Celebration
of
the Animals
Parshat Noah
a creative service
Created by Rabbi Michael Beals
Edited by "Rosh" Roland Roth
The Shehechiyanu blessing is for all new or special experiences. It is a prayer of
thanks to God for sustaining our lives.
English Text: "Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has
created us, and sustained us, and enabled us to reach this day."
Artwork by Mickie Caspi
I WANT YOU TO MEET MY FAMILY (MISHPACHA)
I want you to meet my family
In Hebrew we call it mishpacha (mishpacha!)
We all live in a bayit (a bayit)
That's the house of my ma and pa
There's my mother, that's eema, say eema (eema!)
There's my father, that's abba, say abba (abba!)
Chorus:
And these are the members of my family
My family, yes, my family
My family, yes, my family
I want you to meet my family
In Hebrew we call it mishpacha (mishpacha!)
We all live in a bayit (a bayit)
That's the house of my ma and pa
There's my brother, that's ach, say ach (ach!)
There's my sister, that's achot, say achot (achot!)
Chorus
I want you to meet my family
In Hebrew we call it mishpacha (mishpacha!)
We all live in a bayit (a bayit)
That's the house of my ma and pa
There's my dog, that's kelev, say kelev (kelev!)
There's my cat, that's hatool, say hatool (hatool!)
There's my fish, that's dag, say dag (dag!)
Chorus
Reader One
(from Genesis Chapter 6: Parshat Noah)
"For my part, I am about to bring the Flood -- waters upon
this earth -- to destroy all flesh under the sky in which there
is breath of life: everything on earth shall perish. But I will
establish My covenant with you, Noah, and you shall enter
the ark which you shall build, with your sons, your wife,
and your son's wives. And all that lives, of all flesh, you
shall take two of each into the ark to keep alive with you:
they shall be male and female. From birds of every kind, cattle of every kind, every kind
of creeping thing on earth, two of each shall come to you to stay alive. For your part,
take of everything that is eaten and store it away, to serve as food for you and for them."
Noah did so, just as God had commanded him, so he did.
Reader Two
(from Isaiah, Chapter 11)
God caused a flood because the world needed to be cleansed of all things that was
rotten. But God, with Noah's help, saved the animals. The prophet Isaiah looks to the
animal world for a view of what the messianic era will look like.
Let us read responsively:
And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb
And the leopard shall lie down with the baby goat
And the calf and the young lion shall eat together;
And a little child shall lead them.
And the cow and the bear shall feed;
Their young ones shall lie down together.
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
And the suckling child shall play at the hole of the snake.
And the weaned child shall put his hands on the scorpion's den.
Leader
We come here today, on the week where we read the Torah portion which tells the
story of Noah, so we can have the opportunity to celebrate our animals.
We refer to them as our friends, our pets, and for some, as our children.
In the Torah we read:
And Adonai our God formed them out of the earth and all the
wild beasts and all the birds of the sky and brought them to
the humans to see what He would call them and whatever the
humans called each living creature, that would be their name.
And the man gave names to all the cattle and to the birds of
the sky and all the wild beasts.
And we have been doing it ever since!
Reader Three
(excerpt from Psalm 148 -- we read responsively)
Halleluyah! Praise Adonai from the heavens, praise God on high.
Praise Adonai, you who are on earth
All sea monsters and ocean depths
All wild and tamed beasts
Creeping things and winged birds
All rulers and peoples of the earth
Old and young together
Let them praise the name of Adonai, for God's name, God alone, is sublime;
God's splendor covers heaven and earth.
Let us now go around the circle and introduce our pets to each
other, sharing special names we have given to each of
our families' special members.
Reader Four (responsively)
(from Exodus Raba)
Exodus 3:1 "Now Moses, tending the flock of his fatherin-
law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, drove the flock into
the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire out of the bush."
A lamb once ran away from the flock, and Moshe followed until the lamb
reached some bushes near a pond of water. There it
halted and began to drink. Moses said "I didn't know
you ran all this way because you were thirsty; you must
be tired." Moses lifted the lamb onto his shoulders and
carried it back to the flock.
God said: "You who tend the sheep with such mercy will be a compassionate
leader for My sheep, the People Israel."
Reader Five
(from Exodus Raba)
David was tested as a shepherd and passed the trial. He used to
protect the small sheep from the attacks of the larger ones and
would make sure that each animal received the food best suited
for it. First he gave the little lambs the most tender grass, then
he fed the old sheep good, soft grass while he let the strong
young sheep chew the tough stalks. Said God, "The man who exerts himself to
cater to each sheep's individual needs will certainly take good care of my people,
Israel!" God therefore designated David as the future king.
Leader
We each have special stories to share about our animals, just like the Torah has
special stories to share about animals. Many of these stories can teach us important
lessons about how we are supposed to treat our fellow human beings, like the
stories we just heard about Moses and David. Let us take some time, now, to
share a special story about our own special animals.
