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Water, Water Everywhere

This article explores some of the causes and effects of Israel’s long standing water shortage and some of the efforts which have been made to conserve water. It refers to the water shortage in 2002 but the content is still relevant today. In the lesson, students will focus on how water is a precious commodity, essential for human survival. Challenge them to update the facts in the article with information about projects which are adding to Israel's water resources today. $0.00$0.00There are about 326 million cubic miles of water sloshing around on spaceship Earth, and yet more and more people aboard our planet are struggling to find enough water to live. How is that possible? There are three explanations. First, 97% of the water on Earth cannot be used without treatment. Untreated ocean water is too salty for drinking, farming, or manufacturing. Fresh water, on the other hand, makes up only a small percentage of the water on Earth, and most of it is locked away in icy glaciers. "...and the scorched land will become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water." Isaiah 35:7 Printable Lesson:  5207lesson.pdf Additional PDFs:  Source Sheet Prayer for Rain in English and Hebrew Additional Resources:  CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America) media report about wells: http://world.std.com/~camera/docs/alert/hedges.html

Create a Collage

Enjoy this easy, unique art project with your class. $0.00$0.001. Cut a piece of heavy white paper (construction paper or bristol board, for example) to the size you want your collage to be. You will glue all the other paper onto this support. 2. Tear a few other sheets of heavy white paper into irregularly shaped pieces. Make some pieces big and others smaller. Don't use scissors - the jaggedly torn edges add interest to the collage.

A BabagaNewz Fashion Frenzy!

Babaganewz explores thrift shops in Rockville, Maryland, and connects thrifting's value of bal taschit (avoiding waste). In the lesson, students conduct a brief class experiment and study texts on how Judaism teaches us to consider clothing. Texts include commentary on the story of David, Saul at Ein Gedi, and selections from Maimonides' Mishneh Torah. $0.00$0.00BABAGANEWZ recently invited three lucky teens on an all-expense-paid shopping spree. Rachel Bender, Davida Silberman, and Adina Klein, tenth graders at the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy in Rockville, Maryland, were the fortunate few whom we treated to the fashion fling. Oh, by the way, no one could spend more than $15. "Impossible!" you snort. "You couldn't buy the glitter on a pair of sparkle jeans for 15 bucks." "Whatever destroys anything that could be useful to another person breaks the law of bal taschit." Shulhan Arukh Ha-Rav, Hoshen Mishpat: Hilkhot Shemirat Guf Va-Nefesh 14 Printable Lesson:  5206lesson.pdf Additional PDFs:  Source Sheet K'riah - A Jewish Mourning Ritual

A Good Day's Hike

This article describes the fun and fabulous scenery of hiking on the Israel National Trail, which stretches 850 kilometers along the entire length of Israel. In the accompanyinig lesson students will plan and take a tiyul (a hike with a Jewish component) and compare their hike with hiking in Israel. Students will prepare Jewish texts and/or blessings to recite while on the tiyul. $0.00$0.00  Hop on your bikes or lace up your hiking boots, we're hitting the Israel National Trail (INT). The INT is 850 kilometers of hiking bliss- and blisters! It snakes along the entire length of the State of Israel. "Up, walk about the land, through its length and its breadth, for I give it to you." Bereishit 13:17 Printable Lesson:  5208lesson.pdf Additional PDFs:  Source Sheet 5208bless.pdf Additional Resources:  Spirit in Nature: Teaching Judaism and Ecology on the Trail, by Matt Biers-Ariel, et. Al. Behrman House; ISBN: 0874416868

Kibbutz Kids and Eco-Fun

Teenagers at Kibbutz Lotan in the Negev Desert use natural resources and recycle to protect the environment. $0.00$0.00Where can you see giant animals, winding fences, and bus stops built completely from recycled materials, old tires and mud? Visit Kibbutz Lotan in Israel's Negev Desert. At the Lotan Center for Creative Ecology, teens help design and build alternative structures that use wind and shade to protect visitors against the burning desert sun.

