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Inside Holocaust Education

Jan Darsa: Why do we teach the Holocaust? How old should students be when they first begin a serious study of this history? What context is necessary and how should we frame the history? How do we avoid traumatizing students or paralyzing them with overwhelming content?
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Round Table Discussion: Learning about the Holocaust enables students, both Jewish and non-Jewish, to explore questions about why the Holocaust happened and how the student might have acted had he or she lived in Germany when Hitler came to power. These questions, whether taught in a history, religion, or civics class, have great educational value because they help shape a student's sense of identity, of their civic and communal responsibility, and of their place in the world. Students learn about racism, how genocide occurs, and what happens when democratic values and practices are not protected.
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Steve Brown: Jews from our earliest formative days have always had to ask the question: If God is good why is there such pain and suffering in the world? Our latest share of storms, tsunamis, earthquakes, wars, and terrorism underscore the same religious question. It's important to admit to our children that though we really do not know the answer, we need to search for one together, and in the meantime continue to live and love.
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Join Sh'ma's Online Discussion

What contribution is Holocaust education making to raising generations of youth committed to individual rights, the responsibilities of citizenship, and outspoken idealism with regard to genocide?

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Quote of the Month

“Had the annual Yom HaShoah assembly been combined with education about the Rwandan genocide or about systemic discrimination in the U.S., perhaps we would have understood that our privilege, affluence, and security as American Jews could enable our work for social justice.”

Ilana Sichel

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Sh'ma serves as a gathering place for independent dialogue -- rich conversation of differing positions presented in an honest, respectful, and sacred conversation. Our readers, like our authors, are intellectually sharp, seeking, concerned and literate. Sh'ma is a publication of Jewish Family & Life! JFLMedia.com