Confirmation - Curriculum

The overall theme of the Confirmation year is “What I know about being Jewish…and taking it on the Road”, a course in living life as a Jew in the “real world”. Students will be motivated to synthesize all that they have learned in former years at Am Yisrael including lessons from Jewish history, the meanings they have derived from prayers, acting on one’s understanding of Israel, and how to proceed with their own ongoing development of Jewish identity and faith. Students will discover what it takes to maintain their Jewish heritage in a secular world. The culmination of formal learning at Am Yisrael will fall during the last weeks of the school year as the class prepares for Confirmation. Each student will choose a theme for a Confirmation presentation/speech. Confirmation class students will engage with the following units of study:

Anti-Semitism

Cantor Simon will lead students on an exploration of the reasons for “the longest hatred” and its contemporary sources and manifestations, especially insofar as the American Jewish community faces them. Since the Holocaust and the birth of the State of Israel, the global focus of anti-Semitism has shifted from western civilization to the Islamic world. Contemporary manifestations of Islamic anti-Semitism will be studied. There will also be an examination of the link between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, and when anti-Zionism crosses the boundary into anti-Semitism. The unit will discuss ways in which anti-Semitism can be combated and what form appropriate personal responses to anti-Semitism should take. Documentaries and movies will be integrated into the class study of this unit.

Media Exploration

Students will explore Jewish media to increase their awareness of how we, as Jews, view the world and how the world views us. Students will examine articles from the weekly Chicago Jewish News and other print sources. In addition, as part of this curricular unit, students will subscribe to JVIBE, an Internet Jewish teen news program. A SMARTBoard will be utilized regularly in order to access the internet and watch videos.

Doing for Others

Students will participate in the Chicago area Ma’ot Chitim project by delivering Rosh Hashanah and Passover food packages to needy Jewish families. The definition of the mitzvah, Ma’ot Chitim, is that we shall allow no person to know hunger. Confirmation class students will also continue with the mitzvah of weekly tzedakah donations.

Current Events

Students will be encouraged to keep abreast of current events in Israel and the world. Along with other School of Jewish Studies students, Confirmation class students will take part in the Walk with Israel/Israel Solidarity Day to demonstrate their understanding of the mitzvah of Kol Yisrael Arryvim zeh ba zeh (all Israel is responsible one for another).

Field Trips

To complement and enhance the formal classroom sessions, students will go on field trips such as the following:

• Illinois Holocaust Museum, Skokie
• Shorashim weekend trip (2011: New York; 2012: Washington, D.C.)
• Food distribution on the South Side
• Providing entertainment at senior assisted-living residences
• Shabbat experience at Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation
• Holiday food delivery with The Ark
• ADL lecture about anti-Zionism on college campuses
• Lecture by Gary Kenzer, Honest Reporting
• Discussion of stereotypes and their negative ramifications with Norman Eckstein
• Visits to sites in Jewish Chicago including synagogues of various denominations and the “Green Synagogue”