12/04/2025
NEW: Occupations Past and Present: A Visual Literacy Curriculum Kit created by and shared with In geveb by Deborah Berman.
"Occupations Past and Present is a visual literacy curriculum drawing on Mayer Kirshenblatt’s images of eastern European Jewish life to teach general (not only Jewish) grade school audiences how to relate to, ask questions of, and learn from images....
In 1992, to complete the requirements for a masters in social work, I wrote a thesis entitled “Roots To Routes: Evolving An Ethnic Identity,” which focused on KlezKamp, a foundational festival of Yiddish folk arts that ran for thirty years, beginning in 1985. I have now worked as a psychotherapist for many years. My motivation for this project was not only an interest in pedagogy or psychology per se but rather one that runs through my work in both these fields (and my life): the creation of beauty as a force of healing. I have drawn from the world of Yiddish, especially language, music, and—most recently—visual expression, to that end. As an artist my work happens to often be appealing to children. I am drawn to those fundamental preoccupations that are with us from childhood to death."
If you use this or any other of our published pedagogy resources in your classroom, please let us know!
Occupations Past and Present is a visual literacy curriculum drawing on Mayer Kirshenblatt’s images of eastern European Jewish life to teach general (not only J