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LET MY PEOPLE GO
Lesson plans and activities for educators about the Soviet Jewry Struggle, Refuseniks and Prisoners of Zion 1948-1991
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A variety of lesson plans and activities available below. You can teach one lesson or teach a learning unit using our recommendations.
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There are different lessons in Hebrew and in English, due to different material available (books, videos etc). The Hebrew lessons are available HERE
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Introduction to The Soviet Jewry Struggle for Freedom
Before starting to teach about the Soviet Jewry Struggle, we recommend you give this short introduction:
History learning unit - Soviet Jewry Struggle
Introduction to The Soviet Jewry Struggle for Freedom / 10 minutes
1948 (Golda Meir's visit in Moscow)
Watch & Discuss: The death of Stali
Civic learning unit - Soviet Jewry Struggle
Suggested lesson plans for an extended learning unit
Women of the Refuseniks - video & discussion
The role of the women who stood up in defense of Soviet Jews and those women denied the right to leave the USSR.
Film screening & discussion – Operation Wedding documentary
Leningrad, 1970. A group of young Soviet Jews who were denied exit visas, plots to “hijack” an empty plane and escape the USSR.
Activity: Present & Protest: get inspired by creative and non-violent 70's protests
The following can be used as a lesson or an activity.
The lesson covers some creative protests for Soviet Jewry, that received media attenti
1948: The Need For A Jewish State
when Golda Meir arrived to Moscow in Rosh Hashana 1948, a groundbreaking unexpected event occurred...
Slideshow and writing exercise: Jewish holidays behind the Iron Curtain
there was a real danger in celebrating Jewish holidays - many were arrested without actual crime, and sent to the Gulag under the false accu
Read & discuss: 13 year old against the KGB (short story)
Introduction and background on life in the Soviet Union in the 1970s through the perspective of a young girl.
How to stay true to ideals und
The growth of the communist regime in George Orwell's "Animal Farm"
The film tells about a group of animals on a farm in England that has a vision - to transform from an "enslaved people" into a "free people"
Crash Course- Refuseniks: Let My People Go!
The lesson was (and will be) given via a slideshow with the strong expectation that none of the students know what a Refusenik is.
Watch & Discuss: Freeing Russian Jewry, The Refuseniks
The video tells the story of Soviet “refuseniks,” Jews in the former Soviet Union who were denied access to emigrate to Israel.
Protesting in the time of Soviet Jewry
#OnlineLessons #CivicStudies #Discussions #Videos #Music #MiddleSchool #HighSchool A personal word about the lesson...
Power of Protest - the movement to free Soviet Jewry
This unit discusses what it means to protest—and more specifically, what it means to empathize with those in need, and how empathizing can l
Calculated Discussion: Permission To Leave Paradise
With a rare combination of basic mathematics and history, we will explain the *USSR’s line of thought regarding the exit of citizens
Interpretation of paintings and posters on a Jewish struggle in the USSR
Paintings and illustrations of prisoners of Zion and those who refused to immigrate to the USSR communicate with artists in the free world w
Longing for Zion - songs, videos and discussions
The spiritual connection between world Jewry: how Soviet Jewry inspired Jews in the free world to make Aliyah.
Talk about the role, influenc
The Refuseniks and Operation Wedding
We had a lively discussion about whether or not my students would have done the same, knowing they would be arrested?
The Secrets of Israel -Slideshow & guided discussion
In this lesson we will discuss secret activities of the Israeli government - in retrospect, was it right to keep a secret or not?
The death of Stalin in Purim 1953, compared to Haman
What similarities can you draw between the Purim story from of the Book of Esther and Stalin’s Jews persecution, which ended with his death?
Purim Musical Play: THE STORY OF ESTHER
The events of this musical belong to history. It is a very recent
history, yet it happened in a world that is gone.
Next Year In... Moscow ? - The Red Haggadah
A special Haggadah was written and distributed in the USSR in which the cry for revolution, not Jerusalem, was was brought to the table.
Sharansky's matzah in Soviet Solitary confinement
The Haggadah's words were felt as KGB agents surrounded them. Later he would "celebrate" Passover in the Gulag.
Sing in Hebrew, “Blue and White are the colors of my land"
A music lesson: sing in Hebrew (beginner), and discuss the lyrics meaning and source.
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