6th Grade Israel Unit - Week 1
9:30 - 9:45 First Day: Getting to Know You
Who has been to Israel?
What was it like?
When you hear “Israel” - what do you think of?
Have you ever considered moving to Israel?
Can you imagine why someone would move to Israel? discuss!
9:45 - 10:15 T’fillot
10:15 - 10:35 Four Corners
Label each corner of the classroom as “religion,” “nation,” “culture” and “community,” and ask students to walk to the corner of the room that they think best represents their Jewish identity. When there, students should discuss why they chose that corner with the other students in that corner, and then open the conversation to the whole group to explain their stances. Students may change corners based on the conversation.
Imagine you are someone who lives in Israel or has moved to Israel, walk to the corner that you think would represent your Jewish identity? Let a couple of students in each group explain their choice!
10:35 - 10:50 Overview of the Unit
For the first rotation: What do you know about the Holocaust? (You will learn a lot about it during your last unit at the end of the year.) “Why do you think Jews were targeted by the Nazis?” It is a REALLY hard question but whatever they answer… “Do you think things would have been different if Israel had already been established?”
For every other rotation: Ask what they learned about in the last rotation - the Holocaust unit. “Why do you think Jews were targeted by the Nazis?” It is a REALLY hard question but whatever they answer… “Do you think things would have been different if Israel had already been established?”
Over the next 5 weeks, we are going to talk about the people who moved to Israel over the last 100 years!
Episode 6: The Return to the Land of Israel [6:12]
Pass out the Handout for the students to fill out while watching the video
Here are the questions & answers (if there is an answer!).
Why was equality a challenge for Jews in Europe after the Enlightenment?
Assimilation Anti-semitism
Was the idea of returning to Israel popular at this time? Why?
No - the land was considered barren and broken (not good for farming or living)
Who was Theodore Herzl?
Liberal, intellectual, journalist
How did Herzl change the conversation?
Made the idea of returning to the land of Israel political/made Jews a player on the world stage; Invited everyone to the first zionist congress 1897; Created economic, political, and organizational tools (built a train to get people from the boats into the center of Israel)
Describe the photos of the immigrants:
Describe the modern photos:
How is the Holocaust connected to the return to the Land of Israel?
What did you learn about Zionism from this video?
10:50 - 11:15 Theodore Herzl: Im Tirtzu ~ If you will it, it is no dream
The posters with all of the Herzl quotes, should be up around the room.
Now is when you will have to define some important terms:
Write each term on the board and ask what each means. Use the definitions below to fill in anything the students don’t already know.
Zionism: a movement for (originally) the re-establishment and (now) the development and protection of a Jewish nation in what is now Israel. It was established as a political organization in 1897 under Theodor Herzl, and was later led by Chaim Weizmann.
Self-determination: the process by which a group of people, usually possessing a certain degree of national consciousness, form their own state and choose their own government.
Aliyah: The Hebrew word “Aliyah” literally means ascent or rise, but for generations it has been used to mean “immigration to Israel.”
Israel has always been the center of the Jewish universe, but for centuries the dream of moving to Israel was just that, a dream.
In the 1880s, organized groups began to immigrate to Israel with the goal of building communities and settling the land. “Aliyah” became the official term for immigration to Israel when, in 1950, the State of Israel opened her doors to the Jews of the world and passed the Law of Return.
Herzl: (1860–1904). The founder of modern political Zionism was Theodor Herzl. His efforts gave impetus to a 50-year campaign that culminated in the establishment of Israel in 1948. In 1894, as Paris correspondent for a Vienna newspaper, he covered the treason trial of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French army. The display of anti-Semitism he witnessed swayed him from his conviction that Jews could eliminate anti-Semitism by assimilating into their chosen countries. The only solution, he became convinced, was for a majority of Jews to emigrate to a country of their own.
Theodor Herzl was born on May 2, 1860, in Budapest, Hungary, to well-to-do, middle class parents. As a boy he showed an interest in writing while studying in a scientific secondary school.
