Jewish

A Brilliant Day: A Dutch Woman’s Courageous Travels in Nazi Occupied Holland

raceb 01/31/201712/12/2017 EDUCATION AND LIFE LESSONS, EUROPEAN AMERICAN/WHITES, Jewish, JEWISH AMERICAN/JEWS, Peter R. LeGrand, Storyteller Videos Collection, Welcome to Our 2017 RaceBridges Storytellers!

by Peter R. LeGrand Story Summary: This story weaves present day observations with the true accounts of Peter’s grandmother, a Dutch Jew, and the incredible journeys she went through during the time of Nazi occupied Holland during World War II.…

Feathers in the Wind: A Jewish-American’s Story

raceb 03/05/201504/22/2015 Classroom Collection, Heritage Themes Collection, Jewish, Lesson Plans, Resources, Teacher Collection

by Storyteller Susan Stone Feathers in the Wind: A Jewish American’s Story invites students and teachers of all religious and cultural backgrounds to reflect on their own lives and to explore the impact of gossip and hurtful words. This lesson…

My Father’s Race Against Discrimination: Anti-Semitism in the 1930s Track and Field

raceb 07/11/201303/23/2019 Carol Kaufman-Kerman, CROSSING CULTURES, EUROPEAN AMERICAN/WHITES, IDENTITY, Jewish, JEWISH AMERICAN/JEWS, Storytelling Collection, TAKING A STAND AND PEACEMAKING

By Carol Kaufman-Kerman Story Summary: Carol’s father is told he is not permitted to run on his college track team at the University of Pennsylvania. Two Jewish runners in the 1936 Berlin Olympics are not permitted to participate in the…

A Window of Beauty: A Story of Courage from the Holocaust

raceb 07/11/201312/12/2017 EDUCATION AND LIFE LESSONS, European American, EUROPEAN AMERICAN/WHITES, FAMILY AND CHILDHOOD, Jewish, JEWISH AMERICAN/JEWS, Nancy Shapiro-Pikelny, STEREOTYPES AND DISCRIMINATION, Storytelling Collection, TAKING A STAND AND PEACEMAKING, WAR

By Nancy Shapiro-Pikelny Story Summary: Nancy tells an excerpt from “A Window of Beauty,” a story inspired by the experiences of a young girl, her remarkable teacher and their secret art classes in the Terezin Concentration Camp in Czechoslovakia…

A Yiddish King Lear

raceb 10/15/201212/12/2017 EDUCATION AND LIFE LESSONS, EUROPEAN AMERICAN/WHITES, FAMILY AND CHILDHOOD, Jewish, JEWISH AMERICAN/JEWS, Judith Heineman, Storytelling Collection

By Judith Heineman Story Summary: A Yiddish King Lear is about hard choices, hopes, dreams, racial persecution, and love! It tells of the moment Judith realized that her grandfather, Oscar Markowitz, an actor in the Yiddish Theatre at the…

Who is a Friend? German-Jewish Reconciliation After the Holocaust

raceb 10/15/201212/12/2017 Christian, CROSSING CULTURES, EDUCATION AND LIFE LESSONS, European American, EUROPEAN AMERICAN/WHITES, Gail Rosen, INTERFAITH, Jewish, JEWISH AMERICAN/JEWS, Storytelling Collection, TAKING A STAND AND PEACEMAKING

By Gail Rosen Story Summary: Who is my friend and who is my enemy? Gail Rosen, a Jewish storyteller, goes to Germany and makes a surprising connection to a German man who lived through WWII.

A Twice Saved Life

raceb 08/26/201012/12/2017 Alton Chung, ASIAN AMERICANS/ASIANS, European American, INTERFAITH, Jewish, STEREOTYPES AND DISCRIMINATION, Storytelling Collection, TAKING A STAND AND PEACEMAKING, WAR

by Alton Chung Story Summary: Solly Ganor, a Lithuanian Jew, was a boy when Germany invaded his country in1940. He was eventually sent to Dachau and was rescued by members of the 100th Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team, the all-Japanese…

Remembering Lisa Derman

raceb 06/21/201006/05/2018 EDUCATION AND LIFE LESSONS, European American, FAMILY AND CHILDHOOD, Jewish, JEWISH AMERICAN/JEWS, Jim May, STEREOTYPES AND DISCRIMINATION, Storytelling Collection, TAKING A STAND AND PEACEMAKING, WAR

By Jim May Story Summary Lisa Derman, the late president of the Illinois Holocaust Memorial Foundation and Holocaust Survivor, died at the Illinois Storytelling Festival (July 2002) while telling her story of survival of the Nazi atrocities in Poland when…

The Day the Nazis Came

raceb 06/17/201006/05/2018 EDUCATION AND LIFE LESSONS, European American, Jewish, JEWISH AMERICAN/JEWS, STEREOTYPES AND DISCRIMINATION, Storytelling Collection, Syd Lieberman, TAKING A STAND AND PEACEMAKING

By Syd Lieberman Story Summary: An excerpt from Syd’s book Streets and Alleys, this is a true story of the day the Nazis spoke near Syd’s home at Lovelace Park in Evanston, IL and Syd’s surprising reaction.

Aunt Helen

raceb 06/17/201012/11/2017 European American, FAMILY AND CHILDHOOD, Jewish, JEWISH AMERICAN/JEWS, LIVING AND TRAVELING ABROAD, STEREOTYPES AND DISCRIMINATION, Storytelling Collection, Syd Lieberman, TAKING A STAND AND PEACEMAKING, WAR

by Storyteller Syd Lieberman Story Summary: In this story a Jewish girl and her friend sneak away from the forced walk of the Nazis toward… they don’t really know. They hide in a haystack and a farmer helps them until…

Why Am I a Jew?

raceb 06/16/201012/12/2017 FAMILY AND CHILDHOOD, Gerald Fierst, IDENTITY, Jewish, JEWISH AMERICAN/JEWS, Storytelling Collection

By Gerald Fierst Story Summary: Gerry Fierst is someone who would describe himself as “spiritual”, but he also says: “I also love the ritual of religion which connects us to all who have gone before and all who will…

Albuquerque

raceb 06/16/201006/24/2019 CROSSING CULTURES, EUROPEAN AMERICAN/WHITES, Gerald Fierst, IDENTITY, Jewish, JEWISH AMERICAN/JEWS, STEREOTYPES AND DISCRIMINATION, Storytelling Collection

By Storyteller Gerry Fierst Story Summary: Growing up in New York City, Gerry never understood that Jews were such a small percentage of the world’s population. In his neighborhood, one could go for blocks and blocks and never meet…

The Nuns

raceb 06/16/201006/05/2018 Christian, CROSSING CULTURES, Gerald Fierst, INTERFAITH, Jewish, JEWISH AMERICAN/JEWS, STEREOTYPES AND DISCRIMINATION, Storytelling Collection

By Gerald Fierst Story Summary: Growing up in his New York City Jewish neighborhood was a world of homogeneity for Gerry. But an occasional intrusion of “alien nuns” could be truly scary to a young child unfamiliar with other…

More Alike Than Not

raceb 03/17/201001/10/2018 Arif Choudhury, Christian, CROSSING CULTURES, Gerald Fierst, IDENTITY, INTERFAITH, Jewish, Middle Eastern American, Muslim, Storytelling Collection, Susan O’Halloran, TAKING A STAND AND PEACEMAKING

Featuring Arif Choudhury, Gerald Fierst and Susan O’Halloran Story Summary: Through exploring misconceptions and common threads such as immigration and disagreements within their own religions, these three tellers bring alive their distinct histories and our common humanity to illuminate the…