Shalom Het (8th-grade) Families -
I am always on the lookout for new opportunities for Kitah Het. I was really intrigued when I was approached last year about a new pilot program having to do with an age appropriate Holocaust related book for our class to participant in. After finding out more and attending some curriculum training I could not wait to get my hands on Milkweed and share it with Kitah Het!
Our Talmud Torah class is one of three supplemental schools to be participating in this pilot alongside Jewish day schools and public schools around the country. In November, as part of Jewish book month, we are reading Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli. Students have been focusing on themes such as IDENTITY, LOSS, RESILIENCE, DIGNITY, and more that have challenged their thinking and encouraged them to take a deeper dive into their reading. Please check in with your student about their thoughts and new concepts they are grappling with from our participation in this pilot.
I always like to share things in the community that you can take in with your students during this year that are related to our studies. There is an exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Art from now until June, 2022. “Envisioning Evil: ‘The Nazi Drawings’ by Mauricio Lasansky”
Here is the write up about it:
The son of Jewish immigrants in Argentina, Mauricio Lasansky (1914–2012) moved to the United States in 1943. He forged a flourishing career as a printmaker and draftsman, first in New York and then from studios in Iowa and Maine. His work often explored themes of war and violence. In 1961, coinciding with the televised trial of the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, he began a series of drawings to grapple with the Holocaust. Confronted with the atrocities, he said, “I was full of hate, poison, and I wanted to spit it out.” “The Nazi Drawings” are his visceral response to the horrors committed in Nazi concentration camps.
Brutal, haunting, and raw, “Envisioning Evil: ‘The Nazi Drawings’ by Mauricio Lasansky” features his series of 33 monumental drawings made with pencil, turpentine, and earth colors. The exhibition, over 50 years after the series’ original tour, is its first comprehensive presentation in a generation. At Mia, archival media of the Eichmann trial and a selection of contemporary prints by Lasansky will also be shown. A catalogue examines Lasansky’s series, acquired in its entirety by Richard and Jeanne Levitt for their family foundation.
Please see more details here.
We can all learn about history together as we continue to live today.
As we get ready to celebrate Hanukkah in just a couple of weeks, I wish you all a Hag Hanukkah Sameach!
Kara
krosenwald@talmudtorahmpls.org