NEWS FROM THE REAL WORLD

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING ABOUT WHY SHOULD I CARE?

From the foreword to Why Should I Care?

Why Should I Care? undertakes the very important task of translating a historical event into value terms that are applicable  to students. It applies to their everyday lives in classrooms and at home, in school yards and in playgrounds, in the malls and on the Internet—not in the abstract world of values, but in the concrete places where students spend their time and their energy….

… I belong to a unique group of men and women who probe the ashes of the murdered not merely to remember the dead and pay homage to their memory. I want to find something from the horror of their deaths and the evil of their murders that can speak to our common humanity and deepen our commitment to human rights. The authors of this work, Jeanette Friedman and David Gold, share that commitment. They want to share it with you. They want you to be their partners in this all important enterprise.

Dr. Michael Berenbaum Professor of Jewish Studies Director, Sigi Ziering Institute: Former Project Director of the creation of the USHMM

I read the book “Why Should I Care?” cover to cover. I then gave it to my daughter who is now in college to read. With all the Holocaust education that is available I do not believe that anyone does a better job in teaching the public what the human being is capable of.  The historical facts of how educated, cultured, and high society people responded or did not respond to the events transpiring around them just screams for this book to be read by all. The ultimate lesson learned, based on the history of the world,  is that we must always double check our actions and convictions as a society of “People”.

Joe Piekes, a parent in West Orange, NJ

Congratulations!

The web resources you have chosen—are all very new and updated. I am certain teachers can benefit. It is very “user friendly” both for teachers and students—short and easy enough to read in one sitting. It is concise, factual, and contains very interesting topics not ever discussed before in any Holocaust book of this category—for students and teachers—that I have ever seen. Dr. Berenbaum’s introduction is one of the best I have ever read–

Dr. Miriam Klein Kassenoff
Director, Holocaust Studies Summer Teacher Institute/ School of Education
University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida
District Education Specialist/ Holocaust Education
Miami-Dade County Public Schools

…Your book serves as an excellent resource to help both teachers and students grasp the horrors that occurred and most important become cognizant of what must be done to prevent Genocide…. I was especially pleased with your use of applicable quotations, concise history of the Holocaust and notes on using the internet…You have written a timely,  relevant book that will appeal to both teachers and students because it is so readable and interesting…”

Ray Gerson, Executive Coordinator, Lower Hudson Council of School Supervisors

“…I congratulate you on an important resource for students and teachers. I believe you have, as you say, made “a bit of a positive difference” with the publication and you are to be commended for your work.”

Dr. Matthew Goldstein, Chancellor, City University of New York

THE DEFINITIVE BOOK ON HOLOCAUST STUDY!!!

This is an important book because it is useful, very useful. Holocaust study is common, but insignificant. Now, for the first time, the Holocaust is studied for its fundamental causes in human nature as they apply to the whole world today. Finally, it’s for everybody….today. Thank you and Congratulations.

Skip McWilliams, Teacher’s Discovery http://teachersdiscovery.com/

This work provides critical contemporary and historical connections to the Holocaust that foster relevance to teaching and learning about the Holocaust and genocide in today’s world.

Colleen Tambuscio, President, Council of Holocaust Educators

Using popular culture and the Internet, and written in clear language that engages teenagers, Why Should I Care? … provides information students can use when confronting broader issues of life and suffering. This book stresses the importance of character and virtues. …[T] he authors respect Catholic contributions to rescuing children during the Holocaust and [the book] clearly expresses, in Pope Benedict XVI’s own words, the Catholic Church’s emphatic rejection of Holocaust denial. [Catholic teachers should ] have on hand … Catholic Teaching on the Shoah: Implementing the Holy See’s We Remember… http://www.usccbpublishing.org/searchproducts.cfm

Dr. Eugene J. Fisher, Church Falls, VA, Retired Associate Director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), recipient of the Anti-Defamation League’s Dr. Joseph L. Lichten Award.

WRITER’S BLOC

WORLD NET DAILY

BY JIM FLETCHER

If I had a gold filling for every time a Christian asked me why Jews don’t embrace Jesus, or the Christian faith, I’d be a rich guy.

I’ve found that most American Christians don’t know much about Jews, or Israel, or the Jewish roots of the Christian faith. Heck, many of them think Jesus was a Palestinian. Legions more have almost no understanding of the Holocaust. Once at church, a fellow told me that when he was a boy, he was taught to simply avoid Jews, because they were “bad.” I asked him why and he said, “I don’t know.”

