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.

An Advantage Jewish Educators Have

Constructivist teaching is an exciting, engaging way of supporting student learning. You may be interested in reading about a teacher's experience with constructivism in her classroom here.

Teachers in general education are often challenged by the necessity of adhering to curriculum that is designed to improve outcomes on high-stakes tests. Because of this they may find it difficult to honor the principle of allowing the learner to set the agenda for learning.

In Jewish education, I would suggest, the situation is different. While there are set curricula that schools adopt and/or create, there is a great deal more flexibility in desired Jewish learning outcomes than is generally the case in the general educational world. There are - at least in the congregational or complementary schools I am familiar with - no universal desired outcomes for students learning (one might argue about the requirements for performance at Bar/Bat Mitzvah, but that is a whole other story, one I hope to address at length some other time)

The outcomes we hope for are broad, deep, and often difficult to articulate.

Certainly we want to encourage subject knowledge. One would be hard-pressed to argue against a shared body of Judaic content knowledge. What should be included in this body is of course open to discussion.

We want the products of our education to participate in Jewish life. In what ways? Again, open to discussion.

We want our learners to go further - to believe that their Jewish learning is not complete when they finish the learning programs we provide for them - that they can and should be learning Jewishly during the rest of their lives.

That last outcome is one that I believe constructivist teaching can support in a powerful way. If our learners are given the autonomy to learn what interests them, and surely there are enough options within the body of Jewish content to support many different learning streams, then I believe they will see Jewish learning as something that has the potential to meet their actual needs.

Learners flourish when they have control of their learning. In Jewish education we are in a unique position to encourage and support this kind of learning - and to hope it will lead to a lifetime of self-motivated Jewish learning.

Things that Matter

The new head of the National Institutes of Health, Francis Collins, rides a Harley. He also believes in God.

What in the world does this have to do with Jewish education?

Here's what I thought when I began to read about him: Here's a fellow who believes in God, considers himself religious, and sees no conflict between his theology and his science. I like him already.

But then I went on to read about how he dresses, and how the previous two heads of the NIH dressed, and how their appearance and demeanor have affected the way their policies were viewed by the public.

Again, what does this have to do with Jewish education?

I think the big idea here is that while it may be that what's inside is what really counts, the real world often says otherwise. We tend to feel comfortable with people we can identify with. And one of the ways in which we decide if we can identify is through commonalities. We can better get to important ideas if we can start with shared experience and realities.

Do you know what TV programs your students watch? Have you ever watched them? What about music? Movies? Fashions?

I'm not saying we ought to be acting like teenagers or like kids. And I'm not suggesting that we emulate their taste in popular culture! Far from it!!

But I do think that we should be familiar with the culture they are immersed in.

Do you know what the current most downloaded song is?

Do you know what movie opened this past weekend that most if not all of your students saw?

Do you know what they watched last night on television?

These are ways to open conversations.

Take advantage.

And then get to the important stuff.

Like, how do we teach B'riyat Ha'olam to kids who know the Big Bang Theory?

V'Zot HaBrachah

This parasha, as you no doubt know, is the last segment of the 5 Books of Moses. We have read the entire Torah at this point, and it is really interesting to see how it all ends. Personally this parasha was a welcome relief to me, and not because it's finally over! Let's examine why:

Big Ideas:

• People remember beginnings and endings, often better than what is in the middle
• An author often uses an ending to express a summary of ideas contained within the entire body of writing
• Some people choose to write a document called an "ethical will" for those who survive them
• Endings are often beginnings of something entirely new.

Essential Questions:

1. What appears to be the emotional setting for this parasha?
2. How do the emotions expressed in this parasha compare to those in the rest of D'varim? in the other books of the Torah?
3. Whose voice(s) do you hear in this parasha?
4. This parasha is never read at a regular Shabbat morning service. What is the context for reading this parasha?

Learning Activities: Choose

• Compare and contrast Moshe's blessing with that of Yaacov at the end of B'Reisheet
• Compare and contrast this parasha with the rest of D'Varim.
• Read about Jewish ethical wills here and/or here.
• Read an example of a Jewish ethical will written by a not-yet-mother here
• Read Rabbi Oren Hayon's commentary on this parasha . Explain how you understand this passage in his essay:

"When, at last, Moses dies, his soul departs al pi Adonai, literally, “by God’s mouth” (34:5). Mouth to mouth, the breath of Moses is drawn in and subsumed into the breath of God. God tenderly inhales Moses’s final breath and then pauses. As we begin our cyclical reading of Torah once more, God exhales, filling Adam’s nostrils and giving life to all creation."

from Moses's Death,God's Breath, Oren J. Hayon.

