The Goodman Initiative - War of Independence

Soldiers Eat S’mores Too!

Carl Schrag — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:02:32 +0000

This activity provides opportunities for high-school-aged campers to delve into the reality of the military challenges facing Israel. Starting with a late-night sneak-out, progressing to a campfire and a military mission, the program culminates with the Goodman Educator and shlichim sharing stories from Israel's wars.

Curriculum Themes:

A People’s Hope

Materials Required:

Program Duration:

90 minutes

Physical Space:

Number of Campers:

A Division/Age Group (30 – 50 campers)

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

Key milestones in Israel's fight for survival: the War of Independence, the Six Day War, and the Yom Kippur War

Grapple with the reality of war as experienced by Israeli staff (and, where applicable, campers)

Explanation:

Step 1: The Surprise

As campers are getting ready for bed, staff rushes into the cabins and announces that they have 15 minutes to prepare for a very special late-night activity. Instruct them to wear sturdy shoes, bring flashlights, and be in the appointed place in exactly 15 minutes.

Step 2: Gadna Training

The facilitator greets everyone and announces that the campers will undergo a brief military training exercise, a mini-Gadna activity. The shlichim lead them through an obstacle course and a late-night run around camp. During this activity, shlichim bark orders at campers and exert enough pressure so that the participants feel they are being challenged, but not so much as to intimidate or overwhelm them. (The GE should plan this with shlichim in advance, and keep careful tabs on how it is being implemented in real time). This entire exercise should last about 15 minutes. When everyone returns to the assembly point, campers gather around a campfire for another comfortable setting that is conducive to storytelling, refreshments are served.

Step 3: War Stories

After everyone has enjoyed their snacks, the facilitator (ideally one of the shlichim) tells the group:
- "Tonight you are going to learn about the wars Israel has fought since its creation. But first, we wanted to make sure you understand a bit about what it means to be a soldier. Being a soldier means you follow orders from your commanders. It means you are prepared to work hard all the time. It means your life is on the line for a cause that means everything to you. That's what we tried to show you as we were running around camp just now, and that's what we are going to show you by sharing our stories with you now."
At this point, another shaliach (or two) step up and address the group to share very brief reflections on what it means to serve in the IDF. They stress the idea of defending their homes and their families, and they also speak about the camaraderie among soldiers in a unit.
Now, a series of presenters (ideally shlichim, but American staff can also participate) shares with the group a personal story about each of 4 Israeli wars (War of Independence, Six Day War, Yom Kippur War, and Operation Cast Lead). The GE should have worked with each of these presenters in advance to craft a story that can be told in first person about the war. (If the presenter has a personal connection to the war, such as a grandparent, parent, or family friend who fought in the war, then this should be the basis for the story. Otherwise, it can be a fictionalized account, but should be told in first person nonetheless). Each story should take 2-4 minutes to tell, and the presenter can engage campers in Q&A before handing the floor to the next presenter.

Step 4: Wrap-up

After all 4 presenters have shared their "personal" war stories and campers have had ample opportunities to ask questions, the facilitator tells the group:
- All of you have spent the past hour hearing stories about the people who have fought in Israel's wars. Here in America, we tend to think of war as something for history class, the movies, or video games. But in Israel, war is a very real part of every person’s reality. Not because there’s a war going on every day in every part of the country, but because the possibility of war is always very real, and it touches the lives of every Israeli. You've heard how it’s touched the lives of some of our friends, our shlichim, and you've heard stories from the past 70+ years that sum up highlights of some of the most important wars that Israel has fought.
Time permitting, the facilitator can invite shlichim to share more of their own personal reflections and ecnourage campers to ask more personal questions.
To wrap up the activity, the facilitator stresses that the IDF is a people's army supported by near-universal conscription and asks the campers to think about a couple of questions that few Israelis ever think twice about:
- What is worth fighting for?
- What, if anything, is worth dying for?
At the conclusion, staff bring campers back to their cabins and to bed. Campers sleep in late tomorrow.

Variations:

There is a lot of material in this activity, and it my be too much to do in the middle of the night.

Options include:

Break the activity into two separate parts that can be started at night and completed the following day.
Do the entire activity as an evening program.
Forgo the campfire discussions focused on past wars, and instead ask the shlichim to discuss their personal experiences in the army.

Background Cards:

Supporting Materials:

War Stories Background.docx

Curricular Subjects:

Mr. and Mrs. Israel

Naomi Brown — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:34:33 +0000

It's a talent show! It's a beauty pageant! It's Mr. and Mrs. Israel, where camper teams representing places in Israel compete for recognition and bragging rights. With costumes, songs, cheers, and the like, campers won't even realize how much they are learning in the process. This is ideally a multi-period activity, with campers preparing earlier in the day for the evening competition. However, the entire program could be as big or small as you'd like.

