Introduction

In both the Biblical text of Shemot 1 and the historical narrative of Nazi Germany, the student encounters events that seem to follow a similar course of progression: from tolerance, even high status, to oppression, culminating in the targeted killing of the Jews. Why did the oppressors choose the course that they did? Was it calculated or did it evolve? 

Among the Biblical commentators, we find two schools of thought that are parallel to two schools of thought found among historians of the Holocaust, the intentionalists, and the functionalists.

DRIVING QUESTIONS

  • What is the process by which antisemitism and/or anti-Jewish laws arise in a location where Jews had previously enjoyed freedom, relative security, and even equality? 
  • How can we analyze history and Tanach using the same processes and deepen our understanding of both? 
  • How does the story of Egyptian oppression in the Haggadah (and the Seder overall) inform our modern understanding and behavior?
  • How does increased awareness of antisemitism allow us to react to and combat it?
  • How does the existence of the modern State of Israel make a difference regarding the threats of antisemitism?

OBJECTIVES

This unit represents curricular integration on several levels:

  1. Content: In this unit, students will read about two similar events in history.  
  2. Skills:
    1. Students will analyze, compare, and contrast two events.
    2. Students will consider the implications regarding Jewish existence in foreign cultures. 
    3. Students will extrapolate from one event to the other, and to draw conclusions
    4. Students will demonstrate their understanding that the study of history includes a process of interpretation and analysis that parallels parshanut on the Torah.
    5. Students will work through both text and parshanut.
    6. Students will read through and demonstrate their understanding of historical events.
  3. Values:
    1. This unit raises issues of Jewish identity and the degree of Jewish integration and acculturation within the surrounding society. These issues have–sadly–become relevant again with the dramatic rise in antisemitism since the October 7th Hamas massacre and Israel’s response to it.
    2. Students will consider the issues of Jewish identity and the degree of Jewish integration within the surrounding culture.
    3. Students will consider how the current era is different from both Egypt and Nazi Germany.
    4. Students will consider how to strengthen their identity and, if necessary, confront antisemitic oppression. 

Additional Option: By combining this lesson with a lesson on the 5 terms of redemption (see: Haggadah lesson here), students can also consider how the modern State of Israel has altered the Jewish reality from both Egypt and Nazi Germany. 

Materials Needed:

  • Worksheet
  • Digital access to Sefaria
  • Optional: Chumash Shemot with parshanim; Haggadah

PROCEDURE:

1. The teacher will introduce the lesson in one of two ways:

a. Advanced Organizer:  We will be looking at the process by which Bnei Yisrael went from being a respected and safe resident of Egypt to being enslaved and oppressed and comparing it with the rise of Nazism, which culminated in the Final Solution.  We will be using text and parshanut for the Shemot section and some historical narrative for the second.  We’ll also be comparing parshanut and historical theories to see how the two processes are similar.

b. Trigger Questions:

  • Does the first part of the Haggadah–the story of Egyptian oppression–feel relevant or resonate with you?  Explain why or why not.
  • Do you think that something like what happened in Egypt or Nazi Germany could happen here?
  • Do you see yourself as an American Jew or as a Jewish American?  Explain why you chose what you did.
  • Do you think that history is the result of a leader’s plans or that it unfolds?  Explain why you chose what you did.

2.  The teacher will give out the worksheet. The worksheet can be done in several ways:

  1. a. Teacher-led all the way through.
    b. In hevrutah/small groups with review and discussion along the way, especially after each of the two sections.
    c. In hevrutah/small groups with a discussion at the end of the Nazi Germany section.

3. Teachers can choose as many of the reflection questions as they would like.  Students can address these questions in a whole-class discussion, in small groups, or in writing.  The questions can also be used as exit tickets or assessments.