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Archives: In the Classroom
September
2006: "A
picture is worth a thousand words."
As a teacher, how many times have you noticed how
much more powerfully an image communicates rather than
the written word? Show students a photograph, a painting,
a video--and they "get it." These visual media
are among your most treasured teaching tools and help
you make your point in ways that words often don't suffice.
We encourage you to think about using another whimsical
and effective teaching tool--the political cartoon.
With the uproar in the press concerning the Danish publication
of cartoons offensive to some of the Muslim world, using
cartoons to teach Israel couldn't be more timely. Check
out this lesson plan and adapt it for use in your classroom.
In conjunction with The Cartoonists' Diagnosis
traveling exhibit (see under Exhibits)
Cartoonists'
Diagnosis Lesson Plan (in 4 parts)
Connecting to Israel through
Political Cartoons
Grade Band
6-12
Estimated Lesson Time
Two to three class sessions dependent on choice of cartoons'
topics.
Overview
In this lesson, middle and high school students connect
to Israel through learning to evaluate political cartoons
for their meaning, message, and persuasiveness.
Student Objectives
Students will:
• Gain more knowledge about Israel, its society, political
system and culture.
• Compare American and Israeli democratic societies
Instructional Plan
Lesson 1:
Preparation
As preparation for this lesson, you will first need
to view the online learning activity:
Analyzing the Purpose and
Meaning of Political Cartoons
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=794
We found it to be an utterly resourceful lesson plan
with many useful links. The most practical link, which
we strongly recommend to follow, is:
It's No Laughing Matter:
Analyzing Political Cartoons
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/learn/features/political_cartoon/index.html
While the whole lesson plan is tailored to teachers’
needs, we included here a single page handout: Cartoon
Analysis Guide.
This page could be printed to students as they review
the Israeli cartoons.
To get the full lesson plan...
- Click
to download Cartoonists' Diagnosis Lesson Plan 1
- Click to download
Cartoonists' Diagnosis
Lesson Plan 2
- Click to download
Cartoonists' Diagnosis
Lesson Plan 3
- Click to download
Cartoonists'
Diagnosis Lesson Plan 4
We now have an educational kit that includes:
The exhibit as a PowerPoint presentation on a CD, the
exhibit's catalog and the lesson plan.
If you want us to send you this kit, for educational
purposes only, please write
to: IsraelEducation@sfjcf.org.
October
2005: Itamar Walks on walls
Israel Education is more than memorizing
major cities and important dates. It's also about puppet
shows, songs, childrens’ literature and hip-hop music.
Read about a new curriculum for Itamar by David Grossman.
Itamar Walks
on Walls is a favorite Israeli children's
story about a little boy with an amazing gift - at night,
while everyone is asleep, Itamar can walk on walls.
He climbs up the walls of his bedroom to a picture hanging
there and actually enters the picture. He says, "When
you enter a picture you see and hear things that you
don't see and hear from the outside."
 This
might be a metaphor for the way children learn about
Israel. When they can enter the magical world of literature
created just for them, they hear and feel things that
would otherwise be closed.
Itamar's character was created by one of Israel's
most important and widely read authors, David Grossman.
Grossman is also known internationally for his acclaimed
novels, such as See Under: Love and for his incisive
non-fiction, such as The Yellow Wind, a powerful account
of life in the West Bank. He is also a highly-respected
political commentator with liberal views.
It is less well known that Grossman, 2004 winner of
the Israel Prize for A Life Project, is equally adept
at describing the fantastical world of children - and
his series of books on Itamar has become part of the
canon of classic Israeli children's stories.
The beloved book was translated into English and adapted
into a puppet show with music and songs written especially
for the production. Adapted and performed by the prize
winning theatre director and performer Sharona Shapiro,
the show was brought to the Bay Area in September by
the Israel Education Initiative and the Consulate General
of Israel which sponsored eight performances in the
Bay Area and reached hundreds of schoolchildren.
In conjunction with the performances, a translation
of the book was written and a lesson plan was developed,
both by Gabe Salgado. We hope you'll explore this great
tool to connect young kids to Israel through a beloved
whimsical story that will inspire and delight. The books
and many more titles are available at Orly's bookstore
(www.orlysbookstore.com) and at other Bay Area Judaica
and bookstores.