So Christians are puzzled about the Jews’ reluctance to embrace the man they are accused of killing. The Jews don’t respond to evangelism efforts, but we don’t know why. My very short answer to these kinds of questions is, “Holocaust.”

Few Christians are aware of the dreadful collective experience Jews have had with Christians. For example, a friend of mine, a survivor of the Holocaust, tells the story of being part of forced labor. Marched every day from their camp, into a bombed German city for cleanup, the slaves were then marched back at night. Passing by Christian homes, decorated with Christmas trees, they watched their persecutors enjoying the holiday with their families.

This kind of scene, added to the countless acts of brutality against the Jews over the last thousands of years, tends to give one a perspective. All this is why a new book by Jeanette Friedman and David Gold’s Why Should I Care? Lessons from the Holocaust is so needed. Serving as a layman’s guide to the organized destruction of European Jewry, this fantastic book should be in every church library, Christian home and pastor’s office (not to mention seminaries).

Further, Friedman’s website is a great online resource. The book itself has five appendices, an index, list of Internet resources, and a bibliography. And the text itself is under 200 pages, making the project perfect for students or adults wishing to educate themselves with the basics.

The beginning of the book makes a powerful point about certain persons being “Other,” someone a bit different. Often these people are targeted for some reason; often they are weak. No one comes to their aid when an injustice is done. Frankly, Friedman and Gold make this a powerful point because the reader understands that he could very easily find himself in circumstances just like that. No longer is this about Jews. Evil can target anyone, at anytime.

“In Cold Blood” chronicles one of the most chilling events of World War II, the creation of the killing units, the Einsatzgruppen. These units rounded up Jews to be murdered. Why is this so chilling? Because the men who made up these units were “regular” people:  truck drivers, dock workers, clerks, salesmen. Battalion 101 enslaved 300 men from the town of Jozefow; they then shot 1,500 women, children and the elderly.

The book is also personal, as Friedman relates the story of her uncle, Yaakov Rabinowicz. A young man in Warsaw when Jews began being moved to the Treblinka death camp, Yaakov became a symbol of the modern Jewish warrior who would fight for Israel a mere five years later. Yaakov managed to escape from Treblinka, and, rather than save himself, rode the transport train back to Warsaw to warn the inhabitants. He organized fighting units, but did not survive the war. Yet we remember Yaakov Rabinowicz!

Elsewhere in Why Should I Care? the authors make the compelling point that Jew hatred is driven by irrationality. Picking up the “blood libel” used against Jews by some Christian groups for hundreds of years, extremist Muslims have co-opted the blood libel, which claims that Jews kidnap young gentile children to use their blood while making ritual foods. Why is this significant?

Because the Bible forbids Jews from ingesting blood! Do you see the crazy contradictions that pass for reality among Jew-haters? Another outstanding feature of the book is a barely 20-page, concise history of the Holocaust. No longer should Christians (or any gentile) use ignorance as an excuse.

The book also shows us that the sickness of Jew-hatred is never quite eradicated. Although the Holocaust is put in front of populations still today, anti-Semitism is always there.

Citing the hit film “Borat,” the authors point out the goofy character’s foray into a bar; he begins to sing a song: “In My Country Is a Problem/Throw the Jew Down the Well.” Bar patrons are seen singing along with Borat! Because persecution of ethnic groups is still with us, even in comedy films, books like Why Should I Care? are critically important in saving lives.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=107577

Jim Fletcher has worked in the book publishing industry for 15 years, and is now director of the apologetics group Prophecy Matters. His new book, “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” has just been released by Strang’s Christian Life imprint.

From Tuscson AZ– www.JewishTucson.org

Why Should I Care? valuable Holocaust text

BRYAN DAVIS
Special to the AJP

Organizing a year of teaching to meet Arizona social studies standards is a daunting task. The American history portion for eighth-grade social studies spans the Revolutionary War to the presidency of George W. Bush. The 16-page standards document also includes world history, geography, government and economics strands. Teachers must answer a fundamental philosophical question: How do I cover this ocean of information effectively in a way that genuinely engages my students?

