Leil Storytime

Using the game “one-word story” to teach about injustice in our society. By using a fun game in which normally everyone is equal, you can teach chanichim about systematic racism and give them a taste of what it feels like to be silenced or to have power over the narrative.

Educational Goal/Jewish Value

Begin understanding racial injustice and systematic oppression

Recommended Location

Anywhere

Directions

Each chanich/a will participate in telling a story as a group by each saying one word of the story when it is their turn. Each round of story-telling will change the rules slightly so the chanichim might get to say more words and will have a plot-line they will want to convey when it is their turn. Instructions for chanichim: When it is your turn, add one word to continue the story. The stories must start with “Once upon a time…” and end with “The End.” Procedure: Round 1 - Normal game of the “one-word story” Round 2 - Split the kids into two groups by a physical attribute (ex: left-handed and right-handed, if it is a large group you can split into 3 groups and split by eye-color) and one group of people will get to say 3 words while the other group says one word in another round of the “one-word story” (3 group scenario - 3 words to group 1, 2 words to group 2, and 1 word to group 3) Round 3 - Keeping the new rules of Round 2, everyone will play again but this time each group will be assigned a plot-line that they will try and convey when it is their turn during another round of storytime Discussion: How did this game make you feel? Did you feel powerful or weak depending on your physical attribute? Did you feel like the game was made to keep some voices quiet and some voices heard? What story ended up being told? Is there a time in your life when you felt like you were not heard? (either nod or we would love to hear about that experience) How did not being heard make you feel? It is our responsibility to make sure other people can be heard. What is a way you can think of to do that? Can you think of an example of people or a group of people whose voices don’t get listened to? Right now, there are a lot of groups of people who are being treated poorly and not listened to based on things out of their control- maybe not their dominant hand, but the color of their skin or the people they love. What are some things we can do to help those voices be heard? How can you help? it is okay to not know the answer to this question. It’s a really hard question. Some things we can do are: speaking up when we see something is not right. We can write about it, or make art about it. And we can take time to learn stories from other people and make sure we are being good listeners, the way we hope others will listen to us.

Materials

None

Helpful Tips

For older kids, the discussion can be in smaller groups and can get deeper and really delve into what this country has dealt with the past few years. You can also bring in some outside sources (articles, books, videos) to better illustrate the systemic issues rooted in our society.

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