Dreams Can Come True - "לפעמים חלומות מתגשמים..."
סוג פעולה : פעולה בשפה: עברית
גילאים 8 - 14
גודל קבוצה 10 - 50
משך הפעולה : 45 דקות
Goals:
1. To think about the importance of dreams
2. To consider the changes throughout Herzl's life and his dream
3. To consider how we all need to dream and work to allow our dreams to become reality
Introduction
In this week's sidra we again see the importance of dreams. We really need to stop, think and ask ourselves, what does it mean to dream?
Not just the strange things that go on inside our heads when we sleep, but the kind of dreams Martin Luther King spoke of when he uttered those immortal words, "I have a dream".
To be able to honestly assess our situation and ourselves and develop real goals for the future is an amazing thing to be able to do! Let's remember what Herzl explained, "Im Tirtzo Ein Zoo Agadah" - "If you will it, it is no dream"
The story so far…
Okay, so we got as far as the brothers planning to kill Yosef - what happened next? Well, Reuven stuck up for Yosef and said maybe they could just chuck him in a well or something… (His intention was to pull him out afterwards) and off he went for a walk. As soon as Yosef approached, his brothers nicked his funky coat and threw him in an empty well. As the brothers sat down for a meal they saw some Yishmaelim walking in their direction, and decided to sell their brother. So, they sold him for 20 silver pieces and that way they had not killed him and didn't feel quite as guilty. When Reuven returned, he was gutted about what the others had done. The brothers killed a goat and dipped Yosef's coat in it. They went home and showed Ya'akov the coat as proof, explaining that a wild animal killed him. Ya'akov was inconsolable. In Egypt Yosef was sold to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh.
Shortly after this Yehuda met and married Shua and they had 3 children Er, Onan and Shelah. Tamar was chosen as a wife for Er, but he was evil in G-d's eyes and after they married he died. Onan married her (as was the custom of the time) but he was a bit dodgy also and also died soon after the wedding. The next in line was Shelah, but as Yehuda was concerned for his life, he asked Tamar to be a widow until Shelah was ready to marry. Quite a while passed and Tamar had still not heard anything, so when she heard that Yehuda was in the area; she disguised herself and went out to meet him. He was rather down as his wife had just died, and he found solace with who he thought was a prostitute (but surprise, was Tamar!) He had given her gifts of his seal, wrap and staff, which she latter used as evidence against him when she realised she was pregnant, and was accused of sleeping around. Yehuda realised what he had done, he apologised and cleared her name. Tamar had twins, Peretz and Zerach.
Meanwhile, in
Shortly after this Pharoh's butler and baker were arrested and thrown in prison. One night they both had bizarre dreams that they related to Yosef, who with the help of Hashem interpreted them correctly. Following the interpretations, the baker was hanged and the butler reinstated.
(1) Two full years passed. Then Pharoh had a dream. He was standing near the
Bereishit 41:1-7, 15-16, 25-27
Why was no one able to interpret the dreams?
How did Pharoh know to call upon Yosef (what happened in the missed out bits)?
What is quite impressive in Yosef's first comments (considering he's just been pulled out of prison and is standing in front of the most powerful bloke around)?
What is the connection between Yosef and dreams?
Dreams are fascinating, and in both Vayeishev and Miketz they play a huge role. There is plenty of Halachik debate over dreams and how much we should or shouldn't read into them, but that is not what we are going to focus on this week. Rather, simply having dreams, and not just the bizarreness at night, but real hopes, aims and ambitions. Having a vision and wanting to see it through… To really dream!
As the parshiot develop, we see how Yosef's dreams quite literally become reality. Who else in our beautiful and interesting history stands out as a real dreamer, a visionary?
The person that immediately springs to mind is Theodor (Binyamin Ze'ev) Herzl 1860 - 1904.
"In
Theodor (Binyamin Ze'ev) Herzl, the visionary of Zionism, was born in
Herzl first encountered the anti-Semitism that would shape his life and the fate of the Jews in the twentieth century while studying at the
In 1894, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French army, was unjustly accused of treason, mainly because of the prevailing anti-Semitic atmosphere. Herzl witnessed mobs shouting "Death to the Jews" in
Herzl proposed a practical program for collecting funds from Jews around the world by a company to be owned by stockholders, which would work toward the practical realization of this goal. (This organization, when it was eventually formed, was called the Zionist Organization.) He saw the future state as a model social state, basing his ideas on the European model of the time, of a modern enlightened society. It would be neutral and peace seeking, and of a secular nature.
Herzl's ideas were met with enthusiasm by the Jewish masses in
Herzl convened six Zionist Congresses between 1897 and 1902. It was here that the tools for Zionist activism were forged.
Herzl saw the need for encouragement by the great powers of the aims of the Jewish people in the Land. Thus, he traveled to the
At the Sixth Zionist Congress (1903), Herzl proposed the British Uganda Program as a temporary refuge for Jews in
Herzl died in
Herzl coined the phrase "If you will, it is no dream," which became the motto of the Zionist movement. Although at the time no one could have imagined it, Zionism led, only fifty years later, to the establishment of the independent State of Israel.
(Edited from The American-Israeli Cooperative
Herzl had a dream that many laughed at. He was not the first to dream this dream, but he was the first to really push this dream to the forefront of people's minds - both the minds of Jews and of World leaders. He serves as an incredible example of what can be achieved when we really put our hearts and souls into something.
Imagine by John Lennon
Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...
Imagine there's no countries,
It isn't hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...
Imagine no possessions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...
You may say I'm a dreamer,
but I'm not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.
Conclusion:
Can you even begin to imagine what we could achieve if we were all dreamers. As long as we acknowledge the fact that it is not enough just to dream, we must follow our visions through. As Herzl showed, we all have the ability to dream, and if it is something that you really want, you can make it happen.
Games
1. To think about the importance of dreams
· The song game - (one of my personal favourites) split your kvutsah into teams and give them all a theme (weather) or word (love). They have a few minutes in their teams to think of as many songs as they can with that word in it. Chose a team who will start and in what order the other teams will follow. Go around the teams listening to them singing the song with the special word in it. Teams are out if they repeat a song that has already been sung in that round or if they cannot think of a song. The word for the last round should be 'dream'.
2. To consider the changes throughout Herzl's life and his dream
· Make a huge board game (so that chanichim can walk about on it,) that tells the story of Herzl's life. Some squares can be statements about what happened, others can be more interactive e.g. skip a go as you consider the Dreyfus affair, move forward 5 spaces for establishing the first Zionist Congress, move back 3 places for considering Uganda…
3. To consider how we all need to dream and work to allow our dreams to become reality
· The chocolate game - you really want something, but there are so many hurdles in the way and missed opportunities.
· Party quirks with a twist - each person has an ambition e.g. pop star, chef which they need to act out, and the host of the party, or all the other guests must guess what ambition they are trying to achieve. Once they have worked out what a person is, the 'dreamer' must explain how they have always had this ambition and how they went about achieving it. This can lead into a discussion, about how we realise dreams -are some easier than others? (E.g. if you have always wanted to be a teacher, you get a degree and practice teaching a lot (there's a bit more to it!) whereas establishing a Jewish State is a lot harder to achieve!)
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