Engaging our children in Parshas Vaera

The following are some suggestions of ideas for conversations with our children by the Shabbos meals of Shabbos Vaera. The key here is to get the children involved through debate and stimulation.

The Makos – Wild animals

Picture how it must have been like for the Egyptians. Take the maka of Orov, wild animals. Picture visiting the zoo and seeing eye to eye with a lion behind glass doors. Hearing it roar and breathing deeply. Imagine it then comes and scratches at the glass fence and then breaks through. Try and picture the panic and fear. Imagine suddenly this happens to the whole zoo – the animals break lose and you are trapped there!

Naturally, you would run into a building and lock the doors. Imagine how the animals club together to catch you. The huge elephant acts like a battering ramp and then the door is broken down, allowing all the animals to now enter! Imagine the trauma unit they had in Egypt for all the people to deal with them long after the plagues had stopped!