This week's Parsha Va'eira: Exodus 6:2 - 9:35
Every Shabbat, in our home, we read the Torah to our children. We have a mini study/conversation about what we are reading and try to engage as though it was a story book type story. Changing up the voices, adding emotions, throwing hand signals around, we try to make it as entertaining as possible. In our home we have children as young as 5 and right now as old as 19. Soon after we read the parsha, we have lunch and kiddish then its nap time. Sometime after everyone wakes up, we have friends come over and we give our children a Torah Quiz. All the kids and adults participate all the same. We have fun asking the questions and rewarding the one who answers the questions correctly with some kind of sweet treat. We usually use some sort of candy like chocolates or any kind of candy type treat (Kosher of course). This has become a nice tradition and the kids pay better attention to the study so they could be the one with the most candies. The questions range in levels of understanding so the littles have a fighting chance and usually the older children help the littles.
This week's Parsha, we cheer Moshe and Aaron on as they try to take the people of Israel out of Egypt. HaShem did not make it easy and continued to set challenges for everyone involved. Though HaShem warned Moshe and Aaron that he would harden the Pharoah's heart, they trusted HaShem and did as they were told.
Here are some questions for this week's parsha…
What is the name of this week's Torah parsha? Answer: Va'eira
What name did Abraham, Isaac and Jacob know HaShem as? Answer: Almighty G-d
What reminded HaShem of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? Answer: The children of Israel were moaning because of the bondage they were under.
Who had the children of Israel in bondage? Answer: The Egyptians
Did the children of Israel listen to Moshe when he told them that he came to bring out of the bondage of the Egyptians? Answer: No
Who were the ones to speak with Pharoah saying "Let the children of Israel out of Egypt? Answer: Moshe and Aaron
Why did Moshe think the Pharaoh would not listen to him? Answer: He is a close mouth/studder.
HaShem made who L-rd over Pharaoh? Answer: Moshe
Who spoke for Moshe? Answer: Aaron
How old were Moshe and Aaron when they spoke to Pharoah? Answer: Moshe was 80 and Aaron was 83
How many plagues are in this parsha? Answer: 7
Can you name them? Answer: Water turning to blood, frogs, lice, wild animals/flies, death of the livestock, boils, and hail.
When pharaoh asked for proof, what happened when Aaron threw his staff down on the ground? Answer: His staff turned into a snake/serpent.
What did pharaoh do to try to disprove Moshe? Answer: He summoned people from his inner court to turn their staffs into snakes/serpents also.
What did Aarons snake/serpent do to the other's snake/serpent? Answer: The snake/serpent swallowed the others snake/serpent?
Did pharaoh let the "children of Israel" go? Answer: no
The next morning, where did Moshe and Aaron find the pharaoh? Answer: The Nile
When pharaoh still wouldn't let "The children of Israel" go, what plague did Aaron inflicted? Answer: Aaron turned the Nile into blood.
Did pharaoh let the "children of Israel" go after the waters turned to blood? Answer: no
How many days passed while the water was blood before HaShem appeared before Moshe and Aaron? Answer:7
When pharaoh refused to listen again, Aaron brought forth the frogs. Where did the frogs come out from? Answer: The Nile
When Aaron brought forth the lice, were pharaoh's inner courts able to copy this act? Answer: No
What was the next plague? Answer: Swarms of insects
What made this plague different from the rest of the plagues so far? Answer: HaShem protected "the children of Israel" from the plague.
How many days did pharaoh allow Moshe and Aaron to leave to make sacrifices to HaShem? And where did they go? Answer: 3 days, Not far in the desert.
When HaShem cleared out the insects, did pharaohs heart soften? Answer: no
When HaShem's plague was the death of the livestock, who's animals were not affected? Answer: "The children of Israel"
When Aaron brought forth the infected soars/boils, how did he do it? Answer: He threw handfuls of dust in the air.
What was the final plague in the parsha? And who (Moshe or Aaron) made this plague happen? Answer: Thunder, hail and fire. Moshe
Did the hail, soften pharaohs heart to let "the children of Israel" go? Answer: NO
These are just a few samples of questions we use. You can make them more challenging or more thorough. There is so much information in each parsha that it is easy to find different questions to ask. You know your children best, you can word and challenge them as you see best.
I hope and pray this beings Blessings to you and your family.
Shalom!
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