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This Month's Activities:
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Tikkun Leil Shavuot
Introduction:
Many communities have a " Tikkun Leil Shavuot" - an all night study session. According to the sages, the Children of Israel fell asleep and had to be awoken by G-D in order to witness the revelation at Sinai. In order to make up for that event, many Jews today show their eagerness to accept G-D's laws by staying up the whole night of Shavuot studying the Torah. Help your students to understand this tradition by recreating this experience in your classroom during the school day.
Directions:
- Have a large clock with moveable hands. Start the clock sometime in the evening at around 6pm (after dinner time). Every few minutes, advance the clock to the next hour.
- Create the feeling of night by making the room dark and lighting it with flashlights. Have students create a big moon and stars to hang in the classroom to show that it is nighttime. Students can come in their pajamas and can lay on mats, sleeping bags and/or pillows during the "all-night" study time.
- Have students prepare a dairy snack/dessert to eat at "night", such as a dairy fruit dip or no-bake cheesecake.
- Have students bring their favorite stories to be read during the event. Some suggested reading:
- Read and discuss this month's Torah Time section to learn more about when the Jewish people received the Torah.
- Read the Story of Ruth with your students.
- View the Sivan resources section on this site for some suggestions of books to include in the study session.
- Discuss the Torah and have students create drawings, paintings, mixed-media pieces to reflect their feelings about the Torah.
- Sing songs which celebrate the Torah, such as Od Ha-Paam, The Ten Commandments and Torah Lanu Morasha.
- In the "morning", have the students make traditional cheese blintzes or easy-to-make no-bake blintzes for breakfast.
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