Merav Weill: A Passionate Scientist Investigates God's World

Merav Weill is a high school student who views science and medicine as means for appreciating and becoming a partner in God’s work of creating and sustaining the world. By examining passages from the siddur and other classical texts, students will consider Merav’s perspective and how they, too, could become God’s partner. $0.00$0.00The babies lay helplessly in the hospital, barely clinging to life. They were born ten weeks premature, and when Merav first saw them they were so tiny she could hold each of them in the palm of her hand. The hospital staff cared for them lovingly, and when it was certain they would survive, Merav knew that they also had been held in the palm of God's hand. "At moments like these," she says with awe, "I know God is present." "They who sense the wonder, share in the wonder." Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man Printable Lesson:  5202lesson.pdf Additional PDFs:  Source Sheet Maimonides Monologue

Day School Students Capture Westinghouse Prize

Find out what happened when two Shabbat-observant students won this prestigious prize and had to present on Shabbat. $0.00$0.00Students at Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls in Long Island, NY, were screaming with joy one morning last month. Seniors Shira Billet and Dora Chana Sosnowik had just won first place (out of 5,000 entries!) in the Siemens Westinghouse Science & Technology Competition. The contest rewards America's most promising science and mathematics students. Shira and Dora Chana, longtime friends, are the first Shabbat-observant students to win, and will share a $100,000 scholarship.

Syd Mandelbaum

Syd Mandelbaum is combating hunger by donating musicians' extras to the needy. You can do the same by donating leftovers from your school cafeteria. From the lesson plan, students learn how many mitzxvot apply to these projects, including bal tashchit, (avoiding waste) and tzedakah. $0.00$0.00Rock and Wrap It Up! is the brainchild of Syd Mandelbaum, who turned a simple idea, "Waste Not, Want Not," into an inspiring movement. Rock musicians love to jam, but Syd Mandelbaum just plain loves jam. He doesn't eat it, though he might be tempted. Instead, the energetic activist has concocted a creative recipe for solving world hunger. His organization, Rock and Wrap It Up, takes food left over from backstage parties at rock concerts, and donates it to soup kitchens. "You shall not pick your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the Lord your God." Vayikra 19:10 Printable Lesson:  5204lesson.pdf Additional PDFs:  Source Sheet

The Hunt for Oil - Should We Drill in the Arctic?

What does Judaism have to say about the debate on whether or not to dip into oil stores found the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge? Students will organize their thoughts and form opinions based on text study and Jewish values. $0.00$0.00President Bush wants to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). "It's in our national interest," he says, "to develop more energy supplies at home." Environmental groups disagree. "Drilling...won't enhance our energy security," argues Adam Kolton of the Alaska Wilderness League. It will only destroy the nation's largest and most unspoiled arctic wilderness refuge. WHAT IS ANWR? Printable Lesson:  5201lesson.pdf Additional PDFs:  Source Sheet

Kids' Diaries Help Research

Contrary to popular belief, parents spend more time with their kids than ever before! $0.00$0.00According to a recent study by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, kids in two-parent households spend more time with their parents today than children did 20 years ago. "A lot of people out there say that because of changes in families, mothers and fathers are spending less time with children," says researcher Sandra Hofferth of the Institute for Social Research, "There was no actual evidence for it." While far more mothers now work outside of the home, they also spend 6 hours more per week with their children than moms did in 1981.

