VaYishlach

Be sure to read last year's post for more ideas on how to understand and teach this parasha.

This year the issue of the conflict between Jacob and Esau feels very current.  Both in Israel and in communities around the world there is a tension between the descendants of Jacob and the descendants of Esau that seems to be getting worse, not better.
In Israel the relationship between the Jewish and Arab populations is complex.  There is an excellent article at My Jewish Learning entitled Arabs in Israel which explains some of the historical and contemporary issues involved.

A great deal of attention is being focused on peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.  This week's parasha raised some questions that may impact the thinking around resolving the conflict.

• When Jacob and Esau lived together, how did they get along?
• What happened when they separated?
• When they met each other after years of living apart, what happened?
• After this (apparently) friendly reconciliation, then what?  When did they next meet each other?

Michael Oren,  currently the Israeli ambassador to the United States, said in an interview in 2007 that one of the problems Americans have is that we look at the Middle East and think we are looking in a mirror.  This interview can be viewed here.

Most Americans have been raised with the idea that everyone can get along.  No differences are seen as too great to prevent cooperation and collaboration.  But maybe this is not always the case.  Maybe sometimes people with completely different values, aspirations, and cultures get along better if there is some distance between them.

On the other hand, there are certainly those who believe that the differences can be overcome without separation.  Some websites that support this idea are here:

Hand in Hand

Arab-Jewish Center for Equality, Empowerment and Cooperation

The Center For Jewish-Arab Economic Devopment

Finally, if you are interested in hearing the voice of an Arab Muslim who is an example of thoughtful and moderate views, please read any of the articles here.

You may not agree with all the views presented here, but they are certainly material for discussion.

Vayetze

Last year I asked some questions in the blogpost - didn't get any answers!!!  I still have the same questions, and I'm hoping some readers might suggest some responses!
I thank you in advance for your thoughts.

Vayetze, 2009

I checked the links and they're still valid.

In case you are interested in more resources, here are a few new links:
G-dcast is a wonderful site to find short cartoons illustrating each parasha.  This one focuses primarily on the relationship between Rachel and Leah, and the importance of children in Biblical times.

• A question - why do you suppose there is a daughter mentioned at all?  Until now only sons have been mentioned, although the law of averages would certainly suggest that our ancestors had female children as well as male, and I just wonder what the significance of the daughter is that causes her to be named here.

If you are interested in what the community of Beit El is like today, click on this link to the site of the winery there.

• What do you think it feels like to read this week's parasha in Beit El?

Not Israel's Fault

Today's NY Times, front page article entitled "Parched Earth Where Syrian Farms Thrived"

A problem in the Middle East, and IT'S NOT ISRAEL'S FAULT!!!!!  WHAT A SHOCK!!

Re'eh

It seems that this week's parasha is focused on making sure that the Israelites behave differently once they enter the land that has been promised to them, giving up some of the autonomy they have had in the desert. One of the most important issues, judging from the emphasis it is given, is the centralization of worship.  In the context of the times, this means sacrifices will have to be limited to the central location yet-to-be-named, under the supervision of the priests in that place, and according to the exact specifications set out in the text.
If this is a correct interpretation, there are some questions I would like to ask:

• Is this centralization of practice only mandatory within the limits of the land of Israel?  Are those living outside still entitled according to this text to have differences of practice among, within and between groups of Jews?
• Does this text support the control of Jewish practice within Israel by a single rabbinic authority?  If the answer is yes, then whose responsibility is it to determine which authority shall be in charge?
• Is there consideration to those who may at one time in their lives be within the land and at other times outside?
• Did the destruction of the two Temples erase this requirement of centralization?
• In the world in which we live today is it possible or desirable to have only one way to be Jewish?
• And the age-old question, which can be asked about anything:  Is it good for the Jews?  Or is it bad for the Jews?

Here are a couple of articles which discuss this issue.  

• From 10 Minutes of Torah, these from Rabbis Perlin and Cohen
• Keep Dreaming, When Chelsea Wed Marc, a post by David Breakstone, compares his own family's experience with that of Chelsea Clinton and her new husband Marc Mezvinsky.  You may also be interested in reading the comments on this article.

Matott-Massey

One of the issues in this week's double parasha concerns the decision of two and a half tribes of Israel to live outside the borders of Eretz Yisrael - the Land of Israel.  The relationship between those Jews who choose to live inside and those who choose to live outside has been a complicated one.
David Ben Gurion, the first Prime Minister of the newly-created country of Israel believed that once Israel became independent all the Jews from all over the world would enthusiastically come to live there.  That has not happened, although there certainly has been significant aliyah over the past 62 years.

In fact, the Jewish Agency, originally focused almost exclusively on encouraging aliyah, as you can read at this section of their website has recently refocused its energy, as you can read here, toward building Jewish identity and peoplehood among the Jews of the world.