In 1884 he earned a doctor of laws degree at the University of Vienna. Soon afterward he abandoned his legal career to become a successful critic, playwright, and essayist. For a number of years he also became a journalist.
In 1896, fired by the experience of the Dreyfus trial, Herzl wrote a brochure called The Jewish State. In it he called for the establishment of a new land for the Jews. To further this goal he convened a series of international Zionist congresses, the first of which was held at Basel, Switzerland, in 1897. These led to the formation of the World Zionist Organization.
Herzl met with many world leaders in his attempts to establish a Jewish state. In lengthy negotiations he sought unsuccessfully to win the Turkish sultan’s approval for large-scale Jewish immigration into Palestine. The Zionist congress that met in 1903 rejected a British offer of land for Jewish settlement in Uganda in East Africa. The controversy over the issue discouraged Herzl. Exhausted by his efforts, he died in Edlach, Austria, on July 
Around the room are 4 quotes from Herzl about Israel and Zionism. Go to the one that inspires you the most.
Let a couple of students in each group explain their choice!
11:15 - 11:30 Wrap-Up
Hang up Hatikvah = The Hope and discuss!
6th Grade Israel Unit - Week 2
9:30 - 9:45 Aliyah Photos
Each photo will be laminated and on its own piece of paper - and there will be at least 15.
Have all of the photos on a table that students can walk around.
As students come in, ask them to choose one photo that they will take and create a background story for even though they don’t know anything about the photo.
Questions to cover in their made-up background stories (to put on the board):
Who are these people?
Where are they from?
What are they doing?
How are they connected to each other?
What are their hopes or dreams?
Give students time to think up their stories while you schmooze with them. (They can share stories AFTER t’fillot!)
9:45 - 10:15 T’fillot
10:15 - 10:45 Share Stories & Create a Single Story
As each student shares their made up story, magnate the pic on the chalkboard and leave it there.
Ask: What were the common threads in your stories? What do all of the pictures have in common? [maybe: they are all b&w; they all have people in them; they are all old pictures; someone may say that they are all jewish!]
Answer: in fact, these are all photos of people who made aliyah to Israel between 1880-1940
Take a moment to review what aliyah means
Now that you know this, how might your story change? What parts of the story you created would you still keep?
Prompt students to create a single story for all of the photos together about making aliyah in that time period
10:45 - 11:05 Early Waves of Immigration to Israel
Break students into 5 groups and give each group an info sheet on one of the waves of immigration [see the handouts below]. They will have to figure out from the info where people are coming from in their wave; why people left their country of origin; why they came to Israel; how many people came in that wave; time period of the wave; some demographics of the group; what did they do/create when they got to Israel.
Once they have - as a group filled out their worksheet, they can add all of their info to the big poster that you will have hanging on the corkboard. Make sure that they use markers so that everyone can see the info.
Have each group present the basics of their wave that they put on the big poster . Go over some of the things that the waves have in common and some of the things that are really different.
11:05 - 11:25 “Make Aliyah to Israel” Poster
Return students to their 5 groups with their specific wave and give each group a small poster board and markers to create a “Make Aliyah to Israel” poster that speaks directly to THEIR WAVE. They will have to explain why their poster makes sense for the people who came over in their wave!!!
You may want to hang up the examples here as inspiration!!
Each group then pitches making aliyah to the class as if they are the people from their wave ๐
11:25 - 11:30 Clean up & goodbyes!
First Aliyah (1882 – 1903)
The First Aliyah followed in the wake of pogroms in Russia in 1881/1882 [a pogrom is an organized massacre of a particular ethnic group, in particular that of Jewish people in Russia or eastern Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries]. The pogroms were not the cause of the immigration, but caused many people to think about Aliyah. Many of those who participated in this Aliyah were young Jews from two major Jewish-Zionist movements. Most were in their 30s, bringing their families with them. They came more out of a connection to the land of their ancestors than because of persecution. Yemenite Jews also immigrated to Palestine at this time.