Jeanette Friedman and David Gold, children of Holocaust Survivors, asked themselves the same question as they began the monumental task of co-authoring a book for students, Why Should I Care?  Lessons from the Holocaust. The book traces historical patterns of genocide and slavery from their roots to contemporary events, with special attention to the human behavioral component. The authors draw connections between the roles of Holocaust bystanders, perpetrators, rescuers and resisters and their contemporaries in today’s schoolyards, on the Internet and in positions of authority and influence. The conclusion is clear: there is empirical evidence that individual choices and actions have profound consequences.

Why Should I Care wisely uses popular culture icons like Star Wars, Harry Potter and Borat as teaching tools to reinforce its lessons. Most impressive, the authors use the Stephen Colbert-coined expression, “truthiness” (Comedy Central’s “Colbert Report”). This word reflects the idea that people tend to believe things based on gut feelings rather than logic and evidence, a concept understood and exploited by Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels. Why Should I Care explores “truthiness” to encourage critical analysis of media as a shield against the allure of demagoguery.

Friedman and Gold have obviously surrounded themselves with Holocaust scholars to ensure historical accuracy in this text. They define the Holocaust, contextualize it within the genocidal devastation of the 20th century, and examine it with a sociological lens. The book sounds a relentless call to active remembrance. These are all hallmarks of quality Holocaust education.

However, the authors attempt too much. The surface treatment given to foundational issues necessary to understanding this vast and complicated history gives the illusion of facility, oversimplifying the era. Critical elements are short-changed, and students may not comprehend the layers upon layers of complexity.

It is the responsibility of teachers using this book to contextualize the quotes peppered throughout, to provide the background knowledge the book assumes of its readers, and to balance a tone that falls somewhere between Michael Moore and a motivational speaker. Buried in those 16 pages of state social studies standards is a single mention of the Holocaust: Describe how racism and intolerance contributed to the Holocaust.

Teachers of the Holocaust are fortunate to have myriad resources — notably the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website and the publications of Facing History and Ourselves (an international nonprofit educational organization founded in Brookline, Mass., in 1976) — and they must decide how to shine the light of knowledge into the darkness of Holocaust history. Taken in this larger context, “Why Should I Care” is a warning, a call to action and a valuable addition to the resource shelf.

Bryan Davis is Holocaust education coordinator at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona

The Jewish Advocate in Boston

Teaching teens the Holocaust with a little help from Borat, Obama and Twain

By Sarah Jane Ricklan

In a recent lecture, Elie Wiesel questioned whether American Jews in 1939 campaigned hard enough against the U.S. government’s refusal to accept the hundreds of Jewish refugees aboard the SS Saint Louis – a decision that sent many of them to their deaths at the hands of the Nazis. The morality of indifference is among the thorny issues raised by Why Should I Care? Lessons From the Holocaust.

Authors Jeanette Friedman and David Gold, both children of Holocaust survivors, aim to show today’s students – tomorrow’s leaders – why understanding the Holocaust is essential to preventing future acts of genocide. Each chapter focuses on a different moral or historic issue related to the Holocaust, such as the consequences of keeping quiet and of stereotyping people. Each opens with a pertinent quote from a wide range of people: Barack Obama to Mark Twain to SS Dr. Fritz Klein.

One chapter stresses that each of us has the power to make a choice and that “what we decide determines the path our lives take.” As an example, it cites a scene from the movie “Borat,” showing how swiftly hatred spreads: The title character (played by comic Sacha Baron Cohen) hops on a bar stage in a small American town and sings about how Jews are the source of the nation’s woes. In no time, the crowd is jubilantly singing along. The authors challenge readers to think about what they would do if they were in that bar.

Vivid examples are the strength of “Why Should I Care?” Pointing to Rwanda and Darfur, the authors show that hate-inspired mass murder persists even today. They also stress that it can happen anywhere. A century before the Nazis forced Jews on death marches the United States drove Native Americans on the fatal Cherokee Trail of Tears.

We are reminded that each person has “the capacity to do evil if we make the wrong choices.” “Why Should I Care” isn’t just about human’s capacity for evil. One chapter spotlights gentiles who helped Jews evade the Nazis; another features remarkable tales about how Jews survived the Holocaust. Addressing the persistence of Holocaust denial, the authors detail how it was the most documented genocide in history. They conclude with a concise history of the period.   Actually, the book continues – online. Its web site, www.whyshouldicareontheweb.com, offers a wealth of links to videos, articles and other resources.

