Ugh. My kid was identified as one of the Jews for kids to interview

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When my DD was in elementary school, one morning on the courtyard with everyone (students, staff, and parents) a girl came running across to DD and SCREAMED, "OH MY GOD, YOU'RE **JEWISH**!?!?!"

EVERYONE looked over horrified. DD nodded and smiled, and the girl threw her arms around DD and yelled, "ME TOO! SHALOM!" She was just really excited to have discovered another jewish person.

Hopefully that will be more the reaction your DD gets. And not kids asking why she isn't ________.

Cute story! OP here. It's 4th grade.

The situation I describe, as I said, would be no big deal in a different political climate at a diverse school, that wasn't internationally diverse. We have kids from countries where Jews cannot enter. I want our daughter to be able to be friends with these kids. I know religion comes out in conversation, but it's different than being the representative Jew. The goal is to increase understanding of course and love for eachother. The concern is some of these kids were raised to have animosity toward Jews the same way too many people are being brainwashed into hating Muslims. Let the kids mingle and form friendships, but I guess it makes me very uncomfortable to make too big a deal about religion. "Come see the Jew." Now, "Come ask the Muslim some questions." "Over here, we have a Hindu for you!"

I see your point. All the little kids play with each other, regardless of race or religion, and they don't even think about those things. All of a sudden adults get involved and in an effort to overcome racism and prejudice that the poor kids don't even feel yet, they end up introducing those distinctions.

My kid is a Jew who believes in Santa and has a Christmas tree,and his grandparents are Muslim. And we also don't agree with Trump's actions in Israel. The whole exercise is really just enforcing stereotypes instead of breaking them down - I mean the kids don't even know what the stereotypes are until after they do these activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m afraid OP is a troll. Jews can travel to Arab countries. Jews can work in most Arab countries. We can’t go to Mecca but I’m not sure non Muslims can, period. I’ve been to multiple Arab countries and lived in one. It is best to not get your passport stamped if you go to Israel, but otherwise I am free to travel.
There are restrictions on Israelis but that’s for nationality (which yes, in this case happens to generally overlap with religion).

Do you have Israel on you passport? If so, can you still travel there without a diplomatic passport?

Could you practice your faith there? Were you open about your religion?

Dude, I’m American. No, I dont have an Israeli passport. And American passports don’t identify religion.

I wrote that I was Jewish on my Saudi visa form and got a visa no problem. I was told "atheist" was the only thing to avoid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The Israel stamp story is a myth. https://andreasmoser.blog/2012/08/23/israeli-passport-stamp/

Did you actually read the post? It says that some Arab countries will not allow you in if you have an Israeli stamp in your passport.

This has been true for many years. I lived in Iran back in the 70s and even then, which was a relatively modern time compared to now, you couldn't have an Israeli stamp. Oddly, you could be Jewish, and there was a reasonably large Iranian Jewish population.

Israel does NOT stamp your passports. Hasn't for a while now. So no need to worry about going there and then to an Arab country.

https://new.goisrael.com/FAQ

Huh. When did they make the change, I wonder? My sister went to Israel on a Birthright trip in the early aughts. A couple years later she joined the Peace Corps and was sent to Morocco, and she had to get a new passport so the Israeli stamps wouldn't be there. She was also cautioned not to let anyone know she was Jewish.

I traveled to Israel in 2013, and although I got selected for extra questioning at the airport upon arrival thanks so my very Muslim name, they did not stamp my passport. They gave a slip of paper with a stamp, which I kept in my passport until I left the country and they took that piece of paper back.

To OP, I wouldn't worry too much about it. I doubt these children will look at your daughter differently because she's Jewish. Despite what you've heard about what other people say in other countries. If anything, it'll show those kids that they have Jewish friends and Jewish people are nice just like everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous i also fear what agnostic or atheist kids must feel. i highly doubt these teachers are recognizing their viewpoints.[/quote wrote:

We are agnostic although we were raised Christian (my DH & I) and our kids definitely feel uncomfortable at times. We've modeled for them ways to emphasize their Christian roots without speaking publicly about our beliefs or lack thereof (which are no one's business). It certainly would've been awkward for our kids to participate in the class discussion OP's describing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Didn't mean to open a can of worms with my misunderstanding of when Jews are not allowed to travel to other countries. I still am confused since some posts contradict others. Regardless, I all about those signs that say something like, "No matter where you are from of what you believe you are welcome here." That is the message I think should be the message to all the kids. I think it's great to teach about different religions, beliefs and customs and you can tell the kids to feel free to chime in. That's different to me then doing interviews about their faiths, where the kids may not feel comfortable declining.

