Lesson Plans

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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.

Podcast Discussion Guides

Podcast Discussion Guides.

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Unit 1, Lesson 2 - 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.

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.

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.

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.

Unit 2, Lesson 1 - 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.

Unit 1, Lesson 8 - Contemporary Jewish Labor Campaigns: The Labor Movement Begins at Home

Explore contemporary Jewish labor campaigns on issues such as the living wage and the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights, and analyze how and why Jewish organizations are advocating in solidarity with oppressed workers.

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.

Civil Disobedience and the Freedom Rides

Explore Jewish involvement in the Civil Rights movement, and consider how we can use this knowledge to combat ongoing institutionalized racism with civil disobedience.

Unit 1, Lesson 4 - 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.

What Will It Cost Me to Work for You?

Through learning about Judaism’s views on labor, as well as about Jewish women in the labor movement, students will explore realistic responses to unfair labor conditions in the US and overseas today.

Judith in the Enemy’s Tent

Learn about Judith’s bravery in the face of extreme danger, and consider how her story can inspire us to harness our own hidden power.

Unit 1, Lesson 3 - 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.

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.

Unit 2, Lesson 5 - 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.

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.

"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.

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.

Unit 2, Lesson 3 - 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.

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.

The Life and Legacy of Glückel of Hameln

By engaging with the diaries of Glückel of Hameln, a 17th century Jewish woman from Hamberg, students will make connections between past and present, and, through these first-hand accounts, learn about the Jewish culture and history of this specific time and place.

Hurricane Katrina: Community Responsibility and Tikkun Olam

Explore Hurricane Katrina as an example of how Jews respond to catastrophe. Gail Chalew, a Jewish reporter from New Orleans, tells the story of Haley Fields, a thirteen year old girl from Los Angeles, who came up with her own unique way of helping those in need.

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.

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.

Unit 2, Lesson 7 - 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.

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.

Unit 2, Lesson 4 - 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.

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.

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.

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.

Unit 3, Lesson 1 - Jews and African Americans: Siblings in Oppression?

Explore and interrogate the identification between Jews and African-Americans against the backdrop of the Passover seder.

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.

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.

Museum of Family History

In this activity, students learn about a part of their own family history and have the opportunity to practice interviewing and writing skills. To showcase their learning, students curate their own museum of family history artifacts.

Unit 2, Lesson 6 - Jewish clergy in the Civil Rights Movement

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

Unit 2, Lesson 2 - 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.

Unit 1, Lesson 6 - 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.

Unit 3, Lesson 3 - Growing tensions II: Affirmative Action

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

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.

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.

Sarah's Sacrifice

One of the most famous stories in Genesis is the Binding of Isaac by his father Abraham (the Akeidah, in Hebrew). Sarah, Isaac’s mother, is noticeably absent from the text. Here we consider Sarah’s perspective, and how this foundational event in the Jewish origin story might have affected her.

Podcast Discussion Guide: Can We Talk?: Queer Klezmer with Isle of Klezbos

Bringing the wisdom of Jewish women and their voices into educational settings is an opportunity to enrich learners’ understandings of what it means to be a Jew and how our values shape our identities.

Unit 3, Lesson 4 - Moving Inward: bringing liberation movements into the Jewish community

Act out, through tableaux vivants, the ways Jews took what they had learned from the Civil Rights Movement and other liberation movements and used these insights to change the Jewish community.

Unit 3, Lesson 5 - Civil Rights and Social Justice Today

Consider what contemporary civil rights and social justice issues matter to us today, and how Jews and African Americans determine their priorities and responsibilities to effect social change.

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.

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.

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.

Podcast Discussion Guide: Can We Talk?: An Orange Belongs on the Seder Plate Like...

This discussion guide accompanies the Can We Talk? Podcast episode “An Orange Belongs on the Seder Plate Like” and offers multiple approaches for engaging learners of different ages in discussions about LGBTQIA+ and women's rights.

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How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "Lesson Plans." (Viewed on November 7, 2025) <https://qa.jwa.org/teach/lessonplans>.