In this lesson, students will explore what Judaism is, who the Jewish people are, and how identity can be noticeable, hidden, and shaped over time.

• Jewish identity has more than one part (religion, culture, community, history, values, traditions).
• Jewish people are diverse (different backgrounds, places, races, cultures, and ways of practicing).
• Identity is layered and can change over time, across places, in response to safety, through the lifecycle, and beyond.

The provided slideshow will take you through the Readiness, Input, and Output activities for your students to follow along.

The Readiness section provides an opportunity to activate your students’ prior knowledge and connect to their lived experiences. To begin, ask students to reflect on their identity and the communities that they are part of (slide 3). The following slide (slide 4) asks students to reflect on their prior knowledge of Jewish people.

Provide each student with a copy of the “NOTE Chart: Jewish People & Jewish Identity” graphic organizer. Instruct the students to work on them as you go through slides 3 and 4. All of the resources from this lesson can be found in this folder.

(Introduce new content through short presentation + guided discussion)

Judaism and Jewish culture can mean different things to different people. Slides 6-15 provide some background information on what Judaism is, what connects the Jewish people, and some of the customs that makes up the Jewish people. Speaker notes are available on the slideshow to help guide you.

Remind students to continue adding to their charts.

The next section, slides 16-20—including a brief film on slide 19—are meant to show the diversity of the Jewish community. Jews come from all over the world and encompass different races and cultures.

Slides 21-23 are meant to build on your students’ ideas about how people talk about their Jewish identity. With examples from Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Jonathan Sacks, these quotes showcase the different ways people express their Jewish identity. How do these different perspectives add to your students’ understanding of Jewish peoplehood?

Provide students a few minutes to add to their charts.

(Students respond, reflect, and show understanding)

Provide students with the iceberg worksheet. Explain that only a small part of an iceberg is above the waterline, while most of the iceberg is beneath the surface. Tell students that like icebergs, some parts of identity are noticeable to others, while other aspects of their identity are known only when we share them.

Explain to your students that they will be filling in the worksheet with aspects of one’s identity that are noticeable and some that are known only when shared with others. For this activity, students can choose to focus on their own identity, an imaginary student’s identity, or a celebrity’s identity.

Add-on if students are visiting 48 Jews: Layers of Identity exhibition at Jewish Museum Milwaukee

Direct students to write one question they still have about either Jewish identity or their own identity:

• “After today’s discussion about identity, I am curious about…”
• “A question I’d like to ask a family member or friend about identity is…”
• “When I visit the exhibit, I want to find out…”

Examples of redirection:

• “Let’s shift from assumptions to evidence from the lesson.”
• “That language is not accurate or respectful, so let’s reset.”
• “Our goal today is to learn about Jewish identity, not to focus on stereotypes.”