Of all the tech ideas we discussed in my “High-Tech Hebrew Learning” presentation at NewCAJE in Waltham, MA—interactive whiteboard ideas, Smartphone and iPad apps, MP3 downloads, online Hebrew practice—the segment that generated the greatest interest was using Skype for Hebrew learning.
In this model, a Hebrew tutor works one-on-one via Skype with a student. Or with small groups of students using other web conferencing services. Read about Skype and Hebrew learning in The Jewish Week.
So why was Skype so attractive to these NewCAJERS? Because it’s an intriguing solution to the need to offer families flexibility, accommodate their schedules, increase learning time in the face of reduced class hours, shift time (like setting your DVR), reduce drive time to school (that LA traffic!), serve isolated communities, and personalize learning.
I’m especially fond of this term—though it’s a mouthful: “technology-facilitated individualized attention.” Skype allows you to offer that to your students and their families.
Special thanks to Dr. Karen Reiss Medwed, Dean of Faculty and Assistant Professor of Jewish Education at Hebrew College, and a guest at my workshop, who recommended this site for web collaboration. Karen countered a participant’s objection to the loss of community by saying that students create their own community these days (often online) and we might do well to examine our own definition of what “community” means.
It’s sticky: there’s a lot to be gained from distance learning and there’s something that’s lost too. Where do you currently fall?
Dinner for Schmucks, Director Jay Roach’s remake of the 1998 French comedy Diner de Cons (The Dinner Game), opened last weekend to mixed reviews. Starring Steve Carell, the talented actor who has established himself as Hollywood’s most loveable loser, Dinner for Shmucks begs for attention from Jewish educators. As you prepare for a new school year, don’t overlook this film’s ability to stimulate discussions about Jewish humor and the way comedy helped Jews survive an often tortured history.
LESSON IDEAS
1. Ask for a volunteer to summarize the plot.
[Tim is an ambitious executive who sets aside his moral compass in pursuit of a promotion. To achieve his dream job, he accepts an invitation to an unusual dinner party that his boss hosts. In actuality, the party is a contest to determine which executive can bring the biggest idiot to the dinner. Tim has second thoughts about participating in the mean spirited joke, but after he stumbles upon Barry—a sweet, dimwitted IRS agent—he decides that this affable loser could be his ticket to the executive suite. Unfortunately, Tim learns that Barry (the Steve Carell character) is more than a naive simpleton; he brings chaos wherever he goes.]
2. Play the trailer
3. Begin the discussion by examining the title of the film.
Yiddish words such as mensch and chutzpah have crept into American vernacular. Do you know what these words mean? [Define them for those who don’t] What does the popularity of these Yiddish terms say about American culture? What does it say about the American Jewish experience?
The Yiddish word schmuck is a vulgar term for penis. It is frequently used as a pejorative for someone who is contemptible, wicked, or obnoxious. Do you think it’s appropriate that the word schmuck appears in the title of a feature film? Do you think the producers of the film have used the Yiddish correctly? Who are the real schmucks in the film?
4. Ask students what role they think humor and comedy play in society.
5. Introduce the following idea: The main virtue of comedy is that it shines a spotlight on life’s incongruities; in other words, comedy allows us to laugh at the gap between our life experiences and our highest expectations. By doing so, we make disappointments more bearable. Tell this classic joke to make this idea clear.
Elazar, a poor Jew who lived during the Roman occupation of Israel, found himself at heaven’s gate. The patriarch Abraham greeted him and said, “Before you can enter heaven, you must describe a personal example of bravery during your lifetime.”
“Oh sure,” said Elazar, smiling confidently. “I once stood before the Roman emperor and called him a camel’s rear-end and then scolded him for occupying our land.”
“When did that happen,” Abraham asked, obviously impressed.
“About 10 seconds ago,” responded Elazar.
What incongruity is the joke highlighting? [The helplessness of average people in the face of brutal oppressors; living honorably might require self-sacrifice; indeed, it might be impossible to live honorably and remain alive.]
6. For centuries, Jews lived with one central incongruity. Ask students to speculate what it has been. [Our tradition teaches us that we’re God’s chosen people, and yet, our history has been filled with persecution.]
How has classical Jewish theology addressed this inconsistency? [Our suffering is caused by our sinful behavior.]
