Debbie-Assignment+10a

Assignment 10a __Rabbi Joe Kappara__ Debbie __ Video and Lesson Plan for Grade 10 __

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This is a video of Kobi Oz’s 1992 song with his original band, Teapacks. It combines abstract images of a hand with the music and English subtitles, so that the viewer has little choice but to hear the cynical story of this Holy Man on the take. The lesson plan which accompanies it asks some good questions about faith, hope, and people’s need for a leader (“every sheep needs a herder”) and asks the students to think about the leadership in their own community.

Without knowing whether this lesson plan was intended for Israeli or Diaspora teens, it’s a little difficult to evaluate it and its use in an educational setting. If it is used with an American group, the background understanding of the divide between secular and religious in Israel is blatantly missing from the lesson plan. The review of the song as a cultural understanding of a secular Israeli’s bitterness toward religious leadership seems to be an important part of talking about the scathing tone of  the lyrics. Since Diaspora teens struggle with their own ambivalence about religious affiliation, I was also wondering if it’s a "plus" to see such ambivalence echoed in a popular Israeli song…..Is such reflection of internal conflict a freeing thing or something which just reinforces negative stereotypes of religion?

Actually, I found myself thinking more of my Israeli nephews and nieces, who grew up in a Dati Leumi community in Jerusalem. They really have so little exposure to secular Jews that they have very little understanding of their perspective. Even in the army, the boys enter a Hesder unit ( with other guys from their yeshiva in high school) and the girls complete their community service with other religious girls. The existing curriculum asks questions that would be very important for them to think about, in terms of their own perceptions of religious leadership in Israel. A chance for them to talk reflectively about the bitterness of this Israeli singer and asking them to consider whether there is any validity to his cynicism about Israeli religious leadership seems like a better exercise for these teens than for secular teens in the same age bracket. It asks them to step outside of their comfort zone and consider things from another’s point of view, which is always a mark of a stronger educational lesson.