To understand Zionism and the founding of present-day Israel, it is important to know about the Jews as a national/ethnic group that has preserved its identity since ancient times and to understand that their homeland remained central to their beliefs and identity for thousands of years.

Jewish civilization, about 3,500 years old, produced its own religion, Judaism, and an unbroken connection between the people of Israel and the land of Israel. The purpose of this unit is for students to understand how the Jews kept their unique identity alive and maintained this connection although they were dispersed throughout the world. Religious texts and liturgy and Jewish holidays and life-cycle rituals bound them together.

Specific goals of the unit are:

• To give students an understanding of the Jews as a people—a nation—that has survived since ancient times
and to give them an understanding that Zion has always been central to their identity.

• To give students a sense of how and why Jews maintained a common identity as a people throughout the world
and throughout the centuries through Judaism, rituals, cultural customs, language and a shared history.

1. Why have Jews been able to retain their identity as a people, despite the fact that millions of them were dispersed from their homeland for millennia?

2. How can a people’s identity survive when they are not in their own country? What do you think are the most important elements for this survival?

3. Imagine you are moving to a new country with a different language and customs. What aspects of your old identity would you want to preserve? How would you do it? Which things would you miss the most and how would you try to recreate or preserve them? How much do immigrants to America preserve their identification with their countries of origin? What factors shape how much they preserve their original identities? (In American schools, these are important issues since so many students are immigrants or the children of immigrants.)

4. From which countries of origin did your parents and grandparents come? Did they maintain their ties with that country when they came to America? If so, how did they do so?

5. How and why has Israel remained so central to Judaism and to Jews for thousands of years? (As the unit and first activity demonstrate, many of the Jewish rituals, prayers and holidays focus on and reinforce the Jewish
people’s connection to Israel.)

Activity 1

Activity 2

Activity Cards

Complete PDF

Overview - “How Did the Jews Maintain Their Attachment to Zion (Israel) Throughout the Centuries of Exile?”
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/biblejew.html
“The Jewish Claim to the Land of Israel”
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/The_Jewish_Claim_To_The_Land_Of_Israel.html
Centrality of Jerusalem and Zion to Judaism throughout the centuries. http://www.zionism-israel.com/his/Jerusalem_history.htm
Repeated Jewish immigration to the Holy Land, 1240-1840 at Arie Morgenstern, “Dispersion and the Longing for Zion, 1240-1840,”
Azure, Winter 5762 / 2002 http://www.azure.org.il/12-mor.htm
“Heritage: Civilization and the Jews” (Web resources based on Abba Eban’s PBS TV series, book and the interactive DVD-ROM)–
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/heritage/resources.html
Timeline from Heritage. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/heritage/timeline.html
Prayers and Ritual
Birkat HaMazon (English translation of complete text of Grace After Meals)–
http://www.lookstein.org/lessonplans_output.php?id=322433&existing=%3Ci%3EBirkat%20Hamazon%3C/i%3E
Amidah (prayer of silent devotion)–
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/amidah.html. (See “Laws and Customs,” paragraph one.)
Jewish marriage ceremony. http://www.chabad.org/library/howto/wizard.asp?AID=476772. (See paragraph five.)

Holidays
Shalosh regalim (three pilgrimage holidays: Sukkot, Passover, and Shavuot). http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Festivals_
in_Israel.html (See sections on Sukkot, Passover, Shavuot.)
http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/MFA/Facts+About+Israel/People/Jewish+Festivals+in+Israel.htm
(See sections on Sukkot, Passover, and Shavuot.)
Tisha B’Av (holiday commemorating the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem)–
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/holidayd.html
Chanukah - http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/holiday7.html

Maps
Map of the land of Israel made in first century C.E. - http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/israelbce.html
Map of dispersal of Jews from Israel to surrounding countries after destruction of Second Temple–
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/exilemap.html
Map of Israel from 17th century Dutch Haggadah - http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/1695map.html
Early 19th-century map of Israel attributed to the Vilna Gaon, a revered Jewish scholar–
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/1802map.html
Map of Israel drawn by Rabbi Pinta of Zefat in 1875. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/oldjer2.html
Map of Jerusalem made in 1883. (Note the Jewish Quarter.) - http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/jermap1883.html
Museums (Many resources available on the Web.)
Beth Hatefutsoth: Nahum Goldmann Museum of the Jewish Diaspora (Ramat Aviv)
Museum of the Jewish People Online: http://www.bh.org.il/index.html
Israel Museum (Jerusalem): http://www.imj.org.il
Jewish Museum in Prague (Czech Republic): http://www.jewishmuseum.cz/aindex.htm
National Museum of American Jewish History: http://www.nmajh.org/links/links1.htm
(Many communities around the U.S. and all over the world have local/regional Jewish museums. Check out the Jewish museums in
your community and on the Web; the above list includes an index and links to most of the Jewish museums in the U.S.)

Books–Nonfiction
Barnavi, Eli (1992). A Historic Atlas of the Jewish People (NY: Schocken Books).
Ben-Haim, Ruth, ed. (2004). Facts About Israel (Ahva Press: Jerusalem), pp. 7-32, 47-49.
Biale, David (2002). Cultures of the Jews (NY: Schocken Books). 1196 pages.
Dimont, Max (1962). Jews, God and History (NY: Simon and Schuster).
Eban, Abba (1984). Heritage: Civilization and the Jews (NY: Summit Books). Book accompanying PBS series. (Also available on
video (VHS) and DVD as well as a comprehensive interactive DVD-ROM.)
Potok, Chaim (1978, 1983). Wanderings: Chaim Potok’s History of the Jews (NY: Alfred A. Knopf).
Siddur
Tanakh

Historical Novels–Fiction
Halter, Marek (1987, 2003). The Book of Abraham. (The Toby Press).
Michener, James A. (1965, 1992). The Source. (NY: Fawcewtt Books).
Video (VHS or DVD)
Eban, Abba. Heritage: Civilization and the Jews. Available as a complete set of the original PBS series. Also available with a comprehensive
interactive DVD-ROM.
Volume 2: City of David. (Shows how this ancient Jewish city is being transformed into a peaceful community of Arabs and Jews.)
Available at no charge (except for shipping) from http://www.israelupclose.org/stories.html.