By: Ms. Adina Shoulson, History Department Chair
You could call them crash courses in world history. In ninth
grade we start with paleolithic life and end in medieval times. In tenth grade
we cover the period from the Renaissance to the Cold War. In all survey
courses, time is precious. As I begin
and end the Russian Revolution in a flash, a student always asks, “why do we
spend only a day on this important event, but so much more time on Jewish
History?” In our integrated approach to
teaching global and Jewish history, students and parents often ask -- why
bother inserting the Jewish perspective into the global narrative? Why take time away from Napoleon to study
Jewish emancipation in France? Why flit
from Franz Ferdinand to Balfour? The
flip side of this question is, if Jewish History is so important, why doesn’t
it deserve a course of its own?
It's no secret that as a Modern Orthodox high school, SAR
has an agenda in teaching Jewish History, and it’s more than just teaching kids
to think critically and read primary texts.
History is identity. When
teaching history we aim to arm students with critical thinking tools, but we
also know that we can better understand our own story and identify more
strongly as Jews through learning Jewish history. It's no different from our
approach to teaching Tanakh and Talmud.
In those subjects we are, of course, invested in teaching the kids the
skills and the content. But an equally
important goal is to teach the kids to love these sacred texts, and through
them, to love Judaism.
Jewish history is our story.
By learning our story we can feel closer to it. My students say as much: “it may sound
cliche, but it’s good to know where you come from.” Students often relate better to the Jewish
history units because they have more context for the discussion. Not only do they feel closer to our past, but
the study of Jewish history becomes an access point through which students can
enter the Jewish narrative and view themselves as a part of the Jewish people’s
future.
This doesn’t mean it has to be an uncritical, simplistic
view of our history either. Students can
study the role of Jesus and the origins of Christianity as a window into the
tensions and aspirations within the Jewish community under Roman rule. They can debate whether Moses Mendelssohn led
the way to Reform Judaism, or whether that is a misreading of his ideas. They can consider how Hasidut, which is
viewed as such a traditional expression of Judaism today, could be viewed as
innovative and even radical in the 18th century.
The very act of debating our past and questioning the
decisions of historical figures, even Jewish leaders, forces students to place
themselves in the chain of Jewish history.
They come to realize that they share many of the values and the
struggles that Jews of previous generations faced, and perhaps they disagree
with their decisions. After the French
Revolution, as Jews were emancipated and able to live outside the reach of
rabbinic authority for the first time, they confronted the challenge of
balancing their Jewish traditions with the new and appealing secular
values. Nineteenth century Jews had many
creative responses to this quandary ranging from Reform Judaism to the
Ultra-Orthodoxy of the Hatam Sofer. We
don’t only ask the students to learn the philosophies of each approach, we ask
them to think about where they fit in this spectrum and why.
Now to answer those who believe in the importance of Jewish
history as a component of building Jewish identity and question why it does not
merit a class of its own. What are the
benefits of an integrated curriculum?
Jews never lived in a vacuum, isolated from the world around them. We cannot understand anything about our
contemporary Jewish world, from the phenomenon of the secular Jews, to the
proliferation of Jewish denominations, without understanding the impact of the
French Revolution and the reach of Napoleon who spread the ideal of equality
throughout Europe. Only by understanding
the historical context can students appreciate the origins of Modern Orthodoxy
and the historical moment in which Torah im derekh eretz (Torah and Western
values) was an innovative, even revolutionary way to preserve tradition but
also integrate into secular society. As
a final example, while Jews have been longing to return to Zion since they were
exiled, modern Zionism cannot be fully understood without appreciating its
context in 19th century nationalism.
So, is it a crash course in World Jewish History? Of course.
How could we cover thousands of years of history in two years any other
way. However, by including Jews, we give
the Jewish People the place they deserve in that history, and we allow our students
to find themselves by studying it.
ARTICLE OF INTEREST:Although the author of this article is doubtful about the integrated approach, he too believes that teaching Jewish history can be used to shape mature and thoughtful Jews. He offers additional examples of topics and questions that can help develop our students’ critical thinking as well as their connection to their Jewish identity.
