CSJO-CU8.2

=CSJO-Grade 8 Lesson 8.2 (CSJO-Template)=

__**TITLE**__: Judaism in the 1700's: Precursor for the modern varieties __**GOALS**__: 1. Prepare students for comparative modern Judaism, by reviewing major European Jewish varieties in the 1700's. 2. Provide background on Jewish religious outlook and practice in Europe that led to Jewish modernity using examples of Ultra-Orthodox, Hasidism and the Haskalah. 3. Understand the conflict between the Mitnagdim and Hasidim who then turned their attention to fighting the common enemy, the Maskilim (proponents of the Haskalah). This is part of the recurring conflict between traditional belief and rationalism such as that of the Greeks and Maimonides which was seen as leading Jews away from religious practice. __**MATERIALS**__: For each student: Copy of chart Network of Jewish Varieties Branches and Offshoots, binder to hold chart and other class documents, silly puddy or clay during the presentation of the chart (For more fidgety students). __**LESSON**__: 1. __Gain the attention of the learner__: Play a trigger game. Ex. Reglayim--Aynayim (Feet--Eyes). Everyone stands in a circle. Leader calls out, Reglayim. Everyone, then, looks at their feet. Leader calls out Aynayim. Everyone then looks at someone in the circle's eyes. If eye contact is made (The person you are looking at is also looking at you), the couple screams and falls to the ground in a theatrical death, and is out of the game. If one of the "dead" gave an especially theatrical dying performance, they get resurrected and can continue playing the game. For other trigger games, see www.kefkefkef.com. 2. __Relevant past learning__: Previous years explored Jewish pluralism from its beginnings 3000 years ago through the 1700's. Last week we got a sense of our modern beliefs and values. Since the 1700's, several new forms of Judaism have arisen and existing forms changed and for much of this year we will look at how and why the modern versions of Judaism came about. Today will be a brief review of some of the Jewish varieties that existed before formation of modern Judaisms. 3. __Introduce new material__: Give each student a copy of chart Network of Jewish Varieties Branches and Offshoots
 * Ask their impressions. Get a sense of their (shared) anxiety and / or ease (former more likely).**
 * At end of lesson, again ask about their impressions**

Divide the class into groups of about 3 students each. Have each group pick a team name and a buzzer sound. In what follows, every time you ask a question, each team should separately try to figure out the answer and when they think they have it, the should make the buzzer sound for their team. First team to buzz, gets to answer the question first. Wait until at least 3 groups have buzzed so that if the first one gets the answer wrong you have at least two other groups ready with their answer.

Chart Key: Positive numbers: Year of the common era Negative numbers: Year before the common era (i.e. bce) //Question//: //In what year did the Modern era begin (Answer:~1550)// Political (like mayors and presidents in US) - purple - some names are above the bar //Q: Who were the political rulers in what is now Israel around the year 1200 (A: Crusaders)// Religious (like rabbis and ministers in US) - yellow //Q: For how about how long have rabbis been the religious leaders (A: ~2000 years)// Theism - orange bars (polytheistic, monolatreous, monotheistic, pantheistic, nontheistic) //Q: When did Jews become Monotheistic (A: Around -444 when Ezra came back to Israel from Babylon)// //Q: When did some organized Jews become Nontheistic (A: Around early 1800's with Science of Judaism and Reform movement)// //Q: The 2nd Jerusalem Temple was destroyed in 70. What Jewish temple was built later? (A: The 2nd Gerizim Temple of the Samaritans)// //Q: The Talmud (commentaries on the Bible) was compiled beginning after the 2nd Jerusalem Temple was destroyed. What new name given to the Jews is still used today? Why? (A: People of the Book; refers to Jews as followers of the Bible as explained in the Talmud)// Writings - black lettering on white background, sometimes with author below; bars indicate time span of writing //Q: Sherwin Wine, the founder of the Society of Humanistic Judaism wrote Judaism Beyond God. Can you find it? (A: Lower right corner of writings section)// People - black lettering, no background //Q: The Baal Shem Tov or BeShT, the founder of Hasidism, lived around what time? (A: 1700 to 1760 - find name near lower right corner of People section)// Read the story - "Baal Shem and the Demon" (Ausubel pp 192-3) The BeSht was a Kabbalist and a miracle worker. He created a movement where the way to God was through mystical (emotional) experiences brought on by singing and dancing. He emphasized that deep-seated joy, zeal and heartfelt prayers were more acceptable to God than great learning, solemnity and intellectualism. Have class sing a nigun (song with meaningless sounds) such as Bim Bam with their eyes closed (or open and then closed)
 * Time line -** White horizontal bar near top
 * Historical Periods** - Horizontal Arrows at top
 * Some Caveats
 * Items drawn with sharp beginnings and endings
 * Disagreement among scholars
 * Continuing explosion of new information
 * Don’t always reflect reality of situation
 * Rabbinic importance doesn’t end around year 200
 * Essenes don’t abruptly begin around -200
 * Executive decision to choose 1
 * Chart is constantly being updated
 * Rulers in the land of Israel (green)**
 * Jewish Temples** - labelled lines showing time span of existence (dashed line shows possible range of dates)
 * Generic Name of the people** - blue lines with white lettering (ancient Hebrews, Jews, People of the book)
 * Writings/People -**

