A Nation Among Nations: Non-Jewish Young Professionals Tour

סגור לתגובות על A Nation Among Nations: Non-Jewish Young Professionals Tour
Non-Jewish-Young-Professionalsהורד

Target Audience: Non-Jewish University students/Young Professionals

Length of Tour: 90 minutes

Floors: 3rd floor, 2nd floor, 1st floor, Choderov, Halleluja

Four themes, present in each stop in the tour:

  1. Basics of Jewish Peoplehood: beliefs, practices and traditions
  2. A Nation among Nations: How Jews influenced, and were influenced, by the places they lived
  3. Israel as an integral part of the DNA of the Jewish People: land, country, people
  4. The modern Israel they are meeting today: how do participants see these three topics in action during their week in Israel?

Intro

Two location options for opener: Chodorov Synagogue ceiling or Halleluja gallery. Chose a location based on preference and availability. Begin with following introduction while standing at location, then describe location.

  1. Introduction to Museum:
    1. ANU- Museum of the Jewish People is the largest Jewish museum in the world, and the only Jewish museum in the world that tells the unique and ongoing story of the Jewish people.
    1. Introduction to Jewish Peoplehood: a religion, culture, history, set of beliefs, languages, connection to Israel. Explain that we will be seeing central elements to Jewish belief and practice, but that not all Jews adhere to those practices. Jewish identity is not only based religion, as Jewish peoplehood predates modern ideas of ethnicity, religion and race. Therefore, we describe ourselves as a people.
    1. Question: What is the best thing you’ve done so far in Israel?
    1. Question: What do they know about Jews already?
    1. Explain outline of tour (time, floors). Explain they should feel comfortable to ask the “difficult” questions they always wondered but didn’t know who or how to ask.
    1. Outline four themes we will see on the tour:
      1. A Nation among Nations: How Jews influenced, and were influenced, by the places they lived
      1. Israel as an integral part of the DNA of the Jewish People: land, country, people
      1. Basics of Jewish Peoplehood: beliefs, practices and traditions
      1. The modern Israel they are meeting today: how do participants see these three topics in action during their week in Israel.
  2. Chodorov Synagogue ceiling
    1. Info: 17th century wooden synagogue built in Galicia (modern day Western Ukraine). Explain usage of a synagogue, and its centrality to a Jewish community. Explain Hebrew term “beit Knesset”.
    1. Question: Do you have a place of worship, such as a temple, church, mosque? What does it look like? Point out the significance behind the wooden synagogue, and the ceiling art (colors, lack of human faces, animals). 
    1. Question: What city do you think is on the southeastern wall (point to it)? Explain significance of Jerusalem/Israel throughout Jewish history and practice.
  3. Halleluja! Synagogues gallery
    1. Info: Choose two synagogues and give brief historical background. Suggestions: Warsaw and Cochin. Explain usage of a synagogue, and its centrality to a Jewish community. Explain Hebrew term “beit Knesset”.
    1. Core value: community. Jews celebrate, learn, mourn and debate together.
    1. Drawing of Temple: explain usage of the Great Temple in Jerusalem, and how these practices are connected to Jews today.
    1. Question: Do you have a place of worship, such as a temple, church, mosque? What does it look like? Point out the significance behind the design of the synagogue building.
    1. Unetaneh Tokef video
    1. Menorah in Dura Europus mural; connect with modern Israeli symbols
    1. Torah scrolls

