Source: National Library of Israel
Use primary sources from the National Library of Israel to enrich your educational activities for Chanukah. Through these sources and accompanying lesson plans, students will discover a variety of Chanukah customs and explore how Jews at different times and in different places celebrated Chanukah.
Discovering the Maccabees This activity uses primary sources from the National Library of Israel to expose the students to a variety of images of the Maccabees. With a matching game and either a poster or a video activity, students will discover the qualities of the Maccabees that inspired the early Zionists and the founders of the State of Israel. At the end of the matching activity, the students will reflect on what the Maccabees mean to them and which traits they would like to emulate.
Chanukah and Israel’s Emblem Insights into a country’s values can be gained from studying its national emblem. In this activity, students will learn more about Israel's emblem and its connection to Chanukah. After a short discussion about the emblem of the State of Israel, the students will study texts from the books of Zechariah and Exodus relating to the menorah. Next, the students will make a connection between the emblem and Chanukah. Finally, the students will design their own emblem using art materials or online drawing applications.
Chanukah Advertising Advertisers often base their advertisements on holidays. In Israel Jewish holidays are sometimes used as a theme for advertising. In this activity students will analyze advertising examples from the NLI collections. Based on these examples, students will create their own Chanukah-themed advertisements.
Why Does a Chanukiya Look Like That? Chanukiot can take various forms but are usually based on a set of Jewish laws. In this activity students will study sources that are related to the design of chanukiyot. They will then view and compare a variety of chanukiyot and, finally, design their own chanukiya. This lesson plan can be used as an integrated activity for both Judaic Studies and Art with teachers from both departments working together in planning and executing the two-session lesson.