Area of study: Exploring Judaism Grades 7-10 The age range of the students in the class generally average between 14 to 17 years old, however their reading age is usually very low, averaging between 7 and 8 years old. Many students are illiterate, thus the work has to be interesting enough to engage teenagers, appealing to their different learning styles, with a low literacy level focus to facilitate the ability of the students. Generally these types of students would be accommodated in the special needs facility in High Schools or attend Special Learning Units that provide alternative forms of education, generally following the NSW Life Skills Outcomes Syllabus. Contents of whole study area: Didactive objectives NSW Board of Study Life Skill Outcomes *Introduction and teacher s information Visit from Rabbis Story sequencing activity Making a class scroll Key questions for researching origins of scroll First page scanned of Children s Bible story of Moses and Exodus (Full document on CD) Passover Celebration table Passover table information and title cards Quiz questions and answer cards Making a 3D model of the Passover table *Teacher information is provided when necessary throughout document
Didactive Objectives of whole study area: Learn about some cultural and religious aspects of Judaism Meet with Jewish Rabbis and have the opportunity to raise questions and raise awareness Learn about the Bible stories that have significant relevance to the Jewish history and celebrations Focus on one area of Jewish celebration: The Passover Examine primary resources and artifacts To begin to understand that the persecution of the Jews has taken place historically so that the Holocaust is viewed as part of this whole perspective and not seen an isolated event for the Jewish people. NSW Board of Studies History Life skills. Outcomes for this activity: History LS.1 LS.2 LS.4 LS.5 LS.7 LS.10 LS.11 LS.12 explores the concepts of time and chronology explores personal connections to history investigates how people lived in various societies over time explores significant developments in world social and cultural history investigates the importance of significant people, events and issues in world history recognises different perspectives about events and issues uses a variety of strategies to locate and select information uses a variety of strategies to organise and communicate information NSW Board of Studies Literacy Life skills. Objectives for this activity: LS.1 LS.2 LS.3 LS.4 LS.5 LS.6 LS.7 LS.9 LS.10 LS.11 LS.12 LS.13 LS.14 LS.15 responds to auditory cues in a range of contexts listens for a variety of purposes in a range of contexts uses technology and aids to communicate with a range of audiences uses spoken language to interact with a range of audiences recognises visual texts in a range of contexts uses visual texts in a range of contexts reads and responds to short written texts writes short texts for everyday purposes composes increasingly complex written texts views and responds to a range of visual texts, media and multimedia communicates for a variety of purposes communicates in a range of contexts communicates with a range of audiences draws on background and experiences to respond to texts in ways that are
LS.16 LS.17 imaginative, interpretive or critical explores social and cultural issues through texts uses individual and collaborative skills in the learning process. Activity: Visit by the Rabbis Grades: 7-10 Duration 1.5-2hours Contents: Didactive objectives *Introduction and teacher s information Visit from Rabbis Photographs *Teacher information is provided when necessary throughout document Didactive Objectives: Learn about some cultural and religious aspects of Judaism Meet with Jewish Rabbis and have the opportunity to raise questions and raise awareness Learn about the Bible stories that have significant relevance to the Jewish history and celebrations Introduction: *Students have very little experience of the Jewish culture and religion in our school and activities relating to the stereotyping lessons given previously, suggested a deep lack of knowledge and understanding. In order to make progress towards learning about the Holocaust it was necessary to allow students to become familiar with Jewish culture and become more sensitized to their plight by having the experience of meeting Jews themselves so that they may develop a personal empathy and sensitivity towards them which was certainly lacking beforehand.
Two Jewish Rabbis from the Jewish Synagogue in Sydney were invited to our class to talk about their culture, religion and custom. Rabbi Wernick and his student Rabbi Motty Tenenboim brought in some artifacts for the students to look at; in the picture below is a sacred scroll which was hand written and contains writing from the Torah; they explained how this is the Jewish Holy book containing the Old Testament part of the Bible. The students made a class scroll by writing one of the stories from the Torah. The story of Moses, the plagues of Egypt and the Passover night (when the Jews escaped slavery in Egypt) was chosen for the scroll as it is central to the Passover Celebration; the celebration that we used as a focus area of study Rabbi Wernick explains the meaning of the Menorah or Jewish candle. The seven branches of the candle represent the seven days of creation, and is used in special ceremonies.
Rabbi Wernick explains about the Jewish custom of wearing an unshaved beard, and modest clothing. He explained why a cap or Kippah is worn by Jewish men to show respect for God and to remind them that God is always above us. The students enjoyed the visit and Rabbi Wernick sent them a gift of Hamantaschen which are Jewish biscuits cooked by his wife. The students followed the recipe and made the biscuits as part of the topic on Judaism. The Passover Celebration was a focus area of study and after students listened to the Bible story we used it as a stimulus for further activities.
