REPAIR THE WORLD HOLOCAUST & HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION
FEATURED STORY
Purim
Table of Contents
Introduction to Repair the World pg. 3 Love & Appreciation pg. 4 Interdisciplinary Holocaust Teachers Symposium pg. 5 Purim in Spain pg. 6 Sephardim Recipes for Purim pg. 10 Un-Learning to Learn pg. 18 Beauty of Diversity - Black History Month pg. 22
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Having spent 20 years in the classroom and the last couple of years as an organization seeking to expand the discussion of Holocaust Education, we are thrilled to turn all those experiences into our e-zine (electronic magazine) - Repair the World! Our website - ZachorShoah.org - will still be live and our services still active, but we see this is a wonderful way to get our message of actively engaging in remembrance through project-based education into the hands of as many educators as possible. Repair the World e-zine is a quarterly publication and will feature stories, articles, lesson plans, and more aimed at expanding our knowledge on the complex topic of the Holocaust & Human Rights, combating Antisemitism, bigotry, and hate, and promoting democratic values. Our first issue is our Purim Edition. We hope you enjoy this initial complimentary issue and subscribe for our quarterly issue at the introductory price of $5/annually. We also hope you share it with every teacher you know. Education and remembrance are our best tools to understand the past and create a better tomorrow. Thank you and Chag Purim Sameach!
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Love & Appreciation Its February and that means its the month dedicated to showing our love and appreciation for others. But don't just do so on Valentine's day, instead take the challenge and do so everyday. Random Acts of Kindness, Kind words, and so much more go a far way in showing others how we feel about them. What the world needs now is Love... RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS AND SMALL GIFTS
Random Acts of Kindness Day is February 17th. Click here to see a variety of activities and ideas for engaging in Random Acts of Kindness. THE POWER OF A SMILE
When I was 17 I volunteered at Camilus House in Miami to feed the Homeless. During the training, we were told to remember to smile, that we might be the only smile these people saw all day and that a smile can do so much to bring feelings of validation and humanity to others. During the month of February I hope we can all remember to smile more. Quick fun fact: yes your eyes do smile! People can see your smile in your eyes, so even with a mask on we can extend that kindness to others. OUR WORDS MATTER...OUR ACTIONS MATTER MORE
What we say matters, especially if its false or cruel. we have a responsability to be mindful of the words we choose to express our feelings. Even when frustrated we should avoid cruel words and most especially avoid saying things that are untrue just to make a point. The Truth Shall Set Us Free. Seek to tell the Truth in every situation and do it with kindness. Want to do more than say kind things? Share your feelins of appreciation by sending one of our Love in a Jar Gifts. Click here to see our boutique full of small thoughtful ways to spread kindess, joy, and cheer. -
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Get to Know the Purim story Purim is the story of Queen Esther, her relative Mordecai, and how this beautiful orphaned Jewish woman became Queen of the great Persian Empire and single-handedly saved the Jews from annihilation. It is both a somber and joyous occasion and is celebrated by fasting and by a carnival-like environment followed by a feast. There is a lot to learn from this Biblical story in the migillot. We can focus on the historical component and see how throughout Jewish history a powerful nation or nations have tried to destroy the Jewish people. We can focus on Esther herself, and see how women are elevated through her, her role in sustaining the Jewish people and her role as a diplomat. But what about how it connects the Jewish p[people to each other? Lets look at how Sephardim, the Jews of Spain, celebrated Purim even while under the watchful eye of the Spanish Inquisition.
In an culture, it is the holidays that help keep a culture
For persecuted people this becomes increasingly more
alive. It is through the ritual-like celebrations that each new
important and dangerous all at the same time. The Jews of
generation feels connected to the culture and to others
Spain during the Spanish Inquisition had to make difficult
within it. This is true of secular and religious cultural events
decisions. Few were able to emigrate to "the New World" or
. When we stop celebrating or significantly alter the way we
to Portugal. Most were faced with conversion or death.
celebrate we risk loosing a shared connection to the
Those that chose conversion lived forever under suspicion
holiday, its history, the culture that nurtured it, and the
of secretly being Jewish for several generations afterwards.
people that represent it.
