The sixth grade students of PS 206 were invited to the NYC Jewish Children’s museum on a field trip.
Our trip started by taking a 25-30 minute school bus ride to the Crown Heights neighborhood. We then walked over to an impressive 7-story museum. The first thing we did when we entered was meet our guide, Maralin, and she told us facts that included the name of the museum honoring “Ari Halberstam”, a sixteen year old who was shot on the Brooklyn bridge in an act of terrorism because of him being Jewish in 1994. His parents were devastated by his sudden death, so they became activists against terrorism and Jewish hate.
Shortly after, we jumped on the elevator and headed to the exhibition that showed the first Jewish people, Abraham and his wife, who were in their tent. Their tent’s door was wide open to all. The guide explained that the reason Abraham opened the tent was to tell travelers passing by the idea of the Jewish religion while his wife was baking bread, to share and telling travelers that they can repay the hospitality by thanking God. Abraham’s grandson had 12 sons with 4 different women creating the 12 tribes, thus, expanding the religion. As years passed, the Jewish people found themselves in Egypt as slaves until they fled. At some point, they found refuge in Europe, and other countries. Then in Germany a man named Adolf Hitler tried to destroy the Jewish people.
Hitler thought that the Jewish people were useless, and didn’t deserve to live because they didn’t meet his standards. He created a group called the Nazis, which took over the country and enslaved the Jewish people. Many were soon murdered in a terrible event called the Holocaust. The Jews had to go into hiding from humanity to continue their religion. They even had to build secret passages to study their holy text. The allied forces won World War II and defeated the Germans and the Nazis. Six million Jewish people were killed during the Holocaust.
After learning about this important information, we started the activities. They had a fun matching game and we watched a video that said that everyone has a “ spark,” which always has a purpose and never goes out. Even if you do something bad, your spark only goes dimmer but can’t disappear. You can repair your spark by doing an act of good meaning or kindness.
After we finished watching the video, we hopped on over to the crafting room to make “sparktacles” (Sunglasses made to look like you can see people’s sparks). We were given gems and markers to decorate the “sparktacles”. Once we were done making the “sparktacles” we went to the lunchroom.
We were eating lunch with a different school, so the room was really crowded but we all got to hang out with our friends from different classes which was fun. After that, we got on our bus and started heading back to the school.
This trip was educational and fun where we learned the origins of the Jewish religion, their struggles and how everybody has a spark or a reason to be alive despite race, religion and ideals. At the end of the day this trip was fun and educational, a true 10 out of 10, would recommend.
