What Does It Mean to Be Jewish?

About This Lesson

In this two-day lesson, students will engage with imagery, text, and video excerpts that illustrate some of the many components that can make up Jewish identity in order to expand their own understanding of what it means to be Jewish. 

On Day 1, students will start with what they know about Jewish identity and then observe an array of expressions of Jewish life through images, text, and video. They will then narrow their focus to examine one portrait of Jewish identity and consider the different ways this identity can be expressed and characterized. 

In between Day 1 and Day 2, students will engage in an independent, self-guided exploration of components of Jewish Identity through an interactive digital experience.

On Day 2, students will start with themselves by thinking about when and where they express various aspects of their own identities before considering how antisemitism can impact when and where someone feels safe expressing their Jewish identity. This reflection will set the stage for students to consider how Jews navigate their identities in the dominant culture. Finally, students will make connections among the various resources they engaged with today to consider what they’ve learned about Jewish identity and how they can avoid perpetuating misperceptions and stereotypes about this identity. 

Please review the "Additional Context & Background" section in the Google Doc version of this lesson plan for important information about the content of the lesson.

Essential Questions

• How can we expand our understanding of Jewish identity in order to acknowledge a diversity of Jewish identities?
• How can we use an expanded understanding of the complex and diverse nature of Jewish identity to help dispel harmful assumptions and stereotypes?

Guiding Questions

• What are some ways that Jews define their identities?
• How might antisemitism, racism, or misunderstandings about Jewish identity impact a person’s sense of safety in sharing their Jewish identity?

Learning Objectives

• Explore multiple ways an individual can identify as Jewish.
• Identify different components of Jewish identity.
• Consider when and where it feels safe and unsafe to express various identities.
• Examine the effects of antisemitism on the expression of identity.

Lesson Plan

Day 1

Activity 1: What Do You Already Know About Jewish Identity?

Have students first individually brainstorm what they know (or think they know) about Jewish identity using the Branches of Jewish Identity Brainstorm handout. Next, ask students to jot down one idea from each category (it’s okay if they did not have ideas for all five categories) onto a sticky note and submit the slips of paper directly to you. Note: This approach allows you to vet student contributions and avoid displaying ideas that contain false narratives, harmful stereotypes, or other antisemitic content. Replicate the handout in a way that enables all students to view it (projected or on a whiteboard) and, as a class, place the various sticky notes under the categories that best correspond with their content. 

After the whole-class brainstorm, share the student-facing background information slides with students, either individually or as a whole group.

Activity 2: A Gallery Walk of Jewish Identity

In this activity, students will participate in a multimedia gallery walk of images, videos, and literature that represent a variety of expressions of Jewish Identity from around the world. Before class, set up the gallery walk by hanging the pages from the Jewish Identity Gallery Walk handout around the classroom. Feel free to use all of these options or select from among them. Place each image in the middle of a big piece of paper so that students may write down their observations and questions around it using the See, Think, Wonder teaching strategy. For the written and video pieces, include a blank piece of big paper near them. One station of the gallery walk is a video, Types of Jews: Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrahi and More, so you will need to set up space for students to view it. As students are engaging with the various pieces, they may write responses on the corresponding paper to the following questions:

• What do you notice? What details stand out? (At this stage, encourage observations, not interpretations.)
• What do you think is going on? What makes you say that?
• What does this make you wonder? What broader questions does this image/video/text raise for you?

After students have completed their responses, you might debrief the activity with paired, small-group, or whole-group discussions to reinforce both students’ understanding of the content and their reflections on the learning process. Then provide either verbal or written context for each image.

Activity 3: To Be a Black and Jewish Woman: The Many Branches of Jewish Identity

Watch the short film To Be a Black and Jewish Woman: The Many Branches of Jewish Identity with the whole class (6 min.). Ask students to focus on how Sara, the film’s subject, describes her identity and to jot down words or phrases from the film that pertain to the following:

• Identity labels that Sara mentions in the film
• Feelings that Sara expresses about the identity labels she shares
• Expressions of how a label expands the Jewish story about who is a Jew

After viewing, create an identity chart for Sara as a whole class or in small groups. Encourage students to include quotations from the film on the identity chart.

Closure 

Using exit tickets, ask students to answer the following prompts and turn in their responses as they leave class. These tickets provide you with immediate information that you can use to assess students’ understanding, monitor their questions, or gather feedback on your teaching.

I used to think _______________ about Jewish identity, but now I know _______________________.

What other questions, ideas, or feelings did this lesson raise for you?

Day 2

Activity 1: Debriefing Core Features of Jewish Identity

Ask students to engage in a pair-share using their responses to the interactive digital handout that they explored for homework. Students should first share their responses with a partner and then engage in a whole-class debrief on what they found new, interesting, confusing, surprising, familiar, or compelling about the features of Jewish identity represented in the handout.

Activity 2: The Identities We Hide and Share

Watch a clip from the video John Amaechi Discusses Identity (beginning at minute 3:10). In this video, psychologist John Amaechi discusses the importance of creating classroom environments where students can bring their whole selves (and all of their identities) with them. He uses the metaphor of a suit to describe the ways in which people protect themselves from judgment, ridicule, exclusion, and even violence by hiding certain parts of themselves in unsafe environments.

After viewing, ask students to respond in their journals to all or any of the following questions:

• When do you feel safe sharing the parts of you that you often keep “zipped up”? Describe that environment or those circumstances. 
• Do the identities that you generally share openly ever become “zipped up”? Under what circumstances might that occur? 

Next, ask the whole class the following question: 

• In To Be a Black and Jewish Woman: The Many Branches of Jewish Identity, what does Sara share about the concept of hiding or displaying one’s various identities? 

Note: You may wish to replay the film, particularly from minute 2:54 to the end, with students keeping this particular question in mind as they rewatch.

Activity 3: Blending In and Standing Out

In this next activity, students will examine how encountering or being the recipient of an antisemitic act, in this case a violent one, can influence a person to consider blending in for the sake of their own safety. With your class, view the short film Still by Canadian teen filmmaker Elijah Marche. After viewing, give students a few minutes to silently process the film by filling out a Head, Heart, Conscience entry in their journals using the prompts below.

Head:

• What information do you know about what takes place in this film and who the protagonist is?
• What remains uncertain? 
• What additional information would you like to have to help you better understand the event?

Heart:

• What emotions does this film raise for you?
• Are there particular moments or images that stand out to you? If so, why?

Conscience:

• What questions does the film raise for you about blending in and standing out, as well as the impacts of antisemitism?
• What choices did the protagonist make, and what values and experiences may have guided those choices?

Ask students if anyone would like to share some of their responses.

Next, pose these two questions to students. They may answer in small groups, using the Think-Pair-Share strategy, or as a whole class.

• Why do you think the main character in the film takes off their kippah (head covering)? 
• Why do you think the main character replaces the kippah on their head?

• How might experiencing antisemitism impact the way the protagonist expresses their Jewish identity?

Closure

Using the Connect, Extend, Challenge teaching strategy, ask students to journal in response to the following questions:

Connect: How do the ideas in To Be a Black and Jewish Woman and Still connect to what you already know about Jewish identity?

Extend: How do the three videos you viewed today extend your understanding of some ways that Jews navigate their Jewish identity in the dominant culture?

Challenge: How did today’s materials challenge or complicate your understanding of Jewish identity? What can you do to help yourself recognize when you might be flattening or misrepresenting the identity of an individual or group, or even perpetuating a harmful stereotype or false narrative?