Activity: Story Sequencing, making a class scroll Grades 7-10 Duration 1.5-2hours Didactive Objectives: Learn about the Bible stories that have significant relevance to the Jewish history and celebrations Examine primary resources and artifacts Contents: Didactive objectives *Introduction and teacher s information Story sequencing activity Making a class scroll Key questions for researching origins of scroll First page scanned of Children s Bible story of Moses and Exodus (Full document on CD) *Teacher information is provided when necessary throughout document Introduction *The children s Bible story, Moses and the Exodus from Egypt, was used as it is the origin of the Passover Celebration and this version contained great graphics. These pictures were cut and pasted onto card for the students to sequence in the correct order of the story. The students could work in pairs for this activity. Once the students organized the pictures into the correct story sequence they could rewrite the story using the pictures as a guide. The Children s Bible version we used is below : (See scanned documents on CD for full version ) The first page is printed below as a guide.
Making a class scroll (see photographs below of our class scroll) *Each student can take part in copying a section of the Bible story to write on a class Torah scroll. Wall paper can be used attached to two broom handles or bamboo sticks to represent the handles of the scroll. A mini research project can be initiated into the origins of the Torah scroll and the techniques adopted by the scribes, for example students can find out about key questions: When was it written? Where did the information come from? What was the material used? Who wrote on the scroll? What happened if a mistake was made? What was done with the section that was removed when a mistake was made?
Illustrated Children s Bible story of Moses and the Exodus out of Egypt
Full document is found on disc Activity: The Passover Celebration Grades 7-10 Duration 1.5-2hours Didactive Objectives: Focus on one area of Jewish celebration: The Passover Examine secondary resources and artifacts To begin to understand that the persecution of the Jews has taken place historically so that the Holocaust is viewed as part of this whole perspective and not seen an isolated event for the Jewish people. Contents: Didactive objectives *Introduction and teacher s information Passover Celebration table Passover table information and title cards Quiz questions and answer cards Making a 3D model of the Passover table *Teacher information is provided when necessary throughout document
Introduction *The teacher sets up a table to represent the Passover Celebration. The table must contain unleavened bread, an egg, bitter herbs such as rosemary, a lamb chop, salt water, honey/sweet dish. A Menorah could be placed on the table and photographs illustrating modern day Passover Celebration. (Our students were not allowed real candles because of correctional facility rules and only plastic plates could be used) The different items should be labeled with cards as shown in the picture below:
The teacher should explain that during Passover celebration the Jewish family table would be set with similar items to represent the time of Passover. Passover is celebrated because of the time when Moses helped to free the Israelites from slavery and the Angel of Death Passed over the doorway of each Jewish family (former Israelites) marked with the blood of a lamb. The students would be familiar with this story as previous activities suggested. The teacher creates information cards to link with each item on the Passover table but does not include the title of each card (written in bold) on a separate card. The students must sort out and match the information with the items on the Passover table. A quiz can also be used to check the student s knowledge and general understanding of the food symbolism and story of Moses. CARD TITLES WITH CARD INFORMATION: BITTER HERBS This food is used to represent the bitterness of slavery, when the Jews remember their ancestors who were made into the slaves for the Egyptians. They were released from slavery when the great leader Moses came to tell the Egyptian leader Pharaoh to let them go. SALT WATER This food is used to represent the many tears that were shed by the Jewish people as they suffered as slaves. LAMB CHOP (cooked) This food is used to represent the lamb that was sacrificed by the Jewish people as an offering to God. The blood of the lamb was used to mark the doors of the Jewish family, on the night when the Angel of Death came to kill all the oldest born sons in Egypt. God s Angel Passed Over all the Jewish families who had the mark of blood on their door, saving all those inside.
UNLEVENED BREAD This food is used to represent the time when the Jews had to leave quickly and escape Egypt with their leader Moses. They had no time to make bread with yeast in it. They made flat bread instead or unleavened bread as it is called. EGG This food is used to represent new life and new beginnings, free from slavery after the Jews were led by Moses out of Egypt. God told Moses to take his people to the Red Sea and use his stick to part the waves. Moses did this and the Red Sea parted making a walk way for all the Jewish people to escape. They were being chased by the Egyptians and their ruler Pharaoh, as the sea returned back to normal all the Egyptians were drowned. SWEET MIXTURE / HONEY This food is used to represent the sweetness of a new life as free people. The Jewish people were freed from the bondage of slavery by Moses. God told Moses to take his people into the desert and this is where God gave Moses The Ten Commandments.
