Lesson Plans

Browse Our Curricula

Living the Legacy

Living the Legacy uses primary sources and personal narratives to explore the roles of American Jews in the Civil Rights and Labor Movements.

Go and Learn

Versatile lesson plans for three different audiences—youth, families, and adults—that include background information, primary source documents, discussion questions, and program extensions.

Girls in Trouble

A condensed version of a curriculum by Alicia Jo Rabins, based on Alicia’s indie-folk song cycle of the same name, following individual women through their stories in the Torah.

My Bat Mitzvah Story

Features lesson guides and resources to help students of all ages and genders explore Jewish identity and history.

Twersky Winners and Finalists

Lesson plans from winners and finalists of the Twersky Award.

Filter by Topic

Union of American Hebrew Congregations Group

How Does My Identity Inform My Actions?

Consider how Jewish experiences and values – in both conscious and unconscious ways – informed the actions of Jews in the Civil Rights Movement, and inform our own allegiances and behaviors.

Lilith: Demoness or Heroine?

Learn about Lilith’s long and varied history, and consider how her story reflects changing perspectives on powerful women.

First Front Cover of "American Jewess," April 1895

The American Jewess on Liberation and Freedom

Investigate what it means for American Jews to celebrate Passover and the Fourth of July in the context of religious and national freedom, by reading an editorial from the April 1897 issue of The American Jewess.

Bella Abzug at a Women Strike for Peace Protest

Our Heroes

In this lesson, students have the opportunity to explore different definitions of the word “hero.” They discuss why (and if) heroes are important and do research about individuals they consider to be heroes. Lastly, students are asked to think about which of their own actions could be considered heroic and how they serve as role models for friends, peers, and family members.

Henrietta Szold: Learning from the Past to Shape Our Future

Using Jewish herstory as a driving theme for the lesson, specifically the story of Henrietta Szold, students connect their Jewish identities and history with the understanding that they can be valuable activists and changemakers in society.

Heather Booth and Fannie Lou Hamer, 1964

Sing a New Song: Jews, Music, and the Civil Rights Movement

Using the letter of a Jewish civil rights activist and several freedom songs, explore how music is able to cross racial and religious boundaries and build community.

Hannah Raises Her Voice

Learn how Hannah attempted to change her life by calling on God for help, and consider the power of asking for what you need or want in your own life.

Mayor William Hartsfield with Rabbi Jacob Rothschild After the Bombing of The Temple, Atlanta, Georgia, October 15, 1958

Power, Privilege, and Responsibility

Analyze how power and privilege shape our relationships and involvement in social justice and activism, using sources including clips from the film Driving Miss Daisy.

Immigration and Generations: Anzia Yezierska's Children of Loneliness

Children of Loneliness, a short story by immigrant writer Anzia Yezierska, illustrates how one young woman's struggle to find her own place in American society tears her from her parents and their way of life.

Eve the Mother

Learn about Eve’s role as the first mother, and consider what her story might teach us about going through a difficult experience without sufficient support.

Jews and the Civil Rights Movement: the Whys and Why Nots

Assume the roles of Southern Jews participating in a Temple board meeting on whether or not to support Northern Jewish activists staging a protest in town.

Yiftach’s Daughter At Stake

Learn about the disturbing story of Yiftach’s Daughter (“Bat Yiftach” in Hebrew), and consider how it reflects the importance of balancing religious beliefs with the reality of the world we live in.

National Federation of Temple Youth at the March on Washington, August 28, 1963

The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

Use images, artifacts, and audio clips to develop a more nuanced understanding of the March on Washington.

Civil Disobedience: Freedom Rides

Discover the story of one young Jewish Freedom Rider and Gandhi's principles of civil disobedience, and prepare your own civil disobedience training video.

Ruth's Journey

Learn how Ruth changed her life by making a series of bold choices, and examine how taking risks, small or large, might lead to positive transformations in your own life.

Miriam in the Desert

Consider Miriam’s experience of exile and investigate the parallels between her story and moments of alienation and isolation in your own life.

