CU5-19

** Goal ** Students will learn about the role played by the Jews in the development of capitalism in Europe. The lesson will emphasize two paradoxes: one is the tension between the prohibition against usury and the need of usury for commerce; the second is the fact that on the one hand, the cohesive network of European Jews facilitated their contribution to commerce, and on the other hand, the integration of Jews in European commercial life placed disintegrating pressures on Jewish community life (including assimilation, prosperity, and the resulting welcome-expulsion cycle). **1. Gain the attention of the learner** Ask the students what places they remember living during their lives and list on the blackboard. ** 2. Relevant past learning ** Recall the dispersion of Jews throughout Europe. Recall also how they sometimes were well integrated into the larger society (e.g., during the “golden age” in Spain) and at other times lived together in their own exclusive communites (e.g., the shetl and ghetto). ** 3. Introduce new material ** Summarize the material on the ambivalence of European society towards Jewish involvement in money-lending, discussed in “A Historical Atlas of the Jewish People,” pp. 104 and 110. Summarize the material in “A Historical Atlas of the Jewish People,” pp. 164-165. ** 4. Provide guided practice ** Involvement in commerce tended to concentrate many Jews into large cities. Return to the list of places on the blackboard. Divide them into categories (e.g., large cities, small towns, rural areas) and discuss the different kinds of lives lived in these different kinds of places. ** 5. Provide independent practice ** One result of the integration of Jews into European society was to place disintegrating pressures on Jewish community life. Ask each student to make of list of activities during a normal week, including attending Folkshul, through which their Jewish identity is expressed.  **6. Close the lesson** Come together and share the lists. Compare the amount of time spent in activities reflecting their Jewish identities with the nearly all-encompassing Jewishness of life in the shtetl and ghetto.
 * 5:19 ** **Jewish Role in the Development of European Commerce**