What can sports teach us about antisemitism? Sport is the setting of some of humanity’s greatest stories. Through the perspective of athletes, teams, fans, coaches, and others, we experience narratives filled with emotions and learn life lessons, like the fulfillment of success and the devastation of failure. The stories of Jewish people in sports help us learn about these triumphs and tribulations but also, the story of the Jewish people. By examining manifestations of antisemitism as…
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Teach students how to examine how antisemitism manifests in the context of sport and the impact of this form of oppression.
Use these activities to bring the history, culture and experience of the Jewish people and community to your classroom.
Echoes & Reflections
GRADE LEVEL: Middle School, High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening In this unit, students learn about the origins of antisemitism and how this hatred was exploited by the Nazis during the 1920s and 1930s as part of their racist ideology. Students define the terms antisemitism and stereotype, review text and video sources, and create a timeline reflecting examples of antisemitism throughout history. Students will…
Echoes & Reflections: Teaching the HolocaustGRADE LEVEL: Middle School, High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, Language The lessons in this unit increase students’ awareness that antisemitism did not end after the Holocaust and provide them with opportunities to learn about the persistence of antisemitism in its contemporary forms. Students investigate the ways in which old ideas about Jews and Judaism have given rise to new expressions of…
Echoes & Reflections
GRADE LEVEL: Middle School, High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening This unit provides an opportunity for students to explore Jewish resistance efforts during the Holocaust—focusing on the period from the establishment of the ghettos through the implementation of the “Final Solution.” An opportunity is provided for students to learn about the risks of resisting Nazi domination and the means, scope,…
GRADE LEVEL: High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening Reports Show an Alarming Rise of Antisemitism in Europe
Several reports over the past few years have pointed to an increase in antisemitism in Europe, both in terms of hate incidents and anti-Jewish attitudes. Human Rights First (based in the U.S.), the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) (based in Vienna) and ADL all report higher levels of antisemitism compared to previous years;…
On the morning of October 27, at Sabbath services—the holy day of the week for the Jewish community—Robert Bowers entered the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA and yelled “All Jews must die,” then opened fire upon the congregants. He was armed with an assault rifle and several handguns and killed eleven congregants and wounded six others, four of whom are police officers. When surrendering to law enforcement, Bowers told an officer that he “wanted all…
GRADE LEVEL: High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Speaking and Listening Antisemitism: Surging in the 21st Century
The ADL Global 100: An Index of Antisemitism™ is the most extensive poll on antisemitic attitudes and opinions toward Jewish people ever conducted. It consists of surveys of the general public in over 100 countries and territories gauging levels of antisemitic attitudes and adherence to traditional antisemitic stereotypes.
First conducted in 2014, ADL…
GRADE LEVEL: Middle School, High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, Language Yom HaShoah: Remembering and Learning from the Holocaust Holocaust Remembrance Day is a day that has been set aside for remembering the victims of the Holocaust and for reminding each of us what can happen when bigotry and hatred are not confronted. This day is widely known as Yom HaShoah, which is a Hebrew term for “Holocaust Day”. The internationally…
GRADE LEVEL: High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Language We see symbols every day in all aspects of our lives. Symbols are used to convey ideas, qualities, emotions, material objects/products, opinions and beliefs. Unfortunately, symbols are also used to convey hate and bias. Lately, we have seen a lot of hate symbol graffiti in public spaces and specifically the swastika, which in most circumstances is understood as an expression of antisemitism. There has reportedly…
GRADE LEVEL: Middle School, High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Speaking and Listening, Language The surge of antisemitic incidents in the United States is alarming to many. Several reported incidents include graffiti using swastikas, bomb threats, vandalism and shootings, targeting Jewish Community Centers (JCC) and institutions across the country. At the Chesed Shel Emeth Society cemetery, a historic century-old Jewish cemetery in University City, a suburb of St…
GRADE LEVEL: High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, Language Since its contrivance at the turn of the twentieth century by the Russian secret police, The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion (or The Protocols of the Elders of Zion) has taken root in bigoted and uneducated minds around the world. The booklet’s twenty-four sections spell out the alleged confidential plans of a Jewish conclave seeking to attain world domination. They represent…
GRADE LEVEL: Elementary School, Middle School, High School
COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing One of the oldest forms of bigotry in existence, antisemitism has persisted on account of religious intolerance, cultural misunderstanding and centuries-old myths that have resulted in divisions among cultural and religious groups and, in the most extreme cases, the loss of lives, families and communities. From bigoted jokes and slurs uttered in school halls to physical assaults and the…
Share and discuss with middle and high school students war-time experiences of three child survivors and how the Holocaust affected them.