The Goodman Initiative - Copies of text

Im Tirtzu: The Dream of a Jewish Home

Rachel Levin — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 20:14:43 +0000

In this activity, campers will debate the positions of major Zionist ideologies and play the role of Jewish leaders who first envisioned a Jewish state.

Curriculum Themes:

A Land & Its People

Materials Required:

Program Duration:

Number of Campers:

A Bunk/Cabin/Chug (10-20 campers)

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

The World Zionist Congress was created by Theodore Herzl to be the “Parliament of the Jewish People.” Throughout the first century of Zionism, delegates were elected from countries around the world to represent their constituencies at the Congress.

The First Zionist Congress is credited for the formulation of the Zionist platform known as the "Basel Program," which states, "Zionism seeks to establish a home for the Jewish people in Palestine secured under public law."

There are several different Zionist ideologies that impacted the creation of the Jewish state, including (but not limited to) Political Zionism, Cultural Zionism, Religious Zionism, Socialist Zionism, and General/Centrist Zionism.

The creation of a Jewish State was a long process that began in the 1800s and finally came into reality in 1948, after years of debate among Zionist thinkers.

Explanation:

Step 1: Herzl's Dream - and Ours

The activity begins with a short skit of Theodor Herzl dreaming:

Herzl is sleeping…sleeping…dreaming…im tirtzu.
- Show someone waking Herzl up from his dream.
- Ask, what was Herzl dreaming about? What does this have to do with our future?
- Then, ask the campers: What are your dreams for your future?
Give each camper a Personal Dream Worksheet with the following questions (see attached). This activity can be done with a worksheet, poster board, or in a discussion. Questions include:
- Where do you see yourself living in 30 years?
- What do you see yourself doing?
- What is important about where you will live? (location, surroundings, family, Jewish population, etc.)
- What level of education do you want in 30 years? (High school graduation, college degree, graduate degree, etc.)
- What Jewish things do you see yourself doing in 30 years?

Explain, just like we have our own dreams for our futures, the Zionist leaders had their dreams for the Jewish people. These dreams brought the establishment of the Jewish State into being and largely shaped our own Jewish communities. Tell campers that today, they will get to know about Zionist ideologies, engage in a debate about them, and then choose the vision they like the most.

Step 2: Prepare for the Debate

Split the campers into groups. Each group will learn about one person from the Zionist Congress (see attached biographies and background information on the Zionist Congress). Ideally, at least one staff person will be with each group. If there are more groups than staff, then staff should circulate among the groups and encourage campers to read about "their" Zionist character and try to understand what he wanted to achieve at the Zionist Congress.

Figures include:

Theodor Herzl – Political Zionism
Ahad Ha'am – Cultural Zionism
Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook – Religious Zionism
Moshe Hess – Socialist Zionism
Chaim Weizmann – General/Centrist Zionism

Campers should learn about the personal background and Zionist philosophy of their assigned character, and be able to address the following points in a debate:

Where should the new land be located? (Uganda, Palestine, Cyprus, Sinai)
What should be the spoken language in this new Jewish Land? (German, Hebrew, Yiddish)
Do we need a Jewish homeland to be/feel like we have a safe place?
Who should establish it/who would populate it?
What action does your character propose to take to create the Jewish state?
Is it possible/realistic? When?
Other: ____________________________

After campers have completed their preparation, they should have time to create posters, songs, and cheers related to their character. Before the debate begins, all campers will share their posters and cheers around camp.

Step 3: Debate!

Campers will hold a debate as if they were present at the Zionist Congress in 1897.

Theodor Herzl (played by a staff member) calls this Zionist Congress to session, pretending that it is 1897. Herzl should display signs of being nervous as he opens the debate, because he is worried about the outcome. The debate includes the following components:

Herzl moderates the debate, including all of the points listed above.
Each group introduces their character and describes his Zionist philosophy. (Encourage them to speak in first person, i.e. "I am from...,"). Herzl asks the groups about each of the following points:
- Where should the new land be located? (Uganda, Palestine, Cyprus, Sinai)
- What should be the spoken language of this new Jewish Land? (German, Hebrew, Yiddish)
- Do we need a Jewish homeland to be/feel like a safe place?
- Who should establish it/who would populate it?
- What does your Zionist party propose to do to create the Jewish state?
- Is it possible/realistic? When?
- Other: __________________
After all presentations have been made, campers must vote for the Zionist approach/character they like best, but they cannot vote for their own character. (Counselors can be encouraged to help campers “shtick” it up in a big way here.)

Step 4: Wrap-Up

After the vote is complete, the "winning" team has one last chance to celebrate their character. They can be encouraged to sing their song and lead their cheer once more. Then the staff member who has led the activity engages the group in a brief reflective discussion summarizing key points they learned and their ideas about how the Zionist philosophies they just debated relate to life in camp today. Do they see a connection? Can staff help them see connections?