The first group included around 30,000 people, but conditions were so difficult that only half of them remained in Palestine. Many lived in Moshavot which were agricultural settlements that often failed. Since most people were not trained as farmers they could not sustain the farms economically, and many fell apart.
Many of these immigrants were traditional in their Judaism. They also supported the revival of the Hebrew language and culture in print and theater.
Where did the people who came during this wave of aliyah come from?
Who were the people who came during this wave of aliyah?
Why did they want to leave their country of origin? (push factors)
Why did they want to come to Israel? (pull factors)
How many people came during this wave of aliyah?
What did they add to Israeli society and/or culture?
Second Aliyah (1904 – 1914)
The second wave of immigration took place during the height of terrible pogroms in Russia. It is identified primarily with the Socialist-Zionist movement. Most of these immigrants, who came from Russia and Poland, were significantly different from those in the First Aliyah. They were younger and secular (not religious), most were single, and they came without any financial resources. David Ben-Gurion, who later became the first Prime Minister of Israel, was among the immigrants in the second wave.
These immigrants began organizing themselves into political parties and began taking control of the pre-state institutions.
Since they knew that the first type of settlements had failed, they decided to develop a new form of rural settlement – the Kibbutz. The first such settlement, named Degania, was established in 1909. Most of the new immigrants from the Second Aliyah had been involved in defense groups in Europe, and they went on to establish Ha-Shomer, the first Jewish self defense organization in Palestine.
The group also made significant contributions to the revival of the Hebrew language and the cultural life of the new settlements.
Where did the people who came during this wave of aliyah come from?
Who were the people who came during this wave of aliyah?
Why did they want to leave their country of origin? (push factors)
Why did they want to come to Israel? (pull factors)
How many people came during this wave of aliyah?
What did they add to Israeli society and/or culture?
Third Aliyah (1919 – 1923) – Halutzim
This very short wave of Aliyah is considered a direct continuation of the Second Aliyah which was broken off by the challenges of World War I. Most of the newcomers came from Russia, Poland and Hungary, and they were trained in Halutz ("Pioneer") movements.
During this time period, as the British were ruling Palestine, they issued the Balfour Declaration, which agreed to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The British still imposed restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine, but even so, almost 40,000 new Jewish immigrants arrived.
The newcomers were disappointed and frustrated by the fighting between the various Jewish-Zionist parties and Palestine, which caused tension between the groups. Nevertheless, the newcomers still believed in Zionist ideas. Most of them spread across the country, following the availability of land and work. They built roads and agricultural settlements, and strengthened the Kibbutz movement by founding many new Kibbutzim and strengthening the Kibbutz idea of communal life.
Unlike previous waves, relatively few of the 40,000 immigrants that made up the Third Aliyah returned to their countries of origin.
Where did the people who came during this wave of aliyah come from?
Who were the people who came during this wave of aliyah?
Why did they want to leave their country of origin? (push factors)
Why did they want to come to Israel? (pull factors)
How many people came during this wave of aliyah?
What did they add to Israeli society and/or culture?
Fourth Aliyah (1924 – 1929)
The Fourth Aliyah had the most significant impact on the size of the Jewish settlement of Palestine. This period saw the arrival of some 80,000 new immigrants, almost double the number of the third wave. Approximately 55,000 of these newcomers stayed in Palestine, almost doubling the number of the Jewish population.
There were major differences between these immigrants and those who had come earlier. Previously, many more had come from Russia, but in this wave, 50 percent came from Poland, and only 20 percent came from Russia (the other 30 percent came from Central Europe). Second, the individuals in this new wave were older, on average, and many of these immigrants came as families. Third, unlike the earlier waves, about half of the newcomers were “capitalists,” not like the young and poor previous immigrants.
This wave of immigration had a significant impact on the Jewish economy. Much of the money they brought with them was invested in construction, mainly in major cities, and there was much invested in industry. The economy received an enormous boost, especially in Tel Aviv, which became the central city.
