Shvat
12) Adar
When using a Jewish Calendar, we also need to remember that each new calendar day begins in the evening. On my calendars here, the daytime is labeled with the date and the actual new day begins on the night before the date. Below, for example, the 1st of Nissan is Monday night into Tuesday; the 2nd will be Tuesday night into Wednesday.
Now let's see how this week's parsha overlays the holidays into the monthly calendars.
Beginning with Vayikra 23;4-8, the first month that we are given belongs in the 1st month of the year, Nissan:
Then we are given information for Passover:
*begins on the fifteenth day
*7-day period
*1st and 7th days are holy
Once added to the calendar, we have:
Next, in Vaykira 23;10-12, we find information about starting to count the omer- on the day after the "rest day"of Passover. So let's add that on:
Now we are told to count the omer (Vayikra 23;15-16):
*count seven complete weeks (both by days and weeks)
*on the day after the seventh week is complete, we count the 50th day
Next, in Vayikra 23;24-25, we are told to look at the 7th month- Tishrei:
Information about Rosh Hashanah:
*the 1st of the month
*rest day with shofar blasts
*a holy day
Continuing in Tishrei, we learn about Yom Kippur (Vayikra 23;27)
*10th day
*Day of Atonement
*holy day of affliction
And lastly we are told about Succot (Vayikra 23;34-36):
*15th day of the 7th month
*Succot is a 7 day holiday
*1st and 8th days are holy
Real Life Challenge:
Try having a student with an understanding of calendars take one day with it's English and Hebrew dates and create a merged calendar with both the Gregorian and Lunar calendars.
