Education

Hadas Agami always thought there was something strange about her great-grandparents’ relationship. Hadas, a 7th grade student at The Rabin School in Givat Zeev, Israel, wondered why there was such a huge age gap between her great-grandfather and her great-grandmother. So as soon as she had the opportunity, she embarked on a research project to find out the story behind their marriage.

“My great-grandfather was 80 years old when he got married to my great-grandmother, who was all of thirty years old,” Hadas explained. “The reason why was that my great-grandmother was in Iraq and was dreaming about moving to Israel, and she knew that the only way for her to achieve that goal was to marry a rabbi in Israel. So she just did it. “I found out that he really was a great rabbi in Israel,” Hadas smiled, “even if he was 80.”

(Jaime Samuel, Hadas Agami, Nir Dadon)

Hadas’ research project was part of the international My Family Story Competition of Beit Hatfutsot, in cooperation with the Israel Ministry of Education. Now in its fourteenth year, the competition encourages middle school students in Jewish schools around the world to embark on family history projects and submit their research to Beit Hatfutsot. Tens of thousands of students from 59 schools all around the world have participated in the competition, which receives submissions in six different languages.

Hadas, who won a Certificate of Recognition for her thorough research, came to Beit Hatfutsot in June for the awards ceremony. “The project was a lot of fun,” she said, upon receiving her award.

“We received amazing projects as submissions,” said Martha Mazo, Coordinator of My Family Story at Beit Hatfutsot. “Students are exceptionally creative. Some spend the entire year working on this project. They invest so much time and energy into their family histories. It’s really very special.”

One of the outstanding submissions came from Nir Dadon, of the Danziger
School in Kiryat Shmona. Nir, whose family is from Morocco and Iraq, submitted a Sefer Torah, to symbolize the connection between his bar mitzvah and his connection to the Jewish people. “I learned so many things about my family that I didn’t know,” he said, upon receiving a Honorable Mention for Creativity for his work. “He took this project very seriously,” his mother, Orly Dadon, said. “The Torah was a symbol – it’s the Jewish people and it’s ours as a family”.

(Nir and Orly Dadon)

During the course of the research, students often come across family treasures that have been buried. Shahar Guttman, for example, a seventh grade student in Ironi Aleph in Modi’in, discovered an incredible family heirloom: a book of ancestry dating back to the thirteenth century. “It’s been in my family all this time and I never knew about it,” she said.

Jaime Samuel, a 14-year old from the Ibn Gvirol school in Madrid, Spain, who spoke at the ceremony on behalf of winners from outside of Israel, submitted a project based on letters that his great grandparents wrote to one another in the early twentieth century. “I learned so much about my family from doing this project,” he said. “Mostly I learned that everyone in my family was president of something,” he laughed. “But it made me want to do the same. Everyone was always doing something for the Jewish community, and I would like to do that as well.”

Samuel embodied the main purpose of the competition: to connect kids to their Jewish community and roots. ”We want students to build a connection to the Jewish people by exploring their family stories,” adds Dr. Cecilia Waismann, who has recently produced a middle school curriculum to assist teachers who are guiding students in preparing projects. The curriculum, entitled My Story-Our Story, is available free on-line from Beit Hatfutsot. “Kids start by investigating themselves, and end up building connections to the Jewish people. This project is a wonderful way to instill Jewish peoplehood into the next generation". "My Family Story project, more than any other project, constructs a notion of being part of “klal yisrael”, adds Dr. Nurit Chamo, director of content development & formal education in Beit Hatfutsot.

The award ceremony, which took place on June 2 at Beit Hatfutsot, was organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, which co-sponsors the My Family Story Israel division. Moshe Zaafrani, supervisor of the Department of Jewish Community Heritage in the Ministry of Education, congratulated the winners, whom he referred to as budding researchers. “This is a very important project for helping introduce students into the vital work of research,” he said. “It’s only natural that the ceremony is held at Tel Aviv University.”

Mr. Avinoam Armoni, Director-General of Beit Hatfutsot, congratulated all the participants. “My Family Story is vital for the Jewish future,” he said. “I’m proud that at Beit Hatfutsot, students are learning about what it means to be part of the Jewish people.”

(Mr. Moshe Zaafrani and Mr. Avinoam Armoni viewing students' "Shorashim" projects)

Click here for the complete list of winners