Where did the people who came during this wave of aliyah come from?
Who were the people who came during this wave of aliyah?
Why did they want to leave their country of origin? (push factors)
Why did they want to come to Israel? (pull factors)
How many people came during this wave of aliyah?
What did they add to Israeli society and/or culture?
Fifth Aliyah (1929 – 1939)
The Fifth Aliyah is considered to be a continuation of the Fourth.
The Fifth Aliyah was divided into two waves, from 1929 until 1931, and from 1932 until about 1936. In the latter four-year period, approximately 180,000 Jews arrived. During the first period there was serious escalation of tensions between Jews and Arabs, and in 1929, there were numerous violent incidents, which resulted in many deaths. However, as many of the immigrants that arrived during this time were young, members of youth movements, and had undergone intensive training to prepare them for the life of pioneers and settlers, they were not discouraged.
The Jews that arrived in the second mini-wave had several reasons to immigrate, including the Nazis’ rise to power in Germany. Although most of the newcomers were from Poland, German immigrants figured prominently in this wave. The German Jews differed from all the earlier newcomers because they came from the upper middle class of Central Europe, and most of them were not Zionists.
In comparison with the earlier waves of immigration, the numbers during this period were enormous and, by 1939, nearly 250,000 Jews arrived, and very few returned home. This brought the Jewish population of Palestine to approximately 450,000. The newcomers came with much needed money and professional expertise in various areas. Industry grew significantly, trade became a substantial source of income, and export became an important element in the economy. Members of this group also took their places in the academic, social, and cultural life of the new society.
Where did the people who came during this wave of aliyah come from?
Who were the people who came during this wave of aliyah?
Why did they want to leave their country of origin? (push factors)
Why did they want to come to Israel? (pull factors)
How many people came during this wave of aliyah?
What did they add to Israeli society and/or culture?
6th Grade Israel Unit - Week 3
9:30 - 9:45 Aliyah Photos
Schmooze & what do you remember from last week??
9:45 - 10:15 T’fillot
10:15 - 10:30 Against the odds…
Before beginning the video, give every student 3-5 index cards (you can decide how many just make sure that they all get the same number) and ask them to write one noteworthy fact on each of them that they learn from the video. 2 rules:
You are the judge - if the fact is NOT noteworthy, they will not get points for it
Everyone will take turns offering ONE fact at a time. They only get points for being the FIRST student to say the fact
If multiple students get the highest number of points, you can have multiple winners OR have the class vote on which fact they think is the most noteworthy
Watch: How The State Of Israel Was Born
Share facts and tally points
10:30 - 11:00 Ben Gurion Escape Room
https://go.israellink.org/BenGurionEscapeRoom
The David Ben Gurion Digital Escape Room is designed to provide students with an introductory understanding of the history of Zionism and the historical events that led to the declaration of the modern State of Israel. It’s May 14, 1948. Your students are locked in David Ben Gurion’s office along with the Declaration of the Establishment of the State. They must solve a series of 8 tasks to unlock the door. Educational content is hidden within the office and is activated when students click on an item.
Starting the game is much more complicated than it should be but once you are playing it’s a lot of fun and pretty engaging.
11:00 - 11:25 The Declaration of Independence
I have pulled out sentences/phrases from the Declaration of Independence and put them on card stock. Have the students group them and assemble them into a document that makes sense to them:
Create an intro - which sentences/phrases help introduce?
What are the values found in the sentences/phrases? What order do you want them in?
How are you going to conclude the declaration?
The class can add connections if they want.
A couple of words to make sure they understand: Diaspora/dispersion, ingathering, exiles
When they feel they have created the best order for the sentences/phrases they have, ask them: “Is there anything you feel is missing? What would you add to the declaration?”
Take out the poster version and magnate it up on the board. Compare and contrast what they did with the real Declaration. Which is better? What comes up for them?
