Shalach Manos - for kids

The kids were bored Shabbos afternoon so they each got to plan what they wanted to make their shalach manos bags look like.

S. wanted his to be an alien like last year. Today he designed the alien and cut out the shapes. A great first grader, he practiced his writing by copying the text I had spelled correctly for him

Y. , who is in Nursery School, decided he wanted to show Mordechai HaTzaddik protecting Esther & Achashverosh behind a shield and Haman attacking them with a sword. He suggested we use the puppets he made in Nursery. Baruch Hashem for that idea because I had no clue how we were going to pull his idea off. We photocopied the puppets with the shield and sword, reduced the size and got this inspired artwork to tape to his shalach manos bags.

CS is 2 so he just sort of scribbled on his bag. I drew a funny clown for him.

Today each kid cut and taped their pictures to brown paper bags and filled the bags with assorted nosh.

Kept them busy for a good few hours.

Terumah Cake

Note: For a non-edible version of this cake go pop up mishkan model made from paper
This cake shows that the mishkan had 3 coverings

The first which was only visible from the inside was called the mishkan. It was woven from purple, turquoise, red & linen threads. Embroidered on it were kruvim - holy images. The mishkan covering covered the sides and back and left 2 amos (cubits) showing on the side.

The second layer was called the ohel made from goat hair. It hung over the sides revealing one amah of the silver krashim. It was made from 11 pieces sewn into 2 big pieces that were joined by copper loops.

The ohel covering hung over the front two amos

The front entrance of the mishkan was covered by the masach which was made like the paroches from purple, turquoise, red and linen thread with an image embroidered into the fabric. It was held up by gold posts.

The back of the ohel covering that draped from behind like a brides dress drapes behind her

The top layer was made from red sheep skin and from an animal called the tachash. The tachash was an animal that was only alive during the time of the construction of the mishkan. It had a single horn and a luminescent skin that was multicolored. There is a machlokes about the top layer.

One opinion is that red sheepskin covered the whole top and then on top of the red was the skin of the tachash.

Top view of the mishkan according to the opinion of R. Yehudah

The other opinion is that the top layer was half tachash and half red sheep skin.

Top view of the mishkan according to the opinion of R. Nehemiah in Gemara Shabbos 28

side view of ohel with one amah of krashim showing

back view with the ohel covering draping

front view of second opinon with ohel overhanging the front by 2 amos.

Parshas Mishpatim

This Parsha has in it לא תבשל גדי בחלב אמו. Do not cook a goat in the milk of its mother. From this pasuk we learn the prohibition of eating, cooking or benefiting from meat and milk cooked together.

Technique


I made one Chocolate cake mix and one brownie mix. I split the chocolate cake batter into an oven safe bowl, and 2 8" round tins. I split the brownies into 2 8" round tins.

I mixed 2 TBSP of chocolate frosting, a few drops of yellow and a lot of white to make the bun.  I mixed some of the bun color with red to make the tomato.

To make the lettuce and cheese I used fondant. I mixed yellow food coloring with a drop of orange to get the right shade for the cheese. For the lettuce, I colored the fondant neon green. When I had mixed it in evenly I added some regular green to make the streaks. I rolled out the fondant.

To assemble:
1. Crumb coated the cakes. This means to first chill the cake and then put on a layer of frosting to seal in the crumbs. Put back in the freezer.

2. Started assembling from the bottom up.
3. I cut the fondant after it was put on the cake
4. I rolled out a thin layer of red fondant to wrap around the tomato layer.
5. I used the edge of a cake smoother/decorator to put in the sesame seed indentations on top.

Reaction
"It tastes as good as it looks"

I wouldn't use the brownie layer again since it made it very hard to serve.

Parshas Yisro

Tu B'Shvat cake

Parshas Beshalach

An Egyptian getting stuck in the much before the water comes down on him after the Jews crossed on dry land. Chariot wheels are coming off like it says in the pasuk.


chariot is made out of parve chocolate bar and choc cookies, mud is pudding, dry land is graham crackers and as always cake is duncan hines

Why I send my child to a Jewish preschool

Last night, I went to a fundraiser for my children's day school. I had been helping out all week and had run out of the house soon after Shabbos to help it get set up.