To this day, people of Spanish heritage who converted during the 1500s are referred to as Converso (Convert) or -
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Marrero (Pig). -
Lessons from the story of Purim I recently read an article from Reconstructing Judaism regarding the 4 lessons of Purim. I generally read articles from My Jewish Learning or Chabad.org. I had not read anything from this site before. But this article stood out to me as being very poignant for our exact times in relation to Purim. And it made me ask how can the study of Jewish history including the Holocaust help us today to make sense of our world? It was this thought that compelled me to write about this article here. I hope it inspires you too. According to Reconstructing Judaism, Purim can teach us 4 lessons: The Role of Chance, Have Fun, Solidarity, and that The World Looks Different Upside Down.
The Role of Chance: from the word Purim (lots) we are reminded that life is made of chance. We do not control where we are born, to which parents, to what livestyle, body, or anything else. Likewise, we have little control over the majority of world. We are only ever in control of ourselves. We can not control events or even the way others respond to those events, but we can control how we respond.
Have Fun: in focusing on what we can control, we are reminded to feel empowered through joy. Those seek to do us harm are no challenge to God and therefore, we can relax and enjoy the peace that comes from that knowledge.
Solidarity: Through Esther we are reminded that we are not islands, we live in community and as such we are only as safe or as free as our neighbor.
The World Looks Different Upside Down: Life is complicated and humans even more so. The difference between a villain and a hero is often not clear.Purim reminds us that by walking in another's shoes we better understand each other and ourselves. It seems to me that the lessons of Purim are very apropos in 2021.
Purim in Spain "PALMA DE MALLORCA, Spain (JTA) — On this island south of Barcelona, Jews celebrate Purim these days pretty much as they do most anywhere else in Europe. There’s the reading of the Book of Esther at the small synagogue near the marina, followed by a costume party bringing together the different contingents of Palma’s Jewish population of several hundred: unaffiliated Israeli families, retired British sun lovers, Sephardic locals and French businessmen, to name a few. But only 50 years ago, Purim was the holiest day of the year — comparable to Yom Kippur — for this island’s unique Jewish community. Persecuted for centuries during the Spanish Inquisition, the forcibly converted Jews of Mallorca had exploited their persecutors’ relative ignorance of Purim to mourn their situation and sustain their faith and culture" ...click here to read more about this fascinating part of Judaism
Purim in Spain Recipes from Haman's Ears to Roscas de Purim!
Bizcochos de Huevos - Roscas de Purim the Sephardic Purim cookie Bizcochos de Huevos - Roscas de Purim the Sephardic Purim cookie recipe Ingredients: 1 C eggs (by volume) 1 C sugar 3/4 C oil 3 tsp baking powder 1 tsp vanilla flavoring 5 – 7 C flour Topping: 1 egg + 1 drop of water, beaten well sesame seeds(alternative to sesame seeds: cinnamon and sugar or “sprinkles”)
With electric mixer, beat eggs and oil in a mixing bowl. Add sugar and vanilla and continue to beat until well blended. Add flour and baking powder gradually, knead into a medium dough until no longer sticky. Place onto floured work area and finish kneading dough with additional flour as needed. Dough should not be sticky as long as you can handle it without it sticking to your hands. Take walnut-sized pieces and roll down on table with palms of hands into a rope 5 inches long and only 1/2 inch thick. Press down with fingers to create channel; Fold rope over and cut slits into the edge. Join into a bracelet shape. Brush egg on top side.Dip top side into chosen topping ( sesame, cinnamon sugar or sprinkles): Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 12 minutes or until lightly brown. Remove from pan. Allow to cool.
Ingredients1 cup flour1/2 tsp baking powder1 egg2 tbsp waterfew drops orange flower wateroil, for fryingicing sugar, to decorateMethodSift together the flour and baking powder and make a well in the centre.Drop in the egg and add the water and orange flower water.Stir until the mixture forms a dough.Roll out on a lightly floured board, sprinkling the pin with flour to prevent sticking.When very thin, cut into 4 in. rounds.Re-roll the trimmings and use to cut more rounds.Cut the circles in half, squeezing the centres slightly to make ear shapes.Heat some oil in a deep pan and fry the ears, a few at a time, until they are golden brown.It only takes a few minutes.Drain the pastries on kitchen paper and sprinkle with sifted icing sugar.Serve cold.
