Social - December 2003

Students study culture, traditions of other countries

By SARAH GRANO, Staff Writer

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Students at West Lincoln Middle School learned that there’s more to Israel’s culture than suicide bombings and fear.

Greg and Linda Lilge spoke to seventh graders at the school about the country’s traditions. Students saw Israeli dreidles and menorahs. They sat and listened as Linda Lilge lighted candles and said a prayer in Hebrew.

“I think it’s very important to understand the cultures of other people,” said Christi Sherrill, a teacher who helped organize the event.

The students studied the Middle East for seven weeks prior to listening to the speakers.

“It’s very, very important that they understand what’s going on in the Middle East because it’s going to affect their lives,” Sherrill said.

“There’s no way they can get around it, and I want them to leave my class as informed citizens.”

Sherrill, who has been to Israel, believes that the images she sees on the television paint an unfair picture of the country.

“It is so safe there. It is safer than America,” Sherrill said. “Yes, there is security everywhere that you look. You see military everywhere, and their guns are loaded, but it’s safe.”

Sherrill pointed out the fact that 10-year-old children walk to the market by themselves everyday. In America most children that age aren’t allowed out by themselves.

The speakers at the school touched on the subject of terrorism, but the focus of their talk was Jewish history and traditions.

Students especially enjoyed Greg Lilge blowing an antelope horn, something Israeli Jews do before Shabbat and Rosh Hashanah.

“It made a cool noise,” said Samatha White, a seventh-grader at the school.

The students learned that during horn blowing competitions, contestants occasionally pass out.

“The way he could blow the horn took talent,” said Katlyne Gorgei, a seventh-grader at the school.

They also got too see prayer shawls and hold Israeli coins worth $5 and $10.

“You can have a handful of change and have a lot of money,” Greg Lilge said.

After the presentation students went to their classrooms to write cards in Hebrew, play dreidle games and learn traditional dances.

Sherrill wanted to make sure her students knew more about Israeli culture than what is shown on television.

She believes that Israeli television also presents a skewed version of what happens in other countries.

“If you saw their news about America, you would not come here,” Sherrill said.

When Sherrill was in Israel the news constantly reported on the sniper shootings in the Washington, D.C. area.

“Would you want to come to America and know that there’s a sniper on the loose who has killed 13 people?” she asked.

Although it may not be as extreme as it seems on television, terrorism is a fact of life in Israel.

The Lilges remember a time when a child popped a balloon in a restaurant and everyone in the area jumped.

Buses in Jerusalem are always empty in the front and full in the back because people want to protect themselves in case of an attack.

“You’ve heard about suicide bombers and all that. It’s a fact of life,” Greg Lilge said to the students.

Despite this fact, the Lilges have gone to Israel every year for 20 years. They even lived there for nearly a year working with the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem.

“There’s a lot of fear, but they just go on with life,” Linda Lilge said. “They’re not like us. We dwell on things. They clean up the mess when a suicide bombing happens and the next day they’re open for business. They don’t let it destroy them.”

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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