Staying Indoors? Visit Beit Hatfutsot From Home

March-May 2020

Dear educators, family members, and students,

As we quickly shift our daily schedules due to school, office and synagogue closures because of the COVID-19 outbreak, we also are looking for meaningful ways to maintain a healthy normalcy for our classrooms and families. Here are some meaningful, easy activities for students and families. Please feel free to forward them to your communities.

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Walking through the Museum

Can’t visit a museum? Visit some of the exhibits at the Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot via these video clips.

In addition, the Museum staff conducts virtual tours for groups via ZOOM

Our Family Story

How can we tell our family story creatively? Find out how families around the world do so and create an artistic display that tells your family story. Artistic displays could include a poster, an animated movie, a blog, and more. Submit a video of you explaining your project to us at Beit Hatfutsot, and we will upload it to our website. CLICK HERE for instructions.

Pesach Around the World

Using the Online Story Collection, search for “Pesach” or “Passover” to see how Jews around the world celebrate this upcoming holidays. Are their customs similar or different to yours? Use the maps tool on the site here to search by country. Families can search for Pesach stories in a country their families originated, as well as two others they would like to visit one day. Please note that the most of the stories are in Hebrew, but using google translate they can read those stories as well.

Bonus Hebrew exercise: Search פסח in the search bar for stories in Hebrew.

Interview and document family stories

Interview family members, either those at home with you or over video chat, using this Interview guide. Upload family stories to the Online Story Collection, which already has over 16,000 stories. Country codes to upload: USA- 1959; Australia- 1960; South Africa- 1961; England- 1962; Canada- 1963. Stories can be uploaded in any language.

Bonus Hebrew exercise: For students with advanced Hebrew, ask them to upload their story in Hebrew.

COM.UNITY

Check out Jewish communities around the world at Com.unity. Find a community with two similarities to your community and two differences. Feel free to upload your community as well!

Roots

Explore your family roots on the museum online databases

Heroes

Watch these films from the Heroes: Trailblazers of the Jewish People exhibit.

Which film is your favorite? Why? Who is your personal hero?

Take Care!

Cheer up and connect with other Jewish communities during this time at The Jew in You

Jewish Lens in the times of Corona

Check out the Beit Hatfutsot photo collection filled with photos uploaded by Jews around the globe. Upload one photo of your family doing their favorite Jewish tradition, and another photo of your family doing something Jewish from home, with social distancing (ex: online megillah readings for Purim).