By The Jerusalem Post (World News) | Created at 2024-10-30 16:20:06 | Updated at 2024-10-30 23:22:18
7 hours ago
Jewish Living Online (JLO) was created to target the increase in antisemitic incidents among younger demographics and school-age children in the UK.
By MATHILDA HELLER OCTOBER 30, 2024 17:25
Anti-Defamation League (ADL) CEO Jonathan Greenblatt and newly elected Board of Deputies of British Jews President Phil Rosenberg. (Illustrative)
(photo credit: Canva, Phil Rosenberg, PRIZMAH, REUTERS/JEENAH MOON)
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Board of Deputies of British Jews have joined forces to create a new, free digital resource to teach secondary school students in the UK about Jews, Judaism, and antisemitism.
The resource – Jewish Living Online (JLO) – was created amid an increase in antisemitic incidents among younger demographics, showcasing the need for better anti-hate educational programs in schools.
This first version of the resource is targeted at English KS3 (11-14 years) and above. However, both the ADL and the Board of Deputies are working to expand the project to include Welsh, Scottish, and Northern Irish variants, which would fit their national guidelines.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews announced their intention to develop a teacher training module for JLO in the future.
The Jerusalem Post has accessed the course, which consists of 57 steps to complete.
It is split up into subsections, including cultural ones such as “The Jewish Lifecycle,” “Festivals and Holy Days,” and “Torah and Tanach (Torah, Prophets, and Writings),” as well as “The History of Jews in Britain” and sections on “Antisemitism” and “Israel.”
Each of these contains different subsections that feature educational videos, pictures, and explanations with interactive definitions.
At the end of each section is a range of boxes, which provide questions encouraging the user’s critical thinking, recap questions to check the user’s knowledge, or ideas for the user to research further.
The UK is no exception
“Unfortunately, the UK is no exception to the global tsunami of antisemitism we’ve witnessed over the past year,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said.
“This initiative marks the first of many similar programs we plan to implement globally, aimed at educating and empowering the next generation.”
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Greenblatt added that providing teachers and students with the tools to confront antisemitism is a step towards eradicating it in the future.
Building on this, Board president Phil Rosenberg said it was his “firm belief that educating about antisemitism must also begin with a foundational knowledge of who Jews are as a people, what Judaism is, our history, language, and culture.”
