| Deuteronomy / Devarim 17:14 | When you come to the land which G-d, your God, is giving to you, and you inherit it and settle it, you may say “I will put a king above me, as have all of the nations around me.” | כִּי־תָבֹא אֶל־הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ וִירִשְׁתָּהּ וְיָשַׁבְתָּה בָּהּ וְאָמַרְתָּ אָשִׂימָה עָלַי מֶלֶךְ כְּכׇל־הַגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר סְבִיבֹתָי׃ |
| 17:15 | [If you do that,] establish a king whom G-d has chosen from amongst your brothers. You may not install above you a foreign man who is not one of your brothers. | שׂוֹם תָּשִׂים עָלֶיךָ מֶלֶךְ אֲשֶׁר יִבְחַר יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בּוֹ מִקֶּרֶב אַחֶיךָ תָּשִׂים עָלֶיךָ מֶלֶךְ לֹא תוּכַל לָתֵת עָלֶיךָ אִישׁ נׇכְרִי אֲשֶׁר לֹא־אָחִיךָ הוּא׃ |
| 17:16 | But he may not have many horses, and may not return the nation to Egypt in order to obtain more horses, as G-d told you “you will never again return this way.” | רַק לֹא־יַרְבֶּה־לּוֹ סוּסִים וְלֹא־יָשִׁיב אֶת־הָעָם מִצְרַיְמָה לְמַעַן הַרְבּוֹת סוּס וַיהֹוָה אָמַר לָכֶם לֹא תֹסִפוּן לָשׁוּב בַּדֶּרֶךְ הַזֶּה עוֹד׃ |
| 17:17 | He may not have many wives, to avoid leading his heart astray; and he may not have a great deal of gold and silver. | וְלֹא יַרְבֶּה־לּוֹ נָשִׁים וְלֹא יָסוּר לְבָבוֹ וְכֶסֶף וְזָהָב לֹא יַרְבֶּה־לּוֹ מְאֹד׃ |
| 17:18 | And as he is sitting on his throne, he shall have the Cohanim/Priests write this Torah/teaching. | וְהָיָה כְשִׁבְתּוֹ עַל כִּסֵּא מַמְלַכְתּוֹ וְכָתַב לוֹ אֶת־מִשְׁנֵה הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת עַל־סֵפֶר מִלִּפְנֵי הַכֹּהֲנִים הַלְוִיִּם׃ |
| 17:19 | And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, so that he shall learn to have awe for G-d, and keep/ protect/ fulfill all of the obligations of this Torah, and the do all that these rules require. | וְהָיְתָה עִמּוֹ וְקָרָא בוֹ כׇּל־יְמֵי חַיָּיו לְמַעַן יִלְמַד לְיִרְאָה אֶת־יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהָיו לִשְׁמֹר אֶת־כׇּל־דִּבְרֵי הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת וְאֶת־הַחֻקִּים הָאֵלֶּה לַעֲשֹׂתָם׃ |
| 17:20 | So that he shall not be haughty (literally: his heart shall not be above his brothers), and so that he shall not divert from that which has been commanded to the right or to the left, so that the days of his kingship shall be lengthened, him and his sons, within Israel. | לְבִלְתִּי רוּם־לְבָבוֹ מֵאֶחָיו וּלְבִלְתִּי סוּר מִן־הַמִּצְוָה יָמִין וּשְׂמֹאול לְמַעַן יַאֲרִיךְ יָמִים עַל־מַמְלַכְתּוֹ הוּא וּבָנָיו בְּקֶרֶב יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ |
Note: With the same instructions, you may decorate with raisins or jelly beans. The jelly bean photograph is one I made long ago, but when I went to Costco to buy a large container I was told the Jelly Belly jelly beans are “seasonal.” As I have learned from experience that the store-brand jelly beans (other than Trader Joe’s) do not work for these purposes, I decided to use regular and golden raisins in their stead. It worked well!
King Holding Torah
Ingredients per project as shown:
- Powdered sugar
- 3 Graham Crackers
- 1 Gingerbread Man
- Jelly beans or golden and regular raisins
- Fruit roll-ups in two different colors: one for king’s robe, and one for Torah (optional. You may use a single color, or not put a robe on the king)
- 2 mini pretzel sticks
Tools:
- Scissors
- Chopstick, small spoon, or knife
- Wax paper to cover work surface.
Instructions
- Cover your workspace with wax paper
Throne for King
Note: I added a front edge to the jelly bean-decorated illustration shown. The instructions below are for the chair in the raisin-decorated illustration, which does not have a front edge.
2. Mix sugar glue: put some powdered sugar in a bowl. Add water, a few drops at a time, to form an extremely thick glue.
3. Snap two of the graham cracker sheets in half to form squares. Lay the graham cracker sheet on the wax paper. Take one of the squares and determine which side is the same width as the narrow end of the graham cracker sheet. This will be the “seat.”
5. Take take two of the squares, and use the chopstick (or knife or spoon) to put a line of sugar glue along the center line of the squares, and on the top of one edge.
6. Attach the seat to the throne by placing the edge of one of the squares along the bottom of the side of the full graham cracker sheet, and placing the plain square so that it lines up with the center line of the glued square.
7. Add second side.
8. You may decorate the top edge of the chair by cutting golden raisins (or an color jell bean) in half, exposing the sticky edge, and pressing along the top edge.
If you wish to decorate in a way that would require movement of the chair, wait a few minutes for the sugar glue to dry before decorating.
When dry, stand chair upright.
Make King.
9. Cover work surface with wax paper. Gently brush off gingerbread man so there are no crumbs attached.
10. Open fruit leather if putting a robe on the king. If large, cut so that it is slightly larger than the gingerbread man, and fold around the back.
11. Cut two tiny pieces of a raisin or black jelly bean for eyes (for the size raisins I had, each eye was 1/8 of a raisin). Attach to gingerbread man by gently pressing into place, stick-side down.
12. Add cut raisins (or jelly beans) to make mustache, then beard. (If using jelly beans, you may want to add a red mouth, but the craisins I had on hand were not red enough to show a contrast.)
13. a. Golden Raisin Crown: If using the size golden raisins I had, cut two in half lengthwise. Press onto head of gingerbread man. Alternatively (for some reason mine would not stick today), make a crown by pressing three halves onto the forth half. Use sugar glue to attach to the head if it will not stick without it.
b. Jelly Bean Crown: Cut one end off both crown jelly beans, then cut each lengthwise. Press onto gingerbread man’s head to form a crown. Squeeze top ends of jelly beans to form points of the crown.
13. Fill in the blank spaces with additional jelly beans or raisins for hair.
Make Torah
14. Cut a piece of fruit leather so it is slightly narrower than the length of your pretzel sticks. Decide whether you want an open or closed scroll, and roll as desired.
Assemble
15. By now your chair should be dry. Place upright, seat king, and given him the Torah scroll to hold and carry with him wherever he goes.
Leave a Reply