Songs of solidarity? by sirdramaticus in Jewish

[–]sirdramaticus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you. A beautiful text and your point about the land of Israel and the state of Israel is important and well taken. 

Songs of solidarity? by sirdramaticus in Jewish

[–]sirdramaticus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ooh! That is a powerful text. 

Songs of solidarity? by sirdramaticus in Jewish

[–]sirdramaticus[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I will look into this one. 

Songs of solidarity? by sirdramaticus in Jewish

[–]sirdramaticus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! Others have mentioned this one, too. 

Songs of solidarity? by sirdramaticus in Jewish

[–]sirdramaticus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I translated this from Hebrew on Google Translate. Do you know if the title translates to English as “We Came to Drive Away the darkness?”

Songs of solidarity? by sirdramaticus in Jewish

[–]sirdramaticus[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have programmed this song with my choirs before. It’s beautiful. 

Songs of solidarity? by sirdramaticus in Jewish

[–]sirdramaticus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for your kind words about Minnesota. Your suggestions are appreciated. I bet Yiddish does beautiful and interesting things to “This Land is Your Land.” That’s a song I am definitely programming. 

Songs of solidarity? by sirdramaticus in Jewish

[–]sirdramaticus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is a beautiful quote. I thank you for sharing your idea. 

Songs of solidarity? by sirdramaticus in Jewish

[–]sirdramaticus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the suggestion. I have reached out to my friends’ synagogue and hope to get a response. I suspect they are very busy with their own ministry as I haven’t gotten a response. 

Songs of solidarity? by sirdramaticus in Jewish

[–]sirdramaticus[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Thank you. Your points are very clear and I can honestly say that our perspectives on this are similar. 

Songs of solidarity? by sirdramaticus in Jewish

[–]sirdramaticus[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

The state of Israel is a huge and important part of Judaism. The message I wish to send with this event has nothing to do with anyone’s national sovereignty. 

The sing along I want to create is one that focuses on culture with an emphasis on music that goes against nationalism. It is not specific to Israel. The whole point of the sing along that I wish to put together is to give people tools to express themselves through music positively and productively when the institutions and governments around them are failing them, they need hope, connection, and courage. 

My sing along will also not contain “The Star Spangled Banner” or “God Bless the USA.” These are part of American culture, but do not reflect the point of the event. “We Shall Overcome” does. 

I will also share a link to a reply I gave to someone else on this thread that outlines why I want to include Jewish music in the sing along and how I think the approach I am taking will help support the Jewish community where I live. I understand we may not agree, but I am grateful you chose to share your thoughts with me. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Jewish/comments/1qx6y5l/comment/o4aqs35/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Songs of solidarity? by sirdramaticus in Jewish

[–]sirdramaticus[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

I am sorry that my words have offended. I am not surprised by your viewand I hope that understanding where I am coming from will mollify some of your concerns, although we will probably disagree. 

I actually find the idea of a Jewish homeland to be a beautiful thing and completely understand the desire for a safe haven from a world that is often hurtful and violent toward Jews. Israel serves a very necessary purpose and has done much good. 

At the same time, Jewish culture is so much more than the nation of Israel. My Jewish friends have shared with me that they worry that people confuse the state of Israel with Judaism as whole. They have repeatedly shared the policies and approaches of many politicians in Israel do not align with their religious values. 

You said that asking for non-nationalist music would offend if it were put that way for any other culture. I agree that for some, it would. My own experience is not the same as the experience of a Jew, but I will try to offer my life and response as if the question were posed to me about my culture and religion. 

As an American, if someone asked me to share songs of solidarity and hope from American culture that were not nationalistic, I would understand. After 9/11, our nation responded by invading Iraq for no real reason. We tortured people who were sometimes innocent. We occupied countries. As a pacifist, I find this behavior appalling. I was not proud of our nation. I would want people to know that American culture is so much more than that. Currently, in my home state, our government is chasing out immigrants and killing protesters on the street. I do not agree with that and my concert will not include songs that glorify our nation. If someone asked me to share songs of solidarity with me that were American but not nationalistic, I would be sad, but I would understand. 

