Community and Belonging

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Before You Get Started

Look at the list of enduring understandings, which one would you like to emphasize through this activity?

Goal

The issues around universal versus particular can be effectively explored by asking learners to think about their own experiences in belonging to various groups and communities. In this session, we discuss the different ways in which students feel more connected to certain groups than others, with an opportunity for them to raise issues from their own perspective.

Materials Needed

Scrap paper for small groups, pens Large sheets of paper to hang on the wall, or board

Time Needed

20-30 minutes

Directions for Activity

1. Discuss with your group: What is a community? What is the difference between a group/ a crowd/ a community? Is physical proximity a necessary part of community?
2. In small groups, have the participants think about the communities in which they participate. Have them list at least 5 different types of communities.
3. While the participants are still in small groups, stop the first part of their task and ask them at intervals of a minute or so the following questions: Have they listed the following categories: “human beings,” “males,” “females,” “teenagers,” “young adults” or “students”? Should they be up there on the list? Why or why not? What about chat groups, virtual groups etc. Can they be considered communities? If so, when? In what circumstances?
4. Get each group to write a definition of what a community is for them, such that it includes all of the communities that they have listed.
5. Now coming back together, list all their communities and compare the definitions. It is suggested that the distinction be made between “meaningful” communities to which each person belongs and “meaningless” communities – i.e. the communities that are important for each individual and the communities which have less significance. These will likely vary by individual.For different people, different communities might be either significant or less significant. For example, the community of “human beings” might be insignificant for many people who see it as too large a group for them to identify with but for an ideologically committed humanist it might be meaningful. Gender communities might be meaningful for some (for example, committed feminists), while for others they might be meaningless. Bring these differences out.
6. Raise the following questions:
   • What purpose or role does a community have to serve for the individual or for the group in order to be considered meaningful or significant?
   • What about Jewish community (or Jews)? Does this appear on their lists? Why or why not?
7. If the word Jewish appeared on the list, ask them whether they see themselves as belonging to the Jewish community or to “a” Jewish community. For whom is it a meaningful community? For whom is it not? Why?
8. What, if anything, do they gain from the Jewish community? What, if anything, is difficult for them in being part of that community? What would they have to gain from the community in order for it to be a meaningful category of community for them personally?

Note to Educator

Did the enduring understanding that you set out to teach surface during this activity?

Responsible for Whom?

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Before You Get Started

Look at the list of enduring understandings, which one would you like to emphasize through this activity?

Goal

• To consider what special responsibilities Jews have toward other Jews.
• To consider the tension between our responsibility toward other Jews and our universal desire to help all people

Time

45 minutes-1 hour

Materials

• Video clip, screening device and internet connection
• List of value statements for Barometer Activity
• Text from Just Action

Direction for Activity

1. Ask participants to respond to the following set of value-centered questions through the “barometer” activity. One end of the room represents “yes” the other end represents “no” and everywhere in between those two extremes represents a position somewhere in the middle. When you read each statement, ask participants to stand somewhere along the barometer (e.g. somewhere in the room that reflects their position in favor or against the statement being read.) Once they are have answered one question, ask a few people to quickly share why they chose to stand where they did to get a sense of the different opinions in the room. (This game works well if you have several “warm up” statements like “I love chocolate ice cream” or “The Fourth of July is my favorite American holiday” or “Sunbathing is not fun.”)

• I love my family more than I love other people.
• I will help anyone who asks for help.
• I love hosting people at my home.
• If a Jew needs a place to go for a holiday or Shabbat meal, I want them to come to my house.
• I only like to host people who are my friends.
• I feel responsible for all people.
• I feel a special responsibility for other Jews, even if I don’t know them.

2. Conclude the game by asking participants to share what they noticed, and if their reactions to any of the statements surprised them.

3. Watch the clip from the award winning Israeli film Ushpizin (2004)

Cue: 30:42- 36:50

4. Facilitate a discussion around questions of responsibility for other Jews through the text produced by Hillel and Panim. In particular, ask participants to reflect on the questions – who do we define as our brothers, and what does it mean for us to be responsible for them?