Assessment Activities: Choose

• How did this parasha affect your understanding of Moshe? of B'nai Yisrael? of the Torah?
• Illustrate your understanding of this parasha, either in words or pictures.
• Explain what it means to you to begin immediately re-reading the Torah after you have just finished it.
• You read an ethical will written by a women whose child was not yet born. She explains that she will update it as time goes on. Even though you will probably live a very long time, try to write a first draft of your own ethical will. Who are you writing it to? What will you say? Explain when you think you will want to update it and why.

BIG IDEA:

There is more than one way to be motivated to understand and experience teshuvah.

QUESTIONS YOU WILL WANT YOUR STUDENTS TO BE ABLE TO ANSWER:

1. At this time of year, why are we especially motivated in the direction of teshuvah?
2. What prayers do you know of that help guide you on the path toward teshuvah?
3. What are the triggers for your own teshuvah?
4. How can you effectively focus on teshuvah?

LEARNING ACTIVITY:

Leonard Cohen is currently in Israel, and is expected to perform this week in Ramat Gan for a sellout crowd. This is not his first trip to Israel - he performed there during the 1973 Yom Kippur War in support of Israeli troops. You can read a first-person account of this here

Because it is so moving, and because we are in the period of Asseret Y'mei Teshuvah, the Ten days of Teshuvah, I hope Cohen will play this song: Who By Fire, which is based on the well-known prayer "U'Netane Tokef", a prominent part of the service on Yom Kippur.

Compare the lyrics in Cohen's song with those of the original.

Cohen's lyrics are at this link

Here are the words to U'Netane Tokef, according to a translation at ou.org:

On Rosh Hashanah will be inscribed

and on Yom Kippur will be sealed

how many will pass from the earth

and how many will be created;

who will live and who will die;

who will die at his predestined time

and who before his time;

who by water and who by fire,

who by sword, who by beast,

who by famine, who by thirst,

who by storm, who by plague,

who by strangulation, and who by stoning.

Who will rest and who will wander,

who will live in harmony and who will be harried,

who will enjoy tranquillity and who will suffer,

who will be impoverished and who will be enriched,

who will be degraded and who will be exalted.

Another version of the same prayer can be found here, with English translations appearing on the screen

To hear yet another version of this same prayer by the Israeli group Gevatron, click here and listen from the beginning of the 4th minute.

Another modern take on a traditional idea:

God's iPhone:

ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES: CHOOSE ONE OR MORE

• Write your own version of Unetaneh Tokef
• Compose your own melody for Unetaneh Tokef
• Illustrate your understanding of Unetaneh Tokef
• Write a short description of what Unetaneh tokef means to you.

I wish you all G'mar Hatimah Tovah, and may this Yom Kippur be meaningful for you and for all those around you.

More on Haazinu

A suggestion if you are teaching this parasha: since the body of it is a poem, and since poetry is often better understood when recited rather than when read silently, I urge you to read sections of this poem aloud to your students - and dramatically!!

I never suggest having students read aloud in turn - in my opinion (and that of most educators) the only two people paying attention in that case are the reader herself and the person who is on deck to read next and wants to be sure to know the place.

The difference when you read aloud is that you will have

• prepared the students to put themselves in the position of the people who are listening to Moshe
• reminded them that they were born in the desert, don't have their own memories of Egyptian slavery or of the Exodus
• pre-read the passage, thought about the meaning of the passages you have chosen, and
• will read with expression and passion. You will be sure you
• know how to pronounce all the words, you will possibly have
• edited the language to be more understandable to your students without changing the meaning of the text, you will
• direct your students to listen for the answers to some questions you have posed... How do you feel about listening to Moshe? What do you think about what he is saying? Have you ever heard any of this before? Why do you think he is talking about it now?
• select the sections that clearly illustrate what you want your students to think about.

One of the interesting issues this parasha raises is the question of why one obeys laws. It appears that the reason for obeying the laws stated by Moshe is that the people will be punished - severely punished - if (or when, if you read the text carefully) they disobey.

