J.
Jewish/Israel Themes
Page 1
References
for external Biographies and links to more on-site Thematic Activities
can be found at the end of this chapter as J.20.
For biographies of Zionist and Israeli personalities:
http://www.jafi-ed.org.il/100/people/people.html
J.2.
A to Z
The
leader calls out the letters of the alphabet, one at a time.
Group members have to respond with the name of a Jewish/Israeli personality
which begins with that letter.
Variations:
Divide the group into teams and play for points.
Use the Hebrew Aleph Bet for initial letters.
Alternative subjects: Places in Israel
Places in Jewish history
Jewish Symbols
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J.3.
Jewish Personalities
The
leader arranges the group in a circle, seated.
The leader asks the group to give the name of a Jewish personality they
would like to speak to, or to have known, and explain why.
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J.4.
Famous Jewish Personalities
As the group members walk
into a room, the leader attaches an index card to each one’s back
or forehead with tape, bearing the name of a Jewish personality.
Participants walk around the room asking each other yes or no questions
about the person whom they represent.
Afterwards, the group sits in a circle and the leader asks each person
to identify his/her character and tell what he or she has learned about
him/her.
Suggestions
for characters:
Abraham, Bella Abzug, Shalom Aleichem, Woody Allen, Shulamit Aloni,
Isaac Bashevis Singer, Menachem Begin, David Ben Gurion, Leonard Bernstein,
Rachel (Bluwstein) the poetess, Mel Brooks,
Bob Dylan, Albert Einstein,
Anne Frank, Sigmund Freud,
Emma Goldman, A.D. Gordon,
Theodore Herzl, Emma Lazarus,
Karl Marx, Golda Meir, Bette Midler, Chaim Potok,
Mark Spitz, Henrietta Szold,
Chaim Weizmann, Elie Wiesel, etc.
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J.5.
Jewish Expressions Relay Race
Sentences
or Expressions can be Jewish expressions from history, simple questions,
or statements on any Jewish topic.
The
leader plits group into teams of 5. Scrambled Jewish expressions are given
to each group: they have to unscramble their sentence and bring the completed
sentence to the judges, where they receive a new sentence to unscramble.
Examples:
| 1. He who saves one life is
like one who saves the entire world. (Sanhedrin 4:5) |
| 2. Man is his own worst enemy.
(Bereishit Rabbah) |
| 3. Suicide is equivalent to
murder. (Pesikta Rabbah 24) |
| 4. If I am not for myself who
will be for me? And if I am only for myself what am I? And if not
now, when? (Ethics of the Fathers) |
| 5. Rabbi Gamliel said: Acquire
for thyself a teacher. (Ethics of the Fathers) |
| 6. Hillel said: Separate not
yourself from the community. |
| 7. Don’t judge your fellow
man until you are in his place. (Ethics of the Fathers) |
| 8. The Land of Milk and Honey |
| 9. If you will it, it is no
dream. (Herzl) |
| 10. We’ve come to Israel
to build and to be rebuilt. |
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J.6.
Pass the Symbol
Participants each choose
a Jewish symbol.
In the first round, each person states his or her symbol.
In the next round, one person starts by saying his or her symbol and that
of any other group member. The group member who hears his/her symbol called
should repeat their symbol and that of someone else.
Variation:
Can be done completely nonverbally.
Each person picks a physical movement as his/her symbol.
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J.7.
Find Your Other Half
The
leader hands out index cards with half the name of a famous Jewish person
written on them, (prepare cards of the exact number of participants) and
participants have to find their "other half".
Once they have done so, each couple talks about their characters and discusses
what they know about him/her.
Finally, they have to present something about that character to the group
as a whole, such as a one-minute speech, song or skit, or a letter they
would have written.
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J.8.
Word Find
Pencils
and paper are required for each group member.
The
leader calls out words on a Jewish theme (long words are better: Enlightenment,
Jerusalem, international, Nebuchadnezzar, etc.). Participants have an
agreed-upon time limit to make as many new words as possible. The object
is to find words that no one else has listed.
The leader then picks one participant to read out his/her words. The group
crosses out any words mentioned that they have written down.
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J.9.
Word Chain
The
leader chooses a word on a Jewish theme.
The next person in the circle says another word, beginning with the last
letter of the previous word, with the objective of remaining with the
same Jewish theme.
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