Letter to the Educator
Dear Educator,
Faith and Fate – The History of the Jewish People in the 20th Century is a 13 part educational documentary series and multi-media educational program being produced by the Destiny Foundation. It tells the story of both the Ashkenazim and Sephardim all over the world and how the events of the century affected world Jewry and how the Jewish people affected world events. Faith and Fate is a unique, all-inclusive story that approaches 20th century Jewish history from a 4,000 year old overview and perspective.
Presented by Rabbi Berel Wein, it features leading historians including Professor Zvi Gitelman, Dr. Jeffrey Gurock, Dr. Jane Gerber, Professor Monty Penkower, Professor Anita Shapira and Rabbi Marc Angel. We have researched more than 40 archives and personal collections worldwide over the past four years to find rare and exclusive visual material to include in the series. Faith and Fate and its educational support materials have been approved by the New York State Board of Education and the Board of Jewish Education in New York.
Our goal is to assist you in bringing Jewish history to life in the classroom, and to involve students in a personal and meaningful way. The four “I’s” – to INTEREST, INFORM, INSPIRE, and INVOLVE the student – who will hopefully encourage them to say the fifth “I”.. “I want to know more – to discover my own family history – to see myself in the big picture.”
Each episode of the series can be screened as a whole (over an hour) or shown in “choose and use” – select sections. We have broken down each episode into modular chapters, averaging two to four minutes each, to enable the teacher to select a particular subject or topic to teach. Each chapter, and its video clip, is linked directly to an easy-to-use Instant Lesson for your convenience. The multi-media Educators’ Guide contains a wealth of information pertaining to each episode for the student and teacher. It is designed to offer you a variety of teaching options and choices.
Whether you teach Jewish history in the context of world history or whether you explore Jewish identity through Jewish history with your students, we hope you find the choices in the series and our educational materials practical and useful. We welcome any suggestions or comments.
Sincerely,
The Destiny Foundation
Dr. Nachum Amsel
Director of Educational Programming