BIG IDEA:

There are many reasons people obey laws

QUESTIONS STUDENTS WILL NEED TO BE ABLE TO ANSWER:

Why do people obey rules?

Are there reasons for obeying some rules and not others?

Who has the authority to set the rules?

Who has the authority to punish rule-breakers?

If there were no punishment, would people obey rules?

LEARNING ACTIVITIES:

Discuss some of the laws we live by in this country (traffic laws, taxes, etc. You might want to mention the red light cameras that are being installed in Nassau County as an example of a way of enforcing a law). Who creates the laws? Who enforces them? What happens to those who disobey the laws? Are laws and rules the same thing? Compare and contrast the rules God sets forth through Moshe and those of your community. Are they equally binding? Explain your answer.

SUGGESTIONS FOR ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES:

The purpose of these activities is to help students better understand the important ideas they have been uncovering together. They are actually self-assessment rather than teacher-assessment, which is really more appropriate especially at this time of year.

1. During this season of teshuvah, have students may come up with their own thoughts on doing better in following God's rules. This can be done privately, during quiet time in class. You may want students to write what they have decided, and to seal these papers to be opened at a future time you will determine with the students.
2. Have students create a display that illustrates rules/laws that they expect will be followed in the synagogue/school because they are the right thing to do, rather than because of fear of punishment.
3. Set aside reflection time at the end of each class session during the month of Tishrei for students to think about which of God's rules they have followed that day, which they might have done better in following, and which they plan to concentrate on the following session.

I WISH YOU ALL G'MAR HATIMAH TOVAH.

Parashat Haazinu

This is the last portion of the Torah that is read on an ordinary Shabbat. The final portion, V'Zot Habrachah, is read on the holiday of Simhat Torah.

So what is noteworthy about this parasha?

First, most of it is written in the form of a poem. This is the second poem that Moshe has recited to the Israelites. What was the first?

Read the first poem here - in chapter 15, verses 1 - 19 of Exodus.

Read this week's poem here - in chapter 32, verses 1 - 43 of Deuteronomy

I'd like to suggest comparing these two poems in the following ways:

1. What is the context in which the poem is recited? What has just happened in each case? What is about to happen?
2. To whom is Moshe speaking in each case? In what way might that make a difference in the tone of the poems?
3. What do you think is the purpose of each of these poems? In what way does each seek to accomplish its purpose?
4. In your opinion, does either of the poems do what you believe it is trying to do? Explain why you think it does or does not.
5. There are some scholars who believe that these two poems are actually older than the rest of the Torah. What would it mean to how you understand Torah if this were true?
6. What do you think is the Big Idea in this parasha? Be ready to explain why you think so.

Another thing to think about:

The following verse appears in the parasha

ח בְּהַנְחֵל עֶלְיוֹן גּוֹיִם, {ס} בְּהַפְרִידוֹ בְּנֵי אָדָם; {ר} יַצֵּב גְּבֻלֹת עַמִּים, {ס} לְמִסְפַּר בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל. {ר}

8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when God separated the children of men, God set the borders of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel.

Some scholars believe that the original text read:

"When the Most High established nations and split up the sons of men

He fixed the boundaries of peoples according to the number of gods."

What is different about these two texts? Why do you think it might have been changed? Which text makes more sense to you?

See you tomorrow, when we will discuss these and other issues in greater depth.

Comments? Criticisms? Suggestions? All welcome, as usual!

Who's Telling the Story?

A new movie - Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - opened Friday. Most of the reviews I read were written by adults.

What did the adults see? a "satiric picture of gluttony" a "cautionary tale about portion control", the message that "intelligence can be attractive". These quotations are from one review in Newsday, and may very well describe the intent of the authors of the book and the movie on which it is based.

What did the kids see? "It also has a message: Don't give up - always try your best and follow your heart". This by a 10-year-0ld reviewer, in Kidsday, written by and for kids, also in Newsday.

Did these reviewers see the same movie? They sure did. But they saw it with different eyes.

I read this review and realized once again that what we are 'teaching' is not necessarily the same as what they are 'learning'. If the essential question being answered was, "What did you learn from the movie? or 'What do you think the author wants you to know" then clearly the viewers, adults and children, had reached different enduring understandings.

What is the message for educators? Be sure your assessment (in this case the review can be considered a kind of assessment) is designed to illustrate the meaning our learners have uncovered from the learning activity.

