Goal: Participants (students with or without their parents) will see how biblical accounts of ancient Israel become more real when we engage with physical objects from ancient times.
How:
- Archeological simulation
- Review of Torah stories connected to the land
In Hativkah, we refer to Israel as “our land” that was our hope for 2000 years. What happened over 2000 years ago that made this land our land? One way to learn about this connection is to go back to the stories of the Torah that we are learning in synagogue school about Abraham and Moses. The teacher can retell Lech Lecha or the story about Moses saying goodbye to the people as they enter the land. Another way is uncover stories about the ancient Jews who lived in this land over 2000 years ago by learning about archaeology in Israel.
A lesson in school can be created using the educational resources and activities on the site of the Jewish Museum in NY. http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/archaeology.
In particular, we suggest looking at the activity that helps students understand daily life in Ancient Israel:
http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/childinancienttimes
To bring the activities to closure and back to Chag Ha-atzmaut and the concept of artzeinu, the teacher should ask the students, how does archaeology help us better understand and relate to the stories of the Bible?
Additional activities: Check out the interactive archaeology games on Babaganewz website. Younger students can play the games at home with their parents. http://www.babaganewz.com/games/finder and continue the conversation at home.
Chag Haatzmaut 