Challenging Antisemitism - by Mara Lee Grayson & Judith Chriqui Benchimol (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Offers classroom teachers of high school and college students practical, employable strategies for raising Jewish voices and challenging antisemitism

Review Quotes

Challenging Antisemitism: Lessons from Literacy Classrooms provides secondary and university teachers with insightful perspective, language, understanding, and practical resources for addressing antisemitism endemic throughout the curriculum, the texts used in schools, pedagogy, and classroom interaction. With the publication of Challenging Antisemitism, never again can educators say they did not know how antisemitism is woven into the fabric of education; never again can they say they do not know how to rend its invisibility; never again can they say that the pursuit of social justice in education can eschew challenging antisemitism.

Each chapter gives an overview of the reasoning for selecting resources used in the lesson and a discussion on desired learning objectives, before providing the particulars of their lessons. They are not detailed lesson plans but instead, act as inspiration for teachers to create their lessons. Chapters end with "Concluding Thoughts" and "Questions for Study." The volume contains a bibliography and index. Challenging Antisemitism is recommended for libraries that serve educators, including public libraries and academic libraries with education curricula.

This collection from Grayson and Benchimol could not be more timely. As the visibility of antisemitism has risen in recent years, many educators and activists struggle to comprehend the nuances and diversity of Jewish history and the Jewish community. The topics outlined in this book shed light on these complexities, ranging from history to present day. Whether or not you are a Jewish educator or teach Jewish students, this is a necessary read for anyone interested in DEI work.

About the Author

Mara Lee Grayson is the author of Teaching Racial Literacy: Reflective Practices for Critical Writing, Race Talk in the Age of the Trigger Warning: Recognizing and Challenging Classroom Cultures of Silence, and Antisemitism and the White Supremacist Imaginary: Conflations and Contradictions in Composition and Rhetoric. She works as an associate professor of English at California State University, Dominguez Hills.

Judith Chriqui Benchimol is a college composition and English education lecturer with Sephardic Jewish roots. She holds a Masters degree in Life Writing from University of East Anglia and is presently a Ph.D. candidate and nonfiction writing lecturer at Teachers College, Columbia University.