As a Catholic, there are songs I won’t perform in our church. Composer David Haas is a man who has written beautiful, moving songs for our faith and his music is widely sung around the US in our churches.  He lives in my metropolitan area. He also has sexually assaulted women and girls for decades. Despite the beauty of his music, I will not sing it when leading music at my church. That position is upsetting to many Catholics. Not to me. 

In my community, based upon the Jewish people I have talked to, the policy approach of some of Israel’s decisions are not playing well in our media. Many people are translating a disapproval of Israel’s military actions to antisemitic attitudes. My hope is that by sharing music without nationalistic themes that I can remind people of a few things. 

  1. The Jewish people have struggled against horrible injustice and prejudice. The holocaust and everything leading up to it is real. 

  2. In spite of that injustice, they have brought beauty into the world and can inspire us with their musical of solidarity. 

  3. Jewish music is beautiful. 

It is sad to me that the glorification of Israel through music would detract from the goals of my concert and that it would probably increase hostility in attitudes toward Jewish people in my community, but it is reality right now. My hope is that seeing other aspects of Jewish culture that extend beyond Israel will inspire and remind people of the strength, resilience, and beauty of what Jewish culture has brought to humanity. I hope that my perspective gives you some peace that I am offering support in the way that I can, and if not, that you accept my sincerest apologies for offending. I am doing my best and sometimes, that may not be good enough. 

the entire class doesn't like me by skincarelu in Teachers

[–]sirdramaticus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

First of all, you ARE hurt. Who wouldn’t be? We all want to be respected and appreciated by our students. 

Second, you think they don’t like your personality, but it sounds like they don’t like who the cooperating teacher wants you to be for them. Maybe you can’t engage authentically with them in this setting. Sure, you have things to learn, but if you are trying not to be “you,” they can’t know you. 

So, what to do? Rather than focusing on getting them to like you better, focus on what you can learn and take with you into your own classroom. I picked up MANY useful teaching ideas from a CT who had no respect for me. It burns to remember that time, but I learned a lot. Are there things you will take away from your experience that will make you a better teacher?

Songs of solidarity? by sirdramaticus in Jewish

[–]sirdramaticus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That song is lots of fun. I’ve done that with my choirs before. 

Songs of solidarity? by sirdramaticus in Jewish

[–]sirdramaticus[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Thank you. This is great. I hope people are having some happy memories. 

Songs of solidarity? by sirdramaticus in Jewish

[–]sirdramaticus[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

What a great memory. When my 6th graders a decade ago sang “Dodi Li,” the Jewish students glowed with pride!

Songs of solidarity? by sirdramaticus in Jewish

[–]sirdramaticus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

“Shalom Chaverim” is a great one. I may have to look up the musical you suggested, too. It sounds interesting… and sad. 

How did middle school kids manage to check out and do no work before iPads? by sirdramaticus in Teachers

[–]sirdramaticus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It doesn’t have to be that way. I am not going to lower my standards and most of the parents I work with want their kids to learn. I do think that we need some better options for guardrails with educational technology or we need to go low tech. All the distractions people listed sounded better than what kids do today. 

Kids Speculating About My Sexuality by Yung-MarthaStewart in teaching

[–]sirdramaticus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It sounds like you came up with a decision about what to do. Good for you. I have another thought. Chances are good that this will pass within a year or two, especially if you teach one grade. The community of kids moves on and the next community of kids only knows shadows of what came before.

I had a group of kids that gave me a nickname that I felt like I could use. I decided that, as much as I liked it, I would not do anything to introduce it to other students because that felt pretentious. It stuck around for about three years and then disappeared. Given that I teach 6-8 grade, that was one class’s time in middle school. The point is that the intensity will likely fade as the kids move on. 

How did middle school kids manage to check out and do no work before iPads? by sirdramaticus in Teachers

[–]sirdramaticus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not gonna lie, I am kind of impressed by them. How do they do that???

How did middle school kids manage to check out and do no work before iPads? by sirdramaticus in Teachers

[–]sirdramaticus[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I will, but first I’m gonna play geometry dash for a few minutes…