Finally, highlight some of the values that they thought were important and what it means that Israel is based on these really important values.
11:25 - 11:30 Clean up & goodbyes!
Sentences/Phrases from the Declaration of Independence
The birthplace of the Jewish People
[Israel] will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants no matter their religion, race or sex.
Here [the Jews’] spiritual, religious and political identity were shaped
[Israel] will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture.
The people kept faith throughout their dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return.
[Israel] will safeguard the holy places of all religions.
In 5657 (1897) the First Zionist Congress . . . proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to national rebirth.
[The right to rebuild a national home] was recognized in the Balfour Declaration on the 2nd November 1917.
We Appeal . . . to the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve peace and participate in the upbuilding of the State on the basis of full and equal citizenship.
The massacre of millions of Jews in Europe was another clear demonstration of the urgency of solving the problem of [the Jewish People’s] homelessness.
We extend our hands to all neighboring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighborliness.
On the 29th November, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish State in the Land of Israel.
We appeal to the Jewish people throughout the Diaspora to rally round the Jews of the Land of Israel in the tasks of immigration and upbuilding.
This right is the natural right of the Jewish people to be masters of their own fate, like all other nations, in their own independent State.
Placing our trust in the “Rock of Israel” (God).
The State of Israel will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles.
It will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisioned by the prophets of Israel.
6th Grade Israel Unit - Week 4
9:30 - 9:45 Review from Week 2
Review the info on the big poster about the early waves of immigration from week 2. What were the things that every (or most) waves had in common? What is unique (or odd) about each wave?
And/OR
Go over the Facts & Figures handout
From how many different countries did Jews make aliyah?
Which countries had the largest numbers?
Do any of the countries surprise you?
Take questions but don’t worry about having to answer them all…
“After tefillot, we will learn a little bit more about the people on this handout - we will see if some of our questions get answered!”
9:45 - 10:15 T’fillot
10:15 - 10:50 Later Waves of Immigration to Israel
Break students into FOUR groups and give each group an info sheet on one of the waves of immigration [see the handouts below]. They will have to figure out from the info where people are coming from in their wave; why people left their country of origin; why they came to Israel; how many people came in that wave; time period of the wave; some demographics of the group; what did they do/create when they got to Israel.
Once they have - as a group filled out their worksheet, they can add all of their info to the big poster that you will have hanging on the corkboard. Make sure that they use markers so that everyone can see the info.
Have each group present the basics of their wave that they put on the big poster . Go over some of the things that the waves have in common and some of the things that are really different.
10:50 - 11:15 Helping New Immigrants
Immigrating to a new country is challenging. Discuss the challenges new immigrants face:
What do you think would be hard about moving to a new country?
What communication difficulties might there be when immigrating to a new country?
How would you learn the new language? How would your parents learn the new language?
Immigration is also a challenge for the host country. Discuss the challenges that a country might face:
What type of assistance might new immigrants need from the government?
What might be the reaction of the citizens to new immigrants?
How does immigration affect employment?
What restrictions do some countries put on immigration?
Who is allowed to immigrate to your country? What rules are in place?
What is your country’s attitude toward immigrants?
What challenges did Israel face when absorbing so many immigrants in its early years? How did the Israeli economy deal with these difficulties?
Each group analyzes a poster (printed from HERE) from the collections of the National Library of Israel, originally printed by the Education Ministry in the early days of the State of Israel. Answering the following questions:
What words from the poster do you think would be the most helpful to a new immigrant?
Which words or phrases on the poster surprised you?
What did you learn from the poster about Israeli society in the 1950s?
If you were going to make a poster like this today, what words and phrases on your theme would you add?
11:15 - 11:25 The Faces of Israel
Before session 2, students looked at photos of immigrants to Israel and imagined what their stories could be. Since then, they have gotten to know so many other groups of Israeli immigrants. This video shows the many faces of Israel: 100 people from 0 to 100 years counting in Hebrew [3:00]
What did you notice about the faces?
