Box Game
Instructions
This game is designed as a trigger (a small activity which introduces a topic for a programme). In this write up I am using Jewish Identity as the topic, but the game could be made appropriate for any subject. Basically you spread out a sheet on the floor and you place upon it a number of objects both connected to Jewish Identity and seemingly un-conected. A Humash, a Tanakh, a chapter of the Talmud, a Kippa, a tallit, a siddur (orthodox and Progressive), a picture of the Kotel, a picture of Jerusalem,a magen David, a hamsah and then some things from a wider range of Jewish identity - a map of Israel, the israeli flag, the hatikvah, a picture of a soldier, a beret from the army, dog tags of an Israeli soldier, a teudat zehut (Israeli ID card), print out of a hebrew letter, a bagel (or picture), a picture of a synagogue, something from your youth movement, a picture of gefilte fish, of immigrants arriving on a boat, etc. And finally the more random stuff - it is important that this stuff really can be linked without being completely tenuous and yet it should be stuff that allows people to think about their Jewish identity: picture of a flower, a small Jewelry box, keys, pictures of Nature, food and drink, a miniature table, a diet Coke can, a small rubber duck, etc. All these things are laid out, and the question can be put in a number of ways. Choose the item which best expresses your Jewish identity. Choose the item which you can use to explain your Judaism. Choose the item which you feel sums up Judaism most adequately for you. However the question is phrased, the game is designed to make people look at what Jewishness is for them, and within the context of a group show that being Jewish can mean a number of different things for different people or you can use it to move a group on to thinking about how their Jewishness has changed over a process they have gone through.