HENRIETTA SZOLD Living History Performance
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HENRIETTA SZOLD Living History Performance Image: Black and white photograph of Henrietta Szold, n.d. JMM 1992.242.007.004.007 Table of Contents: 1 1...About 5...Pre-Visit Activities 1...Learning Objectives 6...During Visit Instructions 1...Curriculum Connections 7...Post-Visit Activities 3...Biography of Henrietta Szold 9...Glossary 4...Putting Henrietta Szold’s Life in Context 10...Resources About As part of your participation in the Jewish Museum of Maryland’s Living History Performance program, an actress playing the role of Henrietta Szold will deliver a dramatic performance for your students. During this performance, students will have the opportunity to interact with “Mrs. Szold” and to learn about her life as a Jewish leader. Please note that video recording this performance is prohibited. Learning Objectives • To introduce students to Henrietta Szold’s life and illustrate how her contributions helped improve the lives of millions of people in the United States and pre-state Israel. • To teach students the factors that led to and the impact of Jewish immigration to Baltimore and pre-state Israel in the 20th Century. • To introduce students to the concept of Zionism and to the history of pre-state Israel. • To demonstrate the qualities of a successful leader and emulate how a leader identifies a problem and fosters a community to address it. Curriculum Connections We want to support your classroom learning. Please let our team know what you are studying in class and we will work together to create a visit that reinforces and explores those topics further. A visit from our Henrietta Szold living history character discusses the topics of immigration, leadership, women’s empowerment, and community. Below is a sample of how a visit from our Henrietta Szold living history character connects to classroom learning: Wit & Wisdom Curriculum Grade 6 Module 4: Courage in Crisis – Exploring how Henrietta Szold affected positive social change and demonstrated heroic action through her activism and organizations: The Russian Night School, Hadassah, and Youth Aliyah. Grade 8 Module 4: Teens as Change Agents – Investigating how Henrietta Szold recognized the needs within her local and international communities and responded heroically to positively impact others through her activism and organizations: The Russian Night School, Hadassah, and Youth Aliyah. 2 Curriculum Connections Continued MSDE English Language Learning Curriculum Grade 7 Unit: The Choices We Make: Discover the significant life choices that led Henrietta Szold to a life of activism and service to those in need. Grade 8 Unit: Overcoming Societal Challenges: Exploring how not only Henrietta Szold confronted societal challenges and grow as an individual, but also how her work as an activist helped others endure and overcome them as well. Grade 9 Unit: The Search for Identity: Investigating how Henrietta Szold defined herself by three central ideas: the value of education, practical Judaism as a way of life, and Zionism. MSDE Social Studies Framework 6th – 8th Content Standard 1: Civics C. Protecting Rights and Maintaining Order Content Standard 2: Peoples and Nations of the World A. Elements of Culture B. Cultural Diffusion Content Standard 3: Geography C. Movement of People, Goods, and Ideas Content Standard 5: History B. Emergence, Expansion, and Changes in Nations and Empires Content Standard 6: Skills and Processes Common Core State Standards Anchor Standards: Speaking & Listening Anchor Standards: Writing CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.1 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.2 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.2 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.3 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.4 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.4 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.6 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.7 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.8 Anchor Standards: Language CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.L.1 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.L.2 Writing Standards CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.L.4 Grade 6 - 8 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.L.6 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.1 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.2 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.4 History and Social Studies Standards CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.7 Grade 6 - 8 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.8 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.2 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.4 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.8 Biography of Henrietta Szold 3 Henrietta Szold was born in Baltimore in 1860 to Benjamin and Sophie Schaar Szold, Jewish immigrants from Hungary. Her father served as the rabbi of Congregation Oheb Shalom, and he raised Henrietta as a scholar. She would spend much of her young adult life in Baltimore, teaching at her alma mater, Western Female High School, as well as Miss Adam’s School. In the 