Wrapping Up Zionism Unit and Family History Presentations
Announcements
February 16 – February 23: Presidents’ Week Closure
Friday, March 1: Installation of Rabbi Rebecca Epstein
Friends and families of all ages are invited to join us for a special dinner and Shabbat service to officially welcome Rabbi Epstein to the CBE family! Yachad students present will help lead the service together!
Thursday, April 11th Holocaust survivor, Dori Katz, is coming to speak to our 6th graders during Yachad (see last week’s blog post for more details)
Jewish Studies
This week we wrapped up our final Family History presentations.
Students also continued learning about Jewish Life Before WWII focusing on Jewish Nationalism and Zionism.
A highlight of this week was our “Big Paper” prompt activity. Papers were placed around the room with questions about our Zionism unit in the middle of each. After students read each question, they commented on the text and asked each other questions by writing on the Big Paper. The written conversation needed to start on the topic of the text but could stray wherever the students took it. Students drew lines connecting a comment to a particular question. Some of the “Big Paper” questions included:
- Do you think that creating a Jewish state in the Land of Israel was a good solution to the problem of antisemitism? Why or why not?
- Just as Jews differed in their opinions about what the Jewish state should be like in the time of Hertzl and Gordon, today Jews both in Israel and in the Diaspora often disagree on what the Jewish state should be like. How might the differences of opinions benefit the Jewish people? Why might the differences of opinions be a problem?
- Hertzl’s Zionist slogan was: “If you will it, it is no dream.” What do you think that means?
- Describe a dream that Jews might have today? What could you do to help that dream come true?