As I've said before, the perspective of the reader/viewer/learner has a huge effect on the way in which anything is read/seen/learned.

Thoughts on the New Year

David Brooks writes in the NY Times today about a perceived change in culture in the United States in the years since the end of World War II. His article, High Five Nation describes a cultural shift from a default position of humility to one of self-congratulation and pride. He even quotes Bing Crosby at the end of the war,

• “All anybody can do is thank God it’s over,” Bing Crosby ... said. “Today our deep down feeling is one of humility,” he added.

Brooks goes on to quote an article written by correspondent Ernie Pyle:

• “We won this war because our men are brave and because of many things — because of Russia, England and China and the passage of time and the gift of nature’s material. We did not win it because destiny created us better than all other peoples. I hope that in victory we are more grateful than we are proud.”

(by the way, I'm not sure his evaluation is totally fair - a friend today commented that the celebrations in Times Square of the Allied victory were hardly understated - and yet..) There is an element of his argument that rings true to me as a Jewish educator.

At this time of year, as we approach Rosh HaShanah, much of the liturgy we participate in and that we are preparing our students to participate in revolves around our belief that ultimately it is God who is responsible and to whom we are responsible, not only ourselves.

When we survive a life-threatening incident we thank God for sparing us.

When we hear of a death the traditional response is "Baruch Dayan Emet", 'Blessed is the Righteous Judge', which again confirms our belief that life and death are in God's hands.

It is God who decides who lives and who dies.

There is, I think, an essential humility in this belief that David Brooks would admire.

In the year coming, I wish you all a productive and fulfilling partnership with God in achieving all you wish for.

Rosh HaShanah Torah Reading: Akedat Yitzhak

This coming Shabbat is the first day of Rosh HaShanah, and the Torah reading is the section of B'reisheet concerning the binding of Isaac.

Here are a few suggestions for reading and viewing that can inform our conversation on Tuesday morning:

First read chapters 21 and 22 of B'reisheet here or in your Humash. [note: in traditional synagogues both chapters are read - 21 on the first day and 22 on the second day. In Reform synagogues that celebrate only one day chapter 22 is read. In Reform synagogues that celebrate two days the story of creation is usually read on the second day]

• What is the content of chapter 21?
• What is the content of chapter 22?

For a detailed article about the Akedah - the Binding of Isaac, you may want to read Jewish Virtual Library's long and well-researched description of the story from early Biblical origins, through successive Jewish thinkers, and including the meaning of the Akedah in modern Israeli society.

A shorter version which includes much of the above appears at My Jewish Learning, in an article by Rabbi Dr. Louis Jacobs. You may find it easier reading, and you will still get most of the ideas that are in the JVL version, though not in as much detail.

One of the issues often discussed by Jewish educators is the issue of the suitability of this story for children. An excerpt from an article about this appears here. Although just an excerpt, it can easily serve as a jumping-off point for our conversation.

Tablet Magazine, a wonderful online resource for interesting and often controversial articles and Jewish news, has posted a podcast (you can listen here) of an interview with a Christian author who has written about the akedah from the perspective of its influence on Judaism, Christianity and Islam, particularly in the attitudes of each of these religions toward martyrdom. The podcast is long, nearly 20 minutes, but if you have the patience to listen to the whole thing I think you will find it adds to our understanding of the impact of this story.

This article in Jewcy Magazine - Son Sacrifice: Humility and the Significance of the Akedah is a good presentation of the difference between the way Americans look at this story and the way Israelis see it.

Finally, as a sort of comic relief, watch this video. I'm really curious as to your reaction.

I'd like you to think about the following questions for our conversation tomorrow. As always, I welcome your comments directly on the blog as well as in person.

• In your opinion, why do you think the rabbis chose these two chapters to be read on Rosh HaShanah?
• In those synagogues in which Rosh HaShanah is celebrated for one day, why do you think chapter 22 was selected?
• What do you think about teaching this story to children? Does the age of the children affect how you will tell the story? Or if you will tell it at all?
• Telling this story in Israel is very different from telling it in our context. Why? Do you think the way it is understood in Israel should be shared with our students here? What can our students learn about Israel and Israeli culture from this conversation? What can Israelis learn about American Jews from this conversation?
• If you think about teaching these two chapters year after year, before every Rosh HaShanah, how do you think the teaching and learning might change from year to year?
• Remembering that our guiding principle is that the Big Ideas in what we learn are those elements we want our students to remember after they have forgotten everything else, what do you believe is (or are) the Big Idea(s) of this Torah reading?

