7-Services

S ERVICES
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**__ACTIVITY IDEAS: __**
1) Recite the אָבוֹת-אִמָהוֹת in English or Hebrew, adding in the students names after completing the list of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs. For example, “….”God of Leah, God of Rachel, God of Annie, God of Jon, God of ….” Afterwards, ask students how they felt hearing their name listed. What does it mean to be connected into this list of names that connects us to our Jewish past?

2) Keep a focus on the names of the ancestors listed in this blessing. Have students begin by doing some slow breathing. Begin the blessing and say, “breathe in on אֱלֹהֵי ” (pause) and “breathe out on Avraham” (pause). Then, “breathe in on אֱלֹהֵי  ” (pause) and “breathe out on Yitzhak” (pause).

3) Ask students to think about the people that are listed in this blessing: each of these ancestors stood before God and prayed. When students //daven// (pray), as they say each of the names of the אָבוֹת-אִמָהוֹת, ask them to stop and think about what they would like to say to God, just as the Patriarchs and Matriarchs had something to say to God. Recite the בְּרָכָה , stopping after the name of each ancestor so they can think about God. After the names are done, recite the rest of the  בְּרָכָה at a normal pace.

4) There are three exercises great for use in a worship service in the book, //Karov L’chol Korav, For All Who Call: A Manual for Enhancing the Teaching of Prayer// (by Jeff Hoffman and Andrea Cohen-Keiner), Melton Research Center for Jewish Education, pages 103-111). The JECC’s Ratner Media and Technology Center owns a copy of this volume.