Mara Herling's Locks of Love

Mara cut her hair for a cause called Locks of Love, an organization which makes wigs for kids who need them. $0.00$0.00After Ludwig Van Beethoven died, mourners clipped so much of his hair that when he was finally buried, the great composer was practically bald. Almost two hundred years later, a man in Arizona paid $7,300 for 582 strands of Beethoven's hair. That calculates to $12.54 for each sliver of hair. Beethoven's hair, apparently, is very valuable. "If i am not for myself, who is for me? When I am for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?" Hillel, Pirkei Avot 1:14 Lesson Summary:  Mara Herling donated her hair to Locks of Love as a tribute to her deceased grandmother. In this lesson, students will study different ways that Jewish tradition honors the memory of the deceased and will create their own tribute projects in honor or memory of loved ones. Printable Lesson:  Lesson Plan Additional PDFs:  Source Sheet

The Seeds of Islamic Terrorism

Learn about the roots of radical Islam and its effects on Israel, the greater western world, and Islam itself. $0.00$0.00President Bush declared war on terrorism by warning governments around the world that, "You're with us, or you're with the terrorists." Osama bin Laden answered him by urging Muslims to choose between "the camp of the faithful and the camp of the infidels (non-believers)." The stage was set for a clash between Western civilization and Islamic terrorism. Lesson Summary:  This article deals with the origins of militant Islamic extremism. To prepare to teach the article, you may want to study additional sources to provide you with a more comprehensive background on Islam and Islamicfundamentalism. The source sheet below provides extensive resources to assist you in your lesson planning. Additional PDFs:  Source Sheet Additional Resources:  The Anti Defamation League’s Report: September 11 and Arab Media: The Anti-Jewish and Anti-American Blame Game: http://www.adl.org/911

Hunting for the High Priest

Who is a Kohen and who is not? We may know the answer, thanks to DNA testing and the discovery of the Kohen gene! By working through a fictional case of mistaken identification of a person as a kohen, students evaluate the importance of shlom bayit (family harmony) versus the importance of truth. $0.00$0.00Scientists have used DNA to find direct descendants of the ancient High Priest. "The X-Files" reminds us that "the truth is out there." Dr. Karl Skorecki was determined to find it. The trail, however, was ice cold. After all, he was searching for evidence of someone who lived 3,300 years ago. But Skorecki, who is a researcher at the University of Toronto and the Rambam-Technion Medical Center in Haifa, had a secret weapon: DNA testing. "May God bless you and safeguard you. May God cause His presence to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May God turn with favor to you and give you peace." Birkat Kohanim, The Words of the Priestly Blessing, Bemidbar 6:24-26 Printable Lesson:  4204lesson.pdf Additional PDFs:  Source Sheet Case Study for Kohen Gene Kohen Gene Torah Commentary

Explore Your Family History Online

Learn about your family's history at http://ellisisland.org. $0.00$0.00Want to learn about your family's history? Check out the new web site from the American Family Immigration History Center at Ellis Island. If your relatives entered America through Ellis Island, you can learn all kinds of things about them that might surprise you. For instance, you can learn how much money they had in their pockets, whether or not they could read, and what their plans were for the future. Printable Lesson:  4204lesson.pdf Additional PDFs:  Source Sheet Case Study for Kohen Gene Kohen Gene Torah Commentary

Secret of Katzrin

This story takes place 1,700 years ago. It is fiction, but it is based on real facts that were unearthed during the archaeological excavations at Katzrin. $0.00$0.00This story takes place 1,700 years ago. It is fiction, but it is based on real facts that were unearthed during the archaeological excavations at Katzrin. When you see a bolded word, look at the glossary to read more about Jewish life in Katzrin. "When a king of flesh and blood is in the bedroom, he is not in the family room: but God fills the world above and below." Midrash Psalms 24:5

David Sacks: Judaism Makes Him Tick

Babaganewz interviewed David Sacks, a successful television producer and observant Jew as he discusses how humor helps television families resolve problems. Study these Jewish texts with your students to launch a discussion on how humor can be an effective tool to help maintain shlom bayit (peace at home). $0.00$0.00He keeps Shabbat, eats strictly kosher and puts on tefillin every morning. Oh, and one more thing: He just happens to be in charge of some of the most popular shows on television. He's David Sacks, one of the most successful television producers in Hollywood today. "Before he started his teaching, Rava would tell jokes and his students would laugh; then he became serious and started teaching his lesson." Talmud, Shabbat 30b Printable Lesson:  4202lesson.pdf Additional PDFs:  Source Sheet

