Tammie Senders

Comparing  Yosef  HaTzaddik  and  Nelson  Mandela  -­‐  11th  grade  Chumash    40  minutes  

 Behavior  objective:  Students  will  learn  about  the  importance  of  forgiveness  and  its  different  outcomes  through  analyzing  the  actions  and  attitudes  of  Nelson  Mandela  and  Yosef  HaTzaddik  and  will  demonstrate  their  understanding  of  this  value  by  completing  an  accompanying  worksheet.    Materials:  YouTube  video  for  trigger,  source  sheets  with  quote  from  Nelson  Mandela  and  source  from  Breishit,  worksheet  for  independent  assessment    

Element of Instruction

Description Timing (approx)

Anticipatory Set/Hook

Students will walk into class and be shown a CBS YouTube clip about woman who forgave her son’s murderer and helped rehabilitate him in society. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2BITY-3Mp4 Students will be asked to consider these two questions while watching the clip: Why did Mary Johnson forgive O’Shea? Who gained the most from the forgiveness and why?

5 min

Objective (what you will tell your students)

Today students will explore the importance of forgiveness and the different ways it can be understood by looking at two well-known figures in our history, Nelson Mandela and Yosef HaTzaddik.

Purpose By exploring some role models for forgiveness, students will learn how this attribute can apply to their lives as well.

Input/ Activities

Teacher will review YouTube view and provide students with short background on Nelson Mandela and Yosef. - The lesson of Mary and O’Shea is actually not all that foreign to us today, we have learned it from other key figures in our history. Today we will get the opportunity to examine the actions of two historical figures whose passing we commemorate this week – Nelson Mandela and Yosef HaTzaddik.

10 min

Check for Understanding

- Teacher will ask students questions about trigger. - Teacher will have students repeat instructions for cooperative activity. - Teacher will ask students questions about sources they learn in cooperative activity.

Guided Practice/Assessment

- Students will be divided into two groups: one group will examine source about Yosef, one group will examine source about Mandela – both will yield info about their approaches to forgiveness and what outcomes emerged from their forgiveness. - Students will also each be given a letter that will let them know their partner for the second part of the activity. After 10 minutes, students will find their letter partners and will “teach” and discuss their sources. After 10 more minutes, class will come back together and will summarize and conclude with teacher.

20 min

Independent Practice/ Homework

Conclusion: Question: Based on what we’ve seen from the figures we have studied, what are the two ways to understand forgiveness?

a) Personal impact b) Way it impacts others

Sometimes we choose to forgive someone to gain personal peace, like Mary Johnson, Yosef, and Mandela all professed to have done. But we also should recognize the greater implications of our forgiveness, that by forgiving others we can help make a difference in the world, we can fight hunger, we can save our families, we can rehabilitate others – all by forgiveness. Teacher will present students with assessment with three questions for them to reflect on the two understandings of forgiveness (personal impact vs. making a difference for others).

5 min

*Please see below: 1. Questions on video clip 2. Source sheet about Yosef 3. Source sheet about Nelson Mandela 4. Instructions for discussion activity 5. Worksheet for independent assessment at home

Questions on Video Clip

1) Why did Mary Johnson forgive O’Shea? 2) Who gained the most from Mary’s forgiveness and why?

Background: In previous parshiot, Yosef was oppressed by his brothers and sold to the Ishmaelites/Egyptians, never thinking that he would have the chance to reunite with his family. Yosef is freed from jail and rises to prominence in the Egyptian government, saving both the country and his own family from starvation. In this week’s parsha, after their father dies, Yosef’s brothers confront Yosef and entreat him not to punish them for what they have done to him.

