Welcome to the Winter/Spring  2022 Semester of “Jews in the News” at Mifgash!  Our discussion-based course focuses on the complex issues we face both as Jews and as American high school students in our tempestuous, divided political culture.  As a class that revolves around current events,  it is often difficult to predict the topics which we will consider.  However, this semester, we will likely explore current streams of Antisemitism and the specific challenges that our Jewish students may experience from both the right and left wings of our political spectrum.  For instance, while many of our students identify as “progressive” in political outlook, we may find that elements of our Jewish identity, such as fundamental support of the State of Israel or Holocaust remembrance, may pose dilemmas and contradictions as we seek allies in a diverse society.  If you would like to discuss and debate these and other current issues in a relaxed, fun, and spirited Jewish environment,  “Jews in the News” might just be the class for you!    

Learn how to handbuild with ceramic clay.  Basic hand-building skills like pinch pots, coils, and slab work will be utilized to create one-of-a-kind items for Shabbat and holidays.   We’ll think out of the box and design unique seder plates for Pesach that go beyond being a round plate.  A simple pinch pot mounted on a pedestal decorated with vines and flowers becomes a special Shabbat kiddush cup.  We will explore the possibilities of creating with coils of clay and turning snakes of clay into fancy pieces of scrollwork.  The finished work will be decorated with colorful glazes and kiln fired.

Join me for a culinary experience that will include both cooking and tasting of traditional and unqiue Israeli foods. In this class you will "travel" to and experience the rich and wide variety & vibrancy of Israeli cuisine. Together we will learn to prepare a variety of the popular and authentic Israeli dishes and visit the Shuk, (the Israeli marketplace), the heart of Israeli kitchen where local spice blends such as za'atar show up in falafel, hummus, shakshouka, and couscous. Israeli fare is a melting pot of regional dishes. In Israeli cooking you will find Mizrahi, Sephardic, and Ashkenazi styles. Classic Mediterranean ingredients mingle with foods traditionally included in other Middle Eastern cuisines. Israeli cuisine is all about Israel's people and their journeys. So if you love to cook and want to learn how, if you love to eat and want delicious food every Sunday evening, if you want to learn about Israeli culture, and Hebrew, here’s your chance! Come with me to Rivi's kitchen (at Ohav).

The Jewish Lens Israel Module is focused on the exploration of the significance of Israel within Jewish history, values, and peoplehood. 

The Israel Module is built on a joint foundation of visual literacy and textual literacy. Each lesson combines an exploration of Jewish text and photographic images to examine a different aspect of Israel – its history, geography, culture, and meaning to Jewish communities around the world. It also includes numerous opportunities for student expression through photography and other modalities.

The goal is to enhance the students’ understanding of Israel, its meaning, and its importance in Jewish life and tradition. 

Home/Homeland

Students will consider what makes a “home and a ”homeland”, analyze several Jewish texts, write first-person accounts and create posters focusing on these concepts using personal photography and short written critiques.

Past and Present

Students will analyze Jewish texts to understand how the connection between the past and present are central to Jewish identity, draw and identify connections between Jewish texts and photographs of Israel as well as explore, how objects in students’...

The Land of Israel

Students will consider their personal relationships with the Land of Israel as well as the relationship between Israel and the Jewish people.

Returning to the Land

Students will examine the central Zionist concept of Kibbutz Galuyot (קיבוץ גלויות), the in-gathering of exiles, define and understand “refuge” and “refugee” in the context of Israel as the national home of the Jewish people.

Culture and People

Students will develop definitions for “a culture” and “culture,” and connect the concepts explored in the previous lessons to the idea of Israeli culture.

Holiness & Spirituality

Students will identify people, places, objects, and activities that are considered “holy” or “spiritual,” and interpret related Jewish texts. focusing on these concepts.

Departure and Expulsion of Jews from Arab Countries and Iran

Seven For A Minyan – Lesson in honor of November 30, the Day to Mark the Departure and Expulsion of Jews from the Arab Countries and Iran Dr. Michal Schwartz In this lesson, we will become acquainted with the issue of the expulsion and departure of Jews from Arab countries. The lesson plan includes a slide presentation for classroom use, and a worksheet for individual or group work. Learning takes place with the aid of a map, texts, and a photograph from the Jewish Lens gallery.

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This class will cover basic jewelry-making skills as it relates to wire wrapping and beading. These basic skills involve how to use needle nose pliers, chain nose pliers, and a wire cutter to finish off headpins for earrings and clasps on necklaces.  We will explore the colorful world of polymer clay which is an oven-fired clay known as Fimo.  Using clay enables one to roll their own beads and use small cookie cutters to cut earring components or pendants.  A fun and popular technique is metal stamping.  By using steel Hebrew alphabet dies students will strike the steel dies into softer metal blanks and create their own special words in Hebrew for necklaces and earrings.  As a final project, we will make a beaded wrap bracelet.