Introduction
- If you taught Unit 1, Lessons 2-3, review some of the key concepts about identity with your students. List them on the chalk board, white board, or chart paper.
- Each of us has many different identities.
- The importance of any one of our identities may shift due to the time and/or place we are in.
- Sometimes different parts of our identities can be in conflict.
- Our actions in the world are often motivated by the values we hold and these are often related to the groups with which we identify.
If you have not done the previous lessons, you may want to list the key concepts on the board and then provide your students with brief examples or ask them for examples as you discuss each point. - Introduce the following new idea by writing it on the board and then discussing it with your students:
We want to protect our security and that of the people we care about. Sometimes this value is in conflict with our other values.
You may want to ask the following questions:- What are some things that make us feel secure?
- Who are some people we might try to keep secure?
- How could our actions cause them to feel less secure?
- What might be an example of a situation where one's value-based actions might damage someone else's sense of security?
- How might the issue of risk/danger to ourselves and others challenge our idealism?
- Explain that Jews acted the way they did in the Civil Rights Movement for many different reasons based on their different experiences and concerns. The Jewish relationship to the Civil Rights Movement is often painted as a simple one – in which Jews were supportive – but in fact it was quite complex.