Ingredients 1 cup sugar 1 1/3 cups margarine (room temperature) 2 large eggs (room temperature) 6 tablespoons water 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 4 cups flour (all-purpose) Fillings of choice such as poppyseed, prune (lekvar), apricot, Nutella
Procedure:
Gather the ingredients. Cream together sugar and margarine. Add eggs and cream until smooth. Stir in water and vanilla. Add flour, mixing until dough forms a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate a few hours. Heat oven to 375 F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Pinch off walnut-size pieces of dough and roll into a ball. Press ball between 2 pieces of wax paper and transfer to the prepared baking sheets spacing about 1 inch apart. Place about 1 teaspoon of filling in the center of each circle of dough. Pinch to form a 3-cornered hat. Bake about 15 minutes or until just starting to brown. Using a thin spatula, carefully remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Store cookies in a tightly covered container.
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Un-learning in order to learn History is told by the victor, or so the saying goes. The official story is the widely accepted narrative of a historical event. This is nothing to new to human social evolution. Knowing this is the case, we should be hyper-aware of the fact that history has many faces and that the official one is often a twisted tangled mess of lies, untruths, propaganda, and wishful thinking sprinkled with enough facts to make it credible. We believe ignoring the ugly truths of history hurts our present and future and prevents us from honoring all of humanity and healing our collective wounds.
1933 Antifa (KPD/Communist paramilitary group) Wiemar Germany -
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Few events in human history have left as deep of wounds on the collective human soul as WWI & WWII. And few historical events have deviated from factual truths in their official narratives either. Personally I see history as the macro-level of our micro-leveled personal relationships. In our personal lives we have jealousy, greed, loyalty, miscommunication, disappointment, love, kindness, etc. And we have consequences (positive and negative) to our interactions with others based on the listed emotions. The same is true between countries and cultures because they are led and governed by people who have all those emotions and experiences themselves. In my opinion, we can easily see which points in history have a truly distorted and unaddressed issue based in human psychology because we continue to grapple with the issue centuries later. Just as in our personal lives, that which is left unaddressed festers. At first glance we can easily agree that among these issues is racism and antisemitism but with greater focus we can see that it also includes poverty and classism, imperialism and nationalism, and our relationship to God and Earth. Just like eating an elephant, this gigantic task must be dealt with one bite at a time. We cannot correct all the wrongs of the past in one issue or reading , but its a place to start. We have decided to start with Fascism and its many faces as part of our Purim issue. Purim teaches us that fear is easy to spread, but through faith we can achieve the unthinkable. Purim also teaches us, that the desire to commit genocide has existed long before there was a word for it and therefore Fascism does not have a cornerstone on hate or genocide. In our first look at Un-learning to Learn we will look at the history of the relationship between communism, socialism, fascism, and sociopolitical violence. - be sure to subscribe to read the full article.
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The Beauty of Diversity God is the greatest artist of all time. He created the Heavens and the Earth and all that is in them. He created the seas and the skies, the trees and the flowers, the bees and the butterflies and He created every color seen and unseen. That is diversity and it is beautiful. When we deny ourselves a life rich in color we deny ourselves all that God made and thus deny ourselves communion with God.
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February is Black History Month
When you think of Jewish people do you think of color? Do you think of the Jewish community as being Ashkenazim only? Are you among those that believe there is no such thing as Sephardim or Mizrahi or any group of Jews not Eastern European? Do you think of a Jew of color as a convert? Have you heard of Maimonides or Operation Moses ? While the Jewish diasporic story that prevails may be Eastern European, the greatness of Judaism is that we are God's chosen people, not because of geography but because of faith. We come in every color imaginable, just like God's crayon box. Get to know all of us, in all our shades, and traditions.
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