Parshat Vayehi - Henna Hands

This week's parsha is the last in Sefer Bereshit. Before Jacob's death, he blesses his sons and two of his grandsons - the children of Joseph - Ephraim and Menashe. In a famous scene, he crosses his hands, placing his right hand (the dominant hand) on the younger son, Ephraim and his left hand (the "subpar" hand) on the older son, Menashe - fitting into the Biblical pattern of the younger brother somehow procuring the firstborn blessing.

I decided to explore the theme of hands and blessings. Every shabbat, parents place their hands on their childrens' heads, blessing them to become like Ephraim and Menashe, from this section. Likewise, the priestly blessing is recited with outstretched hands and fingers. "Laying of hands" (smichat yadaim), is also used to transfer leadership, authority, and wisdom.

So, hands it was. I thought about bringing in examples of famous artistic renderings of hands but decided that would be better suited for older students.

I also tried out this popular pinterest project. It is very striking but since even I had trouble completing it, I was worried the students would be super frustrated.

I finally settled on doing "henna hands." Since moving to Be'er Sheva (a predominately Moroccan city), I encountered henna in the Jewish community for the first time. In advance of the wedding ceremony, some Jews from countries such as Morocca, India, and Yemen, continue a practice of having an elaborate celebration with traditional costumes and foods and henna (I love this cute photo :)).

Since henna originated from non-Jewish cultures, I was able to find a number of "multi-cultural" lesson plans that focused on "mehndi" - body (mainly hand) art made using the paste of the henna plant.

I showed the kids some really impressive examples and they were excited to create their own. Some kids loved tracing their own hands, some kids surprisingly found it to be a difficult task. I gave the kids the option of creating only one or two hands and if they wanted to frame it on colored paper. With my second group (they always get a better lesson since I have a chance to learn from my mistakes...), I also gave them the option of connecting their hands with a paper fastener so that the hands could actually "switch" like Jacob's (pretty cool).

Although it took the kids some time to fully grasp the various steps of the project, I was super-impressed by how most of the kids worked with great focus and care and created intricate designs. This was definitely a project that could have taken more than one lesson because it was rich in many different themes, topics, and techniques.