Modern Jewish History

Week 20--3/18/18: Building on previous discussion of the early state of Israel, we began by discussing the Suez Crisis, Israel's first major military action of the War of Independence. After a quick briefing, students represented Israeli generals in 1956, poring over a map of the Crisis and attempting to ascertain the most effective military and diplomatic response. The second half of the lesson dealt with a major event in world Jewish affairs, the plight of and fight for Soviet Jewry in the 1970s and 1980s. Students examined protest posters from the period and then designed their own modeled off the examples.

Make-up Work: Read this article on the Suez Crisis and answer the following questions in 2-3 sentences apiece:

1. What was the Suez Crisis and why was it important for the world?
2. How did the Suez Crisis impact Israel?

Week 19--3/11/18: After last week's lesson on the founding of the State of Israel, we began by talking about a major element of the early state and a major factor in Israel event today: the kibbutz movement. After looking at some pictures of kibbutz life and discussing its details, we began our own virtual kibbutz in the classroom, representing activities like farming, milking animals, naming the kibbutz, and group recreation.

Make-up Work: Read this article on the kibbutz (pl. kibbutzim) movement and answer the following questions in 2-3 sentences apiece:

1. In your own words, what is a kibbutz?
2. What role did the kibbutz movement play historically in the land and the State of Israel? What role does it play today?

Week 18--3/4/18: We discussed the founding and, in particular, the declaration of independence of the State of Israel, as read on May 14, 1948. We listened to and watched excerpts from David Ben-Gurion's reading of the declaration in Tel Aviv and discussed what makes Israel's declaration distinctive from others such as the United States', focusing on the great pains Israel's takes to establish Jewish connection to Eretz Yisrael [the land of Israel].

Make-up Work: Watch this video about the lead-up to and an excerpt of Israel’s declaration of independence, and answer the following questions in 2-3 sentences apiece:

1. What’s notable about the text of the declaration quoted in this video?
2. What’s notable about the circumstances surrounding the declaration, as shown in this video?

Week 17--2/25/18: Moving on from the unit about the Holocaust, we began to discuss the formation of the state of Israel, focusing on the key events as well as demographics of the British Mandate for Palestine. We played the game Wits and Wagers with specially written questions about information such as the numbers of Jews in the land of Israel in 1922 vs. in 1948, number of kibbutzim in Israel by 1950, years of the Balfour Declaration and British White Paper, etc. Discussion also touched on the promise of the Mandatory period and the disappointment many Jews felt at its failures, in order to help students gain a more nuanced historical understanding of the factors preceding Israel's declaration of independence.

Make-up Work: Read this article about the British Mandate for Palestine (note: “yishuv” refers to Jewish settlements in the land of Israel pre-1948) and answer the following questions in 2-3 sentences apiece:

1. What was the British Mandate for Palestine?
2. What were some possible pros and cons of the Mandatory system for the Jews? For Muslim Arabs?

Week 16--2/11/18: We concluded our unit on the Holocaust and World War II today by examining the world's reaction to the Shoah, particularly focusing on the famous case of whether to bomb Auschwitz, delaying the Nazi death machine but potentially wounding concentration camp inmates. Students took on the role of an American military council in July 1944 and analyzed an aerial photograph from that year of Birkenau, identifying structures in the camp and making a strategic plan. Students also watched a video of a Holocaust survivor discussion the day his camp was liberated and what the experience was like.

Make-up Work: Watch this account by a Holocaust survivor of liberation and answer the following questions in 2-3 sentences apiece:

1. What did you notice in the video that sheds light on life in the concentration camps?
2. How do you think liberation affected the Jewish and other prisoners? How might it have affected the American and Russian soldiers? The world?

Week 15--2/4/18: Continuing the discussion of Nazi crimes though pictures, we read and studied "To The Little Polish Boy Standing with His Arms Up" by Peter Fishl and dealt with its powerful themes of silence in the face of injustice and pain. We also discussed the fathful months of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, particularly focusing on the figure of Mordechai Anielewicz, the commander of the Uprising (and one of my role models). We dwelt on what the Uprising meant and whether it was justified, and thought about how we react to violence and suffering, even in (and particularly in) cases where we seem powerless.

