Last fall on Masada, Anne Frank had an exchange with Queen Isabella of Spain about the qualities of a good leader:
Queen Isabella: You must realize that not all leaders act as this man you call Hitler. We as leaders must make sacrifices and do what is necessary for our people. I wonder, have you ever considered the choices that leaders have to make and why they decide to do what they do? It is not as easy as you think my dear.
Anne Frank: I don’t really know who you are but your title is QUEEN, so you must think that you have some type of authority. Have you ever thought that people wanted a say in what they did with their own lives?
“Masada,” in this case, was the website for the Jewish Court of All Time (JCAT), a program that engaged 175 students at 8 RAVSAK middle schools this past fall, including:
Funded by a grant from the Covenant Foundation, JCAT represents a collaboration between RAVSAK, the Interactive Communications and Simulations (ICS) group at the University of Michigan, and the University of Cincinnati’s Center for the Study of Jewish Education and Culture.
Students in the simulation took on the role of historical characters to decide the fate of Suleiman Eissa and his family, fictional Darfuri refugees seeking asylum in Israel. Should Israel, a homeland for those who escaped tyranny and genocide, be obligated to admit this family? Or is it permissible for Israel, like any modern nation state, to deny their request on economic, political, or other grounds?
In preparation for the trial, students posted resumes based on research of their characters. They then engaged in discussions of topics like the one above in which a student (Anne Frank) debated leadership with a university mentor (Queen Isabella). The simulation took place on a password-protected website created uniquely for JCAT and modeled on the various social networking spaces that more and more students use in their daily lives.
What was the impact of JCAT? Teachers reported that when their students were speaking in character, they were not as concerned with appearances and were much more willing to take stands and express their viewpoints. Students also developed “historical empathy,” the ability to separate their own views from those who lived at other times, and to better understand how and why people act as they do.
Not only did JCAT bring the past to life, it helped students develop skills for handling real-world issues they may confront as Jews. As a teacher from David Posnack Hebrew Day School wrote,
Our decision was to align our students’ character choices with our curriculum, which is the study of the Holocaust. We had several students who were interested in portraying negative individuals. We were amazed at the maturity and intelligence of their analysis of these individuals. The students started to understand the thought process that would lead someone to be so hateful of others. In our class discussions, students who would ordinarily be reticent spoke out and refuted arguments made by anti-Semites. They are learning how to deal with the [Henry] Fords and [Joseph] Kennedys of the world.
To support the teachers in the project, JCAT faculty at the Universities of Michigan and Cincinnati met monthly with teachers via web-conference calls, and led weekly discussions on a private message forum. These exchanges allowed teachers to discuss how the simulation was proceeding, to reflect on their practice, and to raise questions and address problems as they arose.
The second round of the simulation will take place next fall with four additional schools joining the eight that participated this year. For information or to apply, contact Dr. Elliott Rabin at elliott@ravsak.org. ♦
CAT, RAVSAK’s online, highly participatory middle school program in Jewish history, will have four new schools taking part in the fall:
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