Click
here for lesson Plan... Click
here for a translation...
December
2005: Let There Be Light
 In
the modern world, there is not a great deal of difference
between day and night; darkness is merely a temporary
nuisance, easily vanquished by touching a switch. In
ancient times, however, darkness was not as easily overcome.
Accordingly, the oil lamp was one of the most important
household appliances in antiquity. For over three millennia,
it lit the homes, temples, synagogues, and churches
of the Holy Land.
According to Jewish tradition, it is one
of the items that a husband is obliged to provide for
his wife (Tosefta, Ketubot 5:8). An individual who lacked
a lamp was in desperate straits: To be “in want of all
things” meant “in want of lamp, of knife, and of table”
(Avot de-Rabbi Nathan, version A, ch. 20).
The oil lamp’s light was a symbol of life,
in both ancient and modern times. “The human soul is
the lamp of the Lord,” says a biblical proverb (Prov.
20:27). “Lord, You are my lamp, my God lights up my
darkness,” David declares (2 Sam. 22:29).
An exhibition of oil lamps used in the
Land of Israel from the Bronze Age to the late Islamic
period held at the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem last
Hanukka gave the public a greater understanding of these
vessels and illuminated various aspects of life in the
Holy Land.
Evolution
of the Oil Lamp
 The
first known lamps from the Middle Bronze Age (2300-1800
BCE) are simple wheel-made bowls, with four slight pinches
(tongues) at the top to hold four wicks. Lamps from
the later Middle and Late Bronze Ages (2000-1200 BCE)
and Iron Age (1200-560 BCE) have only one pinch for
the wick. Only minor changes were introduced during
the Canaanite and Israelite periods.
In the Hellenistic period (333-168 BCE),
the Greeks introduced the closed oil lamp, which was
distinguished by its two separate compartments: the
oil reservoir, constituting the major part of the lamp,
and the chamber into which the wick was inserted. The
Hasmonean Jews’ repudiation of all things Hellenistic
included the rejection of the closed Hellenistic lamp.
As a result, the “Hasmonean lamp” is based on the earlier
open lamp, but the fold that forms the mouth is so pronounced
that the two sides of the mouth come together. This
lamp gives concrete expression to the Jewish opposition
to Greek influence in private life as well as in the
Temple.
This period also marks the beginning of
the manufacture of mold-made decorated lamps in the
Land of Israel. Mold-made lamps gradually replaced wheel-made
bowl lamps. The simple but elegant Herodian lamps (37
BCE-70 CE) are the first type found mainly in Jewish
settlements and are therefore thought to have been used
primarily by Jews in the late Second Temple period.
Another style, known as “Darom,” refers to the type
of lamp found in caves in the Judean Desert and the
lowlands, a region called Darom in the Mishna and other
sources; such lamps have been dated to the period between
the Jewish war against the Romans and the Bar Kochba
Revolt (ca. 70-150 CE).
Other inhabitants of the Land of Israel used a variety
of lamps. While the Nabatean lamps have mostly geometric
decoration, the highly decorated Roman imperial lamps
(100-300 CE) were quite prevalent. Roman oil-lamp manufacturers
used molds as a method of mass production, lowering
the price while still leaving plenty of free space on
the surface of the lamp for ornamentation. Their popularity
and abundance led not only to the widespread export
of the lamps, but also inspired provincial manufacturers
to establish their own local workshops, copying the
Roman prototypes.
Samaritan-type oil lamps of the fourth
through seventh centuries have been found in large numbers
in Samaria-Sebaste and other areas where Samaritan communities
were concentrated. They were sold with a sealed filling-hole
(which was broken by the purchaser), possibly to ensure
ritual purity.
Local Byzantine lamps, many with Christian
symbols, began to appear in the fifth century. The most
recent lamps on display at the Bible Lands Museum are
Islamic lamps from the eighth through thirteenth centuries.
