Hamalach Hagoel Poster Craft & Coloring Page
Color and assemble this Hamalach Hagoel poster craft and collage – perfect for Parshat Vayechi, or any week! When you’re done, you can check out this camel craft too. This post contains affiliate links.
The Hamalach prayer is one that Jewish parents sing to their babies from infancy. It has turned into the ultimate Jewish lullaby, a prayer of protection from all evil and for blessings. It’s about generational continuation and hasn’t resonated during my lifetime quite as much as it does now.
About The Hamalach Hago’el Prayer
In Hebrew:
,הַמַּלְאָךְ הַגֹּאֵל אֹתִי מִכָּל-רָע, יְבָרֵךְ אֶת-הַנְּעָרִים
,וְיִקָּרֵא בָהֶם שְׁמִי
.וְשֵׁם אֲבֹתַי אַבְרָהָם וְיִצְחָק, וְיִדְגּוּ לָרֹב בְּקֶרֶב הָאָרֶץ
Transliterated:
Hamalach hagoel oti mikol ra yevarech et han’arim vikareh bahem sh’mi. V’shem avotai Avraham v’Yizchak v’yidgu larov b’kerev ha’aretz.
And in English:
May the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named in them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.
Translation source: Jewish Publication Society Bible (1917) (public domain)
The prayer’s source is in the Torah (bible) in the weekly portion of Vayechi – the 12th and final in the book of Bereishit/Genesis.
In it, an elderly Jacob blesses his children before his passing, and gives a special extra blessing to the children of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh. This blessing is the Hamalach Prayer. Since it was said by Jacob, it only mentions the forefathers Abraham and Isaac and not Jacob as well.
The story goes as follows: Joseph brought his sons to be blessed by Jacob, placing the older son, Manasseh, on Jacob’s right, and the younger, Ephraim, on his left. To show that Ephraim will become a greater tribe, Jacob crossed his hands over each other to place the right on Ephraim and the left on Manasseh.
I have a craft for that right over here.
Crafting a Hamalach Hagoel Poster using the Collage Maker
When I planned my craft for Vayechi, I decided to do a bonus: a Hamalach craft. This prayer has brought so much comfort for children.
I designed this to work for any age group, with fun doodles, playful shapes, and medium-level designs. The doodles aren’t too childish for the tween crowd, but they’re not too fine for younger kids. And when it does get a little fine (such as within the teddy bears) kids can just color the whole shape.
I had planned this as a larger download in my Etsy shop but decided to also offer a whittled down version as a free download for (free) newsletter subscribers.
Download the full bundle
The full download includes:
- The Hamalach Prayer in Hebrew
- A bonus file with the Hamalach prayer translated and transliterated like I have it above
- Four border options – two rectangle, two circle
- Five star styles
- Three moon styles
- Two bear styles
- PDF printable version of the instructions
Download the free version
The free download includes:
- The Hamalach prayer in Hebrew
- The elements that I used in my sample:
- One border
- One style star (tripled so you can color a few)
- One style moon
- One style bear
The free one was designed to be just enough that you can craft it, the full download was designed to address more specific needs and give kids more options. If you’re crafting this with one Hebrew-speaking/reading kid at home, you may want to stick to the free one, if you’re crafting it with a group that’ll appreciate having options or need the other language versions, I recommend getting the full one.
And once again, you can get the full bundle here!
How to craft your Hamalach Hagoel Poster Craft
I created mine using a black paper as the background. You can also get creative with Mod Podge and a wooden base, or even a canvas. Keep in mind that decoupage can cause colored elements to run. You can avoid this by only using Mod Podge to glue it and not to seal it, or to seal it using the spray version of Mod Podge.
The instructions below are for how I did it.
What you need
- The coloring pages, printed on paper
- A piece of cardstock or construction paper to use as a base
- Markers – I used Ohuhu Maui markers which are fabulous for larger groups and for kids who need something “better” that won’t break the bank. They are for big kids – NOT washable. For younger kids Crayola Supertips are fab.
- Scissors
- Glue – I used a regular Elmer’s glue stick
Assembling your poster
The collage has three elements: a background prayer, a border and embellishments. If crafting it with a group, I recommend printing a few copies of all the embellishments.
If completing this with a single child at home, you can print only the border you plan to use and the embellishment pages.
The main file has the prayer in Hebrew, however, if you prefer the transliterated or translated version, I included those in a separate file. Print out the page number of the one you plan to use.
Color the border, prayer (first word – background optional), and embellishments you’ll be using.
Cut out the center of the border, and glue it on the main prayer page, framing it nicely.
Cut out both pages around the edge of the border.
Cut out and glue on embellishments., place it on a background paper, and trim to size if you’d like.
Your Hamalach Hagoel poster craft is complete! Do you also love this prayer? How will you be crafting yours? Comment below!
And in case you missed it, you can get the full bundle here.