They Are Our Flesh and Blood

Yeshaleka and Tesfahun are Ethiopian Jewish teenagers dreaming of aliyah - many obstacles stand in their way as they try to reach Israel. Learn about them and the Falash Mura community, Jews from Ethiopia whose parents and grandparents converted to Christianity during times of hardship and famine. Discuss our obligations to the Falash Mura and the obligations of the Jewish State to them through this lesson. $0.00$0.00Meet Yeshaleka. He's 15 years old. He and his family are part of the Falash Mura community in Ethiopia. They are the children and grandchildren of Jews who converted to Christianity during a period of severe famine and political hardship. They are waiting to make aliyah under the Law of Return and are studying basic Judaism in preparation for their homecoming. Currently about 70 people from the community are leaving Ethiopia for Israel each week. Yeshaleka's brother already lives in Israel and Yeshaleka hopes to be reunited with him soon. "When Moshe had grown up, he went out to his kinsfolk and witnessed their suffering." Shemot 2:11 Printable Lesson:  4206lesson.pdf Additional PDFs:  Source Sheet Additional Resources:  North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry http://www.nacoej.org

Save Every Scrap

Scrapbooking is a unique and creative way to cherish your favorite memories. In aaddition to personal memories, we have collective memories, which you class can draw on for a scrapbook of Jewish history. A writing exercise and text study round out the lesson. $0.00$0.00When Dahlia Levine, a 6th grader at Congregation Har Shalom in Potomac, Maryland, returned from a cross-country road trip with her family, she didn't simply shove her pictures into a photo album or a shoebox; she made a scrapbook. "It's cool," said Dahlia, whose scrapbook of family trips also includes poetry and drawings. "I like looking back. It brings back good memories." "'That you may look upon it and remember.' Looking leads to remembering, and remembering leads to doing." Tanchuma Sgelach on Bemidbar Printable Lesson:  4203lesson.pdf Additional PDFs:  Source Sheet "I Remember" Free-Writing Worksheet Additional Resources:  http://learn2scrapbook.com

Fighting Terrorism: Jewish Views on Warfare

The article on fighting terrorism asks whether war can ever be justified according to Jewish thought. In this lesson, students will study texts that form the foundation of Jewish attitudes towards war. $0.00$0.00On October 7th, the United States and Great Britain launched an attack against the Al-Qaeda terrorist network of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. "Today we focus on Afghanistan," President Bush said, "but the battle is broader." The President repeated our objective in fighting the war in Afghanistan: to root out terrorists and to defeat those who support them. Printable Lesson:  3201lesson.pdf Additional PDFs:  Source Sheet Types of War

Ali Spizman: The Thank-You Kid

This article highlights the importance of expressing gratitude and offers your students imaginative phrases to sprinkle throughout their thank-you notes. In the accompanying lesson, students will conduct an experiment in thanking people and will explore how Judaism incorporates gratitude into everyday life. This article and lesson would be incredibly useful for bar- and bat-mitzvah-age students who might have a lot of thanking to do in the near future! $0.00$0.00How important is it to say "thank you?" Important enough that Ali Spizman, age 15, wrote an entire book about it when she was an eighth grade student at the Epstein Jewish Day School in Atlanta, Georgia. The Thank You Book for Kids gives dozens of tips on how to say thank you, including ideas on how to thank friends, family, community leaders, and even famous people. "Every day can be a day you give thanks," Ali writes. "In fact, saying thank you is a way to count your blessings in life." "I am grateful and thankful to You, living and eternal Ruler, for You have returned my soul to me with compassion." Modeh Ani prayer, recited upon waking in the morning Printable Lesson:  3202lesson.pdf Additional PDFs:  Source Sheet Thank-You Log Additional Resources:  Ways to say “thank you” in over 465 languages http://www.elite.net/~runner/jennifers/thankyou.htm

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