If My Idea of Jewish Education Was Working, Really Working

Over the past few days I read two articles about the same subject - an effort being made to encourage the use of the Korean alphabet to write languages other than Korean. The case in point is an island in Indonesia whose inhabitants have an oral language but no written one. There is a teacher there who is writing the sounds of the language using the Korean phonetic system.

One article appeared in the Wall Street Journal and the other in the New York Times.

You may be wondering what this has to do with Jewish education, so let me clarify what I meant by the title of this post.

If my idea of Jewish education was working, really working, then the Jewishly well-educated reader of either of these articles would immediately think of Eliezer Ben Yehudah, the person who practically single-handedly led the revival of the Hebrew language in modern times.

Or perhaps the reader might think of Yiddish, the language of the Eastern European Jewish community which borrowed vocabulary from the countries in which it was spoken but was always written using Hebrew letters.

Or of Ladino, the lingua franca of the Sephardic Jews, which again borrowed much of its vocabulary from the language of the non-Jewish majority, in this case Spanish, and was also customarily written in Hebrew letters.

And in reading the version in the NY Times, the reader would also notice the information that during Japanese occupation of Korea the use of Korean was forbidden, and think - naturally - about the Romans and how they forbid study of Torah and of Hebrew, and how the language was so important as a carrier of culture that we continued to study in secret.

So what's the big idea behind this post?

We fail if the knowledge our students acquire remains sequestered behind the walls of the religious school or synagogue building.

Our success is manifest when our students use the lens of their Jewish learning to better understand the wider world in which they live, and apply the wisdom of our tradition to all their vision.

We Use All the Blueberries

Do educators and MBA's live in different universes? Here's my response.

An MBA was speaking to a group of teachers. She was explaining how she created an expectation of excellence in a bakery she was advising. The specialty of this bakery was blueberry pies. She carefully described how she streamlined the company, eliminated errors in production, improved quality control, dealt with complaints, etc.

When she invited questions from the audience of educators, one teacher raised his hand and asked, "What do you do with the blueberries that aren't perfect?"

The lecturer answered, with a casual smile, "Oh, we discard them. That's the only way to be sure the pies are perfect."

The teacher smiled as well. "You see, that's the difference between what you do and what we do. We have to use all the blueberries."

I don't remember where or when I heard this story. But it has stayed with me because it highlights a major difference between education and business. We in education use 'all the blueberries'.

We are responsible the learning of those students who are a pleasure in class, and also those who challenge us at every opportunity.

And sometimes we're disappointed with the pies. And sometimes we're proud of them. We keep on 'baking', though, and try to adjust to the different 'ingredients' and 'oven temperatures' and 'humidity' and on and on and on with all the other variables that exist in the classroom but not necessarily on the assembly line.

And in Jewish education especially, where our mission is to empower every student to feel valued and respected within the Jewish community, we need to take special notice of the blueberries that aren't 'perfect.'

We can't discard them. We can't have a single student who says at the end of the day, "I'm just not good at this Jewish thing."

Here are a few articles that may help you reach every single blueberry in your class.

Dr. Mel Levine, author of All Kinds of Minds, has a wonderful website with excellent suggestions for identifying the strengths of your students and building on them.

All Kinds of Minds

Dr. Thomas Armstrong is a proponent of using Multiple Intelligences theory in education. This framework was proposed by Dr. Howard Gardner of Harvard University, and suggests that everyone is good at something, and we need to broaden our understanding of what constitutes intelligence. You can read more here

For those who are interested, here is a charming video entitled My Best Teacher. Please watch it and think about what elements you can uncover that inform this short piece.

Shanah Tovah, and may you enjoy all the blueberries - even the imperfect ones!

New Year, New Thinking?

Sunday's NY Times Business Section had an article about the way companies approach their work. Welcoming the New, Improving the Old describes two very different ways to get better at what we do. One approach - Six Sigma - involves precise measurement and adjustment to reach the desired results. The other - Design Thinking - promotes "outside the box" creativity, in which everything is deemed possible.

At first, when I read this article, I thought about the implications for education. After all, we all want to improve, don't we? Which of these two ideas would work for us? What combination of the two would get us where we want to be?