What surprised you?
Do you think all of the people are Jewish?
[they are!]
If the students want, watch the video again and revisit the questions!
11:25 - 11:30 Clean up & goodbyes!
Facts & Figures
In May 1948, when Israel became independent, there were some 600,000 Jews in the country. By the time the battles subsided, toward the end of that year, 110,000 immigrants had arrived, 6,000 Jews had been killed in the War of Independence, and the stabilizing borders contained 100,000 Arabs or perhaps a bit more. The total population was 800-850,000.
By the end of 1952, 738,891 immigrants had arrived
(this includes the 110,000 who arrived in the second half of 1948).
Aliyah Bet: (1939 - 1948)
From 1939 - 1948, the British were in charge of the land that we now call Israel.
The British restricted the immigration of Jews to a quota of 18,000 per year. At the same time, the Nazis were killing Jews in Europe, so they were trying to flee by any means necessary. This means that immigration to Israel at this time was considered "illegal." The Beriha (escape) organization helped nearly 200,000 Jews to leave Europe and most of those headed to Israel.
It was very difficult to get the Jews out of Europe, and the primary method was by sea. Remember, the world was at war! So maritime (sea) conditions were very dangerous, and it was hard to find boats that were safe enough for large numbers of passengers. The British put up a blockade, preventing boats from landing on Israel's shores. Sixty-six illegal immigration sailings carrying 70,000 immigrants were organized during these years, but only a few managed to penetrate the British blockade and bring their passengers ashore. Many Jews lost their lives at sea.
Another way Jews came to Israel during this time was over land. About 9,000 Jews came this way. About 1350 Syrian Jews came to Israel in a complex and very audacious operation. It was just as complicated to bring Jews in by land as it was by sea.
The number of immigrants during the entire mandate period, legal and illegal alike, was approximately 480,000, close to 90% of them from Europe. The population of the Yishuv (Jewish settlements in Israel) expanded to 650,000 by the time statehood was proclaimed in 1984.
Where did the people who came during this wave of aliyah come from?
Who were the people who came during this wave of aliyah?
Why did they want to leave their country of origin? (push factors)
Why did they want to come to Israel? (pull factors)
How many people came during this wave of aliyah?
What did they add to Israeli society and/or culture?
Arab-Jewish Refugees
When war broke out between Israel and the Arab states in 1948, many of the Jews living in Arab countries fled to Israel under threat of persecution and a desire to fulfill the Zionist dream. As anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism increased in the Arab world, Jewish emigration continued until the early 1970s. Many were forced to abandon their properties and belongings before leaving. Today, there are only a few very small Jewish communities remaining in the Middle East outside of Israel.
Two examples of the mass migration of Jews fleeing the Arab countries that they had been living in for centuries:
In May 1949, when the Imam of Yemen agreed to let 45,000 of the 46,000 Jews in his country leave, Israeli transport planes flew them "home" in Operation Magic Carpet. The Yemenite Jews, mostly children, were brought to Israel on some 380 flights. This was one of the most wonderful and complex immigration operations the state has ever known. British and American planes airlifted the Jews from Aden, the capital of Yemen, when they reached the city from all over Yemen after extremely dangerous and risky journeys. The operation was secret and was released to the media only several months after its completion.
Operation Ezra & Nehemiah, also known as Operation Ali Baba, was the airlift of more than 120,000 Jews from Iraq to Israel shortly after the founding of the Jewish state.
The Iraqi Jewish community was one of the oldest such communities in the world and its members had served as philosophers, educators, doctors, and even high-ranking government officials. However, in the wake of World War II and the developing conflict between the Palestinians and Israel, conditions in the Jewish community worsened as public violence against Jews increased and government restrictions were levied.
In 1947, the Iraqi government made immigration to Israel illegal and, following Israeli independence, it officially declared Zionism a capital offense. Hundreds of Jews were arrested and sentenced to jail for trying to leave the country.