Conclude the activity by teaching and then singing "Im Tirzu."

Variations:

Zionist Congress of Today

For older campers, the final part of this activity can be expanded to consider how (or if) Zionist ideas remain relevant today. Campers can be split into new groups that include people who represented various characters. In these groups, campers should process/internalize/personalize what they learned about the characters, emphasizing ways that these approaches resonate with them today. Questions can include:

What points do you agree with?
Imagine that you are Ahad Ha’am, Herzl, etc., today. Have your perspectives changed?
Which Zionist approach should lead the way for Israel today?
Are any of these Zionist political platforms still relevant? Not relevant? Why?
Which Zionist political platform needs to be emphasized today?
How important is it to have a Jewish homeland as our safe place?

Another option: Conduct a 4 corners exercise. Label the room with "Strongly Agree," "Agree," "Disagree," and "Strongly Disagree" corners and ask questions that relate to the Zionist platforms. Encourage campers to engage in brief discussions after each question.

Background Cards:

Supporting Materials:

Personal Dream Worksheet.docx

Background Information For Zionist Congress.docx

Zionist Leaders_0 (1).docx

Stories in Motion: Israeli Culture Bridging Political Gaps

Dalia Davis — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 19:52:10 +0000

Stories in Motion engages participants with pieces of Israel’s history through creative movement and physical expression. As participants bring to life the story of an Israeli dance company that faces and overcomes a difficult political situation, the cultural exchange finds resonance in the hearts and minds of the participants.

Curriculum Themes:

A People’s Hope

Materials Required:

Program Duration:

90 minutes

Physical Space:

Number of Campers:

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

Roughly half of Jews in Israel are of Middle Eastern descent

Cultural exchanges can bridge political gaps in a way that discussion cannot

Israeli artists sometimes find themselves in dangerous situation when they tour because of people's negative opinions about Israel

Explanation:

1. Background information: The following background information will help the participants understand the story that this program is based upon. Facilitator introduces these three pieces of information to the group.

A. The Oslo Accords:
The Oslo Accords were bilateral agreements signed in Washington following negotiations, part of which was clandestine, between Israel and the PLO. The main concern was on the Israeli withdrawal from the territories of Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip, in order to allow the establishment of a Palestinian Authority for self-government for an interim period until permanent arrangements would be established. On September 13, 1993, the problems regarding the mutual recognition were resolved, allowing Rabin and Arafat to sign the Declaration of Principles at the White House in Washington.
(www.Knesset.gov.il)

B. Margalit Oved
Margalit Oved—dancer, choreographer, singer, actress, musician—an émigré from Yemen (in the early 1950s), began her career in her teens as one of the original members of Sarah Levi-Tanai’s ethnic Inbal Dance Company in Tel Aviv, Israel. Her creative roots go further back, however, to her native Aden, where as a child she danced barefoot and carefree. Her story, told through her dances, is that of a Jewish Yemenite turned Israeli and then American. Despite her several transformations, she did not abandon her earliest influences. At the same time, she has internalized her experiences in the United States, including the raising of an American-born family, and used them to inform her more recent work.
(www.jwa.org)

C. Barak Marshall
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Barak is the son of acclaimed dancer, choreographer, and musician Margalit Oved. Since his accidental entrance into dance in 1995, Barak established himself as one of Israel’s most innovative voices.
(www.BarakMarshall.com)

Tell the group that they will now have the opportunity to learn more about a cultural exchange that overcame a situation of political strife.

2. Studying the Text:

Partner Study/Chavruta:
Divide participants into pairs and have them read the text “Barak Marshall: Dance Bridging Cultures.” Each pair receives three different colored highlighters and uses different markers to highlight characters, actions, and emotions respectively.

Group Discussion: Participants analyze and reflect upon the story as a group.

Guiding Questions:
*In addition to fear, what do you think the Israeli dancers were feeling in the moments before they performed?
*Do you think Marshall and his dancers anticipated receiving the reaction that they did from the crowd?
*Why do you think the crowd reacted as they did to the performance?
*What do you think about the dancer’s decision to perform despite the animosity they were receiving from the crowd? Do you think such cultural exchanges are worth placing one’s life in danger?

3. Dancing the Text

Role Assignment: Facilitator leads the group in creating a list of the characters in the story, along with their actions and emotions (a sample list is provided in the supporting documents). Characters can be human as well as inanimate objects. Participants choose characters from the story such that each participant has at least one role. They are asked to begin creating movements that express their character’s actions and emotions.

Costuming: Participants create costumes for themselves from white bed sheets or other material scraps. Facilitator provides markers, scissors, and safety pins along with the material.

Dance Creation: After creating movements for their particular role and getting into costume, participants dance their movements as a group while the facilitator reads the text. This is repeated two or three times in order to help the movements coalesce into a cohesive dance. Then the narration ceases and the dance is put to music with the story being told without words.