• Is the decision the two and a half tribes made to live outside the borders of Israel a problem for those who settled inside?  Why or why not?
• How does living outside Israel affect Jewish identity?
• How does living inside Israel affect Jewish identity?
• Is Jewish identity the same as Israeli identity?
• What is your answer when people ask your identity?
• How is your answer important?
• In today's world, would you rather be known as "Jewish" or "Israeli"?  Explain your answer.
• What would you expect to hear if you asked an Israeli Jew about his/her identity?
• What if you asked an Israeli Arab?  Would you hear the same thing?  Different?  Why?
• Why do you think the Jewish Agency has changed its mission?  You can read the entire strategic plan here or read an article about it that highlights its main points here

Finally, I challenge you to think about what Jewish identity means in the world today - in your world, in the world of your children, your parents, your teachers, your students, your particular Jewish community, in the Jewish community as a whole.  

My friends know I believe that in today's world Every Jew is a Jew By Choice, since identity - at least in a free society such as we have in the United States - is largely self-defined.  What are we doing to encourage the Jews we know to identify as such in our world?

Korach

As Yogi Berra is reputed to have said,  "This is like deja vu all over again!"

People complain, God gets angry, people are punished.

But this feels a little different - and in light of the current situation please allow me to suggest some alternative perspectives on this parasha:

• Korach is absolutely wrong.  He is questioning God's choice of Moshe as the leader of the people and of Aharon as the high priest.  In questioning their authority he and his supporters are questioning God.  This is expressed in most of the writings of the ancient commentators, and appears to be the mainstream way of understanding this rebellion.  You can read some articles supporting this view here at Kolel.org, 5760 and here at UTJ, the Union for Traditional Judaism

• Korach is reflecting a popular movement in questioning the authority of Moshe and Aharon.  After all, he is from the tribe of Levi, as they are, and believes that he has as much a right as his cousins do to serve God in the tabernacle.  In fact, Korach may be more like us today, living in a democracy, than the other players in the story.  Please read this commentary by Rabbi Mark Greenspan, of the Oceanside Jewish Center which examines this thought

• Korach may have believed he was justified in his complaint to Moshe and Aharon, but should have understood why he was really wrong.  This commentary from a student rabbi explains why

Today there are many ways of questioning authority - with differing motivations and multiple outcomes. If we use the story of Korach as a trigger for discussing this issue, here are a few questions we might want to think about:

1. How is it possible to know the motives of political and religious leaders?
2. How can we try to understand the motives of those who question these leaders?
3. What if we agree the question should be asked but disagree with what we believe is the motivation for asking it?
4. How do these questions relate to the way in which we understand the world around us?
5. How can we learn to use critical thinking skills to look at multiple viewpoints when we hold strong personal opinions?

Shelach Lecha

Having just returned from two weeks in Israel, it feels like a wonderful coincidence that this week's parasha tells the story of the 12 spies sent to survey the land.  Here are two of the places we "spied out" on this recent visit.


Ir David, the City of David, is the site of the original city of Jerusalem in the days King David conquered it from the Jebusites.  Over the past 20+ years it has been excavated and examined quite thoroughly.  One can imagine what it was like in the time of King David.  To take a virtual tour, go to the website here.


Gush Etzion is an area near Jerusalem, on the way to Beit-Lechem.  Modern Jewish settlement here dates from the 1920's, when land was purchased from local Arabs and settled by Jews from Yemen.  Destroyed more than once, as you can read at this site, this area is considered by most people to be a permanent part of the modern country of Israel.


Efrat, one of the towns in Gush Etzion, is a beautiful place.  You can read about it here at the website of Ohr Torah Stone, the educational institution founded by Rav Shlomo Riskin, formerly of New York City's Lincoln Square Synagogue and since 1983 the inspirational chief rabbi of Efrat.  During our recent visit one could imagine it had always been there - and yet we were told by our host that until the early 1980's the land on the top of its hills was filled with rocks rather than with homes, trees and flowers.  In fact, he related, it was a full two years after the current resettlement began that birds began to appear, realizing that the formerly barren earth was now welcoming.

Reading the Torah portion this week can be a reminder that Jews coming to live in the land of Israel have always faced obstacles, both real and perceived.  Whether to live there or not may be an individual choice, but no matter our personal decision we all have the privilege and obligation to support Israel.

Today's media are filled with discussions of the weakening connection of American Jews - particularly young American Jews - to Israel.

• Is Israel perfect?
• Is any country perfect?
• Is Israel a target of criticism far out of proportion to its actions?
• Is there diversity of political opinion within Israel?
• Can one criticize Israel's actions while still supporting her?
• As Jewish educators what should we be teaching about Israel?
• How can what we teach encourage emotional engagement with Israel?  

