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.
You may want to sit and leaf through the book together. Perhaps you would like to ask your child to look for the ten sailors in the illustrations, and try to identify each one using their description. Did you find any of the illustrations funny? You may want to ask your child to tell the story in their own words, according to the order of the illustrations.
You may want to stop reading at the point where the fisherman sailor chooses to drill a hole in his cabin, and ask your child what they think will happen next. You could suggest that your child draw a picture of the ship filling up with water and fish.
In the first few pages of the book, the sailors are depicted with a rope connecting them. What do you think binds the sailors together? What connects you to your family? You may want to tell your children about the expression “All the People of Israel are responsible for one another”, and think about how we each contribute to the wellbeing of others.
Each sailor on the ship has a role to play, and each depends upon the others. You could take a large sheet of paper and draw a family drawing together in which each family member chooses just one color. In order to create a colorful drawing, the entire family must cooperate, each member using one color and coordinating their actions with all the others.
What sort of story is created when the entire family writes it together, one part after the next? Probably a very amusing one. You may enjoy starting to write a story, stopping after one line, and letting other family members write the rest in turn, adding more directions, and letting the plot evolve.
Perhaps you might like to put a jigsaw puzzle together as a family. Once you are done, take one piece out. What does the puzzle look like with one piece missing?
Each of us can contribute to the growth or collapse of a building. You may enjoy playing with blocks, wooden bricks, or magnets, and building a tall tower together. Once it is up, try removing pieces from it without letting it collapse.
Enjoy reading and discussing the book together!
The following story was inspired by the Midrash in Leviticus Rabba 4:6:
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?
A Treasury of Hebrew Legends for Children
שְׁמִירָה
Were you already familiar with some of the stories included in this book?
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.
A Treasury of Hebrew Legends for Children
שְׁמִירָה
You could ask your child which of the stories included in this book was their favorite
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?
A Treasury of Hebrew Legends for Children
שְׁמִירָה
You may want to choose one of the stories and act it out
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.).
A Treasury of Hebrew Legends for Children
שְׁמִירָה
Do you know any other story told about the characters featured in this book?
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.
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 
A Hole in the Ship 
A Treasury of Hebrew Legends for Children 
The North Wind and the Sun 
שִׂיחָה
שֵׁמַע
מִשְׂחָק
מִשְׂחָק
הַשְׁרָאָה
שִׂיחָה
יְצִירָה
יְצִירָה
חֵקֶר
הַשְׁרָאָה
שִׂיחָה
שִׂיחָה
כְּלָלִי
יְצִירָה
שִׂיחָה
חֵקֶר
שִׂיחָה
יְצִירָה
הַשְׁרָאָה
כְּלָלִי
כְּלָלִי
הַעֲשָׁרָה
הַשְׁרָאָה
שִׂיחָה
הַמְחָשָׁה
חֲגִיגָה
כְּלָלִי
כְּלָלִי