//Q: The Mitnagdim (means opponents) strongly supported the scholarly approach to study and relating to God and they arose in response to the growing influence and numbers of Hasidim. Where are they located? (A: Below and a little to the left of Hasidism).// The mutual dislike even hatred resulted in reciprocal excommunications and persecutions. One of the weapons used by the Mitnagdim was stories making fun of the Hasidim. Have 2 students read the two parts in the story - A Believer's Truth, Ausubel p 221. //Q: Hsk - Haskalah or Jewish enlightenment. Attempts to be part of the modern secular culture while at the same time remaining an observant Jew required modernizing the religion. The hope was that being more like their nonJewish neighbors would result in less persecution of the Jews as well as allow Jews to enjoy and take part in modern culture and science. Find Hsk on the chart (A: In the overlap between the Jewish Theists and the Rationalist in the far right about two thirds of the way down in the section).// (**Dotted** - Postulated Organized belief ) //Q: From which if any of the blocks in the Modern Jewish super block do/did each student's parents and grandparents. Did any of them come from other groups on the chart? (A: Teacher go first)// //Q: The members of Conservative Judaism original came from what group? (A: Reform)// //Q: The Rationalists block of modern Jews has a philosophical relation to what group of Jews? (A: Jewish Rationalists - see Blocks/Dashed above)// (Dotted - Postulated physical relation ) 4. __**Provide guided practice**__: Machar tries to include study, singing, dancing, etc. in each class. Discuss with the students whether the mix works well. 5. __**Provide independent practice**__: The Mitnagdim and Hasidim considered the Maskilim (proponents of the Haskalah) as their common enemy. This is the 17th century part of the struggle throughout Jewish history deciding what and how, if anything to modernize. Working independently or in small groups, separately decide what Machar should modernize and what should remain the same. 6. __**Close the lesson**__: (review and wrap-up independent practice and important points of the lesson. Generate answer to parents' question "What did you learn today") 7. __**References**__: A Historical Atlas of the Jewish People pp. 162-163. A Treasury of Jewish Folklore, edited by Nathan Ausubel 8. **__Vocabulary__:** Enlightenment, Samaritans, Crusaders, Monolatreous, Reform Movement, Talmud, Hasidism, Mitnagim, Haskalah, Conservative Judaism, Maskilim,
 * Currents, Varieties and Branches** - Main section of the chart with blocks connected by lines
 * Blocks** - show groups whose members had similar beliefs
 * Solid** - Organized belief
 * Dashed** - Shared belief or activity
 * Blocks within Blocks** - Members move between the smaller blocks within the larger block
 * Lines** - show relationships between members of different blocks
 * Solid** - Physical relation
 * Dashed** - Philosophical relation