Central Conference of American Rabbis at the March on Washington, August 28, 1963

Jewish clergy in the Civil Rights Movement

Unpack the roles, motivations, and challenges of Southern and Northern rabbis during the Civil Rights Movement.

De facto segregation in the North: Skipwith vs. NYC Board of Education

Investigate the dynamics of segregation in northern schools through a New York City court case ruled on by Judge and Jewish activist Justine Wise Polier.

Selling Soap, Smashing Sexism, Seeing Ourselves

In this lesson, students explore the work of Jewish artist Barbara Kruger, and learn how to look critically at images of women in advertising.

Rabbi Deborah Bodin Cohen

Deborah is Director of Congregational Learning at Congregation Har Shalom in Potomac, MD. Her winning lesson plan, “Confirmation: Joining the Legacy”, teaches students about the history of Confirmation.

Confirmation: Joining the Legacy

Through learning key aspects of the history of Confirmation, students will develop a sense of connection to past Confirmands, and thus see their Confirmation as connected to Jewish heritage.

Community Organizing I: Freedom Summer

Explore the role of community organizing, Jewish values, and moral conviction in the lives of young civil rights activists as you imagine yourself a participant in Mississippi Freedom Summer.

What Does It Mean To Be A Jewish Feminist?

Students explore the definition of feminism using a pluralistic lens, and consider the intersections between Judaism and feminism in their own lives, and in the lives of those with whom they engage on a daily basis.

Exploring My Identity

Explore the complexities of our own identities, and how these identities shape the way we view and act in the world.

"Don't Patronize Reds!" Advertisement by Anonymous

Jewish Radicalism and the Red Scare

Examine the rich tradition of Jewish radical politics and its repression in the McCarthy era, focusing on the history of Jewish radicalism in the entertainment industry and the Hollywood blacklists of the 1940s and 1950s.

Follow My Footprints: The Story of Hana Dubova

By engaging with the story of a relatively unknown Jewish woman, through materials written and compiled by her own granddaughter as well as primary sources, students will learn the importance of family history, make connections between past and present, and see the value in working to preserve their own families’ histories.

Jewish Diversity and Innovation: The View from the Kitchen

Discover how recipes can tell stories about Jewish history and its ever-changing rich cultural diversity.

Jewish Values in Action

In this activity, students will explore their personal values and develop a deeper understanding of how values inform their identities and actions. This activity makes a great compliment to a service learning project, or an introduction to tikkun olam and other actions that are informed by Jewish values.

Ray Frank's Yom Kippur Sermon, 1890

Read the 1890 Yom Kippur sermon by Ray Frank, the first Jewish woman to preach formally from a pulpit, and consider what unites and divides the Jewish people both historically and today.

Wrestling with God and Jewish Tradition

Learn about Jewish immigration and the development of the Jewish community in America through a 1790s letter, originally written in Yiddish by Rebecca Samuel to her parents in Hamburg, Germany, describing her life in Petersburg, Virginia.

Community Organizing II: Wednesdays in Mississippi

Encounter a little known story of women collaborating across geographic, racial, and religious boundaries through documentary clips of Wednesdays in Mississippi activists.

Beth Elohim Synagogue, Charleston circa 1812

Writing Home: A Letter from an Early American Jew

Garment Workers Rehearse a Chorus for ILGWU's Theater, Labor Stage

Bread and Roses - Defining Basic Needs

Explore the concept of “Bread and Roses” and ideas about work and dignity, with specific cases on education and culture, hats and clothing, poetry and song, as well as traditional Jewish texts about labor.

Growing tensions II: Affirmative Action

Assess Jewish attitudes towards Affirmative Action as an example of how individuals and communities try to manage competing priorities.

Rachel and Leah: Being Sisters

Consider Rachel and Leah’s intertwined story and complicated relationship as sisters, and reflect on both the positive and challenging aspects of sisterhood.