Jews also used humor to reconcile the inconsistency. A central character in Jewish folklore is the schlemiel. Write the Yiddish word schlemiel on the blackboard. Ask if anyone knows the definition. If no one answers correctly, tell the following anecdotes and challenge the class to define schlemiel.
Medieval Jewish poet Ibn Ezra (1092-1167) created a schlemiel in several stories. This character once said of himself: “If I should undertake to sell candles, the sun would never set; if I should deal in shrouds, no one would ever die.”
Jewish folklore recalls the following incident: A poor schlemiel once approached the richest man in the village and asked for money. When the wealthy man refused, the schlemiel said:
“But you’ve just got to give me money!”
“Why?” demanded the rich man.
“Because if you don’t, I’ll go into the hat business!”
“So…?”
“What do you mean, ‘So….?’ If a man with my luck goes into the hat business, everybody in this country from that day on will be born without a head!”
[According to the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, a schlemiel is someone who “handles a situation in the worst possible manner or is dogged by an ill luck that is more or less due to his own ineptness.”]
7. Make sure students understand this last point. Schlemiels cause their own bad luck. They are different from schlimazels –another Yiddish word that describes unfortunate people whose bad luck comes through no fault of their own. Tell this anecdote to distinguish between schlemiels and schlimazels: When a schlimazel drops bread, it invariably lands on the buttered side; when a schlemiel drops bread, it always lands on the buttered side because schlemiels butter both sides of bread.
8. Close the discussion by studying the following excerpt from Ruth Wisse’s book, The Schlemiel as Modern Hero:
“Since Jewry’s attitudes toward its own frailty were complex and contradictory, the schlemiel was sometimes berated for his foolish weakness, and elsewhere exalted for his hard inner strength. For the reformers who sought ways of strengthening and improving Jewish life and laws, the schlemiel embodied those negative qualities of weakness that had to be ridiculed to be overcome. Conversely, to the degree that Jews looked upon their disabilities as external afflictions, sustained through no fault of their own, they used the schlemiel as the model of endurance, his innocence a shield against corruption, his absolute defenselessness, the only guaranteed defense against the brutalizing potential of might.”
Classroom resources can appear in the most unlikely places; in fact, a great discussion starter is now getting a lot of air time on TV. If you haven’t seen it, check out this creative Geico commercial that depicts honest Abe Lincoln struggling to reconcile his natural tendency to tell the truth with his desire to avoid hurting his wife’s feelings.
Here are a few ideas and relevant Jewish texts you might use to explore Lincoln’s thorny ethical dilemma:
Play the You Tube video
Ask students:
What is the ethical dilemma portrayed in the commercial?
Do you agree with Lincoln’s behavior?
If you have encountered a similar situation, how did you behave?
When is it permissible to tell a white-lie?
Divide the class into small groups; distribute the following text and ask each group to analyze it.
And Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “Now that I am withered, am I to have enjoyment with my husband so old?” Then God said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh saying, “Shall I in truth bear a child, old as I am?” (Bereishit 18:12-13)
4. Make sure your students understand the context of the quote and then ask:
What is the difference between Sarah’s words and what God reports to Abraham?
Do you think God tells a lie in this text? If so, for what purpose?
What ethical principle can we learn from God’s behavior?
Our ancient Sages explain God’s behavior, saying, “Great is peace, seeing that for its sake even God modified the truth” (Yevamot 65b)
5. Does this text and the rabbinic commentary support or condemn Lincoln’s behavior in the commercial?
6. Share personal, literary, and historic examples of times when the truth was sacrificed for peace.
You could stop the analysis here, but if you have class time and want to dig deeper, see below.
7. Distribute the following text and ask students to read and discuss it:
Our rabbis taught: How does one dance [and what words does one say] before a bride? The School of Shammai says, “The bride [is described] as she is.” The School of Hillel says, “[Every bride is described] as beautiful and graceful.” The School of Shammai said to the School of Hillel, “If she was lame or blind, does one say of her, ‘Beautiful and graceful bride?’ Does not the Torah command, ‘Stay far away from falsehood’?” [Exodus 23:7] But the School of Hillel answered the School of Shammai, “According to your words, if a person has made a bad purchase in the market, should one praise it to him or deprecate it? Surely one should praise it to him.” Therefore, the rabbis teach, “Always should one’s disposition be pleasant with people.” (Ketubot 16b-17a)
8. Ask students if the fictitious Lincoln is a disciple of Shammai or Hillel?
9. Explain to students that at first glance, it seems as if Lincoln rejects Hillel’s position and embraces Shammai’s approach; after all, the President tells the brutal truth even though it hurts his wife’s feelings. But a closer examination of the second half of the text reveals that Hillel too might have supported Lincoln’s actions.