Activity: QUIZ QUESTIONS AND ANSWER CARDS *The teacher can use these cards as a simple quiz activity to test student s understanding or ask students to match the question cards with the answer cards. Students will be able to answer the questions after reading the Bible story and working on the scroll activity as previously stated. Q:What is the name of the special Jewish celebration when the youngest child in the family asks the question Why is this night different from any other? A:The Passover Celebration or Pesakh, is the time when Jews celebrate their ancestors escape from Egypt. The youngest child begins the celebration by asking the question, Why is this night any different from any other? The escape from Egypt is known as the Exodus. Q:Why is the celebration called The Passover Celebration? A:This celebration occurs so that the Jews will remember the special night when God told them all to prepare for escape and that he would send his Angel of Death to Egypt that night. The
Angel would Passover the homes that had the mark that God told them to prepare over their doors. Q:Why do the Jews have roast lamb on their table? A:The Jews were told to get the best lamb from their flock without any blemishes and prepare it for a meal. They were to spread the blood of the lamb around the door of their home as a sign so that the Angel of Death would not harm them. Q:Why do the Jews have bitter herbs on their Passover table? A:The Jewish people were told to include bitter herbs and eat this with the lamb on the night of the Passover. The herbs now symbolize the bitterness of slavery. Q:Why do the Jews have a sweet mixture (or honey) on their Passover table? A:When Moses led the Jews out of slavery and into the desert as free people they use the sweet mixture to remember this time of joy and happiness.
Q:Why does the Passover table have bread without any yeast? A:On the night of the Passover the Jewish people were preparing to escape so they did not have time to make bread and wait for the yeast to rise. The bread they used is called unleavened bread which means that it is without yeast. This is used at Passover to remind the Jews about the rush to escape from the Egyptians at that time. Q:Why is there an egg on the table for Passover? A:When Moses led his people into the desert they began their new life as free people, free from slavery and oppression. To remember their new life after slavery the Jews use an egg to symbolize this new life and new beginning. Q:Why must the Passover table have salt water, and what does this represent? A:For many years the Jewish people were slaves to the Egyptians, and were made to work hard for them. They were
cruelly treated and killed for disobedience. Many tears were shed over the years because of this and the salt water symbolizes the sadness and tears that fell. Q:Who was the man who God spoke to and lead the Jews out of Egypt? A:Moses heard the voice of God coming from a burning bush, telling him that he was to lead the people out of slavery and take them to the land promised to them. This was to the holy land of Jerusalem. Q:What did God do to make Pharaoh listen to Moses when Moses said that Pharaoh must set the people free from slavery? A:God sent plagues to Egypt so that the Pharaoh would listen to Moses and set the people free, but Pharaoh still would not listen each time, and his kingdom suffered nine plagues before the last one changed his mind. QWhat were the ten plagues of Egypt?
A:The plagues of Egypt were: The river turned into blood and all the fish died, no one could drink the water. Pharaoh still refused to listen to Moses. The second was a plague of frogs, still no change from Pharaoh, then came: a plague of gnats, a plague of flies, death to all cattle and sheep, a plague of boils, a plague of hailstones, a plague of locusts, darkness for three days. Each time Pharaoh refused to listen to Moses Then came the last one: Death to all first born sons in every Egyptian household. Q:What happened to Moses when he was first born? A:The Pharaoh of Egypt sent out a ruling that every first born son of the Jews were to be murdered. When Moses was born,
she sent her daughter Miriam to hide him in a basket in the river, hoping that he would be saved from murder. Q:How was Moses raised, and who found him? A:Moses was discovered by the Egyptian Princess who could not have children; she took Moses to be her son and raised him as a Prince. Q:Why did Moses have to leave his home as an Egyptian Prince? A:One day, when Moses was a young man he witnessed an Egyptian soldier beating up a Jewish slave. In anger he hit the soldier and killed him so he had to flee from the kingdom. Moses became a shepherd and lived in the mountains for 40 years before God spoke to him.
Making a 3D model of the Passover table *This activity is good for students who learn by doing practical activities. Students are given a range of coloured card, sticky tape, scissors, pencil and ruler. The students will use problem solving skills, communication and maths skills to reproduce the table without any instruction from the teacher. It is a great activity for exploring creativity and many different ideas and techniques were discovered in the making of this project.
*An extension activity to this project could involve the students using the library to investigate how the modern Jewish family celebrates Passover. It is important for the teacher to provide photographs and resources that illustrate the modern day perspective of Jewish culture so that links can be made between the student and the Jew of today. ACTIVITIES TO EXPLORE PERSECUTION, EUGENICS AND RACIAL THINKING ARE TO FOLLOW THESE ACTIVITIES