Week #6 - 1948 and Hope

Our topic for today is hope.

We'll start with some writing about hope - what does it mean when a person has hope?  What kinds of things do we hope for?  Why?  We brought these together in short poems about hope, and then we shared them.

We looked back at the words to Hatikvah, the Israeli National Anthem.  We discussed what kinds of hope it represents, and what people were hoping Israel would represent and be.

Then we looked back at the State of Israel's Declaration of Independence and asked the same questions of it.  Some of the ideas we listed were: Israel hopes to have no prejudice, a sense of justice, peace, human rights, open to Jews from around the world, solve past problems, learn from past mistakes and injustices.

Lastly, we talked briefly about what it means to be a refugee.  After we brainstormed some definitions, we read a short memoir by Waseem Bakr, a 17 year-old Palestinian.  We followed that with a handout about the Palestinian Refugee problem, from 1948 to the present.

We closed with a survey about Israel and our attitudes about it - here are the results:

1. Been to Israel?  No -8; Yes - 1
2. How close do you feel to Israel emotionally?
     Very close - 0; Fairly close - 3; Fairly distant - 5; Very distant - 1
3. "Caring about Israel is an important part of my being a Jew"
     Agree - 8; Disagree - 0; Not sure - 1
4. Importance of U.S. - Israel relations
     Very important - 6; Somewhat important - 3; not important -0
5. Optimistic, pessimistic, or neutral about peace between Israel and Arabs?
     Optimistic - 5; pessimistic - 3; neutral -1
6. Do you consider the search for peace in Israel
     Very important - 7; Somewhat important - 2; not important - 0
7. Do you believe most Israelis consider the search for peace
     Very important - 7; somewhat important - 2; not important - 0
8. Do you believe most Palestinians consider the search for peace
     Very important - 1; somewhat - 4; not important - 3; don't know - 1
9. When Israel is mentioned in the media, do you take time to read it?
     Always - 0; usually - 2; sometimes - 5; not usually - 2; never - 0
10. When you hear about Israel, do you feel
     Proud - 1; ambivalent - 8; embarrassed - 0
11. If you were Palestinian, how would you feel when you heard about the Palestinian territories?
     Proud - 3; ambivalent - 3; embarrassed - 2; not sure - 1
12. In your opinion, is media coverage of the Israeli / Palestinian conflict
     Fair - 0; biased - 5; don't know - 4
13. Which quality is most important to your Jewish identity?
     Being part of the Jewish people - 7
     Religious observance - 1
     Support for Israel - 0
     A commitment to social justice - 0
     other (following the 613 mitzvot) - 1
14.  Is anti-semitism around the world a...
     very serious problem - 7; somewhat serious - 1; not a problem - 0; not sure - 1