By Mia Kaiser, Special to JTNews
I am a student in Kol HaNeshamah’s Chai School, a Tuesday night program for post-B’nai Mitzvah students. This is the Chai School’s first “official” year. Although we have traveled to San Francisco together, studied Jewish ethical dilemmas and the danger of euphemisms in our former confirmation class, this new program melds Jewish learning with modern relevance.
We are using JTNews as part of our curriculum. The newspaper enables students to grapple with Jewish history and tradition in modern society. We were looking for a current events curriculum, and the JTNews was a natural fit. Our teacher, Michael Taylor Judd, came up with the idea over coffee with KHN’s education director, Tammy Kaiser. They were brainstorming curricula that included modern stories, current events, photographs and differing viewpoints. Taylor-Judd suggested our local Jewish newspaper and Kaiser jumped at the idea, agreeing to write discussion questions and help facilitate student input such as letters to the editor, blogging and article submissions.
Our first assignment was pulled from the pages of the Fri., Sept. 11, 2009 issue. Since the KHN Chai School seeks to foster critical thinking in its students, we are shown actual issues, problems and scenarios, and asked to wrestle with, solve, argue or seek solutions to them. The two articles we were asked to read and respond to were: “More than just Inspector 12” by Janis Siegel and “On top of the world” by Lauren Kramer. The first article teaches about looking for shatnez, a material that has a mixture of linen of wool.
The second article is about a woman who traveled to the Canadian Arctic land of Nunavut and realizes she may have a hard time putting a kosher meal together. We were encouraged to find the common thread — Jewish law — and respond with our own thoughts, observations, advice and comments.
We answered questions such as “When was the last time you thought about what the clothes in your closet were made from” and “Do you think keeping kosher limits a person in their travels or life experiences?” It is not enough to just respond. We are asked to respond, defend and respond again. We are asked to think deeply about the question and to put ourselves in the place of others different from us.
The KHN Chai School looks forward to using JTNews to further our critical thought and our knowledge of modern Jewish life.
Mia Kaiser is an 8th grader at Pathfinder K–8 in West Seattle and a member of the Kol HaNeshamah post-B’nai Mitzvah Chai School.