5. Sum up the discussion and ask participants to share a question or idea they are left with.

Note to Educator

Did the enduring understanding that you set out to teach surface during this activity?

Jews and Baseball

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Before You Get Started

Look at the list of enduring understandings, which one would you like to emphasize through this activity?

Goal

• To learn about Sandy Koufax and his decision to prioritize his Jewish identity over his professional one as a major league baseball player.
• To become aware of how decisions we make reflect our priorities and values.

Time

30 minutes

Materials

Video clip, internet connection and screening device

Direction for Activity

1. Ask participants to think about a situation they were in when they had to decide between two aspects of their identities, which were in conflict.  It could be as a son/daughter and a student, or a professional and a parent or something else.  How did they resolve the conflict?  Ask them to articulate the value that their decision expressed.  (Example: a decision to go to a family reunion instead of a final sports tournament reflect your prioritizing family over your sports team.)
2. Introduce and then view the clip from the film, “Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story” about Sandy Kofax’s decision to observe Yom Kippur instead of pitching for the 1965 World Series.  His personal decision to honor his tradition over his professional advancement ended up turning him into a Jewish hero.

3. Discuss the clip with your participants.  Frame the conversation as a tension between the Jewish value of observance of Jewish tradition, and the universal value of commitment to one’s professional obligations and team. In particular:

• What were the particular Jewish values that he prioritized (note that he was not an Orthodox Jew).
• Bring in the following statistic from the 2013 Pew Research Study on American Jewry about the declining importance of Yom Kippur among American Jews.  What are some of the other reasons that one might refrain from “going to work” on Yom Kippur, especially if you don’t see yourself as religiously observing the holiday?

Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, is an important annual Jewish holiday traditionally marked by fasting. About half of U.S. Jews say that on Yom Kippur in 2012, they fasted for all (40%) or part (13%) of the day. As with participating in a Seder, the share of Jews who report fasting on Yom Kippur seems to have declined somewhat in recent years. In the 2000-2001 NJPS, six-in-ten Jews said they fasted for all or part of the previous Yom Kippur.

From Pew Research Center’s 2013 Report, A Portrait of Jewish Americans Ch 5 “Religious Beliefs and Practices”.

• Was there a time when you had to decide between Jewish values on the one hand and universal values on the other? How did you make that choice?

Note to Educator

Did the enduring understanding  that you set out to teach surface during this activity?

Tzedakah Priorities and Global Giving

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Before You Get Started

Look at the list of enduring understandings, which one would you like to emphasize through this activity?

Goal

• To consider how our universal concerns (to help the world) and particular ones (to help Jewish people) are expressed when we give charitably.
• To explore how to break down the dichotomy between “universalism” vs “particularism” when we think about giving to global causes through Jewish organizations.

Time

45 minutes – 1 hour

Materials

• Video clip, internet connection and screening device
• Paper and pens/ pencils

Direction for Activity

1. Ask participants to write about when they last gave tzedakah and to whom.  What motivated them to give and how did their giving reflect their values? Have them share their responses.
2. Frame a conversation about charitable giving and limited resources with these two quotes from two leading Jewish activists:

It is easy to love everyone; it is far more difficult to love someone. The test of how one loves all people is the way one loves one’s own people.

Rabbi Avi Weiss as quoted in this article.

We want people to think about global giving. That is to go beyond our most immediate obvious circles of obligation to ourselves, to our families, to our immediate geographic and our faith based communities to people not easily seen, to people who from our point of view are today’s “other” and today’s “stranger”. As we strengthen our muscle to give globally we help to collapse the distance between people who at first appearance are 10,000 miles away, but who are also people equally made in the image of God.

Ruth Messinger, video address during the Mussar Institute’s Generosity Week.

3. Questions for Discussion:

• How do Ruth Messinger and Rabbi Avi Weiss’ messages comlement each other? How are they in tension?
• What are the implications of these two different approaches when it comes to giving charitably?
• How do you balance these two positions when you think about your own personal charitable giving?