Make-up Work: Read “To the Little Polish Boy Standing with His Arms Up” by Peter Fishl here and look at the picture at the top of the page, which inspired the poem. Then answer the following questions in 2-3 sentences apiece:

1. What is the message of the poem? (What is the poet trying to say?)
2. What do you see in the picture of the little Polish boy? Who or what does the little Polish boy represent in the poem?

Week 14--1/28/18: We continued discussing Nazi concentration camps through handpicked visual images, dealing this week specifically with objects (such as hoards of wedding bands taken from centration camp inmates, and the “Arbeit macht frei” sign at entrance of Auschwitz and other camps). Many important questions were once again raised, particularly about the Nazis’ deliberate dehumanization of Jews, physically and mentally. We then discussed the premise of Simon Wiesenthal’s book The Sunflower, in which Wiesenthal describes his experience with a dying Nazi soldier who asked him, one Jew, for forgiveness for the soldier’s crimes. We concluded by pondering what we would do in a situation like that, shifting to a broader upcoming discussion of Jewish responses to victimization in the 20^th Century.

Make-up Work: Read this summary of the book The Sunflower by Holocaust survivor Simon Wiesenthal: https://www.facinghistory.org/sunflower-synopsis. Please note: in the fifth paragraph, beginning with "In a large square..." there is a graphic description of violence, so please do not read that paragraph if you think you will be disturbed.

Then answer the following questions in 2-3 sentences apiece:

1. Would you forgive me the Nazi SS officer? Why or why not?

2. Why were the Nazis successful, and why might the officer in this story want to repent?

Week 12--1/7/18: We dove further into the state of Germany in the 1930s, building on discussion last time of the end of World War I and the rise of Hitler. The focus was on the Nuremberg Laws and the discrimination that Jews face, particularly through the lens of Nazi views on race. We discussed what it means to be a Jew today and in the past, allowing for speculation of how we view our own Judaism as well as history. An activity and readings showed discrimination in action to inform students about history and about important human dynamics.

Make-up Work: Read this article and answer the following questions in 2-3 sentences apiece:

1. Why did the Nazis choose these criteria?
2. How do you think the Jews reacted? Would you have reacted differently?

Week 11--12/17/17: We began a multi-week exploration of the Holocaust: its basic facts and events, reasons for it, its partisan heroes. We specifically began to discuss Hitler's rise to power through an activity designed to emulate World War One with paper airplanes. The winner of the game with paper airplanes was able to order around others in the way the Allies did the Central Powers (and particularly Germany) in 1919 with the Treaty of Versailles. We must combat Nazis and Nazi ideology, but we also must understand why they were so attractive to many ordinary Germans at the time. We thus ended the class by watching a few minutes of Hitler speaking (with subtitles).

Make-up Work: Watch the first 3:27 of this video of Adolf Hitler speaking and and pay attention attention to the subtitle as well as his tone of voice. In 2-3 sentences apiece, answer the following questions:

1. What kinds of themes does he talk about?
2. Why do you think people were drawn to him as a leader?

Week 10--12/10/17: We discussed the continued marginalization and isolation of Jewish communities in central and eastern Europe despite progress made toward equality, focusing on the concept of pogroms and their impact on Jews' safety and security. We discussed what kinds of institutions are necessary for a functioning community, underscoring the difficulty European Jews faced without support from the state and other entities. We then played Hangman with key terms about Eastern European Jewish life shortly before World War I.

Make-up Work: Make a list of the sorts of organizations, institutions, and occupations necessary for a functioning society (e.g. schools along with teachers to make them run). Then answer the following question:

Based on your list, what difficulties might Eastern European Jews around the turn of the twentieth century have faced in running their own communities without outside support?

Week 9--12/3/17: Building upon the discussion last time of the Dreyfus Trial, an extremely important impetus for Modern Zionism, we discussed the First Zionist Congress, centering on the figure of Theodor Herzl (its organizer and general visionary) and the key debates that arose over the course of the Congress. A game of Would You Rather focused on the Congress prompted students to consider many of the same debates from 1897 as social issues in contemporary society. We touched as well on the run-up to and aftermath of the Congress, in which Zionism became a major political force, and on Herzl's life, legacy, and tactics.