And yet as I read further it became obvious to me that some of the assumptions that are made in the business world just don't work in the world of education, and certainly not in the world of Jewish education.

The business world can deal in absolutes. Problems are measurable. Solutions can be neat. An item you manufacture either works or doesn't. Procedures can be put in place to resolve problems. Money is available in the hopes that the product will increase the bottom line.

Education is fundamentally different. Some outcomes are measurable but others are not. The "product", which is what I will call the learner, can be a moving target - reacting one way on Monday and another on Tuesday.

So how do we improve our outcomes in Jewish education?

First we need to decide what we want our outcomes to be. Not so easy. Content knowledge? Group identity? Behaviors? Theological perspective? All these are parts of the outcome, and no one segment is sufficient.

When we think about our challenges we need to accept the fact that perfection is not an option. Teaching is not neat. Learning is not neat. Even Jewish thought is not neat.

As we begin the school year, and the Jewish year, I urge you to be open to new ideas, to be ready to try something you never tried before, to reflect on what you are doing, and to continue to approach Jewish education with the passion it deserves.

Here are some websites that may help you think about the upcoming year:

Teachers' New Years Resolutions - written for the general New Year, but certainly applicable for Rosh HaShanah

The Art of Teaching - by a science teacher, with a wonderful lesson for all of us

Inspiring Teachers Blog - appears to be inactive, but the posts available are valuable

Teaching Resources - provides a link to a number of Educational Resources and Videos for Rosh HaShanah

BJENY has a number of lesson plans on its website

Oprah Winfrey may not have had Rosh HaShanah in mind, but I like her attitude:

"Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right."

Telling Stories, Telling the Truth

As the school year begins for most of us, we will be asked - probably over and over - "Is this story true?" Whether we are teaching Torah narrative, Jewish history, or Midrash, we will need to understand the meaning behind the question before we can give an appropriate answer.

What does "true" mean? I believe there are multiple ways to understand this word.

• True can mean historically accurate, verifiable through scientific examination.
• True can mean fundamentally valid, with an intrinsic importance to understanding the world.
• True can mean 'what I believe' - the story from the perspective of the group to which I belong.
• True can mean 'what I want the listener to believe' - part of the narrative that defines my identity and that I hope will shape the identity of others.

With all these meanings for a simple one-syllable word, what can the answer be to the question, "Is this story true?"

Before you answer, I believe it is important to think deeply about the motivation for the question. Does the student want to know what you believe? What you want him or her to believe? Whether the enduring idea of the story has validity?

Only when you have considered these possibilities do I believe you can answer honestly and appropriately.

In this essay by Daniel Shifrin you will read about one parent's struggle with this issue. You may or may not agree with his conclusions.

The truth is that you should be struggling with the issue as well.

Ki Tavo

It seems pretty clear on first reading of this parasha that if we follow God's commandments we will be OK, and if we don't, well, the description of the alternative doesn't seem very appealing.

Is this as simple as it seems? Do what God commands, God will reward you. Violate God's commands, God will punish you.

So... good things will only happen to good people, and bad things to those who deserve to be punished. Right?

We all know that this is not always the case. And not only us - our Rabbis and teachers have known this for a very long time. The problem is so obvious that it has a name: theodicy. You can read an explanation of theodicy and Judaism's response in this selection from Sacred Fragments, by Neil Gillman

Are there other ways to understand this parasha? Let's look at a few:

Different translation of what happens if you follow the commandments, from Hillel.org, a site for college students

Is there another way to understand the curses? from It's the Joy, not the Oy, at Kolel

What is there in this parasha that relates to the current conversation about food -

• what is a "locovore"?
• what is "sustainable farming"?
• and what does this have to do with the parasha?

Go to www.canfeinesharim.org to learn more about meaningful relationships we can develop with those who produce our food. Read here about the relationship between bikurim and the Jewish communal society.

As you read through the text of the parasha - 26:1 - 29:8 of the book of Devarim,

• what are the Big Ideas you want your students to remember after they have forgotten all the details?
• What are the Essential Questions you want them to ask themselves? Those are the questions that, if they can answer them, will be evidence that they have understood these Big Ideas?

This parasha is always read during the month of Elul. Can you relate what you have read in the text with this time in the calendar?

Please feel free to send your comments, questions, reactions so we can have a rich conversation on-line, if not in person.

See you next week.