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10 Tips for Teaching Israel &

Yom Ha'Atzma'ut

Steve Burnstein, Israel Education Consultant

215-635-8940 x1221

1. Create a Biblical meal. Use the quotes below to help with your shopping list. Create signs with the verses in Hebrew and English to introduce each course of the meal. Consider making your own pita (instructions: http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/ect/pitabr.htm )

2. Read Israel 's Declaration of Independence. Click here for activities and an interactive version of the Declaration -

http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/History / decind.html

3. Build a large sandbox in the shape of Israel . Come back to it throughout the year for archeological digs – and find “artifacts” related to whatever holiday or topic you're studying.

4. Read, sing and discuss Hatikvah. Click here for activities, questions, words & music. http://www.jafi.org.il/education/festivls/zkatz/ATZ/tikva.html

5. Learn about Israel and her leaders. Click here for an interactive photo of Theodore Herzl, David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, Menecham Begin and Ariel Sharon. http://www.ou.org/chagim/yomhaatzmauth/default.htm

6. Women in Israel . Learn about the vital role women have played in the Israel & Jewish History.

http://www.jafi.org.il/education/jajz/100/people/women.html

http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/biography/bi o women.html

7. Listen to Israeli music – and discuss the meaning of a popular song.

(I recommend David Broza's Yihye Tov and Numbers by Hadag Nachash) Check out http://www.jewishwebcasting.com for links to Israeli music online.

8. Have an Israel scavenger hunt through the Siddur. Look for specific references to the Land of Israel and Jerusalem . Then pick a few of the quotes to discuss.

9. Discuss the different peoples and faces of Israel (Sephardim, Ashkenazim, Olim from the Former Soviet Union, Ethiopians, Armenians Bedouins, Karites, Muslims, Christians. . . ) Think about what Israel , the Declaration of Independence, Hatikvah, and Israel Independence Day mean to these different groups in Israeli society.

10. Create a "Virtual Trip to Israel." Pick the sites you want to see and people you want to meet. This can be done with posters, photos… in the classroom; or students can do the research online and develop a website with their virtual tour.

Foods in Jewish Sources

Song of Songs 2:5
Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love.

Ezekiel 4:9
Take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and spelt; put them in a storage jar and use them to make bread for yourself.

Isaiah 7:15, 22
He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right. 22) And because of the abundance of the milk they give, he will have curds to eat. All who remain in the land will eat curds and honey.

Deuteronomy 14:9
Of all the creatures living in the water, you may eat any that has fins and scales.

Ezekiel 47:12
Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing."

Numbers 11:5
We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost--also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.

Genesis 9:20
Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard.

1 Kings 21:2
Ahab said to Naboth, "Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it is close to my palace. In exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it is worth."

Genesis 43:11
Then their father Israel said to them, "If it must be, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your bags and take them down to the man as a gift--a little balm and a little honey, some spices and myrrh, some pistachio nuts and almonds.

Daniel 1:12 -17
"Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see." So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days. At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead. To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.

Genesis 1:11
Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so.

Genesis 1:29
Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.

Jeremiah 41:8
But ten of them said to Ishmael, "Don't kill us! We have wheat and barley, oil and honey, hidden in a field." So he let them alone and did not kill them with the others.

Deuteronomy 8:8

A land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs, and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey.

Kings I 5:5

And Yehudah and Yisrael dwelt in safety, everyone under his vine and under his fig, from Dan to Beer Sheva, all in the days of Solomon.

Genesis 8:11

The dove came back... and there in its beak was a plucked-off olive leaf.

Psalms 81:17

He fed them the finest wheat I satisfied you with the honey from the rock.

Exodus 3:8

A good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Deut. 11:14

I will give you the rain for your land in season...you shall gather in your new grain, wine, and oil.

Numbers 13:23

They reached the wadi of Eshcol, and there they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes- it had to be borne on a carrying frame by two of them - and some pomegranates and figs.

Picture of Jerusalem courtesy of www.HolyLandPhotos.org