Why Should I Care? is most effective when presenting moral dilemmas and challenging students to weigh the consequences of different actions and decide what they would do.   The sections of the book that recount events are weaker, as they tend to be heavy on quotes and light on analysis. With explanation of their significance, the authors could have made these passages more chilling and telling – and more likely to awaken the reader’s moral compass. But Friedman and Gold do succeed in their overall mission. Without preaching, they drive home their message: By learning from the past, we can change the future.

Sarah Jane Ricklan is a sophomore at the Maimonides School in Brookline, MA

San Diego Jewish World

A concise and relevant Holocaust compendium for classrooms

Why Should I Care? Lessons from the Holocaust by Jeanette Friedman and David Gold; The Wordsmithy, LLC 2009; 263 pages

By Marcia Tatz Wollner

SAN DIEGO—Why Should I Care? Lessons from the Holocaust is an easy to read and engaging text to add to one’s personal library and definitely a recommendation for a school library.

With the myriad of selections of books about the history of the period, biographies etc., this book is a succinct compilation of history which includes short biographical sketches and incorporates pop culture. The bibliography sites Internet sources, relevant video clips from StarWars, Twilight Zone and Harry Potter as well as current popular music.

The authors make the teaching of the Holocaust relevant to the reader by making the correlation to contemporary events, eg. Rwanda, Darfur and the murder of Kitty Genovese (1964) etc. in order for students to take an active role in combatting discrimination and encouraging tolerance.

The text is also anchored in a basis of character development. By understanding people’s behavior, one may be able to better understand the actions of the perpetrators, rescuers, and by-standers.

This book, chock full of quotations, some primary documents and concise historical descriptions, is a book which I will use in my Holocaust class and will recommend to other teachers and schools.

Wollner is director of school services and programs of the Agency for Jewish Education in San Diego

THE FORWARD

Education

Why Should You Care?

By Paul Berger

When I was in high school during the early 1990s, I needed very little prodding to study the Holocaust. Historical accounts of the horror and the depravity of the Final Solution, recounted by teachers, textbooks, documentaries and the prerequisite screening of “Schindler’s List” — which our entire school was marched into a movie theater to watch — engrossed me.

Today, apparently, it is no longer sufficient to teach the Holocaust as history. One must make it relevant to the present. That’s where Why Should I Care? Lessons From the Holocaust, a new book by Jeanette Friedman and David Gold, enters the picture. The book places the Holocaust in the context of recent genocides such as Rwanda, and instances of ethnic cleansing in places like Kosovo.

By weaving the anecdotes of Holocaust survivors with testimony from contemporary victims, Why Should I Care? illustrates how the lessons of the past are as relevant today as they have ever been. Perhaps more important for some parents and teachers, it also seeks to instill a sense of moral responsibility in its readers by recounting lesser crimes, too, such as the 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese in New York, which was witnessed by dozens of neighbors, none of whom called the police. “Whether it’s a single person walking down the street being mugged, bullied, knifed or shot, or a group of people being killed in another country, do not be complacent,” the authors counsel in typically blunt style.

To make this message even more resonant for the Facebook generation, Why Should I Care? attempts to break free from the constraints of the printed page by regularly directing readers to online resources. These include excerpts from TV shows, documentaries, movies and even music videos. They range from archival footage of concentration camps to the satirical character Borat singing “Throw the Jew Down the Well,” accompanied by a bar full of Americans.

How useful students will find these links, printed at the bottom of the page and archived on the books’ virtual counterpart, www.whyshouldicareontheweb.com, is debatable. When I followed the link to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s archive, I found the embedded videos disappointingly small and devoid of sound — one of the most important and underrated elements of an engaging film. Frustrated, I typed “Bergen Belsen” into Google and clicked on “videos,” and was presented with a range of choices that were easier to watch and just as educational.

I realize that the Why Should I Care? approach guarantees that students will not inadvertently land on inappropriate material. But my friend’s son, who is almost 3, can unlock an iPhone and cycle through its menu. I wonder how many teenagers will stick to the prescribed URLs when they have spent a lifetime hunting out information for themselves.

More worrisome though, Why Should I Care? which is published by The Wordsmithy, a company owned by co-author Friedman, contains a number of inaccuracies. When discussing the continuing mystery of the whereabouts of Raoul Wallenberg’s body, the authors write that “the Soviets continue to stonewall” — as though the Cold War continues to this day. And I was baffled by the assertion that David Irving was jailed in Austria for Holocaust denial, “which falls under criminal statutes adopted by the European Union in April 2007.” This would seem to necessitate some type of judicial time machine, since Irving was jailed in 2006.

