Around the Middle Eastern Jewish World

Middle School (Grades 6-8)

Objectives
  • Students will examine a map of the world and locate world Jewry today.
  • Students will explore and label world Jewry in the Middle East and North Africa.
  • Students will ‘travel’ through 4 countries in the Middle East and North Africa to understand how Sephardi and Mizrachi Jews came to exist as groups and will learn cultural and ethnic indicators of these groups.

 

Materials

For over 2,500 years Jewish communities throughout North Africa, the Middle East, and the Gulf Region thrived — as witnessed by literature, archaeology and art documenting their existence. The vibrant cultural and spiritual traditions of Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewry helped lay the foundation of Jewish life worldwide. The aim of this lesson is to provide students with a geographic snapshot of World Jewry, past and present. They will learn that Sephardic and Middle Eastern Jews migrated to these lands for various reasons and have influenced and been influenced by the culture and politics within these countries.

Lesson Plan
Powerpoint
Appendix A – Travel Packets
Appendix B – Travel Questionnaire
Appendix C – Tradition Cards

Introduction: (30 minutes)

  1. Write the Main Questions on the board:
    1. “Who are Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews?”
    2. “Where do they come from and what are their traditions?”
  2. PPT SLIDE #2 – Show this slide and discuss the lesson aim and main questions with the students.  “Today we are going to learn about where Jews live(d) around the world.”
  3. PPT SLIDE #3 – (A map of the world). Show this slide and ask the students: Where do Jews live in the world today? Have students look at the map of the world and name countries they know. Ask students to go to the board and point to the places where they think Jews live.
  4. PPT SLIDE #4: This slide illustrates a map of the places with the highest Jewish populations around the world since 2011.  Discuss with the students where most Jews live today. On the board, the facilitator will write 3 words: Ashkenaz, Sepharad and Mizrach. Explain that these three words describe regions: Europe, Spain, Middle East/North Africa.
    1. As the students call out different countries, the facilitator can categorize them. For example, if they mention places in Eastern and Central Europe, they can go under Ashkenaz, if they mention Spain, the can go under Sepharad, if they mention Iraq or Iran they go under Mizrach. If they mention Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, the facilitator can say: Is this Mizrach? Are these countries east or west of the Land of Israel? For older students this can be a way of introducing the politicized meaning of the term Mizrachi and how inaccurate it really is as a word to describe Jews in Arab and Muslim lands.
  5. PPT Slide #5 (Map of the Middle East and North Africa) Today we are going to learn about the Jews in the Middle East and North Africa.  Ask the students to identify Middle Eastern countries on the map. Ask: Do you know if any Jews lived in these regions? How do you know?
    1. Keep this map projected on the board for the class activity.

Exploring Jewish Communities in the Middle East and North Africa

  1. As PPT Slide #5 is displayed, tell the students that today they will have an opportunity to “travel” to four Middle Eastern countries and learn about Jewish life in these places.Inform the students that there are four “Travel Packets” displayed around the room. (Appendix A/Travel Packets should be prepared and set up prior to the lesson). Today we are going to “visit” four of these countries and learn about important people and traditions from these places.
  2. Students will use their questionnaire to gather information about each community. At the end of the activity the class will share their findings with one another.
  3. Divide the students into groups of four and have them move from station to station.  Students complete the questionnaire as they “travel to various countries”.