Episode 15: First Things First

Welcome to Episode 15 of "Mystery Mirror: A Jewish Guessing Game for Kids" with Sari Kopitnikoff from That Jewish Moment.

In each episode of Mystery Mirror, you’ll become a mystery person, place, or thing from the Jewish world. This week, you’ll become something that often shows up first. Can you figure out what you are before the big reveal?

In three fun rounds of clues (from tricky, to getting closer, to almost there), you’ll guess who or what you’ve become. Will you get it before the mirror reveals the answer?

Sign up for updates and coloring pages for each episode here: https://www.thatjewishmoment.com/podcast

Please send in your feedback, ideas, as well as your Mystery Mirror Mission responses to mirror@thatjewishmoment.com! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Listen closely, clue by clue. Solve the mystery. Who are you? Welcome to Mystery Mirror, a Jewish guessing game for kids. I'm sorry from that Jewish moment, and in each episode of Mystery Mirror, you will become a mystery person, place, or thing from the Jewish world. I'll give you clues in three rounds. Round one, tricky clues, round two, getting closer, and round three, almost there. Your mission is to guess who or what you are before the big reveal at the end. Are you ready to look in the mystery mirror? Alright, detectives, let's begin. Round one, you are a thing. You are often first. You are found in many books and pages and signs and sometimes art. You are important. You are a part of a team with 21 other members. Do you know what you are yet? Round two. Though you appear a lot, you don't really say much, but sometimes, with the help of some dots and dashes around you, you do make some noise. Many children learn about you when they're young, and sometimes adults learn about you for the first time. You especially like the Hebrew month of Adar and the mitzvah of shaking the etrogue or esrogue. Now do you have any idea of what you could be? Round three. When you're used as a number, you are a number one. You are a letter. You don't begin the Torah, but you do begin the Ten Commandments. Some people think you look a little like an airplane or an X. Now do you know what you are? Are you ready for the reveal? Look in the mirror. You are the letter Olif. Mosletove. Mystery solved. Did you know our sages tell us a story that the letter Aleph was sad? It wasn't the start of the Torah, but then in the end, it was chosen to be the beginning of the Ten Commandments, the Asera Tadibrot. And the Hebrew letters each stand for a number. This is called gematria. Aleph is equal to one. An aleph is also the first letter of the word echad, which means one. Many people notice that an aleph looks like it's made from a few letters together. There's a slanted vov with a little yud on top and another yud on the bottom. And alef is usually silent. Even though it's the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, it often lets the vowels do the talking. Get ready for game time. Let's play Olif check. I'll say a word in English, and you tell me if you think its Hebrew word starts with Oliph. So this may be a total guessing game for you, or you may know some or all of the answers, and this will be review. Number one, does the Hebrew word for elephant begin with olive? No. Peel means elephant. Number two, does the Hebrew word for mother begin with olive? Yes. The word is ima. Number three, does the Hebrew word for wind begin with olive? No, wind is ruach. Number four, does the Hebrew word for love begin with olive? Yes. Love is ahava. Number five, does the Hebrew word for light begin with olive? Yes. Light is or number six. Does the Hebrew word for sun begin with olive? No, sun is shemesh. Number seven, does the Hebrew word for land begin with olive? Yes, land is Eretz. And last but not least, number eight. Does the Hebrew word for lion begin with olive? Yes, lion is Arye. And now it's time for your mystery mirror mission. Draw a giant olive and turn it into something creative and fun. Can you make it into an animal or a robot, a spaceship, whatever comes to your mind? Use your imagination and see what your olive becomes. Draw a picture and ask a grown-up to send it to mirror at that Jewish moment.com. Thanks for listening. And if you color in the coloring page, please send a picture. I'd love to see how yours comes out. Until next time. Keep your minds sharp, detectives.