In 1951, the Iraqi government passed a special bill permitting Jewish emigration - according to Iraqi law, though, Jews had to sell their property and businesses before they could leave. Additionally, each person was allowed to take no more than $140 out of the country and could only carry 66 pounds of luggage; jewelry was also forbidden from being taken out of Iraq.
Despite these restrictions, some 50,000 Jews signed up in one month, and two months later there were 90,000 on the list.
Where did the people who came during this wave of aliyah come from?
Who were the people who came during this wave of aliyah?
Why did they want to leave their country of origin? (push factors)
Why did they want to come to Israel? (pull factors)
How many people came during this wave of aliyah?
What did they add to Israeli society and/or culture?
Operation Moses and Operation Solomon
Ethiopian Jews (members of the Beta Israel tribe) began moving to Israel as early as 1934, however it was not until the late 1970s-early 1980s that they immigrated en masse. In 1979, aliyah activists began convincing Ethiopians to flee Ethiopia and head to Sudan, where they could be moved from refugee camps to Israel. This led to two major covert operations- Moses in 1984 and Solomon in 1991- that brought nearly the entire tribe over to Israel.
By 1984, thousands of Ethiopian Jews had fled to Sudan, braving extremely dangerous conditions - it is estimated that 4,000 died along the way. Sudan secretly allowed Israel to begin transporting refugees, until word got out and external pressures forced them to suspend the operation. Many refugees were left behind, with some evacuated shortly after in a US-led operation.
In 1991, as the situation worsened in Ethiopia, the Israeli government knew that it had to act quickly, before the rebels took over, to evacuate the rest of Beta Israel. In Operation Solomon, they managed to evacuate over 14,000 Ethiopians (nearly twice as many as were taken in Operation Moses) in 34 El Al planes with the seats removed to maximize capacity. The entire operation took place over 36 hours.
Where did the people who came during this wave of aliyah come from?
Who were the people who came during this wave of aliyah?
Why did they want to leave their country of origin? (push factors)
Why did they want to come to Israel? (pull factors)
How many people came during this wave of aliyah?
What did they add to Israeli society and/or culture?
Russian Immigration
During the Cold War, Jews in the Soviet Union were not allowed to practice their religion and many were denied the right to emigrate. Because of anti-religious sentiment in the Soviet Union, many were raised in secular homes and nearly 1/3 were not considered halachically Jewish, though they were able to immigrate under the Right of Return. Under the more liberal government of Mikhail Gorbachev in the early 1990s, Jews were allowed to emigrate and they did so in a large group - nearly 1 million Russian Jews moved to Israel in the 1990s.
Where did the people who came during this wave of aliyah come from?
Who were the people who came during this wave of aliyah?
Why did they want to leave their country of origin? (push factors)
Why did they want to come to Israel? (pull factors)
How many people came during this wave of aliyah?
What did they add to Israeli society and/or culture?
Vocabulary Posters from Israel in the 1950’s
What words from the poster do you think would be the most helpful to a new immigrant?
Which words or phrases on the poster surprised you?
What did you learn from the poster about Israeli society in the 1950s?
If you were going to make a poster like this today, what words and phrases on your theme would you add?
6th Grade Israel Unit - Week 5
9:30 - 9:45 Making Aliyah: Then & Now, Part 1
Over this unit, we have learned about what it has been like for so many Jews in the past who moved to Israel.
What do you remember about their experiences?
General brainstorm
Was it easy for them or difficult?
Difficult
If life was so much more difficult in the Land of Israel than in Europe, why did some Jews choose to move there?
Remind them of the big pull factors:
religious desire to be in the land of Israel
Zionism - the modern idea of Jews being able to have their own government in our homeland
According to the ADL: Zionism is the movement for the self-determination and statehood for the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland, the land of Israel.
The push factors may also come up:
Economic problems in Europe for Jews
Antisemitism
Do you think these are still the reasons why Jews move to Israel today??