Here is the article by Peter Beinart about the loss of liberal support for Israel.
Here is a response by Benjamin Kerstein
I suggest you read both articles.

Odds and Ends, Thoughts and Ideas, Challenges and Questions

This post is longer than usual, but I hope you will find many things to think about.  And tonight is Shabbat, so you should have plenty of time to do your thinking!!
Please share your thoughts with the rest of the reading community so we can learn from each other.


From Michael Tucker, in the AARP Bulletin, January 1, 2010 edition on-line.

"Pen Man"

"You’d think that Indianapolis teacher Dan Stroup would have major writer’s cramp by now. That’s because every past and present student of his eighth-grade Bible class receives a personal, handwritten birthday letter from him every year. “I wanted them to know that I not only cared about them in the classroom but outside the classroom,” says Stroup, 54, who teaches at Heritage Christian School. Stroup figures he’s penned about 33,000 letters to 2,500 students over 25 years, using regular pens and tablets of lined paper. “If students know I care about them, they’re more open to what I teach,” he says."

What a wonderful idea - and what a valuable suggestion.  Can you think of ways to show your students  that you care about them?  How about helping them learn their Hebrew birthdays through a lesson on the Jewish calendar, and using that as an opportunity to both reinforce their connection to Judaism and to let them know you are thinking about them.  Just a thought.

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from Jeffrey Rosen, NYT Magazine, January 8, 2010:  Prisoners of Parole
Rosen writes about a pilot project to reduce parole violations, and through that reduce jail time, in Hawaii.  He writes that

"...a variety of recent research suggest[s] that people are more likely to obey the law when they view law enforcement as fair and legitimate."

While Rosen focuses on law enforcement and ways in which that can be more effective, surely the same ideas are relevant in the classroom.  The words that appear over and over in articles about classrooms that work include the following words:  fair, firm, consistent.  That is the big idea of Rosen's article, and it is a big idea in teaching and learning.
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from John Tagliabue, NY Times, January 5, 2010:  Rising Price of Faith in France's Shrinking Parishes
France has a problem with its churches.  The population is less and less active in religious practice, the number of priests is a fraction of what it once was, and the cost of upkeep of the admittedly beautiful buildings is higher and higher.  The solution in some towns has been to continue to support the traditional buildings, while in others the decision has been made to demolish what have become underused and increasingly expensive structures and replace them with modern and more efficient buildings.

"In other countries, notably England and Italy, disused houses of worship have been converted into homes, stores or museums. In France, there is an emotional resistance to the practice, though in Dijon, an abandoned church now serves as a theater, and in Alsace, also in the east, former synagogues now serve as museums."

Why am I bringing this article?  In my opinion the fundamental problem is inability or unwillingness to think seriously about the future.  For our institutions the questions we must ask include the following:

• What is the infrastructure that is necessary to support a future that may look very different from today?  
• Do our buildings meet the needs of tomorrow's Jewish populations?  
• Do our institutions support creative and innovative programs that engage people whose connections to Judaism are based on a variety of different forces?  
• Are we encouraging platforms for developing community that are realistic for today and tomorrow?

These are really important, really challenging, really tough questions.  We need to begin to answer them now.
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Footnotes in Gaza is a new book by Joe Sacco, reviewed on December 27, 2009 in the New York Times Book Review.  It suggests that the reason for Palestinian hatred of Israel can be traced to 2 incidents in 1956 during which Israeli troops massacred Arab residents during one of the many wars between Israel and her neighbors which have taken place over time.  Two letters to the editor of the NY Times challenge this assertion.
Choosing an arbitrary date on which to begin a historical narrative ignores what came before.  In the case of the Middle East situation one can hardly claim seriously that the conflict began in 1956.  How the author/illustrator does this is one thing - how the reviewer repeats this ridiculous accusation is even worse.
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from David Brooks, January 12, 2010: The Tel Aviv Cluster
If you want to feel really proud of being Jewish and having Israel 'in the family', read this article.
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If you are teaching about the Holocaust, or even if it is not a part of your regular curriculum, please take time to note with your students the death of Miep Gies, who helped hide Anne Frank in Amsterdam and saved her diary when the Frank family was deported to Auschwitz.  A detailed obituary is available at Legacy.com .  You can find a good resource for learning about her and about World War II at the following website:   http://teacher.scholastic.com/frank/miep.htm .  There are lesson plans appropriate for grades 4 - 8 on that website as well.
If you are looking for a Jewish source of information about Righteous Gentiles, this link to the Jewish Virtual Library website is a good resource.  It does not mention Ms. Gies, but it does mention several others who risked their lives to save Jews during the Shoah.

Israel is Complicated

Israel is always in the news, out of all proportion to its physical size and probably also out of proportion to its real impact on world events. One can read articles suggesting that unconditional support of Israel and all its policies is vital to her survival, and one can read articles suggesting that it is precisely such support that is the cause of all the world's problems.

