Hebrew High Lesson Plan: 10/29/2017
Continuing to focus on our individual efforts with the Jewish concepts
of social justice, today we followed up on our discussion from last week
in terms of how we might deal with people who hold different views,
presumptions, and biases. Rather than labeling each other as racists,
or homophobes, or conservatives, or liberals, the students all feel it's
important to talk with their fellow students, friends, or
acquaintances.
We discussed the concept of being a stranger in a
strange land, not only for the recent immigration issues, but for
context on Jewish history in the Arabic and European countries, which
persisted since the time of Joseph and Moses. We also discussed the
concept of L'dor v'dor and how each generation must reckon with its own
understanding, responses, and responsibilities.
We discussed
viewpoint, how essential it is to understand where someone is coming
from, as best we can. The issues, the background, the beliefs. I
introduced the great line by St. Francis of Assisi: "Seek first to
understand, then to be understood."
Dara brought up a memoir she
just read about the difficulty the author's parent's had in putting
food on the table, and how she and her brother suffered through this,
but as adults, learned that it was not difficult to do, overcoming their
painful childhood experences.
Evie discussed the anti-chief
protesters, the interaction, and the idea that they were near each
other, and as long as they remained non-violent they shared the same
space and at least engaged.
Ilana talked about how acknowledging viewpoints are essential in our understanding of one another.
Daniel talked about the importance of allowing free speech, to be heard out, whether one protests, chants, or simply listens.
Helen
made the point that at some points violence may become necessary as
actions as against the institutionalized violence against the people.
We then watched a TED talk:
Can A Divided America Heal
How
can the US recover after the negative, partisan presidential election
of 2016? Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt studies the morals that form
the basis of our political choices. In conversation with TED Curator
Chris Anderson, he describes the patterns of thinking and historical
causes that have led to such sharp divisions in America -- and provides a
vision for how the country might move forward.
We watched the
presentation and focused on the need to find other ways to speak to one
another, specifically since many people choose to live and socialize
with those whose views only mirror our own. His point was that this
leads to more extremes on all sides.
https://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_can_a_divided_america_healhttps://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_can_a_divided_america_heal/transcripthttps://www.ted.com/talks/rabbi_lord_jonathan_sacks_how_we_can_face_the_future_without_fear_together/transcriptWe then discussed the text from the transcript further below from the TED talk:
How We Can Face The Future Without Fear Together
It's
a fateful moment in history. We've seen divisive elections, divided
societies and the growth of extremism -- all fueled by anxiety and
uncertainty. "Is there something we can do, each of us, to be able to
face the future without fear?" asks Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks. In this
electrifying talk, the spiritual leader gives us three specific ways we
can move from the politics of "me" to the politics of "all of us,
together."
We focused on the idea of the individual, the group,
the way we identify with ethnic, religious, and political ideologies,
and the concept of the larger sense of community, as in "We, the
people". We talked about ways to interact with others who have
different views, while still finding connections, in the midst of our
Jewish ethics and concepts of social justice and Tikkun Olam.
https://www.ted.com/talks/rabbi_lord_jonathan_sacks_how_we_can_face_the_future_without_fear_togetherhttps://www.ted.com/talks/rabbi_lord_jonathan_sacks_how_we_can_face_the_future_without_fear_together/transcriptTRANSCRIPT PORTION for discussion:
I
tell you, Jews have been scattered and dispersed and exiled for 2,000
years. We never lost our identity. Why? Because at least once a year, on
the festival of Passover, we told our story and we taught it to our
children and we ate the unleavened bread of affliction and tasted the
bitter herbs of slavery. So we never lost our identity. I think
collectively we've got to get back to telling our story, who we are,
where we came from, what ideals by which we live. And if that happens,
we will become strong enough to welcome the stranger and say, "Come and
share our lives, share our stories, share our aspirations and dreams."
That is the us of identity.
And finally, the us of
responsibility. Do you know something? My favorite phrase in all of
politics, very American phrase, is: "We the people." Why "we the
people?" Because it says that we all share collective responsibility for
our collective future. And that's how things really are and should be.
Have
you noticed how magical thinking has taken over our politics? So we
say, all you've got to do is elect this strong leader and he or she will
solve all our problems for us. Believe me, that is magical thinking.
And then we get the extremes: the far right, the far left, the extreme
religious and the extreme anti-religious, the far right dreaming of a
golden age that never was, the far left dreaming of a utopia that never
will be and the religious and anti-religious equally convinced that all
it takes is God or the absence of God to save us from ourselves. That,
too, is magical thinking, because the only people who will save us from
ourselves is we the people, all of us together. And when we do that, and
when we move from the politics of me to the politics of all of us
together, we rediscover those beautiful, counterintuitive truths: that a
nation is strong when it cares for the weak, that it becomes rich when
it cares for the poor, it becomes invulnerable when it cares about the
vulnerable. That is what makes great nations.
So here is my
simple suggestion. It might just change your life, and it might just
help to begin to change the world. Do a search and replace operation on
the text of your mind, and wherever you encounter the word "self,"
substitute the word "other." So instead of self-help, other-help;
instead of self-esteem, other-esteem.
And if you do that, you will
begin to feel the power of what for me is one of the most moving
sentences in all of religious literature. "Though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with
me." We can face any future without fear so long as we know we will not
face it alone.
So for the sake of the future "you," together let us strengthen the future "us."
