Jan. 20-Feb. 12, 2009 Terumah-Pekudei               Printer-friendly
Melachot & Mishkan Workshops

How do you make exquisite tapestries from sheep, flax, bugs, and snails?

How did the wisest women "spin the goats"?

How do you weave a lion on one side and an eagle on the other?

And what are the Batei Nirin?

Find out with two unique hands-on traveling workshops, based on books by Rabbi P. Bodner of Lakewood and Dayan I. Gukovitzki of England:

 

Sheep-to-Shawl: 9 Melachot of Shabbat
Learn the logic behind 9 melachot. Calm and shear a sheep; make yarn from an Angora rabbit (go from gozez directly to toveh!); try drop spindles, hand cards, and a spinning wheel; dye wool; weave on your take-home loom; have fun treadling batei nirin and throwing the shuttle on a 8-harness loom!

Betzalel’s Workshop I: Weavings of the Mishkan
Re-enact the excitement of building the mishkan in the wilderness. Shear a sheep; make yarn from an Angora rabbit to illustrate Rashi’s “goat spinning”; study stages of flax (and celery!) to learn how shatness was made; ply 28-strand yarn with a spindle pictured in the pyramids; wrap an avnet; weave a two-sided design on a loom pictured in the pyramids; weave skip patterns for white-on-white cohen cloth; more!

June 9-Rosh Hashana: All programs (For list of nearly 30 programs, please click on Jewish & Biblical, above.) Other dates by special arrangement.

What Schools Say (Maryland)
“Incredible asset to our preschool! My teachers always say 'It's worth a million dollars!' and 'There's no way we could teach the melochos without this program.'”--Torah Institute. “The kids will look back on this day and remember it far better than the 8 mishnayos they could have memorized in the same time.”--Torah School. “How did we ever teach the melochos without this program?”--Bais Yaakov MS. “Educational success for our 6th grade… Feedback from the teacher and students was most enthusiastic and positive.” —Yeshivat Rambam. “Both the 7th grade and the 8th grade thanked me for inviting you. Several staff members mentioned you clarified various issues for them. Your insights helped make the subject very relevant. Thank you again for your warm and thoughtful presentation and for your sense of humor. May Hashem continue to give you the koach and creativity to do your wonderful work.”--Yeshivah of Greater Washington. “I’m blown away….Best program I’ve seen for illustrating the melachot. If you’ve never seen a loom or a sheep or raw wool up close….Made a huge impact on the 11th graders--7 years later, they’re still talking about it!”-- Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy. “Make more programs—No one is doing this!”—Torah School.

Ages: 5-adult. Venues: Schools, camps, teacher training, events. Length of above programs: about 2 hours; shorter programs available, including Weave an Avraham Tent (lego-size). Course List: For descriptions of nearly 30 1-2-hour programs, click the Jewish and Biblical button above. For More Info or Reservations: Contact Sara-Malka Laderman, Program Director, Jacob’s Ladder Farm, jacobsladderfarm@gmail.com or 410.655.6777 (US) or 02.535.2994 (Israel).