6th Graders Begin Unit on The Holocaust

Announcements

Saturday, March 30th 9:30-1:30 B’nei Mitzvah Family Program (Note: There will be no regular Yachad classes this day)
Sunday, March 24th 9:30 CBE Purim Carnival and 11:30 Megillah Reading. Many of our 6th graders will participating in the Megillah reading- please come and support them!
Thursday, April 11th 4:15-5:15 Holocaust survivor, Dori Katz, is coming to speak to our 6th graders during Yachad. Family and community members are welcome to join us. (Please see blog post for more details)

Jewish Studies Update

In Jewish studies, we started our unit on the Holocaust. In this unit, students will dive deeply into a historical case study about the Holocaust, practicing historical thinking skills while finding links to the universal themes of human behavior they examined in the first three stages of the unit. Students explore the idea of democracy and what is essential to support and sustain it. They examine how it is possible that some groups within a society could be discriminated against, dehumanized, and eventually targeted for mass murder. They are also challenged to think about the choices available to individuals in times of injustice and the factors that influence such decision making. The dramatic and sometimes painful stories told in these resources require students to respond to history with not just their intellects but also their hearts.

Between last week and this week, we have been watching the film, “The Devil’s Arithmetic” based on the novel by Jane Yolen. The film is about a teen named Hannah. She is tired of hearing about the Holocaust at her family gatherings. The Holocaust was a long time ago, and Hannah wants to live in the present. Then comes the day when she is mysteriously transported back to the 1940s. She finds herself in a little village in Poland, and her name is Chaya. When the Nazi soldiers force everyone onto the train that is heading towards a concentration camp, Hannah/Chaya cannot make any sense of it. When the unspeakable horrors are brought home, Hannah/Chaya realizes why it is necessary to remember the past.