Curriculum Themes:

A Land & Its People

Materials Required:

Program Duration:

Physical Space:

Number of Campers:

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

Campers will learn about important Israeli cities (Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Eilat, Tsfat), regions (the Negev, the Golan Heights) and landmarks (The Dead Sea)

Israel is a small but very diverse country, as seen by the differences between each of the cities and locations campers will represent

Explanation:

Stage 1: The Prep Stage (for the campers)

This stage could take anywhere from 15 minutes to several periods, depending on how extensive you want their entries to be.

Campers are introduced to the camp-wide/unit-wide competition, where each bunk will represent a place in Israel and compete in several events

Once they learn which area they will represent, have the campers brainstorm what they already know about the location.
Depending on how much time you are setting aside, they could either be sent to find out more information from counsellors/staff/schilichim/other campers or you can just give them the fact sheet and a map of Israel.
Help them think about the following questions:
- Where is your city in relation to the rest of Israel (north, middle, south)?
- What is around their city? Is there water? Are there mountains? Are there other cities?
- What do they think their city looks like?
- What do you think people like to do in your city?
- What makes your city unique/special/different?

Stage 2: Planning for their event

Each bunk should divide into three groups -- one for each of the talent competitions. Here are some suggestions for competitions but feel free to add others:
- Costume Competition: Campers will use the fact sheet and pictures to dress in a costume that best represents their city/area.
- Talent Competition: Campers will come up with a talent that they can demonstrate for their city based off of what they learn about their city. For example, Tel Aviv's talent could be roller blading on the boardwalk looking pretty. The desert's talent could be gardening because they can make the desert bloom.
- Art Competition: Campers create a giant mural that represents their city using butcher paper and art supplies.
- Song Competition: Campers will adapt a popular song (their choice) to reflect what is great about their city.
- Jingle Competition: Campers will create an ad campaign for their city.
Let the campers know that they will be judged for creativity AND how much they know about their city.

Stage 3: The Competition

This is the fun part! Make the competition as exciting and wild as you can to hype up the audience.
Here are some ways to do it:
- Think about using a panel of judges. You could use:
  - Senior camp leadership
  - Your schlichim
  - Other international staff. Even better if they don't know anything about Israel!
- Your judges could each play a role that comes across as they comment on each of the acts (American Idol style).
- Between events, have Israeli music playing.
- If you use AV equipment, flash pictures of places in Israel.
- Have your Israeli staff or American staff who have been to Israel introduce each of the cities with a personal story or connection.

Variations:

Variations in format:

Make this an all-camp activity. You could have a winner per age group or have each group have campers from different bunks/units working together.
Have this activity build up all week. Your specialists (art, music, etc.) can be brought into it to help the groups create their events.
Certain events can be displayed throughout camp. Murals can be affixed to buildings, songs or jingles can be played over the loudspeaker. Or each group can be given a different area in camp to represent their city.

Variations in content:

Instead of having campers represent cities and places, they can represent famous Israelis. See Amazing Autograph Race for information on different Israeli leaders and heroes they can choose.

Background Cards:

Supporting Materials:

Curricular Subjects:

Israel and the Fallen Soldier

Natalie Blitt — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 21:31:29 +0000

This session addresses the complicated sentiments that the Israeli people felt about Israeli soldiers who fought and died during the 1948 War of Independence and the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

Curriculum Themes:

Materials Required:

Copies of poems (see below)

Program Duration:

1 hour

Physical Space:

Number of Campers:

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

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

The heaviest price of Israel's wars and conflicts has been the loss of life.

The image of the Israeli soldier changes along with the events and wars occurring in Israel. After the War of Independence In 1948, the soldier is illustrated as a victor bringing independence to the state. After the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the soldier is no longer depicted as the hero because he has been defeated.

Explanation:

We will now look at two poems from two different time periods that deal with the topic of fallen soldiers.
Give out copies of A Silver Platter by Natan Alterman. Ask one camper to read the poem out loud. Ask the group for comments or lines that stand out to them. Ask:

What is the vision of the soldier in this poem?
When do you think it takes place?
Why do you think they call themselves the "silver platter?"
What do you make of the line: "Thus they will say and fall back in shadows And the rest will be told In the chronicles of Israel?"

When appropriate, you can fill in some of the background of the poem (after giving them a chance to respond to the questions):

Natan Alterman was a poet who was born in Warsaw and moved to Tel Aviv with his family in 1925, when he was 15 years old.
He wrote the poem during Israel's War of Independence in 1948.
For him, the "silver platter" refers to a comment popularized by Israeli President Chaim Weizmann and attributed to him on December 15, 1947, soon after the UN decision to partition Palestine: "The state will not be given to the Jewish people on a silver platter."