Today we are going to hear from a bunch of people who moved to Israel (or in one case, his family moved to Israel) for a lot of different reasons… (continues after tefillot)
9:45 - 10:15 T’fillot
10:15 - 10:30 Making Aliyah: Then & Now, Part 2
Today we are going to hear from a bunch of people who moved to Israel (or in one case, his family moved to Israel) for a lot of different reasons…
The following video is kinda long but really interesting - it is a guy on the streets of Israel interviewing people who moved to Israel from elsewhere about why they live in Israel now. There are 8 interviews altogether - you could end after the first 6 (after the older American guy in the purple shirt which ends around 4:45ish) and it is still a really good representation.
Give students scratch paper & pencil
“We are going to watch this pretty recent video (it’s from 2020) of people who have moved to Israel from other places. Each person gives different reasons for coming to Israel. Write down as many reasons as you hear and after it's done, we will compare those reasons to the ones we learned about last week!”
Follow up discussion:
What are the reasons you heard from these people as to why they moved to Israel?
Write the answers on the board
Which of these reasons seem similar to the reasons that people moved to Israel 100 years ago?
If YOU were going to move to Israel, which of these reasons would make sense to you? Or do you have a different reason?
10:30 - 11:00 Hearing from Someone Who has Made Aliyah
You have a guest speaker in class today: Tamy Jacobs. She made aliyah about 7 years ago but came back to the US during Covid to be closer to her family here. She still thinks a lot about moving back to Israel. She is going to talk about:
How she decided to make aliyah - what were her push and pull factors
What she likes about living in Israel
What is hard about living in Israel
What it means to her to be Israeli
Hopefully, there will be time for the students to ask questions!
When we don’t have a speaker available, show this video:
ืกืืืื ืขื ืืฉืืื ืืืืื ืขืืืื ENGLISH SUBTITLES
Why did these kids make aliyah? And from where?
What do the kids like about living in Israel?
What is hard for them about living in Israel?
When/why did they start feeling Israeli?
11:00 - 11:15 Do we, Jews, NEED Israel?
“This or that” activity:
Explain that several pairs of statements will be read aloud and students will be asked to decide which statement, and to what extent, they agree with. They can stand anywhere along the continuum of the “this or that”. Emphasize that there is no right or wrong answer, rather, there will likely be a spectrum of opinions. Emphasize to the class that these types of statements have been discussed by Jews for several hundred years and that there are Jews who agree and others who disagree with them all! In fact, these kinds of conversations are one of the defining features of the Jewish world.
Read a pair of statements out loud.
Jews do not need to know Hebrew OR Hebrew is our ancient language and unites Jews around the world
Jews need to be self-confident and not scared to show that they are Jewish OR Jews only need to know Jewish texts
Judaism is a religion OR Judaism is a nationality
Jews should blend into society OR Jews should celebrate their culture visibly
Judaism can be practiced anywhere OR Judaism is more authentic in Israel
We need Israel OR We don’t need Israel
Give students 10 seconds to process the statement and decide which they agree with. Ask students to stand on the side they most connect with. It is very possible that students will feel torn as to which side of the room to go. It is ok to be in the middle!
After each pairing, let people on either side tell why they chose that side and listen to the people in the middle as well
For the last pairing, reflect back on why some of the immigrants we met today and last week did need Israel - and why some of them didn’t need Israel but wanted Israel.
11:15 - 11:30 A Final Song/Thought
Shevet Achim Ve Achayot Taglit- Birthright Israel
“How can it be explained that a Jew like myself, attached to the destiny of Israel with all the fiber of his being, has chosen to write, teach, work, found a family, and to live far away in a social and cultural environment that is far too generalized for that of our ancestors? Israelis put this question to me, as they do other Jews in the Diaspora....Is there a satisfactory response? If there is, I don't know it....For the moment, this is all I can say: as a Jew, I need Israel. More precisely: I can live as a Jew outside Israel but not without Israel"
~Elie Weisel
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