Lessons of Courage from October 7, 2023

Grades: Upper Elementary/Middle School
Length: 20-30 minutes

Introduction

In this lesson, students will explore the quality of courage/bravery through Jewish texts and real-life examples. Students will learn about individuals who displayed this quality on October 7th and will consider the significance of these actions and stories.

Objectives:

Students will utilize Jewish texts to explore the quality of courage.
Students will identify and learn about individuals who displayed courage on October 7th.
Students will consider the significance of the actions and stories of these individuals.

Hook:

The teacher should ask the students to “popcorn” and share what comes to mind when they hear the words brave or courageous. The teacher should ask the students to give examples from their own lives where this quality might have been displayed.

Text Study:

The teacher should begin the lesson by learning two of the opening verses of Yehoshua, Perek 1 with the students. These pesukim are excerpted below. The teacher can utilize the questions below to help learn the pesukim.

חֲזַק וֶאֱמָץ כִּי אַתָּה תַּנְחִיל אֶת הָעָם הַזֶּה אֶת הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי לַאֲבוֹתָם לָתֵת לָהֶם׃

“Be strong and courageous, for you shall apportion to these people the land that I swore to their fathers to assign to them.”

הֲל֤וא צִוִּיתִיךָ חֲזַק וֶאֱמָץ אַל תַּעֲרֹץ וְאַל תֵּחָת כִּי עִמְּךָ ה’ אֱלֹקיךָ בְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר תֵּלֵֽךְ

“I command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be terrified or dismayed, for the ETERNAL your God is with you wherever you go.”

Questions:

In these pesukim, is there a phrase that stands out to you? What do you think it means?
Why do you think God uses this phrase with Yehoshua?
What emotions do you think Yehoshua is feeling that causes God to say this to him?
Has anyone encouraged you to be this way? Share an experience.

If appropriate, the teacher can share with the students that some of these pesukim are actually said to soldiers in Israel as they join the army.

Note: If the educator thinks it is appropriate, the educator should explain briefly what happened on October 7, 2023 to the students. The teacher can utilize a map to demonstrate where Gaza is in proximity to Israel. The teacher might want to use language like:

“On October 7, 2023, Hamas, a terrorist organization based in Gaza, attacked Israel in many different ways – from the air through rockets, from people that broke through the gates, and by the sea. When Hamas entered Israel, they entered communities and tried to kill many people who lived there. Tragically, many people died on that day and many were injured. It also started a war between Israel and Hamas.” The teacher can use the map to show the range of communities that they tried to enter.

Opening: The teacher should explain to the students that in order to mark the events of October 7, they are going to learn about two people who demonstrated courage and bravery on a very challenging and scary day. The teacher should emphasize that these individuals are not the only people who demonstrated courage and that many, many others demonstrated courage on a challenging day for Israel. The teacher should teach the students about the two personalities using the profiles below and any additional information that they wish to share, and then debrief lessons utilizing the discussion questions below.

Click here to view the profiles as PDF files.

Personality #1: Rachel from Ofakim

Rachel Edry was born to Iranian parents in the city of Ofakim, a city in the Western Negev of Israel. She grew up speaking Arabic to her parents and had 11 siblings. In Grade 11, she had to withdraw from school in order to help support her family who struggled financially. She went to the army at the age of 18 and served as a clerk. At the age of 24, she married her husband, David and they chose to raise their three children in Ofakim as well. She worked on an army base near Ofakim where she was in charge of the canteen, helping give soldiers food for over 40 years. She was known in her town as a person who always helped people, sometimes even if they didn’t want help! She would check in on people who to her looked sick or pale.

On October 7, 2023, five terrorists burst into Rachel’s home in order to either kill or take Rachel and her husband David hostage. Instead of panicking, Rachel demonstrated extreme courage and instead tried to hold off the attackers from physically harming her and her husband until people came to rescue them.

When one of the terrorists mentioned that Rachel looked like his mother, she took advantage of the opportunity to say that she was like his mother and asked how she could help them. Rachel offered them food and spent many hours serving the terrorists drinks and cookies to keep them calm. She engaged them in conversation and even provided one with a bandage because he was bleeding. She even sang with them as well.

Following many hours of doing this, a rescue operation was carried out in which the Israeli security forces rescued Rachel and David.

Rachel has become known throughout Israel as someone who demonstrated extreme bravery and resourcefulness in order to save her and her husband’s life.

Personality #2: Rami Davidan

Rami is a 58-year-old farmer from a community near Gaza. He was woken up by a friend from a different community on October 7th who asked him to go save his daughter who was nearby and was in a community that had been attacked. When he left his community to go save his friend’s daughter, he saw others who needed help as well. Rami posted on his community WhatsApp group asking for others to come to help him save as many people as possible and asked his sons-in-law to join him as well.

For the entire day, Rami drove back and forth between the area where people needed help and a safe location where he brought those he had rescued. He rescued over 750 people that day who needed to be brought from the dangerous areas that they were in. During this time, Rami too encountered many dangerous scenarios but did not stop, utilizing his energy to continue his mission, to save as many people as possible. He was chosen to light a torch in Israel’s official Yom Haatzmaut ceremony because of his bravery.

Rami’s nephew, Oz, also saved 120 people that day through similar rescue missions.

Discussion Questions:

What elements of courage did you learn about in both of these biographies?
What other traits can you learn from these individuals?
According to Mishna Sanhedrin, “Whoever saves a single life is considered to have saved an entire world.” How does this quote relate to what you have learned?
Is there anything in the lives of these two individuals that you learned about that you think helped them become the courageous person that they were on October 7, 2023?

Conclusion: The teacher can prompt students to consider why it is important to learn about the stories of courage from October 7, 2023, and allow students to share their responses. The teacher can frame the responses by explaining that amidst tremendous tragedy, there is something to learn from the stories of people from that day, to remember what they went through, and to be inspired by their qualities and stories.

For teachers who would like to profile a third person: https://www.timesofisrael.com/how-a-druze-mom-fooled-hamas-into-revealing-its-attack-plans-on-oct-7-saving-her-town/

Additional Component for Older Students: Teachers are invited to show their students the song by HaTikvah 6 – Giborei Al. The song’s lyrics highlight the fact that all of the members of the IDF reserves are people who currently live regular lives. The teacher should explain that the main idea of the song is that a theme in Israel is that everyone has the capacity to be a “gibbor” and to demonstrate courage if they are called upon to do so.