The Hanukka
Lights
 The
kindling of lights on Hanukka is associated with the
miracle of the jar of oil used to light the Temple menorah,
which was composed of oil lamps. The menorah of the
Tabernacle depicted in the Book of Exodus (25:31-40;
37:17-24) consisted of a central shaft from which three
branches issued on either side, at three junctions called
kaftorim (“calyxes”). Each branch ended in a perah (“flower”),
in which an oil lamp rested. These, then, were separate
lamps, and not a single lamp with multiple mouths; they
also were distinct from the body of the menorah itself,
and apparently were made of gold, as was the body of
the menorah. n
ERETZ thanks Dr. Joan Westenholz
and Riki Morginstin of the Bible Lands Museum for their
assistance with this article.
Photography: Courtesy of the
Bible Lands Museum
Download
PDF version
Something
a little different to eat for Hanukkah
While potato latkas are
ubiquitous for Hanukkah among Ashkenazi Jews, it is
said that the reason we do all of this frying in oil
is to remember the miracle of the tiny cruse of pure
oil lasting for 8 days, back in 164 B.C.E. in Jerusalem.
But, you don't have to use potatoes. Try remembering
the miracle of the oil by preparing and eating these
yummy cottage cheese fritters. Cheese and other dairy
dishes are associated with Hanukkah because of the last
meal that Judith, the heroine of a story, associated
with Hanukkah, served to the Greek general Holofernes,
before he fell asleep in her tent and met his maker.
The book of Judith is apocryphal and has only loose
associations with Hanukkah; this book does not appear
at all in the Hebrew Bible. The work of an unknown author,
the book is a fictitious account of the deliverance
of Israel from a foreign army by Judith, the devout
and beautiful heroine who first beguiled and then beheaded
the Assyrian commander Holofernes. The book is dated
to the Maccabean period in the 2nd century BCE. Readers
know that Judith is not exactly history but a call to
celebrate the victories of the Maccabees and to inspire
further resistance to Hellenizing enemies.
You don't have to be a Bible scholar to enjoy
these:
NECHAMA'S COTTAGE CHEESE
FRITTERS
1 cup cottage cheese
1 egg, well beaten
1/4 cup milk
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
vegetable oil for frying
Add cottage cheese to egg and beat until thoroughly
blended. Stir in milk. Mix and sift flour, baking powder
and salt. Add to first mixture and stir in lightly.
Drop by spoonfuls into hot oil (375 degrees) and fry
until brown on one side. Turn over and fry o n second
side. Drain on absorbent paper. Enjoy with a variety
of jams and yogurt. (Makes 10-12)
Here's another new recipe that comes from teen educators
Greg Matza and Jen Wakefield and is known as Transylvanian
Latkas or Matza's Latkas. This uses the ever-favorite
potato!
TRANSYLVANIAN LATKES
aka MATZA'S LATKAS
Recipe is a family one from the Transylvanian side
of Greg Matza’s family.
10 lbs. potatoes
1 dozen eggs
1 large onion
white pepper to taste
salt to taste
Step 1: Wash and peel potatoes.
Cover potatoes with water until ready to grate.
Step 2: Grate potatoes
on finest edge of box grater, so potatoes come out in
thin ribbons, into water. Make sure potatoes are completely
covered by water and change water several times. When
all potatoes are grated, strain almost all the water
from potatoes.
Step 3: Grate onion into
potatoes.
Step 4 : Beat eggs
lightly, and add to potato and onion mixture and blend
well. Add salt and white pepper and blend again
Step 5: Heat 2" of
vegetable oil in frying pan, reduce heat to medium (so
it rolls when latkes are put in, but is smooth when
empty)
Step 6: When oil is hot,
use a sieve to pick up some latke mixture, push with
back of hand to strain out water, then use spoons to
shape mixture into 1-2" balls. Roll balls GENTRLY
into the oil AWAY from yourself (so you don’t get splashed
with VERY HOT oil).
Step 7: Cook latkes until
light brown on underside, then turn over and cook the
other side until light brown. Use slotted spoon or two
forks to turn latkes over. When lightly brown on both
sides, remove from oil and place on paper towels to
cool
Note: If latkes are browning
too fast, and middle is raw, lower heat. If they take
longer than 5 minutes to cook, raise heat.
Step 8: While latkes are
cooking and cooling, clean up your cooking area and
utensils. When everything is clean, you can eat your
latkes!
Serve: Hot, with sour cream
and/or apple sauce.
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