Dance Performance: Have the participants dance their piece one final time, but this time instead of setting it to music, play the attached youtube video as they are dancing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Waw66l_Igzg). This video is one of Barak Marshall’s choreographic works.
They may need to repeat the dance a few times in order to fill the time of the entire video (their movements do not need to match up with what is happening in the video, but they may do so if they like).

Variations:

Younger Participants: It may be easier for participants to study the text and highlight the characters, actions, and emotions as a group rather than in partner study.

Older Participants: If the group is a bit older, the facilitator might want to include in the processing portion of the session, a discussion about culture as a means for bridging gaps.

Some possible questions to encourage discussion:

• Do you think there are any instances in which a particular cultural piece should not be included in a given performance or exhibition venue? Why or why not?

• There are an increasing number of places that will not allow Israeli performers or artists to participate in festivals and other such cultural exchanges. What do you think are the effects of such decisions?

• What do you think might have happened if before the performance the dancers had responded to the insults they received in Arabic by speaking openly in Arabic? Do you think the story would have ended differently? Why or why not?

• Do you think culture is the best mechanism by which political gaps can be bridged? Why or why not?

Additional Time/Sessions: This session can be a part of a lesson or a curriculum on the Jews of Middle Eastern descent, or the plight of Yemenite Jews. Part of the impact of the story is that Marshall’s mother is a Yemenite Jew, and many of his dancers were of Middle-Eastern descent, yet the audience was unaware that there was such a thing as a Jew of Arabic descent. The facilitator may choose to show the film “The Forgotten Refugees” or to address the history of this population in another way.

Larger groups: In order to accommodate larger groups, multiple people can dance each role and choreograph their movements together.

Background Cards:

Supporting Materials:

Barak Marshall Text.pdf

Israeli Culture Character Chart.pdf

Attribution:

Dalia Davis

Stories in Motion: Returning to the Western Wall

Dalia Davis — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 00:40:18 +0000

Stories in Motion engages participants with epic pieces of Israel’s history through creative movement and physical expression. As participants bring to life the story of the return to the Western Wall through movement, the eye-witness testimonies leave the page and find resonance in the hearts and minds of the participants.

Curriculum Themes:

Materials Required:

Program Duration:

90 minutes

Physical Space:

Number of Campers:

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

In 1967, Israeli soldiers were the first Jews who succeeded in reaching the Western Wall in decades

The renewed access to the Western Wall for Jews was of huge religious and political significance

Many Jews, including the president of Israel, greatly value the ability to access the Western Wall

Explanation:

1. Background information about the Western Wall

Share the following information with the group:

When Rome destroyed the Second Temple in 70 C.E., only one outer wall remained standing. The Romans probably would have destroyed that wall as well, but it must have seemed too insignificant to them; it was not even part of the Temple itself, just an outer wall surrounding the Temple Mount. For the Jews, however, this remnant of what was the most sacred building in the Jewish world quickly became the holiest spot in Jewish life. Throughout the centuries, Jews from throughout the world made the difficult pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and immediately headed for the Kotel ha-Ma'aravi (the Western Wall) to thank God. The prayers offered at the Kotel were so heartfelt that gentiles began calling the site the “Wailing Wall.” This name never won a wide following among traditional Jews; the term “Wailing Wall” is not used in Hebrew.

The Western Wall was subjected to far worse than semantic indignities. During the more than one thousand years Jerusalem was under Muslim rule, the Arabs often used the Wall as a garbage dump, so as to humiliate the Jews who visited it.

For nineteen years, from 1948 to 1967, the Kotel was under Jordanian rule. Although the Jordanians had signed an armistice agreement in 1949 guaranteeing Jews the right to visit the Wall, not one Israeli Jew was ever permitted to do so.

(www.JewishVirtualLibrary.org)

Tell the group that they will now have the opportunity to learn more about the operation that restored Jewish access to the Western Wall.

2. Studying the Text:

Partner Study/Chavruta:
Divide participants into pairs and have them read the text “Reclaiming the Western Wall (1967).” Each pair receives three different colored highlighters and uses different markers to highlight characters, actions, and emotions respectively.

Group Discussion: Participants analyze and reflect upon the story as a group.

Guiding Questions:
*What do you think it was like for the soldiers who participated in this mission?
*What do you think it was like for Israelis at that time to hear the news?
*What do you think of the decision of the president and the commanders to risk their lives to reach the Western Wall? Do you think a religious site is something worth risking one’s life for?

3. Dancing the Text

Role Assignment: Facilitator leads the group in creating a list of the characters in the story, along with their actions and emotions (a sample list is provided in the supporting documents). Characters can be human as well as inanimate objects. Participants choose characters from the story such that each participant has at least one role. They are asked to begin creating movements that express their character’s actions and emotions.

