Morah Gawel Blog

Hi all! We spent the week working on our new text, Shemot.  This is the story that we tell at the Passover table, so tell your child that you are expecting him/her to add some NEW and interesting tidbits to the Seder discussion this year! We are spending a lot of time discussing anti-Semitism and how anti-Semitism is actually the catalyst for our enslavement in Egypt.  The Torah tells us that a new Pharaoh ruled the land, who did not know Joseph… he did not know how a Jewish man had saved his country.  And what he saw was LOTS of Jews.  We were fruitful and we multiplied and it scared him. Pharaoh was nervous that the Jews would rise up and join his enemies and this scared him.  Why did Pharaoh hate us?  He was scared. He was nervous. We symbolized to him an unnamable threat, that made him decide to act out and do something.  And the rest, as they say.. is history.

So how do we get history to stop repeating itself?  We learn it.  We learn from it. We change our actions.  I showed the kids the first recounted example of anti-Semitism and a child in the back of the class asked “but what does this have to do with anything in our lives today.”  It was a good bridge to our conversation. I briefly touched on what is going on in Europe.  The kids asked about the holocaust. I discussed how events like the holocaust do not happen in a vacuum, but things “rev up,” and people become complacent and then there is a giant problem at our feet and some people put their heads in the sand… others act… what do we do? 

The first answer is to not let things get to this point.  To identify when anti-Semitic fervor is rising, and to stop it. We spent the last 2 weeks looking at images in history of Jews portrayed in advertising and in propaganda billboards.  We saw some alarming images: hairy men, big noses, sly/sneaky looking people, disheveled people, cheap and rich people, overly powerful and greedy people; Jews portrayed as sub human: animals, octopi, Neanderthals etc… we discussed why someone might want to dehumanize a group of people?  (easier to attack them and treat them in an inhumane way), and why people might dislike Jews?  The kids were very astute:  They are jealous! We are smart. We are often wealthy. We are generous. We are successful.  People tend to hate that which they don’t understand and that which they are jealous of!

We discussed: discrimination, stereotypes, anti-Semitism and  prejudice. We used Harry Potter to illustrate this point: Muggles, Half Bloods, Pure Bloods, etc..  The kids had a lot to say. And Sadly, many have witnessed anti-Semitism in their own lives.

We began to discuss the Lego movie “Everything is awesome when we are part of a team!” and we discussed how one of the good things that comes out of horrible situations is that we tend to band together. When many people feel wronged, we often forget our differences and band together against our greater enemy. Think about how your kids fight amongst each other, BUT when they are angry at YOU, they join forces.  So, Pharaoh might have mistreated us, but we “acted as a team,” and did amazing things.  More on this next week.

Have a great weekend,

Morah Leah