There are a number of fudges and awkward constructions, too, such as the claim that modernity “caused huge economic and social turmoil. One response to this chaos was Adolf Hitler’s creation of the National Socialist Party.” But my main concern is the editorializing, which sometimes veers into dangerous territory. Here, for example, is an excerpt from the chapter on Holocaust denial, talking about “radical Islamic sects”:

“Israeli and Western ideas are anathema to their [radical Islamic] thinking. The extremists believe that with Israel as the symbol of everything they abhor right in their midst, it must be destroyed like a cancer. That is why the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; Imam Hassan Nasrallah, the Shiite leader in Southern Lebanon; Hamas leaders, Fatah leaders, Syrian leaders, and other radical Islamists say there never was a Holocaust. In fact, they stand the Holocaust on its head by making claims that the Jews are committing genocide against the Arabs.”

An appropriate comment for the editorial page of the New York Post, perhaps. But is a student textbook on the Holocaust really the arena to lecture children on this and other issues, such as Wahabi control of Saudi Arabia?

It is a shame, really, because there is so much in the book to commend. Why Should I Care? presents students with intriguing quandaries. In a chapter on heroism, it recounts how Oskar Schindler — a thief, an alcoholic and a member of the Nazi Party — saved 1,100 Jewish lives. It then compares him to Rudolf Kasztner, a Hungarian Jew who bribed Adolf Eichmann to spare 1,600 Jews (including Friedman’s mother) in a deal that an Israeli judge later denounced as “selling his soul to the devil.”

The book also makes very good use of modern-day parallels. If young people cannot understand how members of Reserve Battalion 101 could have photographed each other as they murdered the

Jews of Poland, perhaps they can see an echo in the actions of American soldiers who photographed each other abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib. If they cannot empathize with Jewish children forced into slave labor 60 years ago, then perhaps they can relate to a Cambodian girl forced into sexual slavery today.

But by concerning itself too much with the present, by taking odd detours — such as a section on sex, drugs and alcohol, which asserts that their abuse triggers disrespect, “the first of many steps that leads to genocide” — and by editorializing on the Middle East, Why Should I Care? strays too far from a dispassionate, analytical viewpoint of history.

Paul Berger is a freelance writer living in New York.

Armtown.com:  The Armenian News Blog

WHY SHOULD I CARE? LESSONS FROM THE HOLOCAUST

The Wordsmithy recently published a book titled Why Should I Care? Lessons from the Holocaust. The book uses a new approach to that engages students in their communities and their future–using a frame of reference they understand to help them build the “content of their character.”

Using popular culture and the Internet, and written in clear language that engages teenagers, Why Should I Care? …provides information students can use when confronting broader issues of life and suffering. This book stresses the importance of character and virtues. Among other points it makes, the authors respect Catholic contributions to rescuing children during the Holocaust and clearly expresses, in Pope Benedict XVI’s own words, the Catholic Church’s emphatic rejection of Holocaust denial.

In addition to conventional  resources listed on the book’s companion web site, www.whyshouldicareontheweb.com, there are clips from “Star Trek”, “The Twilight Zone,” a song from the movie “Borat,” Wu Tang Clan’s video by Remedy, Grammy Award Winner Miri Ben Ari and even one of Edward R. Murrow interviewing Dr. Jonas Salk on CBS and much, much more.

The authors felt that young people couldn’t relate to the story of the Holocaust. They believe that the purpose of Holocaust and Genocide studies must focus on how people treat each other in their own neighborhoods—and how they, as individuals, have a profound effect on our global society.

…The first chapter of the book, Silence = Death… describes the murder of Kitty Genovese in 1964 and also talks about Stephen Colbert’s invention of the word Truthiness, a word that aptly describes what Hitler relied on when he differentiated segments of society and turned them into targets of discrimination and destruction.

Why Should I Care? is an ideal solution to a programming/teaching budget problem — time and money budgets. As teachers have just so much time to include these studies in the class room. The book covers everything quickly and in simple English. The website is free access and can be projected into a classroom. Students can access it at home and use it to find current events and do reports. Why Should I Care? is inexpensive compared to other programming materials. It’s how you solve two problems with one solution!