1870s, Henrietta and her father would go to the Baltimore docks to greet new Jewish immigrants, mostly arriving from Eastern Europe and Russia. In 1889, Szold worked with the Isaac Baer Levinsohn Literary Society to form a night school for these immigrants to teach them English and American history. It was from her work with the Russian immigrant community that Szold found her passion for Zionism. In 1893, Szold joined the newly formed Zionist Association of Baltimore, the first Zionist organization in the United States, and in 1898, she joined the executive committee and education department of the Federation of American Zionists. During this time, Szold continued pursuing her academic interests. She began working for the Jewish Publication Society as its first paid employee. She also studied at the Jewish Theological Seminary, after promising that she would not seek rabbinical ordination. It was not until 1907, however, that she would join the organization in which she would truly make her mark. Szold joined the Hadassah Study Circle, a Zionist women’s organization. Two years later, she traveled to Palestine with her mother. Horrified by the lack of medical supplies, Henrietta returned home determined to improve the conditions there. She founded the Hadassah organization to raise money to send nurses to Palestine. While serving as Hadassah’s president, she also became involved with the American Zionist Medical Unit, and later helped establish the Rothschild- Hadassah Hospital in Palestine and the Hadassah School of Nursing. Eight years later, Szold retired from Hadassah, but continued her work in Israel, serving as an elected official on the Yishuv’s National Council. With the rise of Nazi power in Germany in 1933, she became the director of yet another organization, Youth Aliyah. She oversaw the resettlement and training of 11,000 refugee Jewish children for life in Palestine. On February 13th, 1945 Szold died at the age of eighty-five in the hospital that she helped build. She is buried on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Putting Henrietta Szold’s Life in Historical Context 4 Land of Modern-Day Israel Under Control of the 1840 Ottoman Empire Since 1517 and Known as Palestine 1860 1861: American Civil War Begins 1868: Locust Point Opens in Baltimore, MD 1880 1897: First Zionist Conference (held in Basel, c. 1893 Switzerland) Establishes the World Zionist Henrietta Szold 1900 Organization 1860-1945 1914: World War I Begins 1918: World War I Ends; Ottoman 1920 Empire Divided 1922: British Mandate of Palestine is Established 1933: Hitler Comes to Power in Germany July 1936 1938: World War II Begins 1940 1948: Israel Becomes an Independent County 1960 Top Image: JMM 1992.242.006.043d Bottom Image: JMM 1992.242.007.200 Pre-Visit Activities 5 Vocabulary – Words from a Hat This living history performance uses some terms with which students may be unfamiliar, such as Aliyah and synagogue; this pre-visit activity offers a chance to frontload this vocabulary. 1. Write each of the vocabulary words on an index card and place those cards into a hat. Put students into small groups and have each group select one word from the hat. 2. Provide each group a vocabulary organizer to complete (we have provided a modified Frayer model in this packet for you to use). 3. Ask students to research their word, using a dictionary, encyclopedia, or reputable websites (such as www.myjewishlearning.com, or www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/) and complete the vocabulary organizer. 4. Have students create a presentation about their word for the class. Students can present their findings in any creative way they wish including: a skit, a poem, a song, an illustration, etc. as long as their presentation demonstrates their understanding of the assigned word. 5. Take it a Step Further: Review the vocabulary words with students through a game such as jeopardy, concentration (memory matching), or bingo. MD Women Leaders You will be learning about Henrietta Szold, a Jewish Marylander whose leadership and ingenuity helped improve the lives of millions of people in the United States and Israel, but who are other women leaders from Maryland whose work has shaped the lives of those in their communities? 1. Have students think-pair-share the qualities of a successful leader. Write the characteristics down for the class to see. Black and white photograph of Henrietta Szold, Mr. Berth, and others. According to the Daughter of Zion exhibition catalog, this photograph is 2. Assign each student or group of students a woman of Henrietta Szold going over plans with madrichim at a kibbutz, leader from the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center about 1940. JMM 1992.242.007.177 Women’s Hall of Fame (https://mdwomensheritagecenter.org/womens-hall-of-fame/) 3. Give each student or group, 15-20 minutes to research their person using reputable sources 4. Have each student or group present their findings to the class, focusing particularly on their person’s contributions and her leadership qualities. 5. Ask students to brainstorm a leader in their personal lives (Ex: a religious leader, a coach, a teacher, or a family member) who has impacted their life and to think about which qualities their person exemplifies.