Unit 2

JEWISH CONTINUITY IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL

Lesson 1:ABCABCABC
  • Students will test their own knowledge and assumptions about the Jewish presence in the Land of Israel
  • Students will explore their feelings about being part of the Jewish story 
  • Students will learn about the Zinati family and be able to trace continuous Jewish presence in the Land of Israel through their story
  • If you will be using a pen and paper, download and copy the following, available in the RESOURCES tab
    • Pre-Unit Questionnaire
    • What I Know/What I Want to Know
    • Post-film questions
  • Clear enough space in the classroom so that students can stand shoulder to shoulder in one line. They will need enough space to move across a real or imaginary boundary
    • Optional: Place a piece of tape on the floor so that students know where to stand
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Resource 1
Resource 2

Instruct your students to turn to the pre-unit questionnaire. This is the first tab they should see when they open the unit. Students will answer the following questions. [A printable copy can be found in the RESOURCES tab.]
Answer key:
1. Although most Jews left, some remained in the Land of Israel
2. Theodor Herzl
3. 1948
4. Yitzhak Rabin

Before you start, please answer or complete the following four questions or statements. This is not a test, it’s a way to understand what you know before you begin. You’ll review these questions again at the end of this LINK unit and compare those answers to these to see what you’ve learned. Just respond to the best of your ability, and please don’t guess. If you don’t know the answer, it’s okay to choose "I don’t know.” Don’t be intimidated. You are not being graded; plus, most adults wouldn’t know the answers.

If your students do not take the quiz above, use the following to kick off the unit:
Myth or Fact
Present the sentence labeled Myth below, asking the students if they think it is myth or fact. Once they answer, give them the facts, also listed below. Myth: All Jews left Israel after the destruction of the Second Temple, only beginning to return around the rise of Zionism in the late 19th century. Fact: Jews have lived in the region continuously. In fact, later in this unit, we will meet a woman who can trace her family's history all the way back to the Second Temple.

What goes here?

Tell students that before they begin learning, you are going to give them a moment to record what they know about Jewish history and the Land of Israel.

Take a moment to record what you know about Jewish history and the Land of Israel. Write down anything that comes to mind.

When it comes to the topic of this unit, think about what you want to know about the Jewish connection to the ancient Land of Israel and the modern State of Israel.

You will be sharing two film clips about Margalit Zinati, the last person in a long, continuous family line to live in Peki’in, now a predominantly Druze/Arab town in the north of Israel, for thousands of years. Share some of the following information before showing the clips:

Margalit’s story testifies to a continuous Jewish presence in the Land of Israel. The narrative of the Zinati family spans:

• The Roman conquest of Jerusalem
• Destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and the expulsion and dispersion of most of Israel’s Jewish population to other parts of the Middle East and Europe
• The migration from Jerusalem to the north of Israel by many of the remaining Jews
• The return of hundreds of thousands of Jews to the Land of Israel
• The founding of the State of Israel
• Today!

Show the following videos:

Now that you have learned a bit about the Zinati family, test your knowledge with these questions.

Invite a few students to share their answers aloud.