So . . . it has really been a while since I have last updated this blog.
Lest anyone thinks parsha cakes have stopped being produced in our family, they haven't . They've just gone from being Renaissance art to being a more modern interpretation of the parsha. Some weeks, the desserts are so simple I don't take a picture. Some weeks, the kids design the cake at the table. We are learning what designs we can do on Shabbos and what we can't. That itself is a good lesson. So no more awesome pictures.
I tried to let parsha cakes die because my Fridays became overbooked when I started working. Then . . . one day, after a long, hard day, my poor six year old started crying. After detailing all his other woes, he finished off by saying the worst part of his young, miserable life was that our cakes on Shabbos looked NORMAL!!!! (Cue the heartrending sobs). The horror! The misery!
What mother can look her child in the eyes after hearing how she has devastated him and not make a parsha cake. But, after a year of glorious confections, the kids were begging for soup and veggies on Shabbos and didn't eat the cake. While art is nice, wasting food and money is not. I'm refuse to make cakes that are beautiful and delicious but sit, So there have been modifications to the program. Instead of recreating the creation of the world, I serve black and white cookies. On Parshas Chayei Sara, I made a rounded cake sans frosting and asked the kids how it connects to the parsha. They came up with 4 ways. I can make sheep very quickly with marshmallows and cupcakes. There are
a lot of parshios with sheep. The kids don't seem to mind the change.
Perhaps they don't mind because parsha has now become a 24 hour long affair in our house. Once the kids learned you could be creative with parsha, woo boy - there was no turning back. And they know their parsha well; after all they had a year of parsha cakes.
So this year's theme, they seemed to have decided, is how to turn each parsha into some violent reenactment that involves wrestling. The "better" parsha plays get practiced and reenacted for many weeks. For some reason, the plays involve blankets, costumes, and pillows. And knives. and swords. and light sabres. and guns.
A sampling:
Noach - drowning in the mabul. Using blue blankets to smother everything.
Vayera - one son was tied down on a kids desk with a karate belt. The other kid was pretending to shecht him with a long bubble wand (which has "disappeared". Thank you very much). The angel, wearing pillows on his arms, flapped around a lot yelling avraHAM, avraHAM! (Excedrin....)
Chayei Sarah - Eliezer goes to find Rivka. His camels turns out to have neon green vampire teeth and proceed to eat everyone around.
Toldos. - Esav and Yaakov had a lot of sibling rivalry that needed a lot of wrestling to work out
Vayishlach - WWF Yaakov vs Esav mania! and from my 4 yr old: "Totty, will you be my Shimon- we need to kill out Shechem."
Vayeishev - of course Yosef being THROWN in a pit
etc.
I thought we were safe until Vayechi.
We basically were. The kids acted out the shevatim over and over again. Until, they decided that donkeys and lions are mortal enemies and . . . .
Recently, my kids have started asking "How does some random thing connect to the parsha" Fun, Fun, Fun.
After a few fun weeks of parsha sheets from school, parsha cake, parsha plays, and parsha connections, and even parsha pictures (from Torah Tidbits) one kid pipes up "I have an idea! How about we act out something from the parsha and you have to guess!" It was 10 o clock. Shabbos had started at 4:30. My husband and I looked at each other "Parsha Charades? Maybe we can do that ...tomorrow:)!
