parashah Bamidbar

Tribal flags in the Machane

 

Starting a new sefer! Sefer Bamidbar. This parsha has lots of lists and numbers but it also introduces the concept of the 12 tribes and the design of the encampment in the desert which is fun and interesting.

My daughters are familiar with the concept of the 12 sons from Parshat Vayetze so I now wanted to introduce them to the concept of the twelve tribes that descended from those original twelve. To start we looked at pictures of how the Machane (camp) was laid out. 

For example this one you find in the text of a dvar torah on Bar Ilan's website by Gabi Cohen:

 

Then you start flag making. I found these great little images of the tribes' symbols, printed, cut them out and laminated .Then attached them onto barbecue chopsticks  To illustrate how the tribes were arranged around the Mishkan we took a rectangle of foam, glued in the center an image of the Mishkan and placed all around , in the right order, the flags of the tribes.

 This makes for a great project  to demonstrate where the tribes were situated.