More troubling to many Jewish educators is the fact that many of our students are not sufficiently engaged in thinking about Israel at all to have formed meaningful opinions. They just don't care. To paraphrase a popular phrase, "They're just not that into Israel!"

The Jewish community has tried in many ways to engage American Jewish young people with Israel. We write curricula, we sponsor trips, we show movies, we bring speakers - the list is endless. Some techniques work for some people, others for other people, some better, some not so well.

One thing is for sure - there is no single magic trick that will work all the time for all the learners. This post is one idea among many that you may want to try.

If it works, please leave a comment so others can benefit from your experience.

If you have another idea, please share it with other readers.

If the suggestion falls on its face, perhaps you have an idea for making it better.

Good luck, Shabbat Shalom and Hag Sameach.

Big Idea:

• The relationship between American Jews and Israel is complex but important

Essential Questions:

• How do American Jews create/sustain/change/understand/express their relationship to Israel?
• How can we as Jewish educators engage our learners in serious analysis of their relationship to Israel?

Learning Activities:

• Compare and contrast the two articles at the links here. One is by Jay Michaelson, and is entitled How I'm Losing My Love for Israel. The other, a reponse to Michaelson's essay, is by Daniel Gordis, entitled No Right to Exhaustion. What do these two authors have in common? How do they differ?
• Read Deep Denial, by Michael Oren, Israel's Ambassador to the United States, and read Jonathan Sarna's article in HaAretz, Why are American Jews Abandoning Israel? What do these two authors have in common? How do they differ?
• JStreet and AIPAC are two organizations which state their support for Israel. Go to each of their websites at the links here. What do they have in common? How do they differ?

Assessment:

• Write to one of the authors of the articles above explaining why you agree or disagree with his expressed opinion
• Create a visual display that illustrates one of the articles you agree with. You may want to work with a partner to do this.
• Follow reports on Israel for one week, either in a newspaper, on TV, or on other media. At the end of the week, create a timeline of events that you learned about.
• Formulate a statement that articulates the way(s) in which you expect to learn more about Israel in the future.

At the end of the period during which you and your students are together, they may or may not come to the same conclusions about Israel that you have.

Hopefully what they will have developed is an interest in being actively engaged with Israel.

Hopefully they will care about Israel.

Hopefully they will continue to struggle with the challenge of being American Jews in a relationship with Israel.

Israel is a pretty special place

This past week Amos Kenan died. You may never have heard of him, but you can read about him at the following links:

An original ahead of his time - Amos Kenan‎ from HaAretz

and

Writer Helped Shape Israeli culture from the Washington Post.

According to these articles, Kenan was part of the heroic generation which fought for Israel's independence from Britain, and in his later years was also one of the leaders of the movement for Palestinian independence. Sounds like a contradiction. He also urged the formation of a new Israeli culture that would be separated from Judaism and would use Hebrew as its foundation, not religion.

This view was not uncommon among the early Jewish settlers in modern times, and is not totally gone today. There are many people who prefer to describe themselves as "Israeli" rather than "Jewish", even if they are in fact Jews.

What other country in this troubled part of the world is willing to acknowledge dissent - even dissent which argues against the very foundations of the country - Israel as a Jewish Country? Can you imagine Saudi Arabia separating its Arab culture from its religious connection? Or any other Middle Eastern country? Perhaps Lebanon, but we know how challenging that has been for that country.

I believe that one of the great strengths of Israel, and its uniqueness in the Middle East, is its ability to support critical differences of opinion among its citizenry. We may be disturbed by what looks like lack of civility in the K'nesset, but we can certainly admire the outspokenness of its members.

In teaching our students, who live in a culture of diversity and who learn from early in their educational experience that opinions can be expressed openly and without fear of retribution, this attribute of Israel can be a powerful idea to explore. It can encourage the kind of critical thinking that is so important in learning today.

Big Idea:

• Israel is a country in which the right to think independently is strongly supported.

Essential Questions to think about:

1. What different ideas about the nature of Israel are expressed by its inhabitants?
2. How does the framework of the government support differences of opinion?
3. What about the political process in Israel shows support for a variety of ideas?

Activities to support learning:

1. Find out how many political parties exist in Israel.
2. Divide the class into teams of 2 - 4 students each
3. Have each team pick 1 or 2 parties and prepare a presentation to explain their philosophies to the rest of the class. Be sure that at least 8 different parties from different areas of the political spectrum are examined by the teams.

Assessment: Choose from among these activities

1. Have the teams present the information they learned about the parties they studied.
2. Discuss the similarities and differences among the parties
3. Prepare a chart to compare and contrast the views of the political parties in the K'nesset
4. Find out more about Amos Kenan and/or one of the groups he belonged to: Lehi, HaShomer HaTzair, the Canaanite Movement.