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

raceb 01/31/2017 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. As Peter takes a bike ride along Chicago’s lakefront, observing the ease and comfort of modern day life, he remembers his grandmother’s stories of the dangers of riding a bicycle across rural Holland to secure food for her husband and children. The contrasts of modern living are highlighted against the fears of appearing in public as a Jew during the war.  (more…)

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

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

feathersby 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 plan “unpacks” stories told by Susan Stone, a professional storyteller. This story and lesson plan can be used in one or two sessions.

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feathers_banner

“…Your words are like feathers in the wind.

Once they’re gone you can’t get them back and you don’t know where they’ve gone to.”

susanstone

 

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 plan “unpacks” stories told by Susan Stone, a professional storyteller. This story and lesson plan can be used in one or two sessions.

This unit provides some ways to engage diverse students with traditional folk tales and contemporary stories.

  • Through personal reflection, peer discussion, and the development of collective strategies for making a difference, the exercises included here explore our use of language and encourage us to stand up for our beliefs.
  • The unit seeks to promote a culture of empathy and compassion for the differences and similarities among us.

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Lesson Plan

Download the Feathers in the Wind lesson plan (PDF)

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Story Excerpts

The following MP3 tracks are story excerpts for use with the Feathers in the Wind lesson plan. Please note that these excerpts are protected by copyright and are exclusively for educational use.

Excerpt #1 — Track One — 12:18 minutes

Excerpt #2 — Track Two– 8:58 minutes

Need help to download the MP3 Story Excerpts?  Click here for directions.

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About Storyteller Susan Stone

 

Susan Stone has been sharing her tales for over twenty years for children and adults all over the USA.  She teaches storytelling to teachers at National-Louis University, IL, and has been honored with many awards for her CDs of Jewish stories for children.  She loves telling stories from many cultures, but especially loves sharing stories from the Jewish tradition.  Susan  believes that hearing each other’s stories enables us to nurture compassion for others, and perhaps heal ourselves as well.

www.susanstone-storyteller.com
susan@susanstone-storyteller.com

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

raceb 07/11/2013 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 400 relays. All three are Jewish and all three have the same coach.  (more…)

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

raceb 07/11/2013 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 during World War II. It is a tale of courage, friendship and the power of artistic expression to sustain hope and light the way during the darkest of times.
(more…)

A Yiddish King Lear

raceb 10/15/2012 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 turn of the 20th Century was her role model as a Storyteller. Remembering her grandfather’s background, gave her the courage to pursue her dreams. A Yiddish King Lear is set in the emotional, artistic and actual geographic crossroad of Second Avenue in New York City in the early 1900’s and in the 1970’s.  (more…)

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

raceb 10/15/2012 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.  (more…)

A Twice Saved Life

raceb 08/26/2010 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 American unit. Fifty years later he once again meets the man who saved him.  (more…)

Remembering Lisa Derman

raceb 06/21/2010 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 she was a young girl (http://bit.ly/LisaDerman). She had told this story thousands of times to schoolchildren and other groups all over the country and abroad.

Her words to the audience that day,  “I might not be here much longer but the story must continue on to the next generation; the time will come that you will have to answer the call, and stand up to do the right thing” were uttered moments before her sudden fatal heart attack. Lisa died in mid-story, telling the story that had defined her contributions to the fight against anti-Semitism, as well as against genocide the world over. (more…)

Aunt Helen

raceb 06/17/2010 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 the drums toll.  In the face of this innocence, what motivates the Nazi soldier? What compels the farmer to help? What does this story say about the capacity of human beings for good and evil?  (more…)

Why Am I a Jew?

raceb 06/16/2010 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 come long after we are gone.” Especially as Gerry got older, he realized der pintele yid lived inside of him as he could hear the words of his ancestors and pass the tradition of the blowing of the shofar on to his children.  (more…)

Albuquerque

raceb 06/16/2010 CROSSING CULTURES, EUROPEAN AMERICAN/WHITES, Gerald Fierst, IDENTITY, Jewish, JEWISH AMERICAN/JEWS, STEREOTYPES AND DISCRIMINATION, Storytelling Collection

By Storyteller Jerry 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 anyone who wasn’t Jewish. But when Gerry went to visit cousins who had retired to Albuquerque, he discovered that “we all look alike when we are the other.”  (more…)

More Alike Than Not

raceb 03/17/2010 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 experience of being an American in a time of religious tension, change and possibility.  (more…)