You may enjoy discussing flexibility and stability in life. You may want to share examples from everyday life. Situations in which we behave like cedars, rooted in our positions, or situations in which we are agile, changing our behavior or opinion. What happens when we realize that our desires cannot be met as we expected them to be?
You may enjoy sitting opposite one another, inhaling and lifting your arms up at your sides until they are straight up. Next, exhale while lowering your arms until they reach out in front of you. We recommend doing some short exercises each time and gradually add more. Enjoy!
What’s the opposite of reed? Cedar! And what’s the opposite of hot? Cold! And the opposite of old? Young! What’s the oppostive of…flexible? stable? sour? baby? Take turns saying a word and having the other players come up with its antonym. By the way, what’s the opposite of… opposite?
Like Nuri, we could also discuss the idiom “cast your bread…”, and the times in which we have been kind to others. Perhaps you could ask: are we being kind in order to be rewarded? Can the kind deed we did in itself be the reward that we receive?
What else can we cast upon the waters that would be helpful to others? It is not always objects or tangible things that we offer others, sometimes it is our actions and words. Your family may want to sit in a circle, and go round it offering kind words to one another. You could also create a “sheet of kindness” for each of you, where the others write or draw kind, empowering words.
Following this book, you may enjoy creating some artwork together: paste images of different kinds of fish on a sheet of paper – a school of small fish, a whale, etc. – and then attach speech bubbles to them, containing what they say about Nuri’s actions, or their friends, the other sea creatures.
Do fish eat bread? And what do birds eat? Which animals are we allowed to feed? You could look for answers to these questions, try your hand at feeding, or experience the satisfying feeling of giving to others. You may want to place a bird feeder out on your balcony or on a tree, and hope that word of the bird feeder will travel on birdwings.
The brave stork’s reward was… a story worth gold. Do you have such a family story? You could tell it to your children, and search for other family stories by asking your grandparents and other family members.
Imagine you were the stork – what would your thoughts be? What would you have said to the lion, and how would you have told the story? Try to tell it from the stork’s perspective. You may also enjoy drawing the story, or making costumes with which to act the story out. How about taking photos of your short play, and printing them out to create a book worth gold.
Animals in fables have human characteristics: the stork is brave, the lion is strong, and the ant is hardworking. Which animal best symbolizes you? Try to think and discover which animal is most similar to you, and write down sentences that characterize you, such as: “I’m as smart as a …”, “I solve problems like a …”, or “I love singing like a …”
Is the meal prepared by the lion appetizing? It’s time for a feast. You may want to prepare your family’s favorite food, draw animal characters on paper napkins, make a crown for each person sitting at the table, and eat together.
Reading & pausing – this story is comprised of several events, and we therefore recommend stopping every once in a while, and trying to think what will happen next: What will the children do? What secret will be revealed?
Together & separately – what is it that you do better together than you do separately? You may want to discuss this with your child, and share stories of successful collaborations you’ve had as children and adults with them.
Having read this book, you may enjoy collecting some twigs or thin branches and finding out for yourselves: What happens when you try to break one as opposed to a bundle of them?
When the children in the story begin to get frustrated, their mother says: “It’s ok, don’t despair, sweethearts. We fall down, we get up, we overcome, and hold our heads up high”. What encourages us when we feel like giving up? Then how about coming up with a family cheer for when the going gets tough.
To make your very own dragon, you will need a cardboard box, crayons, and some paper: you could cut out holes for your eyes and mouth, add on paper teeth and ears, as well as a cardboard tail. You could even make a family dragon, moving it in tandem – the dragon will only move if you all work together.
The book contains many tales, and need not be read in its entirety in a single sitting, nor in order. You may want to suggest that your child select one fable at a time, and then proceed to read it together, and discuss it. Use the title and illustrations to help you select the story. What were you able to take away from the fable to your own life?
Every community originated in a different country, and each brought with it fables and tales. Is there a certain story you had heard from your grandfather or grandmother? A tale passed in your family from one generation to the next? You may want to continue this generation chain, and tell it to your child.
Perhaps you would like to pick a story and act it out. You may enjoy using relevant costumes and props.
You may want to open an atlas or look for the world map online. Can you find where each story came from? Do you know of any other traditions followed there? Perhaps you know some dishes or outfits characteristic of that country, which you would like to demonstrate to your child through videos or images. Do you know a family who immigrated to Israel from that country?
You could write your own fable together! Perhaps you would like to begin by thinking of a moral which you would like to convey through the story, and invent a tale that tells it.
Which stories in this book are your favorite, or your child’s? You may enjoy making an illustrated book of fables your family particularly likes, and finds significant.
The characters described in the stories are often referred to as Our Rabbis, or in Hebrew, Hazal, which is an acronym for Hakhameinu Zikhronam Livrakha – Our Sages of Blessed Memory. After you have read the stories together, you may want to talk about sages and wisdom with your child. How do we classify a person as a “sage”? Who do we define as sages these days? Are we aware of different kinds of wisdom?