You are allowed to travel, but it may not be a wise choice. You are seriously overthinking this. Maybe you should move your kid to a Jewish school. They are just sharing culture and customs.

OP here. I have zero interest in a Jewish school because we want out child growing up with as much diversity as possible. My issue was with the approach, not with exposing my child to other cultures.

Diversity comes with consequences. It seems like you want diversity but trying to shield your snowflake from it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous i also fear what agnostic or atheist kids must feel. i highly doubt these teachers are recognizing their viewpoints.[/quote wrote:

We are agnostic although we were raised Christian (my DH & I) and our kids definitely feel uncomfortable at times. We've modeled for them ways to emphasize their Christian roots without speaking publicly about our beliefs or lack thereof (which are no one's business). It certainly would've been awkward for our kids to participate in the class discussion OP's describing.

Why your agnostic child having troubles to articulate his or her believes? What is the problem? Does the child embarrassed to be agnostic?

[Anonymous]

I’m jewish. I have a 4th grader (and 2 older kids). I would have no issue with this assignment. I actually think my son would enjoy it. Our school has a significant number of jewish families so admittedly i might feel a bit differently in another scenario if I worried about anti-semitism. I actually think there is more intolerance of people from muslim countries than anywhere else. I have seen and heard some awful things on the part of adults. I do believe that children do not stereotype about religion as much as adults. Obviously there are exceptions but most kids are genuinely interested in learning about others and are open-minded. My best friend growing up was muslim and it never occured to us that our relationship was anything outside of ordinary until middle school when someone else told us that our friendship was strange. Our relationship continues to this day. I had a group of boys playing here before Christmas and one of them noticed our menorah and asked about it. My son explained he was jewish and about Hanukkah and the other boys responded “cool”. Then one mentioned that he is muslim and doesn’t celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah. The boys didn’t skip a beat and asked him a few questions about islam. . The conversation was very respectful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree this is weird and inappropriate. Were the kids asked to self-identify? Otherwise how would it be known?

Kids in elementary school spontaneously share ALL kinds of info re themselves and their families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I totally get the purpose of having kids interview eachother about religion to foster understanding. However, we are at a public school with many international kids (World Bank and Military) and a high number from countries where Jews are not allowed to travel. My daughter likes these kids and we want her to have friendships with all. She is not a very socially successful kid and she wants to be liked. She is fine with being interviewed about being Jewish and we are not going to say anything. It's just in this political climate I feel discomfort with identifying my kid as the Jew, another kid as the Muslim and so forth. Plus, my daughter says thanks to this project, a child from Africa and a child who is African American have already been questioned about why they don't celebrate Kwanza.

Before you berate me for over-reacting, I am simply sharing my internal discomfort. I have said nothing to the school or my child. We don't agree with Trump's decisions in Israel at this time and there is already tremendous unrest and animosity toward Jews and Muslims in particular. Maybe let the family decide if they want their kid singled out as the representative of their religion.

I don’t think you are necessarily overreacting, I am surprised that the school is condoning this. Was this a project spurred on by the students or by the faculty ? It might not be a bad idea to discuss this with the headteacher or even a head of school to express your discomfort of course privately without your child necessarily needing to know - where all you know other parents might be feeling this way as well .

[Anonymous]

OP I can see why you are worried. My 3rd grader in a MoCO elementary school with a high Jewish population. He came home telling us that two boys told him that Jews are evil, etc. The school did not react in any way. We were horrified.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I see that you are upset about current politics and events but he best thing you can do for your DD is not to burden her with your fears. Be impartial and let her have her own feelings and experiences.

She might be a little less upset if she was even slightly better informed.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP I can see why you are worried. My 3rd grader in a MoCO elementary school with a high Jewish population. He came home telling us that two boys told him that Jews are evil, etc. The school did not react in any way. We were horrified.

This happens to others too. Immigrant kids who no longer stand out because of 'wrong' type of English or do not have the obvious Mexican or Spanish sounding names adopt a 'hidden immigrant' type of stance where they do not mirror the environment but keep their mouths shut

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the countries to which Jews aren't allowed to travel? I'm Jewish but it doesn't say so on my passport, so I didn't know there were countries I couldn't go.

I think you're making too big a deal. I don't see the problem with kids asking each other about their holiday traditions. Has anyone said anything negative to your daughter?

I believe Jews are not allowed to enter any Arab countries. Perhaps Jordan is an exception? Technically as long as you don't have "Israel" on your passport, you could probably enter as long as you don't identify yourself as Jewish.

That’s BS. The restriction is on Israelis, not Jews.