4. Now – it’s time to do some work as a group.  Explain that there was a crisis recently somewhere in the world and you are asked to give tzedakah immediately.  (You can add more “meat” to this challenge by providing basic information about natural disasters like the earthquake in Nepal, or Haiti, or Tsunami in southeast Asia.)  Your group is given $10,000 to distribute to alleviate suffering.  You must decide, 1/ how much money you should allocate to the general population, and how much money to allocate to the Jewish community in that area.  2/ which kind of organization you should channel your money through – a general international relief agency, a Jewish agency helping the general population or a Jewish agency helping mainly the Jewish population.

Some of the important information to keep in mind include:

• The majority of people effected in the region are not Jewish, but there is a small percentage of Jews who are also suffering.
• Many international aid organizations (Like the Red Cross, Relief International and Care) are on the ground working to help the general population.
• Other Jewish organizations are also there to help the general population including the JDC’s International Development Program (IDP) and the American Jewish World Service.
• There are several Jewish organizations who are sending direct relief to the Jewish victims of the natural disaster.

5. Encourage participants to have a robust debate around who to help first and which kind of organization should receive your support.  Try to reach an agreement as to the “plan” for addressing the crisis.

6. To sum up, consider screening the following clip, a humorous and serious description of the work of AJWS to promote dignity and alleviate poverty of people worldwide.

Note to Educator

Did the enduring understanding  that you set out to teach surface during this activity?

The Songs We Sing, Rav Kook

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Before You Get Started

Look at the list of enduring understandings, which one would you like to emphasize through this activity?

Goal

• To explore notions of different types of belonging and connection through a core text by Rav Kook and to consider the differences between belonging that privileges the particular and belonging that aspires to the universal.
• To expose learners to a piece of Jewish thought that comes from one of the most important Jewish thinkers of the 20th century.

Time

30-40 minutes

Materials

Text of The Fourfold Song by Rav Kook

Direction for Activity

1. Set the tone and start the activity by singing a nigun (a melody without words). You can find many examples to choose from on Youtube (just search for “nigun”) or teach a tune that you know (it doesn’t have to be Jewish). It should be easy to remember, repetitive and good for creating a reflective tone and space in the group. Sing the nigun a few times until the group are all singing.
2. Introduce the topic for the discussion. The group will be learning about notions of belonging. The text is a by Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Hacohen Kook, the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of mandatory Palestine. Introduce and learn the text in pairs.
3. Do a close reading of the whole text with your students. Give out copies of the text and have the students read it together slowly in pairs. Encourage them to read out loud, and ask each other questions as they listen.
4. Focus first on understanding what is going on. Give the students a piece of paper, folded into four quarters. On each quarter write the title of each of the four “songs” that Rav Kook describes:

• Song of the Self
• Song of the People
• Song of Humanity
• Song of the World

As the students read the text, have them make some notes about the characteristics of each Song. What does it consist of? What are its characteristics? Who sings it?

Ensure that everyone understands what Rav Kook is saying before you move onto the next part of the discussion.

When you have basic clarity about the different levels of song, ask your students the following questions:

• What do you think Rav Kook means by “song”? What does it mean to sing a song throughout your life?
• How does each singer or song contribute to the world?
• Have your students think about what song they sing most in their lives? Which song feels most comfortable to them? Do they sing more than one song at the same time? How do others know what song/s you are singing?
• What do you think of the order of songs that Rav Kook presents? Do you think he is presenting a natural, direction that starts with the particular and expands to the universal? Is it possible to start with the universal songs?
• What do you think the harmony of the complete song would sound like? Is such harmony possible in our world?

5. For more ideas to interpret and understand this text, see this art-based activity that uses the text.

6. End with singing the nigun again. This time the participants should be internalizing some of the ideas about their own “songs” and the nigun will be more meaningful and powerful for the whole group.

Note to Educator

Did the enduring understanding  that you set out to teach surface during this activity?