Help the students unpack this complex text.
10. Ask students:
What example does Hillel offer to counter Shammai’s assertion that the Torah forbids falsehoods? [If a person who has made a bad purchase asks your opinion, you should tell a white lie and praise his decision.]
How is this example similar to the original ethical question: Should one lie to a bride about her appearance? [Just as the bride can’t change her appearance, a person who has already made a bad purchase can’t do anything about it. Therefore, telling the truth would be hurtful.]
What ethical standard can we infer from Hillel’s advice to praise a bad purchase? [If the truth will hurt someone’s feelings without achieving a greater good, then a white lie is permitted.]
How would you apply this standard to the Geico commercial?
What greater good does Lincoln’s honesty serve? [Consider this explanation by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin : “…if someone preparing to go to a party in inappropriate attire asks your opinion, you should tell him or her your true feelings (you may save the person from embarrassment). But if you meet someone at a party inappropriately dressed, tell the individual he or she looks fine, since the truth would only make the person very uncomfortable.”]
After studying this text, do you think Lincoln’s behavior was appropriate?
Did you see photos or TV footage of Apple employees standing outside their stores cheering and clapping as jubilant customers emerged with their just-purchased Apple iPhone 4? What brilliant marketing, I thought. People slept overnight outside the store, shelled out 200 bucks… and were made to feel like heroes, like a select and privileged group for doing so.
One online report said: customers “…enjoyed the experience of being backslapped through a tunnel of link-armed, whooping Apple employees.”
So how can we create the same buzz and excitement among our congregants and parents so that they—in the words of Steve Jobs—feel like “Apple fanboys”? (Insert the name of your synagogue in place of “Apple.”) Maybe we can write or call them to say thank you for being loyal members, feature family case studies in our synagogue bulletins, call parents to sign up for religious school (rather than waiting for them to register), offer loyalty rewards (like a free high holiday ticket for a guest), or invite them to a member appreciation Shabbat dinner.
Some days I feel like a dinosaur. This is especially true when I talk technology with my children. Living in an on-demand, digitally-delivered world, my kids just raise quizzical eyebrows at descriptions of quaint technologies from my own school days, such as computer punch cards and “corrasable bond,” the glazed, erasable paper that helped a generation of fumble-fingered non-typists turn in readable school essays in those dark days before the invention of the delete key. “What is she talking about?” It’s all ancient history to my kids, and it doesn’t really connect.
So if it is a challenge connecting today’s kids to aspects of life a single generation ago, how much greater is the challenge we as educators face when we want to help them make meaning of biblical times? How do we create authentic ways to help students discover the relevance in the study of Tanakh and connect to the moral lessons it offers?
William Damon, Professor of Education at Stanford University and Director of the Stanford Center on Adolescence, has done some compelling research in the area of educating toward a moral sensibility—helping develop and refine what research psychologists say is the moral sense children naturally possess into what Damon calls a “path to purpose.”
Writing earlier this year in Educational Leadership,* Damon discussed ways we can work with students to help them develop their own natural moral inclinations into strong character traits that will guide them as they seek solutions to life’s challenges. And a key to making real connection, his work suggests, is to avoid language that is overly abstract and removed from students’ own experiences. Instead, Damon urges using situations from students’ own lives, showing them examples of ethical values enacted in the lives of other real people, and providing them with opportunities to engage in activities that build the habit of virtuous behavior.
Damon’s article happened across my desk at the same time that my latest editorial project, The Prophets: Speaking Out for Justice, was leaving it on its way to the printer. The timing gave his writing particular resonance for me, because in this book author Gila Gevirtz took pains to provide exactly the connections Damon says are crucial.
Her dilemma? Finding ways to portray biblical prophets and the values they exemplify that are concrete enough, compelling enough, and modern enough to grab the attention of today’s 5th-7th graders.
Her methods? Giving each prophet a profile, much like the ones our students develop for themselves in their online social spaces; using biblical text as source and inspiration to bring each prophet to life through compelling personal stories; and, perhaps most importantly, bringing the messages of each prophet directly into focus for students by translating abstract moral language into examples of and direct questions about situations drawn directly from lives these students do understand: their own.
