Teaching Our Children

Students in our schools may feel distant, or scared, or confused at the back and forth of disagreements about the war in Iraq. Within a Jewish context, we can teach them that disagreement and debate are important parts of making ethical decisions. Each of us has a responsibility to learn about the issues, weigh them, and make a decision.

Please be sure to view the additional Web resources we have provided for more information on teaching children about conflict and war.

EARLY LEARNERS (3-8 years old):
For young children, the topic of impending war may be implicit (unless a close family member is directly effected), but they may react to adults who seem anxious or animated. They may sense something is wrong even if they do not know its source. They may become anxious themselves taking their cues from adults. For this age cohort it may be helpful to:

• Reassure them that we are safe.
• Explain that people of all ages who disagree have to make choices of how to live together.
• Discuss the techniques they have for resolving conflict, getting along with others through compromise, and standing up for themselves when necessary.

RELIGIOUS SCHOOL STUDENTS (9-12 years old):
For these students it is appropriate to teach the text "These and those are words of the living God" in the context of the American and Jewish communities consideration about the prospect of war against Iraq.

• Reassure them that we are safe.
• Explain that people of all ages who disagree have to make choices how to live together.
• Ask about different opinions they may have heard on the issue and recognize that adults can honestly disagree; there may be more than one valid opinion.
• Consider options for resolving disagreements, including preserving them (agreeing to disagree) making explicit the fact that the Jewish community is not a monolith, that on the issue of War against Iraq, some Jewish leaders are actively protesting and others are staunch advocates.

BAR/BAT MITZVAH THROUGH HIGH SCHOOL:
For Bar/Bat Mitzvah students and older, you can enrich the context considerably. Rarely does a community act with unanimity. Students can be challenged to form their own opinions and discuss the next step of how and when to represent those opinions.

• Read in chapter 2 of Exodus, cited below and review the progression from Moses resorting to violence to end a conflict between and Egyptian taskmaster and a Hebrew slave to his verbal response to two Hebrews arguing to his compassionate action in defense of the daughters of Midian threatened by shepherds.

  Immediately after Moses killed an Egyptian taskmaster who was oppressing a slave, Moses intervened in a dispute between two Hebrews, who turned to Moses and said, "Who made you chief and ruler over us?" (Exodus 2:14) Moses spent the rest of his life trying to unite the people of Israel around service to God, and we continue to walk in Moses' footsteps, searching for the path of peace within our people and between people.

• Check the Web site of the Union for Reform Judaism to learn positions espoused by the leadership of the Reform Movement (Religious Action Center) on Iraq, preventive vs. pre-emptive war, commanded vs. permitted wars.
• Discuss independence vs. interdependence - the choice and consequences of unilateral action; "In a place where no one is acting humanely, you be humane" (Pirkei Avot 2:6); the role of the United Nations.
• Read and discuss the Eruvin 13b text below:

  One timely lesson regarding the movement from dispute to dialogue comes from the Babylonian Talmud - Eruvin 13b. Two schools of rabbinic thought, one associated with Hillel and the other with Shammai, disagreed consistently about matters of Jewish practice. Almost always, Hillel gained the upper hand. In an attempt to break this pattern of conflict, the Rabbis proposed a context for mutual respect, "These and those are both words of the living God," in reference to Hillel and Shammai. They could offer different opinions and both could be seen as worthy.

  Questions for Discussion:
  How can dispute become dialogue? In a family? In a community? Between countries?

NFTY's World Conflict Web site provides resources for high school students to talk about the conflict with their temple youth groups and on a regional level.

For more texts to help teach Jewish perspectives on war, download Reacting to a World at War*, a compilation of Jewish texts that recognize the tension between the love of peace and the need to use force at times in order for good to triumph over evil.

*Please note this is in PDF file format, in order to view you must have Acrobat Reader. To download Acrobat Reader for free,please click here.