Make-up Work: Read this article about the First Zionist Congress in 1897 and the Basel Program adopted there, then answer the following questions in 2-3 sentences apiece:

1. Do these goals and methods seem reasonable as first steps? Why or why not?
2. Which of these methods do you think was most important in fulfilling the Zionist goal?

Week 8--11/19/17: Now that the students have acquired ample background knowledge, we began our substantive discussion of modern Jewish history by beginning to focus on modern Zionism. After a brief discussion on nineteenth-century nationalism, we started with the Dreyfus Affair, a catalyst for the modern Zionist movement, and examined why it became as important as it did and what factors led to the shocking results. We reenacted the trial in class, with each student playing the role of a prosecution or defense attorney or witness, as a way of getting into the mindset of European citizens of the time. Students were encouraged to be creative in making their cases, but they eventually began to see how easy it can be (and was during the historical trial) to employ anti-Semitism, particularly when other evidence is lacking. We finished by identifying Theodor Herzl's role during the trial and the impact the Affair had on him.

Make-up Work: Read this article. In 2-3 sentences apiece, answer these questions:

1. Who was Alfred Dreyfus and why is he famous?
2. What does the Dreyfus Affair have to do with historical anti-Semitism and the desire for a Jewish country?

Week 7--11/5/17: Students finished the projects, begun last week, exploring various Jewish groups from around the world. The groups spotlighted were Indian, Russian, German, and Chinese Jews. Students concluded independent research and then gave a short presentation on the history, traditions, beliefs, and foods of their chosen group, as well as other fun facts, allowing all students to broaden their Jewish perspective.

Make-up Work: Read this article on different types of Jews, then answer the following questions, in 2-3 sentences each:

1. What are defining characteristics of the history and culture of Ashkenazic, Sephardic, and Mizrahi Jews?
2. Which of these categories does your family belong to? (Ask a parent if you’re unsure.) How does this element of your Jewish background affect how you practice Judaism?

Week 6--10/29/17: In order to contextualize the upcoming discussion of Zionism and its inception, students began work on a small project about a group of Jews from around the world. They researched their chosen group's history, traditions, beliefs, practices, food, etc., researching semi-independently online. The project will culminate in a short (3-4 minute) presentation next class, in which students will share their own findings and learn from others' findings, thus coming to appreciate the richness of Jewish diversity over the centuries.

Make-up Work: Research a Jewish group (examples include: Yemeni Jews, Ethiopian Jews, Indian Jews, Argentinian Jews, etc.) and summarize at least three of the following in about 2 sentences apiece:

1. the group's history
2. the group's traditions
3. the group's beliefs
4. the group's food
5. other interesting facts about the group

Please try not to use Wikipedia. Reputable sources include My Jewish Learning, Jewish Virtual Library, The Forward, and many more.

Week 4--10/15/17: We continued the brief overview of pre-modern Jewish history, picking up with the medieval period. We examined Jewish life under Muslim and Christian rulers and differences between the two situations, touching on key events like the Crusades that shaped the course of Jewish history. Students were then introduced to the concept of usury and how and why medieval Jews decided to go into moneylending. We looked at Exodus 22:24, the biblical verse prohibiting charging interest on loans to Jews and discussed what exactly the verse means and how it influenced the historical reality.

Make-up Work: Read this article on Jews in medieval Europe and answer the following questions (with about 2 sentences per question):

1. What issues did Jews face in medieval Europe?
2. What were differences under Muslim and Christian rule?
3. Why did medieval rulers oppress Jews?

Week 3--10/1/17: We picked up where we left off last week near the end of the Biblical period with the Book of Daniel, using it as a segue into the historical empires that oppressed Jews in the centuries around the turn of the Common Era: first the Seleucids, villains of the Chanukah story, which we discussed the gritty details of; and then the Romans, who, as we discussed, sacked the Second Temple in Jerusalem and permanently changed Jewish practice. We then discussed what the Mishna and Talmud are and crafted our own mock Mishna passage based on a debate about the NBA.

Make-up Work: Read this article. Answer the follow questions in about 1-2 sentences per question:

1. What is the Mishna?
2. What is the Talmud?
3. Why are the Mishna and Talmud important for Jews, in ancient times and today?