To further supplement Gevirtz’s work, and also (it turns out) in direct agreement with Damon’s educational research, another BH colleague of mine, Aaron Schachter, turned material from the book and from our companion organization, Babaganewz, into a new online resource, www.thejewishprophets.com. Here students can not only review each prophet’s profile, they can also link to articles highlighting other teens as well as public figures and celebrities who are taking ethical action in the world. They can also connect to and use the Babaganewz Mitzvah Machine to get ideas for service projects of their own.
Together, Gevirtz and Schachter have created compelling companion resources you can use right now to help put your students on their own paths to purpose.
*Damon, William, “The Bridge to Character,” Educational Leadership, February 2010, pp 36-39.
I recently read an article in the paper about the upcoming bar mitzvah of a young man in South Africa. He is the grandson of Richard Goldstone, a prominent South African judge who was also the head of a United Nations investigation into war crimes during Israel’s recent intervention in Gaza. As you probably know, this “Goldstone Report” condemned both Israel and Hamas, but mostly focused on Israeli transgressions.
Faced with threats of a protest during the ceremony, Judge Goldstone announced that he would not attend. How very sad! I always find the most tender moments of a bar/bat mitzvah ceremony are seeing the joy of the generations witnessing the event.
These threats came from members of the congregation – to be conducted in the synagogue! When our own people prevent us from witnessing our family simchot, we must wonder if there is a time to put politics aside!
Hopefully, good sense will prevail and the Judge will celebrate with his family within the sanctuary and the protesters will demonstrate at his office.
New research shows that even in patients with severe memory loss—for example from Alzheimer’s disease—the emotions triggered by specific events can outlast the memory of the events themselves.
An article by lead researcher Justin Feinstein in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describes their experiments: they showed films of events with strong emotional content. For a sad event, the scene in the film Forest Gump where Tom Hanks cries all alone over the grave of his dead wife Jennie. For a happy event, a scene from When Harry Met Sally.
A half-hour later, the Alzheimer’s patients couldn’t remember the film. But they still reported being happy or sad, depending on what film they’d seen.
So, what does it mean for us as educators? Why do we care? It’s about that old dichotomy, perhaps a false one, between intellect and emotion, between reason and revelation.
We’re trained in a great intellectual tradition. We are the People of the Book. That intellectual tradition has manifested itself with great achievements through history—Nobel prizes, secular accomplishment, achievements broad and wide of which our community is justifiably proud.
And we will retain that great tradition. We will remain the People of the Book. It’s our heritage, our culture, our destiny.
And yet there’s more. As we teach our children, as we bring them into our tradition of mitzvot, prayer, and deeds of lovingkindness, we will do well to remember the emotional content of what we teach. For it may well be that the emotional lessons are the strongest and survive the longest. So let us make a point to convey our emotional heritage as well: the warmth of home and family rituals that our children learn at Shabbat dinners and the Passover seder; the community they experience in school and synagogue hanging out with other kids at snack time or while learning about Jewish heroes; and the thrill they get from having a tangible impact on the world around them as they engage in even a small project of tikkun olam.
This is their emotional heritage. And their emotional heritage—whatever it is that we create for them—will indeed resonate for them, and will resonate from generation to generation.
A creative April Fools joke, captured by a hidden camera, turns out to be more than a well planned practical joke; it reveals an essential characteristic of the human brain and provides an important lesson for Jewish educators.
THE SETUP
The subject in the video—none other than David Behrman—enjoys several Diet Pepsi sodas each day. Walking into the warehouse to buy one is a predictable part of his day. In fact, some Behrman House staffers claim you can set your watch by his routine.
THE PLAN
What would happen if one of the Diet Pepsis in the machine was replaced by a different beverage, something bolder and more potent…something the firm’s president would never expect to find in a soda machine? Furthermore, what would happen if all Behrman House employees were told not to buy a Diet Pepsi on April Fools Day, thereby ensuring that only David would buy the replacement beverage? The answer: a priceless prank captured on video.
THE PLAN UNFOLDS
THE ANALYSIS
Notice that David unconsciously reaches into the machine, takes out the beverage, and walks toward the door. Obviously, his mind remains occupied by something other than this trivial task. After a few seconds, he recognizes that something is wrong, and his attention, which had been functioning on autopilot, shifts back to events at hand.
