"Every first issue of the womb of any flesh that they offer to Hashem, whether of man or of animal, shall be yours; but you shall surely redeem the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of an impure animal shall you redeem. And those that are to be redeemed- from one month shall you redeem according to the valuation, five silver shekalim by the sacred shekel; it is twenty geirah." ~Bamidbar 18:15-16
Towards the end of this week's parsha, we read of what items are set aside to be given to Aaron and the Kohanim. Within this section, we learn that firstborn male infants and firstborn animals are part of what is to be given to the Kohanim. However, we also learn that firstborn children and impure firstborn animals are to be redeemed at the age of one month. The value for redeeming them is 5 silver shekalim, and we are told that one silver shekel is equivalent to 20 geirah.
Activity Suggestions related to Monetary Equivalence:
Learning equivalencies of monetary values can be confusing for young children. Opportunities for hands-on acting out with manipulatives, repetition, and practice help them become proficient in working with monetary conversions.
- Students can convert between geirahs and shekalim.
Given that 1 shekel = 20 geirah:
- Representing the conversion-
- Younger students could calculate how many geirahs would be in 5 shekalim, by using manipulatives for representation. They could have cups to represent 1 shekel, and small chips or counters representing a geirah. Students could work together to create shekel value cups, each filled with 20 geirah. Once they have the cups set up, they can then go back and count out 5 shekalim. 5 cups would represent 5 shekalim.
- Students who are ready could draw representative circles or boxes for shekalim and show 20 tally marks within each one to represent the geirahs in each. In this case, 5 circles or boxes would represent the 5 shekalim.
- Making the calculations-
- Youngest students can work together (or as a class) to count out how many geirahs there are all together in the 5 shekalim.
- Slightly older children could use their knowledge of "skip counting" or addition of simple large numbers to add the twenties together and make the calculation.
- Older students can use their knowledge of multiplication to problem solve and calculate how many geirahs would be in 5 shekalim.
- Follow-up calculations:
- Can students (young and old) figure out how many shekalim would be needed to redeem multiple firstborns? If 7 families redeem their firstborns, how many shekalim would be given to the Kohanim all together? How many geirahs would be given to the Kohanim all together?
- If you chart the redemption values in shekalim and geirahs for different numbers of firstborns, can you identify any patterns?
- For upper elementary or middle schoolers- can they convert the patterns that they find into functions? How would these functions look when graphed?
- Older students can also research conversion values to current day currencies. Based on the researched conversion rates, what is the value today of a geirah? of a shekel? How much would families need to pay to redeem firstborns in different countries today? Can they write a function to calculate redemption values for multiple firstborns using current currencies?
A note to readers- Having written a full cycle of parsha posts, I've decided to try a slightly different approach. For this next cycle, I'm beginning with identifying a concept and then posing concept specific questions and activities for investigating the concepts at varying academic levels- still K-8 level. I'd love feedback from readers as I keep the process going. Are you just an interested reader? Am I still keeping you interested? Are you a teacher/parent looking for ideas? Which ideas do you find most helpful? Have you tested out any ideas with your students/children? Looking forward to your feedback!
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"...And Ephron replied to Abraham, saying to him: 'My lord, hear me! Land worth four hundred silver shekalim; between me and you- what is it? And bury your dead.' Avraham listened to Ephron, and Avraham weighed out to Ephron the money that he had mentioned in the hearing of the children of Heth, four hundred silver shekalim in negotiable currency. And Ephron's field, that was in Machpelah, that was facing Mamre stood- the field and the cave within it and all the trees in the field, within its entire boundary all around- as Avraham's as a purchase in the view of the children of Heth, with all who came to the gate of his city. And after that, Avraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah facing Mamre, which is Hevron, in the land of Canaan." ~Bereishit 23;14-19
Activity Connections:
The two ideas that stand out to me from this passage are:
1) Avraham's weighing out of the money
2) The fact that the Torah specifically says that he was using "negotiable currency"
For some previous thoughts about scales and balance, see my post on Parshat Ki Teitzei where I talk about weights and measures.
Rashi on 23;16 explains that "negotiable currency" is stated because the shekel that the Torah usually refers to is a smaller shekel (equal to 1 sela). In our case, though, Avraham chose to use shekels which are acceptable as currency even in areas that use larger shekels ("kanterin", which are equal to 100 selas).
Activity ideas in increasing conceptual difficulty:
*Discussion and exposure to local current-day currency; discussion around equivalent currencies
eg. for US currency, exposure to pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, half-dollars, dollar coins, dollar bills, etc and discussion/practice with the value of each and equivalencies (5 pennies = 1 nickel; 25 pennies = 1 quarter = 5 nickels = 2 dimes + 1 nickel)
*Combine currency with the idea that Avraham weighed out his money. Does this still work with current day currency? Will 5 pennies balance with 1 nickel on a balance scale? Our current money is more of a representation of value than true equivalence between coin sizes, weights, and values.
*Look at the difference between what 400 shekalim would have been if they were each 1 sela instead of being 1 kanterin. This can be done at varying levels for different ages and abilities. What does it physically look like using manipulatives to represent 1 sela? How could you calculate how many selas Avraham actually paid Ephron?
*If you look at the comments section in last year's post on Chayei Sarah, you'll find a link to some calculations on current day equivalence for a shekel (one that's the value of a sela). How can you use this information to calculate the current day value for what Avraham actually paid for Maarat HaMachpelah? How different is that from what he would have paid in current day currency if he used selas instead of kanterin?
*How does the amount of money paid toward Maarat HaMachpelah compare to the value of Rivkah's dowry (the bracelets and nosering discussed in last year's post)? How does a beka compare to a sela? to kanterin?
*If you compare the difference between values of selas and kanterin, is the difference linear growth or exponential growth? (Hint: 1 kanterin = 100 selas; 2 kanterin = 200 selas; and so on)
