Parshat Vayeshev - Joseph's coat
No brainer - I knew right away that I would do some kind of project connected to Joesph's coat this week. Joseph's coat has been a "thing" in our family for many years, as you can see from this blog post about my daughter's "Technicolor Dreamcoat" - themed fourth birthday party.
Kids like talking about the כתונת פסים because they can relate to the ideas of sibling rivalry and favoritism. When asked how the other brothers might have felt when only Joseph received a special gift from their father, they readily answered "angry" "mad" "jealous" "hurt" "sad." Of course, they also like envisioning what the coat may have looked like. I explained that the Rabbis also debated what the garment looked like based on the word פסים. Today, פסים means stripes (like striped pajamas or a striped zebra, the kids told me :)) but it is not clear that that is what it means in the Torah...
Rashi says that "pasim" refers to the expensive type of material the coat was made of
Rashbam says that "pasim" refers to its length - that it reached "pas yado"(some add the it also reached "pas raglo" - length being an indicator of it prominence)
Ibn Ezra says "pasim" means it was embroidered
Radak says that "pasim" means that it was made up of different pieces, each piece in a different color.
If I had any fashion design experience or knowledge, maybe I would have had the kids design different garments based on these different commentaries...maybe next year...
I am intentionally trying to use different materials each week and to vacillate between group and individual projects. Since we used paint last week, I knew that we wouldn't use paint again this week (there is simply way too much anxiety in using paints to do it two weeks in a row :)!!!) And, I was inclined to do a group project this week since I just LOVE the idea of collaborative art projects - they encourage community and working together, are large and impressive, and can be used to decorate the space long-terms...
I was inspired by this image in a book I have at home called "Children of the World Illustrate the Bible." I love that the child put the coat in Joseph's "closet":
So, a big Joseph's coat it was! I wanted to use materials that were clothing-like so I opted for felt instead of regular paper. Each kid got to choose two felt squares and were asked to decorate them however they wanted using felt scraps, ribbon, and stones. At first, they were really unsure about what to do but they quickly became very creative and capable. They loved choosing where their square would be placed on the garment and I hot-glued them on right away.
Kids who finished early also really enjoyed coloring in this paint-by-color version of Joseph's coat.
If I were to do this again, I would do a few things differently - I would use square instead of rectangle pieces (to look more quilt-like); I would make the shape of the coat much narrower and the sleeves much longer; I would also somehow decorate the blank area of the bulletin board.
BUT, all in all, this ended up being one of the easiest yet satisfying projects to do!
Post-script: Reminder to self :) I have to remember to google in both English and Hebrew. When I finally googled כתונת פסים in Hebrew, I came across this wonderful Israeli lesson plan (that includes literature, music, history, art:)) based on the modern song by Meir Ariel "כתונת פסים" which is about Jewish unity (and disunity). The words to the chorus are:
כֵּן, כָּל הַצְּבָעִים עוֹד יַזְהִירוּ לְכָל הַצְּדָדִים בָּעוֹלָם לִרְאוֹת כֻּלָּם אֶת כֻּלָּם וְכָל הַצְּדָדִים עוֹד יַכִּירוּ בַּגְּוָנִים הַשּׁוֹנִים אֶת עַצְמָם וְיוֹתֵר הַצְּבָעִים לֹא יַסְתִּירוּ אָדָם מֵאָדָם, דָּם מִדָּם.
Yes, all the colours will shine (enlighten) For all directions in the world To see everybody And all sides will recognize, In the different shades - themselves And the colours won't conceal anymore, man from man, blood from blood.