Ask the campers what they think of Alterman's version of Weizmann's statement. Are the Israeli soldiers the "silver platter" that are responsible for the state being created?
Explain that we will now be looking at a more contemporary vision of the Israeli soldier. This song was written by 18-year-old Reuven Politi who was killed during the Yom Kippur War a few weeks after he wrote the poem. He was a fighter in the Egoz reconnaissance platoon, which went out on an ambush mission in the Golan Heights that day. Reuven replaced a soldier friend of his who was delayed reaching his platoon.
Have one camper read the poem. Ask the group the following questions:

How is the image of the soldier different in this poem?
Why do you think the soldier here keeps talking directly to his parents?
What are the lines that especially speak to you?
What does the difference between the two poems say about the difference between how Israeli soldiers are seen in 1948 vs. in 1973?

If necessary, fill in the campers' understanding of what Israel was like during the Yom Kippur War in 1973.
Bring the group back together and do a quick debrief. Ask the group if there were things that surprised them about other people's thinking or their own.

Background Cards:

Supporting Materials:

Israel Fallen Soldier poems.pdf

Curricular Subjects:

Attribution:

MZ Teen iConnect

When Would You Step In to Help?

Natalie Blitt — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:14:39 +0000

In 1948, more than 4,000 volunteers from 56 different countries walked out of their every day lives to help Israel during the War of Independence. This session will allow campers to hear some of their stories and to examine the question: when would you step in? It's ideal for an after-hours bunk activity, a Shabbat discussion slot, or as a rainy day substitution.

Curriculum Themes:

Creation & Rebirth

Materials Required:

Program Duration:

Physical Space:

Number of Campers:

Age of Campers:

Core Learnings:

Israel declared Independence on May 14, 1948, almost six months after the United Nations passed the "partition plan" to create an Arab and a Jewish State in Palestine.

Israel fought and won its War of Independence declared by its Arab neighbors after they rejected the Partition Plan.

Over 4,000 Jewish Volunteers from outside Israel came to fight and aid in Israel's War of Independence.

Explanation:

Stage 1: The Trigger Story

Introduce the video:
- Give your campers a brief history leading up to Israel's War of Independence (provided).
- Over the past couple decades, a group called Toldot Yisrael has been interviewing thousands of people who participated in Israel's founding. While these people are all over 80 now, when they got involved, many of them were no older than your campers.
- The 15 minute clip they are about to see is centered around the experiences of six people who got involved during Israel's founding moments. What is remarkable about these people is that they didn't start out in Israel and they did not wind up there because they had no place to go. While the War of Independence was fought primarily by people who had made aliyah -- moved to Israel -- either before the Holocaust or after the Holocaust, more than 4,000 of the people who came to help Israel in this fight came from overseas. They left the security of good homes and good jobs, college and their families, because they felt an urgent need to help.
- As they watch this clip, encourage them to keep track of the different motivations that these people had for leaving their lives to go to Israel's aid. What made them do it? How did they help?
Watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kxzEGSmgYl4

Stage 2: Discussing the film

Begin the discussion with the following comment by former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin when he dedicated the Israeli memorial to the volunteers who came to fight during Israel's founding:
- "You came to us when we needed you most, during those difficult, uncertain days in our War of Independence. You gave us not only your experience, but your lives as well. The people of Israel and the State of Israel will never forget, and will always cherish, this unique contribution made by you -- the volunteers of Machal."
Here are some conversation starters for your group:
- Do you understand why Prime Minister Rabin said that?
- How did the different interviewees help?
- What did they risk to do it?
- Why do you think the volunteers were inspired to help?
- Did you relate to any of the volunteers’ stories? Did they remind you of anyone you know?
- What surprised you about the video?
- Do you think you, or people you know, would act in a similar situation?

Stage 3: When would you step in to help?

The discussion should now move into an area that is more personally relevant to the campers: issues of responsibility in their own lives. Feel free during the discussion to bring up examples from the video as well.
Essentially, the issues in the video come down to the question: “Who are we responsible for?” Within this question are other questions: What does it mean to be responsible? Who is responsible for us? How do we fulfill our responsibilities?
Ask your campers: When you hear the word ‘responsible,’ is there a person who comes to mind? Do you have a story to share about them?
- How do the characters in the video understand who they are responsible for?
- How do they act on their sense of responsibility?
- How do you decide for whom you are responsible?

Variations:

Variations in format

This activity could be done in a large group for the movie, and then broken up in smaller groups for the discussions.
If you can't do this activity with the video, ask a few staff people to take on the roles of the people in the video and introduce themselves and their decision to come help, what they wound up doing to help during the war.
If your camp has a regular video activity or a camp newspaper, this discussion can be brought in to that space as well. Have campers go out and interview others -- campers, counselors, Israelis, and staff (both Jewish and not-Jewish) and pose these questions:
- Who are you responsible for?
- How far would you go if you were called on to act?

Background Cards:

Curricular Subjects:

Attribution:

Ask Big Questions