Were you already familiar with some of the stories included in this book? Perhaps you heard them as children, and would like to share with your child who told you these stories, and what you learned from them. Did you enjoy the stories?
Some stories have several versions. Are you familiar with any other version of the stories included in this book (found in Sefer HaAggadah, the Talmud or other sources)? You may want to look for these stories together, and compare them.
The legends of Our Rabbis and Midrashim have been passed down by Jewish communities from one generation to the next, whether in written form or orally. Do you have a story in your family that you heard from your grandfather or grandmother, one that has been passed down throughout the generations? You could continue this generation chain by telling it to your child.
You could ask your child which of the stories included in this book was their favorite. You may want to think of its significance in this day and age together. Which character do you identify with? How would you have reacted in a similar situation?
You may want to choose one of the stories and act it out. You could even look around the house for relevant costumes and accessories (fabrics, capes, pitchers, etc.).
Do you know any other story told about the characters featured in this book? This is a wonderful opportunity to equip your child with sayings and proverbs, as well as additional Hazal stories, and throw a “Proverbs and Stories of the Past” event. You may find the Aggadah stories for kids website helpful, or the full version of Shoham Smit’s book, A Treasury of Hebrew Legends for Children. You could also use other Hazal story collections, such as Yocheved Segal’s series entitled Ko Asu Hakhameinu, or Uri Orbach’s Hakhameinu Leyameinu.
You may like to look at the illustrations together, where many details appear that are not mentioned in the story. What do the siblings like to do while their father works in the field? What are the animals in the story doing? Perhaps you’d like to find the illustration where the father tells them he does not remember where the treasure is buried. What do the children imagine finding there? You may want to ask your own child what they regard as a “treasure” and what they might have hoped to find in the field, had they been promised a treasure.
Your child can work the land, even at home! Together you may enjoy making seeds sprout, or planting bulbs, avocado pits or potatoes, whether in a flowerpot or in the ground. Water it, look after it, follow its growth. It requires effort and cooperation, just like in the story – maybe in the end you’ll grow a “treasure” too?
A treasure at home! You may want to suggest that your child make their own treasure chest. You could hide the treasure in a room in the house and play “treasure hunt”. Draw illustrated notes with clues on them and help your child get closer to the hidden treasure from one note to the next.
The farmer’s three children work together, and each one makes suggestions and comes up with good ideas. Perhaps you’d like to talk about the different roles in your family: what is each family member good at?
“He who works his land shall have plenty of bread” (Proverbs 28:19): In the field the brothers plough, sow, reap… in Hebrew there are many words that describe farming! You may like to look at the illustrations, and identify together which action is being performed in each one and compare the tools, then and now.
The story depicts the changing seasons: Does your child know which season is most suitable for sowing and harvesting? Which is yours and your child’s favorite season, and why? Perhaps you’d like to suggest that your child draw a picture depicting themselves in their favorite season.
The north wind and the sun are depicted in the first illustrations of the book. Each one was given different colors. Which colors were used for the sun? Which for the north wind?
It is difficult to see the wind, but its impact can be felt. You may want to look through the special illustrations of the book together, and look for signs that the wind is blowing. While you are reading the story, is the wind blowing outside? Take a look through the window. Can you “see” the wind?
You may enjoy playing dress-up and acting the story out to your family and friends. What do you think the facial expressions of the north wind and the sun would be like? What voices would they have?
At times, in an effort to get what we want, we too might behave like the north wind; and other times we might behave like the sun. What do we look like in “north wind mode”? What do we look like in “sun mode?”
Can you draw a large, joyful sun together, and hang it up so it would remind us to be kind? You may want to write pleasant, heartwarming words next to each of the sun’s rays on your drawing.
You may enjoy exploring the wind’s impact on different objects together: on the table place a sheet of paper, a stone, a leaf, some cotton-wool, and a spoon. Try to blow on them and move them – which one blew away easily? Which one was impossible to move?
Is it always pleasant in the sunshine and unpleasant in the cold? Which type of weather does each of you prefer? What do we like to do out in the sun, and what do we enjoy when it’s cold out?
The North Wind and the Sun is a fable. Do you know others? You may like to read them together.
The Reed and the Cedar 
Nuri and the Whale 
The Lion and the Bone 
Dragonsticks 
Tales of Wisdom 
A Treasury of Hebrew Legends for Children 
A Treasure in the Field 
The North Wind and the Sun 
שִׂיחָה
שֵׁמַע
מִשְׂחָק
הַשְׁרָאָה
יְצִירָה
חֵקֶר
כְּלָלִי
הַעֲשָׁרָה
הַמְחָשָׁה
חֲגִיגָה