This morning, I was sitting with my three year old when he asked "Mommy, how was the party?"

"Very nice, a lot of people gave tzedaka"

"That's nice, we also give tzedaka in my school. We put it in something called a PUSHka. Did you put it in a pushka?"

"Yes dear"

He begins to sing the song "When the pushka comes around, we shake it up and down. Give, give tzedaka with a smile" with gusto.  He pauses and looks at me with a wrinkled brow. "Mommy, did you give your tzedaka with a smile?" 

"Yes, yes I did dear"

He smiles, very proud that his mother knows how to act appropriately in Mitzva situations. "How many dollars were there?" (It was just Chanukah, so he knows about dollars now after getting some gelt from some nice relatives)

"Thousands of dollars of tzedaka, honey"

"Hmm." He pauses. "That's a lot of dollars. We also have dollars of tzedaka in my school. I'm happy you gave tzedaka. I like giving tzedaka too."

We hug, and he runs off to play tzedaka with pretzel sticks and a cup.

Day School education starts at age 5. Yet there are so many beautiful moments of Torah learning that occur before  that time. As preschoolers, our children are first experiencing the richness of life. A Jewish preschool exposes them to the values by which we lead our lives so that they can share in our most precious moments. 

Parshas Bo

and the locusts ate the rice.

darkness wasn't fun

and the last one was the death of every first born son.

Parshas Va'era

Ten Makkos, Makkos Ten - the Mitzrim were punished again and again

water turned to blood

Frogs were everywhere

Lice that came from mud

Wild animals were a scare

A plague that left them dead

Boils that spread and spread

Hail with fire & ice 

(to be continued)

Parshas Shmos

Explanation 

Technique

Parshas Vayechi

Explanation


 Yaakov's casket in Goren Atad.


This is based on the following Rashi from the Medrash

Our rabbis explained that the place Goren Atad was named for an event. Every king of Canaan and the princes of Yishmaal came for war and when they saw the crown of Joseph hanging on the casket of Yaakov, they all stood and hung their crowns. The casket was surround with crowns like a threshing floor that is surround with thorns:

רש"י על בראשית פרק נ פסוק י 
ור"ד (סוטה יג) על שם המאורע שבאו כל מלכי כנען ונשיאי ישמעאל למלחמה וכיון שראו כתרו של יוסף תלוי בארונו של יעקב עמדו כולן ותלו בו כתריהם והקיפוהו כתרים כגורן המוקף סייג של קוצים:


Technique
Bottom - chocolate pudding frozen with crushed graham crackers on top.
Cake - baked in a loaf pan. Frosted with chocolate mixed with white to give it wood like grain. 

Parshas Vayigash

Explanation 

Technique

Parshas Miketz

Explanation 

Technique

Parshas Vayeishev

Parshas Vayishlach

Explanation 

Technique

Parshas Vayetzei

Explanation 


Yaakov marries 4 wives, Leah, Rachel, Bilha & Zilpa. This cake is a wedding cake with the groom under the chuppah and each of his four wives.

Technique

Parsha Cupcakes


Explanation 
After 14 years, Yaakov was ready to leave. Lavan negotiated for him to stay. Yaakov agreed that any sheep that were born that were spotted and speckled would be his salary. Lavan switched his salary 10 times, but Hashem still allowed him to become wealthy.

Technique

Parshas Toldos

Explanation 


Yaakov & Esav were born in this week's Parsha. Yaakov was born holding on to Esav's heel. They were twins. Esav was red and liked to fight whle Yaakov grew up and liked to learn Torah.

Technique

I split the cake into two loaf pans and trimmed the sides to make the legs & arms.

The heads, hands and feet came from dolls from the dollar store. I carved into the cake to force the head in and then sealed it with frosting.

Explanation 

Esav asks Yaakov to give him from the red stuff - lentils. We tried making lentil soup out of red lentils but the color came out yellow. I tried adding red food coloring which turned it orange. Perhaps Yaakov used brown lentils which could be considered red?

Parshas Chayei Sara

Parshas Vayera