What's new.....

Sunday morning we hosted the fourth grade for Tefillah in our classroom so they could see how the "big kids" do it. Each fifth grader sat next to a fourth grader and helped him/her follow along in the prayer book. Our class set a beautiful example - I was very proud of them.

As we continue to study the birth of modern zionism, we learned about Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and the re-birth of the Hebrew language last Thursday. We watched more of Pillar of Fire, and saw an interview with Ben-Yehuda's daughter describing what it was like to be some of the only children in the whole world who spoke Hebrew. Their father bought them a male dog and a female cat for the sole purpose of being able practice conjugating verbs in both masculine and feminine!

Yesterday we learned about the Balfour Declaration of 1917, Britian's statement of support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. We looked at four versions of the paper, including the final draft, which reads:

"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country". Click on the image above to see a copy of each of the drafts.

The class identified differences between earlier drafts and the final text. They noted that each draft gave less influence to the Zionist movement, and was increasingly less specific about how much land might be granted to a Jewish homeland. They also pointed out that only the final draft acknowledged the Muslims and Christians from the region, as well as the interests of world Jewry.

Chag Sameach v'chasher-

Morah Amy

Herzl joins us for a visit

Theodor Herzl joined us on Tuesday for a surprise visit. He told us about his experiences with anti-semitism as a journalist in France and Austria and role in the birth of the modern Zionist movement. Oddly, his beard kept falling off.

Our class watched several excerpts from the Israeli documentary series Pillar of Fire. We viewed footage from the infamous Dreyfus affair and an interview with a delegate from the Sixth Zionist Congress, recalling the decision whether or not to accept Britian's offer of a Jewish homeland in Uganda. Lastly, students pretended they were delegates at the Congress. They wrote and delivered speeches encouraging their fellow delegates to vote either for or against creating a Jewish state in Uganda. Here are 2 of the speeches - feel free to cast your vote in the comments section of the blog!

Jennie:
I think that we should vote for the Uganda Plan. I think we should because then we can have a place of our own. I also think that we should take this offer because then we could build up a great community for us to live in. Also, if we never get to Israel/Palestine then we waited for nothing. This is a good offer but if we turn it down we might not get another offer like this.

Isaiah S:
The idea is horrible.If the Jews should have a place to live, it should be Zion - only Zion. Was Uganda the promised land? NO! More than one person was promised Zion. All the Jews were promised Israel. I say we turn it down and wait for Zion. Whatever happens we should stick together.

Morah Amy

Into the Sea

We finished our map unit on Thursday with a map-making project. Every student was given a small map of Israel with a grid drawn on it, and a larger, blank grid. They attempted to copy the small map onto the larger grid in pencil, then labeled and colored the map. The completed maps are on display on our bulletin board, while some are still works in progress.

Today we learned a new song that you may or may not want to introduce to your seder. A parody of "Under the Sea" by the band Shlock Rock, it retells the story of the Exodus to a calypso beat.
Here's a link to hear a clip and read the lyrics of Into the Sea

Amy

Israel Map Puzzle

Today the students were given blank maps of Israel. They used several resources to label the major cities, bodies of water, regions and neighboring countries. After pooling our information on a large, blank classroom map, we set to work on a large puzzle of the map of Israel. Every student was given 5 pieces, and the class had to work cooperatively to put it all together. Our record time was a little over two minutes. Now that we are warmed up, on Tuesday, we'll work with an even larger version of the puzzle. It's 9 feet long and several feet wide. I think it will be a lot of fun. We'll also work on committing some of the most significant features of the map to memory, for a test at the end of the unit. During this time we'll also be studying Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem.

Today the Rabbi led a morning tefillah service for the older grades. After singing the Avot and Gevurot, he asked everyone to sit down. At the end of services, the Rabbi asked if there were any questions. 3 hands went up from our class with the same question : "Why didn't we do kedusha?"

Falafels and other Fun

Tuesday we celebrated the end of our Israel travel unit with a traditional Middle Eastern meal of falafel, pita bread, Israeli salad, hummus and tehina sauce. Joan and Jane supervised a portion of the class in cooking and setting the tables while I had the rest of the kids reviewing the Hebrew menus and preparing their travelogues to share with their families. It was probably the most fun we've had all year (and we do have a lot of fun in Hebrew school.) I'd thank Jane and Joan again, but I'm bordering on sycophantic.


Yesterday we watched an epsiode of the great public television series Globe Trekker , which follows the journey of an independent budget traveler through a particular region or country. We joined Justine Shapiro on her travels through Israel. You can read a summary of the episode at the link I provided.

I did want to alert you to a conversation that came up during the show, in case you want to follow up on it at home. During the show, Justine visits Hebron, and briefly interviews several Palestinians, one of whom complains about Israeli soldiers coming into houses to conduct searches at any hour, curfews, and the lack of civil rights for occupants of the West Bank. Several students were very interested and distressed by this description. I paused the dvd to explain to students that this was an extremely complex issue that we would be exploring in more depth later. I also explained that the laws for Palestinians in the West Bank are different than those for citizens of Israel, Arab or Jew. Lastly, I pointed out that there were many different perspectives on the issue of restrictions on Arabs in the West Bank - that many people in Israel (Jewish and Arab) are opposed to conditions there, while others feel that the military state is necessary to prevent terrorist attacks.

We have not yet discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We will begin our modern history unit in a couple of weeks, beginning with the birth of modern Zionism in the late 1800's. I will keep in touch with you about what and how I am presenting these sensitive topics.

We're back!

After a long vacation, and an extra day off for me thanks to an unpleasant stomach bug, we are back in full swing. We prepared menus for our upcoming falafel restaurant and practiced a little bit of restaurant vocabulary. In anticipation of Purim, we also watched the first half of the movie Esther, a surprisingly faithful retelling of the Megilla.

That's about all for now....