2nd Floor- The Masa

“The Jewish Journey” film

  1. Antiquity- Land of Israel, Babylon, Alexandria
    1. Question: Have you been to Jerusalem yet? If not, describe what they may see at the Kotel/Temple Mount. If yes, ask what they saw.
    1. Objects from Babylon + Land of Israel: proof of Jewish history in the Middle East for thousands of years
    1. Info: Historical understanding of Temple in Jerusalem. Destruction of the Second Temple. Jewish diaspora spreads around the world, and Jews took their traditions with them from the Land of Israel. Israel as an integral part of Jewish DNA. Along the way, traditions modified based on their new home countries.
    1. Core value: keeping vs. creating traditions. Jews recreate elements of their time during the Second Temple in their local communities up to today, yet modify them to their local cultures and modern needs.
    1. Question: Are you part of a diaspora community? How has that changed the way you express your identity?
    1. Image of kibbutz seder: Explain that the Passover seder that we know today was based on the Greek symposium (taking elements of other cultures for our own). Explain concept of the “Four Questions” at the Passover seder, and why the youngest person is obligated to read them. Connect with Jewish tradition of literacy, learning and questioning.
  • Ashkenaz/Sepharad
    • Info: Split of Jewish population into Ashkenaz/Sepharad. Meanwhile, there was still a continuous Jewish community in the Land of Israel.
    • Jewish relationship with their non-Jewish neighbors: differed greatly depending on the ruler and the time period. Jews seen as outsiders everywhere they were, but sometimes they were protected outsiders. Usury/Jewish money lenders, and connections to modern day anti-Semitism.
    • Music: Ladino, Judeo-Arabic, and Hebrew. The Ladino and Judeo-Arabic languages came as a mixture of Hebrew and other local languages. Jews influenced by the societies in which they live.
    • Allow 5 minutes to explore this section.
    • Belmonte Shabbat candle and image: explain history.
    • Core value: Shabbat.
    • Question: Have they been in Israel during Shabbat? If yes, ask what they experienced. If not, tell them what to look out for.
    • Shabbat as a central element of Jewish belief and practice, and an evident part of Israeli life.
    • Question: What traditions or objects were passed on to you from older generations of your family or community?
  • Poles/Lithuanians/Ottoman Empire
    • Info: Continuation in history
    • Chumash: Show how different Jewish languages were united in one text. Jewish texts as a unifying thread across countries and centuries. Hebrew used as the core Jewish language. Contrast with the modern Hebrew they hear in Israel.
  • Modernity
    • Question: What brings us into modernity? (Freedom of movement, printing press, Enlightenment)
    • Allow 5 minutes to explore this section.
    • Dreyfus Affair: History and implications on Jewish community. Jews in many parts of the world in the late 19th century felt a growing security on their position in national life. The Dreyfus Affair reminded them that they were still targets of dual-loyalty claims. Connect to Theodore Herzl (young reporter at the trial). Connect to current anti-Semitism connected to anti-Israel bias.
    • Jews from N. Africa + Middle East: Focus on story of Moroccan Henna dress + Mashad pendant. Discuss diversity of Jewish story, including that of Jews in MENA. Moroccan Henna dress in colors similar to non-Jewish brides. Point out hamsa on bottom of dress- a symbol frequent across the Middle East. Mashad pendant shows influence of other religions on Jewish life.
    • American Jewry: Brief history. Use objects to tell the story: Max Fuchs dog tags, “How to Become an American”, Ellis Island
    • Question: How have you, or your families, tried to fit in to a foreign society? Did you have to change your names, languages, cuisines or locations?
  • Political movements
    • Info: Zionism as a growing political movement based on developing nationalistic climate in Europe, N. Africa and Middle East.
    • “Aliyah” means “ascending”. Explain idea of Jews returning to a historical homeland.
  • Jews in the USSR
    • Info: Jews locked behind the Iron Curtain. Israel as a safe haven for Jewish refugees around the world, including today. Explain why they hear Russian speakers across the country.
    • Core value: caring for the other. Explain global Jewish solidarity for Jews in the USSR.

Third Floor

  1. Intro to 3rd floor: The Mosaic of Modern Jewish Life in the past century and a half
  2. Individuals and families
    1. Explain diversity in modern Jewish thought, language and belonging
    1. Allow 5 minutes to explore this section.
    1. Question: What surprised you? Did you connect with something they said, even if you are not Jewish?
  3. Jewish populations by the numbers
    1. Research done by Prof. Sergio Della Pergola on Jewish population shifts from 1970-2021. Israel and the United States are still the two largest Jewish communities in the world.
    1. Explain reasons for dramatic shifts.
  4. Movements of Judaism
    1. Briefly explain diversity of Jewish movements: Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, secular, etc. Point out various head coverings and answer any questions participants have about Jewish clothing they may have seen on their trip so far.
    1. Core value: tikkun olam. Show video in this section about tikkun olam in different communities.
  5. One cultural station: Theater, Dance, Music, Cinema or Food
    1. Allow participants to pick which station you go to.
    1. Question: Do you have a movie/song/food (based on the station) that is meaningful to you? Why is that?
    1. Explain influence of history on modern Jewish culture: why Jews in certain places adopted a particular style of dance or food. Explain that Jews have never existed in a bubble, and that we have always taken on outside influence.
    1. Allow 5 minutes to explore these sections.
  6. Luminaries
    1. Luminaries as influential Jews that have made a positive impact on the world around them.
    1. RBG collar (especially if they are law students)
    1. Core value: Justice. Explain how RBG utilized the words, “Justice, justice thou shalt pursue” in her life’s work, and its Jewish origins.
    1. Allow 5 minutes to explore this section.
    1. Shaanan Street video

Closing

  1. Two location options for closing station: Chodorov Synagogue ceiling or Halleluja gallery. Chose whichever location was not used in the intro.
  2. Question: What was the most surprising thing you saw here today? Was there something that changed a belief you previously had?
  3. Jews are a five millenia old people, with shared connections to Israel, core beliefs, texts and traditions.
  4. On this tour we have seen:
    1. Basics of Jewish Peoplehood: beliefs, practices and traditions
    1. A Nation among Nations: How Jews influenced, and were influenced, by the places they lived
    1. Israel as an integral part of the DNA of the Jewish People: land, country, people
    1. The modern Israel they are meeting today: how do participants see these three topics in action during their week in Israel?
  5. Question: Are there any other questions?
  6. Thanks for coming.