History

**__HISTORY__** . || . || . || . ||
 * **__Centennial Curriculum!__** ||
 * MIXED GRADES; SEE BELOW ||
 * Designed in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, this curriculum explores the lives our Federation has touched in the past century. Each of the curriculum’s five themes, all Jewish values which our Federation is committed to upholding, is represented through a suitcase that includes background information, learning activities, Jewish texts, hands-on materials, and historical artifacts. Personal stories, individual narratives, and concrete artifacts are at the heart of the learning experiences. Reservations for specific suitcases may be made through the JECC’s Curriculum Department. Teachers using a suitcase will be sent a written guide two weeks prior to class usage and may schedule an appointment with a member of the Curriculum Department to better understand suitcase contents and to plan the lesson. Each suitcase takes 1-2 hours of class time, though extension activities can expand learning for 5-10 hours more ||
 * **__Connecting People for 100 Years – Federation’s Founding__** ||
 * MIDDLE SCHOOL ||
 * Harkening back to the turn of the century, this unit explores the issues behind the creation of the Federation. By role-playing characters who might have sat in on discussions of Federation’s establishment, students gain a sense of the Jewish community 100 years ago. In doing so, students discover the need for a central body to oversee and organize the Jewish community. ||
 * [[file:curriculumjecc/H.1 - Connecting People for 100 years, Federation's Founding.pdf|H.1 - Connecting People for 100 years, Federation's Founding.pdf]]
 * **__Connecting to the Community – The Heights Area Project__** ||
 * HIGH SCHOOL ||
 * Set in the late Sixties, this unit focuses on the responsibilities of the Jewish community to stabilize itself when faced with the possibility of a mass exodus eastward. The central activity is a simulation where students role-play various positions advocated by the community’s stakeholders. White flight and issues of Black-Jewish relations are also explored, along with the creation of Federation’s Heights Area Project. ||
 * [[file:curriculumjecc/H.2 - Connecting to the Community, the Heights Area Project.pdf|H.2 - Connecting to the Community, the Heights Area Project.pdf]]
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**__Connecting to the Jewish Future – Jewish Continuity__** ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">HIGH SCHOOL ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Concerned for the future of the Jewish people, Cleveland’s volunteer and professional leadership began work in the late 1980s to impact issues of Jewish continuity. This suitcase explores the ways the Commission on Jewish Continuity focused on these efforts almost 20 years ago. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[[file:curriculumjecc/H.3 - Connecting to the Jewish Future, Jewish Continuity.pdf|H.3 - Connecting to the Jewish Future, Jewish Continuity.pdf]]
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**__Connecting to Soviet Jews__** ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">MIDDLE SCHOOL ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Cleveland was at the forefront of the movement to free Soviet Jews. This unit explores the ways the community, organized by the Federation, rallied around this issue in December, 1987. The central activity involves cooperatively learning about various community activities, their goals and outcomes. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[[file:curriculumjecc/H.4 - Connecting to Soviet Jews (MS).pdf|H.4 - Connecting to Soviet Jews (MS).pdf]]
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**__Connecting to Soviet Jews__** ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">HIGH SCHOOL ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The unit for older students explores the ways Cleveland’s relationship to the Soviet Jewry movement developed and changed from the Sixties until today. In small groups, students explore the issues of activism, solidarity, rescue, resettlement, and partnership, with a clear focus on Federation’s central role. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[[file:curriculumjecc/H.5 - Connecting to Soviet Jews (HS).pdf|H.5 - Connecting to Soviet Jews (HS).pdf]] ||


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**__Children of the Holocaust__** ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">HIGH SCHOOL ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//Children of the Holocaust// explores how children’s lives and identities drastically changed as a result of the Holocaust. Using the text, “every person has three names: one his father and mother give, one others call him or her, and one s/he acquires him/herself” (Ecclesiastes //Rabbah// 7:13), students study personal stories and artwork so as to understand the differing roles into which children and teens were thrust during the Holocaust. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[[file:curriculumjecc/H.6 - Children of the Holocaust.pdf|H.6 - Children of the Holocaust.pdf]] ||


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**__Eyewitness to Jewish History__** **A JECC “Best Seller”** ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">MIDDLE SCHOOL ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">Every family has tales, pictures, documents, rituals, heirlooms – all of which form parts of the master historical story of the Jewish people. In this semester-long unit, students and their families explore how they stand as witness to the Jewish historical narrative using artifacts (special treasures and documents that concretize an event) and family stories. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[[file:curriculumjecc/H.7 - Eyewitness to Jewish History.pdf|H.7 - Eyewitness to Jewish History.pdf]] ||


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**//__Night of the Burning__-// BOOK GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE** ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">MIDDLE SCHOOL ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//Night of the Burning//, by Linda Press Wulf, tells the story of the Ochberg Orphans – a group rescued by Oscar Ochberg from the ravages of World War I and taken to South Africa to be adopted by families. The JECC’s Ratner Media and Technology Center partnered with the JECC’s Curriculum Department and local educators to create a summer reading group with middle schoolers. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For a free download of the guide, click here: [] ||

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**__Responding to God’s Knocks: //Kol Dodi Dofek// (Year Two)__** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**__Responding to God’s Knocks: //Kol Dodi Dofek// (Year One)__**
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">HIGH SCHOOL ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, in his master essay, “//Kol Dodi Dofek//,” writes about “knocks” – moments in time when God calls to //B’nai Yisrael//, signaling them to take an active role in history, to fulfill their mission as the Chosen People. Two curricular guides in Understanding by Design format were written for a multi-year Jewish history sequence for use in a religious Religious Zionist day school. The curriculum is adaptable to other settings, though the Enduring Understanding might not philosophically fit. Year One covers the time period from 589 BCE – 135 CE. Year Two picks up after the Bar Ko__h__ba rebellion and concludes with the Enlightenment. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[[file:curriculumjecc/H.11a - Kol Dodi Dofek Year One part 1.pdf|H.11a - Kol Dodi Dofek Year One part 1.pdf]]


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**__ Rock of Ages: A History of the Jews of Rock and Roll __** ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">HIGH SCHOOL ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Since the turn of the century, Jews, in a disproportionate ratio to the general public, have written the lyrics and music to some of the greatest and most innovative songs ever recorded. This course explores the status and comfort of American Jews in American society, as mirrored by the pattern of changing Jewish identities among artists in the music industry over the last century. ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[[file:curriculumjecc/H.13 - Rock of Ages, A History of the Jews of Rock and Rolll.pdf|H.13 - Rock of Ages, A History of the Jews of Rock and Rolll.pdf]] ||


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**__The Storyteller’s Beads__-BOOK GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE** ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">MIDDLE SCHOOL ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//The Storyteller’s Beads// is the story of two girls who escape Ethiopia together, one is Beta Yisrael (of Jewish descent) and one is not. It’s a moving story of a relatively recent event in Jewish life. The JECC’s Ratner Media and Technology Center partnered with the JECC’s Curriculum Department and local educators to create a summer reading group with middle schoolers. For a free download of the guide, click here: [] ||