Sally Gottesman's Bat Mitzvah Invitation, 1975

Taking Risks, Making Change: Bat Mitzvah and Other Evolving Traditions

The letters from one girl's campaign to have the first Saturday morning Bat Mitzvah in her congregation in 1974 serve as a case study for exploring how we confront controversial issues and make change in our communities.

"We Have Found You Wanting:" Labor Activism and Communal Responsibility

After the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911, labor rights activist Rose Schneiderman made a famous speech which provided the basis for investigating our communal and individual responsibilities for the well being of others in our midst.

“A Shelter to Call Home”: Dreaming of a Better Future

By exploring the diary of Rywka Lipszyc, a young woman in the Lodz ghetto, students will gain an understanding of the main concepts in Holocaust history, and will consider the identities and roles of women historically and today.

Moments of Personal Resistance

Examine how individuals take stands against racism and injustice using an essay by Grace Paley and three other short vignettes of individual protest.

Federation of Jewish Farmers of America Convention Booklet, October 1909

Jews and Agricultural Labor

Discover the little-known history of American Jewish farming and explore the contemporary resurgent Jewish interest in food justice. Analyze traditional and modern texts about Jewish values and food production and consumption, and design your own vision for how society should produce, distribute, and consume food.

Seal of the National Women's Trade Union League, 1908-1909

Workers and Their Allies, Then and Now

Through the history of mutual aid societies, unions, and settlement houses, as well as contemporary organizations working for labor rights, consider the ways Jews have supported one another and also worked in solidarity with others to repair the world.

Ariel Horn Levenson

Ariel is a humanities teacher at a Modern Orthodox middle school. Her lesson plan introduces students to Jewish voices from Colonial America through a teacher role play and encourages students to hone critical analysis skills.

Jewish Life in Colonial and Post-Colonial America

Through primary source analysis, students examine the experience of being a Jew in colonial and post-colonial American history.

Identity, Independence, and Becoming American Jews

Examine inter-generational relationships among Jewish immigrants, and the role of work and workers’ youth culture in the Americanization process. Use art and writing to explore your own identity formation.

Tamar at the Crossroads

Learn about this fascinating story from Genesis, which is not often discussed. Explore how Tamar takes action to provide herself with what she needs, once she realizes that no one else is going to give it to her.

In Search of Eshet Chayil

By exploring the traditional Jewish prayer, Eshet Chayil, along with contemporary popular magazines that depict images of women, young girls find their footing in the face of popular culture in ways that ignite their confidence, creativity, and self-expression.

Bella Abzug at a New York Press Conference, 1972, by Diana Mara Henry

Queen Esther and Bella Abzug: Costumes, Leadership, and Identity

Discover how two remarkable Jewish women: The biblical figure, Esther, and the historical figure, Bella Abzug, both fought for justice and liberation by adopting personas that helped them achieve their goals.

Who will you be? Esthers and Vashtis in the Labor Movement

Analyze the rise of the labor movement and the Jewish women who were instrumental in it, in terms of the female characters in the Purim story: Esther and Vashti.

"The Jewish Woman" Magazine Cover, October 1921

Benevolent Societies and Tzedakah

Examine different ways that American Jewish women historically—and we today—fulfill the obligation of tzedakah (charity) and gemilut chesed (acts of loving kindness).

Zippy Porath and other American students, 1947

A Young American Jew in Israel, 1947-1948

Learn about the founding of the State of Israel from the perspective of Zipporah Porath, a young American woman who joined the Zionist effort in 1947.

"Women Resume Riots Against Meat Shops" New York Times, May 17, 1902

Housewives and Consumer Organizing

Consider the impact of consumer organizing by analyzing the day-to-day actions of the key players in the 1902 kosher meat boycott.

Our World Through a Jewish Lens

By exploring the life and work of ground-breaking photo-journalist Ruth Gruber, students will be introduced to the medium of photography and how it can be used as an expression of Jewish storytelling, personal and social values, and a creative outlet.

Browse Our Curricula

Filter by Topic

Donate

Listen to Our Podcast

Shop JWA

Get JWA in your inbox

How to cite this page