To the Educator

A Jewish community can be likened to a forest. The quality of life in the forest depends on food sources, internal balance and the ecosystem of which the forest is a part.

The quality of life in the Jewish community is closely connected with the beneficial or harmful relations existing between the community members and with the type of interdependence between the community and its surrounding environment and regime.

In a comparison between the forest and the Jewish community, you can focus on some interesting questions. For instance:

• Is the community alien corn in its environment?
• How are the community members influenced by the atmosphere prevailing in the surrounding environment?
• What are the community's roots? Are they deep or superficial? In what periods and under what circumstances does the community flourish - and in what periods and under what circumstances does it wither?

Below are several suggestions for activities based on the metaphor of the forest and the community.

Note

The activities below contain worksheets and require visual media preparation.

If there is insufficient time to conduct more than two short sessions, it is possible to limit the programming to the Overview/Triggers below, selecting those most suited to your group.