Many of us have had similar experiences; for example, perhaps—like me—you’ve been driving home from work and suddenly realized that you don’t remember parts of the journey. Neuroscientists explain this phenomenon by describing the efficient way the brain processes the flood of information it encounters. To conserve attention, the brain has developed two distinct circuits: One circuit, called the active learning circuit, handles new experiences. Once we’ve learned the new material (like our route home), the next time we confront it, the brain processes that information in the second circuit, where less energy is expended. Voila, we’re on autopilot. Remarkably, brain researchers estimate that 90% of what we do every day is carried out by our unconscious autopilot.
THE LESSON FOR JEWISH EDUCATORS
The message for classroom teachers is that learning occurs when the unexpected happens. We must avoid predictable routines and use a variety of learning strategies, such as role playing, inquiry, cooperative learning, and values conflicts. For a brief summary of these models, see http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/instruct/instmdls.html
JUDAISM vs. OUR AUTOPILOT
Jewish living invites us to turn off our autopilot. When we say a bracha before and after we eat or when we go to bed and wake up, we sanctify the profane. Shabbat and the festivals also disconnect our autopilot. They awaken us to a deeper, more meaningful realm of life and provide opportunities for us to evaluate our lives and change for the better. S’firat ha-omer, the 49 day period before Shavuot that we’re observing now, can be a good workout for our brain’s active learning circuit. Each day that we count, we can focus on improving a specific aspect of our personality.
RESOURCES
For a creative omer counter that teaches Jewish values, check out these activities from Babaganewz.com
The neatly posed positions, smiling faces, and champagne glasses lifted in toast tell just part of the story of the strategic planning process we’ve just completed here at Behrman House. Many of you who have been involved in change in your own synagogues, schools, and institutions know the truth: it can be a messy, crazy, exciting, exhilarating, terrifying experience.
Six months ago we started a strategic revisioning process; it’s complete now and we’ve come through it stronger and wiser and closer as a team. One of the added benefits: we figured out how to clear out our Inboxes! (Full disclosure: Some of us were less successful than others.) We’ve developed a new organizational structure, learned more effective ways of communicating, created new accounting systems, expanded our staff with more digital developers, formed new alliances and partnerships—all to help you, your communities, and your families live meaningful Jewish lives.
So watch out for all sorts of new products and services coming your way from Behrman House in the next year or two. Most important, tell us about your change process. What drove it? Outside forces or your own desire to improve? What did you gain? What did you lose? We’d love to hear from you. I hope your process ended with bubbly, even if only the metaphorical kind.
I was listening the other day to an NPR piece about self-publishing and the iPad. A well-established author named Mark Morford was complaining, rightfully, that publishing isn’t what it used to be. Publishers used to spend a lot of time and energy crafting a book, editing, designing, and then marketing it to bring the best possible work to the widest possible audience.
Those days are gone. “Trade” publishers—those who get books into Barnes & Noble and other physical bookstores—are largely concerned with getting books done cheaply. Morford observes that “There’s no more marketing money.” He’s right, and the problem goes much deeper.
At most publishers, there’s actually very little interest in crafting the book. Just get it in print. Let the author do the marketing. Make the author hire a publicist, and an artist, and a photographer, him or her self. Rely on the author’s network of colleagues and friends; see if they can build a buzz around the book. If they can, great. If they can’t, too bad. At least the publisher hasn’t invested much.
How different it is for us here at Behrman House. And how pleased I am to be able to say that. We still craft our books. We know we have an ongoing relationship with educators, with readers, with authors, with families, and with the children they all care about. We like it that way—we’re those kind of editors and publishers. Our customers want books that are carefully crafted to deliver meaningful Judaic content in an engaging way. To bring Jewish learning to readers and help them make meaningful lives with it.
And so we edit. We find the right photographs. We commission great art. We design activities for children. And we design our books to be fun to look at, and easy to read. And then we fact-check, and fact-check again. (Sometimes too many times, but please don’t get me started.)
We’re very proud of what we do. It’s a lot different than the publishers Mr. Morford describes—just getting product out the door. And I hope we continue to meet your needs as well.
Of all the tech ideas we discussed in my “High-Tech Hebrew Learning” presentation at NewCAJE in Waltham, MA—interactive whiteboard ideas, Smartphone and iPad apps, MP3 downloads, online Hebrew practice—the segment that generated the greatest interest was using Skype for Hebrew learning. 