בראשית פרק נ [פרשת ויחי]

ויראו אחי טו יוסף, כי- מת אביהם, ויאמרו, לו ישטמנו -

כליוסף; והשב ישיב, לנו, את …הרעה, אשר גמלנו אתו- וילכו, גם יח לעבדים.יו; ויאמרו, הננו לך אחיו, ויפלו, לפנ - יט

ויאמר אלהם יוסף, אל תיראו:- כי התחת אלהים, אני. ואתם, כ שבה לטבה, למען עשה כיום הזה, חשבתם עלי רעה; אלהים, ח

להחית עם רב.- ועתה, אל כא --תיראו- אנכי אכלכל אתכם, ואת -טפכם; וינחם אותם, וידבר על לבם.-

Questions to consider:

1. What reason does Yosef give for forgiving his brothers?

2. What is the outcome of Yosef’s forgiveness?

Background: Nelson Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary who was involved in civil disobedience and later in more violent activities against the South African government. In 1962 he was caught, tried, and sentenced to 27 years in prison, most spent in isolation. When he was released, Mandela entered into negotiations with the government to end apartheid and was eventually elected himself as the first black president, serving from 1994-1999. “As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison.” ― Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s Liberator as Prisoner and President, Dies at 95 - New York Times, December 5, 2013 “The question most often asked about Mr. Mandela was how, after whites had systematically humiliated his people, tortured and murdered many of his friends, and cast him into prison for 27 years, he could be so evidently free of spite… When the question was put to Mr. Mandela in an interview for this obituary in 2007 — after such barbarous torment, how do you keep hatred in check? — his answer was almost dismissive: Hating clouds the mind. It gets in the way of strategy. Leaders cannot afford to hate.” Questions to consider:

1. Why does Mandela choose not to be bitter and hateful?

2. How does Mandela explain his “freedom from spite?” What is the

outcome of this freedom?

Source Discussion Activity Part I. - Divide up into groups assigned by teacher (Group 1 or 2)

1) Person A (or E) reads the source 2) Person B summarizes the source 3) Person C answers one of the questions at the bottom 4) Person D answers second question at the bottom

Part II. – Divide up into letter groups (A’s together, B’s together, C’s together, D’s and E together)

1) Person from Group 1 explains source to person from Group 2, then they switch.

2) Each person summarizes source and explains the two ways of understanding that figure’s forgiveness.

1. What are two ways to understand forgiveness?

2. How did Yosef and Nelson Mandela each understand the value of forgiveness?

3. Which understanding of forgiveness do you identify with more? Please feel free to share any

thoughts, stories, or personal experiences.

Lesson  Reflection  

This  was  a  lesson  I  gave  as  part  of  my  Models  of  Teaching  course.  Since  I  did  not  have  an  

audience  of  real  students,  I  found  this  lesson  to  be  very  manageable,  but  also  a  slightly  unfair  

assessment  of  an  11th  grade  parsha  class.  That  being  said,  I  enjoyed  presenting  the  class  because  

I  found  the  material  to  be  provocative  and  on  a  deeper  level  than  what  I  have  been  used  to  

teaching  in  7th  grade.  I  thought  the  class  had  great  participation  and  I  was  pleased  with  the  flow  

of  the  lesson  -­‐  I  had  been  nervous  about  the  transitions  between  each  of  the  group  activities  and  

found  that  the  class  did  move  seamlessly  from  one  to  the  next.  I  received  feedback  that  the  

written  instructions  to  reiterate  my  verbal  instructions  were  very  helpful.    

 

If  I  had  the  chance  to  do  this  lesson  again,  I  would  spend  more  time  on  each  of  the  

different  segments.  I  felt  that  I  did  not  have  enough  time  to  adequately  process  the  very  powerful  

trigger  with  the  class  and  to  delve  into  all  of  the  issues  that  arose  from  the  video.  I  would  also  

have  liked  more  time  for  the  students  to  learn  the  sources  together,  more  specifically  the  

chevruta  section  where  they  had  the  opportunity  to  teach  the  sources  to  one  another.  I  don’t  

think  that  they  were  able  to  get  a  deep  enough  sense  of  the  source  they  had  not  learned  

extensively  as  a  group.  Finally,  I  think  it  would  have  been  helpful  to  have  more  time  for  review  

and  reflection  at  the  end.  I  was  able  to  elicit  comments  from  a  few  students,  but  I  felt  there  was  

much  more  to  be  said  once  I  had  run  out  of  time.  I  think  this  was  a  longer  lesson  than  I  had  

planned  for  and  it  was  a  good  exercise  in  time  management  to  realize  what  I  could  have  cut  down  

and  what  I  could  have  emphasized  more.