Costuming: Participants create costumes for themselves from white bed sheets or other material scraps. Facilitator provides markers, scissors, and safety pins along with the material.

Dance Performance: Have the participants dance their piece one final time, but this time instead of setting it to music, play the attached youtube video as they are dancing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l17p0fTNvf0.
They may need to repeat the dance a few times in order to fill the time of the entire video (their movements do not need to match up with what is happening in the video, but they may do so if they like).
[The video is in Hebrew, but one does not need to understand the words to discern what is happening.]

Variations:

Larger groups: In order to accommodate larger groups, multiple people can dance each role and choreograph their movements together.

Younger Participants: Facilitator may want to allow participants an opportunity to share an experience they had visiting the Western Wall. Facilitator should also be prepared to share, if s/he has been there.

Older participants: With a group of older participants, facilitator may want to discuss the decisions that came to pass after the return to the Western Wall.

Some questions for discussion:

• Who should decide how the Western Wall should function today?

• Should the Western Wall be structured such that there is a separation between men and women? Why or why not?

• Should decisions about how the Western Wall is run be based on the goal of including as many people as possible? If not, what should be the most important goal?

• What vision of the Western Wall in the future do you think the soldiers had in the moment when they saw it for the first time?

Background Cards:

Supporting Materials:

Reclaiming the Western Wall (1967).pdf

Returning to the Western Wall Character Chart.pdf

Attribution:

Dalia Davis

Stories in Motion: Operation Moses

Dalia Davis — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 01:36:11 +0000

Stories in Motion engages participants with epic pieces of Israel’s history through creative movement and physical expression. As participants bring to life the story of Operation Moses through movement, the story of the Ethiopian Jewish journey leaves the page and finds resonance in the hearts and minds of the participants.

Curriculum Themes:

Creation & Rebirth

Materials Required:

Program Duration:

90 minutes

Physical Space:

Number of Campers:

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

Ethiopian Jews endured difficulty and danger during Operation Moses to get to Israel

Israel's Mossad (Intelligence and special operations) agents endangered their lives in order to save the Ethiopian Jews during Operation Moses

Israel plays a large role in rescuing and absorbing Jewish communities in crisis

Explanation:

1. Background information about Operation Moses

Share the following information with the group:

In the 1980s the situation for Ethiopian Jews was extremely difficult. They endured terrible famines, the rapid spread of disease and increased pressure to stop practicing their religion under the dictatorial, communist regime of Colonel Marian Mengistu. To save them, Israel executed rescue missions, the first of which was called Operation Moses. Operation Moses began on November 18, 1984, and ended six weeks later on January 5, 1985. In that time, just over 7,000 Ethiopian Jews were rescued and brought to Israel.

Tell the group that they will now have the opportunity to learn more about operation Moses through the reflections of the Mossad agents who carried out the mission.

2. Studying the Text:

Partner Study/Chevruta:
Divide participants into pairs and have them read the text “Operation Moses: Personal Reflections of Mossad Agents.” Each pair receives three different colored highlighters and uses different markers to highlight characters, actions, and emotions respectively.

Group Discussion: Participants analyze and reflect upon the story as a group.

Guiding Questions:
*How would you describe Operation Moses from the perspective of the Ethiopian Jews?
*How would you describe Operation Moses from the perspective of the Mossad agents?
*Why do you think Israel sent the Mossad agents on this mission? Do you agree with Israel’s decision to do so—why or why not?

3. Dancing the Text
Role Assignment: Facilitator leads the group in creating a list of the characters in the story, along with their actions and emotions (a sample list is provided in the supporting documents). Characters can be human as well as inanimate objects. Participants choose characters from the story such that each participant has at least one role. They are asked to begin creating movements that express their character’s actions and emotions.

Costuming: Participants create costumes for themselves from white bed sheets or other material scraps. Facilitator provides markers, scissors, and safety pins along with the material.

Variations:

Larger groups: In order to accommodate larger groups, multiple people can dance each role and choreograph their movements together.

Older groups: The closing discussion can include questions about Israel’s role as a Jewish state, such as:

*Do you think that all Jews should automatically be welcome citizens of the State of Israel?
*Do you think that Israel should actively search for remote Jewish communities and bring them to Israel?
*Do you think Israel should risk the lives of its soldiers to help bring other Jews to Israel?

Music Options: Here are examples of Idan Raichel songs to use during the activity, but most of his other songs would work as well (preferably ones with Amharic):

1) Tigest
2) Shoshanim Atzuvot
3) Brong Faya
4) Mi'ma'amakim
5) Bo'i
6) Ayale
7) Brachot Leshana Chadasha

Background Cards:

Supporting Materials:

Operation Moses text.pdf

Operation Moses Character Chart.pdf

Attribution:

Dalia Davis