THE CAT CAME BACK
by Sonny James
Now old Uncle John had troubles of his own.
He had an ol' yellow cat that wouldn't leave home.
He tried everything he knew to keep the cat away -
even gave it to a preacher an' he told it for to stay, but
Chorus:
the cat came back, the very next day,
the cat came back, I thought he was a goner
but the cat came back -'cause he wouldn't stay away.
Now the cat was a terror and he thought it was best -
to give it to a fella who was headin' out west.
The train went around the corner an' it hit a broken rail ---
Not a soul aboard the train lived to tell the tale, but
Chorus
He gave the ol' cat to the man in a balloon.
He told him to leave it with the man in the moon.
The balloon it bursted and everybody said -
Ten miles away, they picked the man up dead, but
Chorus
Now the farmer on the corner's gonna kill the cat on site -
he's loaded up his gun full of nails an' dynamite -
He waited in the garden til' the cat came 'round -
Seven little pieces of the man was all they found, but
Chorus
PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON
Words based on the poem by Leonard Lipton
Lyrics made famous by Peter, Paul, & Mary
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called honah lee,
Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal puff,
And brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff. oh!
Chorus:
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called honah lee,
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called honah lee.
Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail
Jackie kept a lookout perched on puffs gigantic tail,
Noble kings and princes would bow whenever they came,
Pirate ships would lower their flag when puff roared out his name. oh!
Chorus
A dragon lives forever but not so little boys
Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys.
One grey night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more
And puff that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar.
His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain,
Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane.
Without his life-long friend, puff could not be brave,
So puff that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave. oh!
Chorus
DONA, DONA
Translation by Kevess & Schwartz
On a wagon bound for market
There's a calf with a mournful eye.
High above him there's a swallow
Winging swiftly through the sky.
Chorus:
How the winds are laughing
They laugh with all their might
Laugh and laugh the whole day through
And half the summer's night.
Dona, dona, dona...
"Stop complaining," said the farmer,
"Who told you a calf to be?
Why don't you have wings to fly with
Like the swallow so proud and free?"
Chorus
Calves are easily bound and slaughtered
Never knowing the reason why.
But whoever treasures freedom,
Like the swallow has learned to fly.
Chorus
THE UNICORN SONG
Words and music by Shel Silverstein
A long time ago, when the Earth was green
There was more kinds of animals than you've ever seen
They'd run around free while the Earth was being born
And the loveliest of all was the unicorn
Chorus: There was green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born,
The loveliest of all was the unicorn
The Lord seen some sinning and it gave Him pain
And He says, "Stand back, I'm going to make it rain"
He says, "Hey Noah, I'll tell you what to do
Build me a floating zoo, and take some of those... (Chorus)
And Noah looked out through the driving rain
Them unicorns were hiding, playing silly games
Kicking and splashing while the rain was falling
Oh, them silly unicorns (Chorus)
The ark started moving, it drifted with the tide
The unicorns looked up from the rocks and they cried
And the waters came down and sort of floated them away
That's why you never see unicorns to this very day (Chorus)
RISE AND SHINE
Chorus:
Rise and shine
And give God the glory, glory
Rise and shine
And give God the glory, glory
Rise and shine
And (clap) give God the glory, glory
Children of the Lord
The Lord said to Noah:
There's gonna be a floody, floody
The Lord said to Noah:
There's gonna be a floody, floody
Get those children out of the muddy, muddy
Children of the Lord
So Noah, he built them, he built them an arky, arky
Built it out of gopher barky, barky
Children of the Lord
The animals, the animals,
They came in by twosie, twosies
The animals, the animals,
They came in by twosie, twosies
Elephants and (clap) kangaroosie, roosies
Children of the Lord
Chorus
It rained and poured
For forty daysie, daysies
It rained and poured
For forty daysie, daysies
Nearly drove those (clap) animals crazy, crazy,
Children of the Lord
Chorus
The sun came out and
dried up the landy landy
The sun came out and
dried up the landy landy
Everything was fine and dandy, dandy
Children of the Lord
Chorus
The animals they came off
They came off by three-sies three-sies
Animals they came off
They came off by three-sies three-sies
Grizzly bears and (clap) chimpanzee-sies zee-sies
Children of the Lord
Chorus
That is the end of,
The end of the story, story
That is the end of,
The end of my story, story
Everything is hunky dory, dory
Children of the Lord
Chorus
Thank you for joining us as we celebrate our animals!
Thinking questions:
How does what we do in our community affect animals that live in our
community, wild animals, like rabbits, snakes, squirrels, and deer?
What are some things we can do to show our pets that we love them?
Where can we give tzedakah (commanded charity) in our community to
help homeless animals and injured animals?
What can children do to show adults that they care about animals?
What can adults do to show children they care about animals?
How does the Jewish value of tikkun olam (repairing the world) relate t
o the way human beings treat animals?
Brith Sholom Kneseth Israel
1107 E. Linden Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63117
www.e-bski.org 314-725-6230
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