Curriculum Track #2: Building Jewish Community in Los Angeles
Topic 3:  Your Family Journey to L.A. and Wilshire Boulevard Temple

Enduring Understandings: 

• Within the the Los Angeles Jewish community and Wilshire Boulevard Temple every family has a unique story of how they came to L.A.
• By discovering and sharing our family stories we understand what we have in common as a Jewish people. 
• Being curious and asking good questions about your family and community enables you to better understand your world, and  is a skill you can use your entire life. 

Essential Questions:

• What parts of the Jewish journey do you have in common with others, and which are unique to your family?
• What are the historical experiences that resulted in your family settling in Los Angeles?
• In what ways have your family members contributed to the Jewish community and city  of Los Angeles?
• What do you want your place to be in the L.A. Jewish story? 

Discuss:
Los Angeles is a city spread over: 
472 square miles with a population of 
3.8 million people,
600,000 of these are Jews, compared with 
1.1 million Jews in NYC.
5.5 million Jews live in America compared with   
6 million Jews living in Israel.  In total, today there are over
13 million Jews in the world. 
YOUR family has chosen to call Los Angeles their home. Do you know how you and your family ended up in L.A? 

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These are some of the questions we will explore together:

• Who was the first in your family to settle in what is now the fourth largest Jewish city in the world (and the second largest in North America?) 
• What was their journey? 
• What were they coming towards-- and what were they leaving behind? 
• What did they pack in their suitcases-- and what memories and stories did they carry in their hearts? 
• Who were they reunited with in L.A-- and who was left behind? 
• Who was the first member of Wilshire Boulevard Temple in your family? 
• What Jewish organizations were they involved in? 
• What other communities did they connect with-- and what did they contribute to the city?

Centers of Jewish Life in Los Angeles
Since the first pioneer Jews settled in L.A. in the 1850's, Jewish families have created home in different parts of city, beginning in downtown L.A. and continually migrating further west towards to the far edges of the San Fernando Valley. Today Jewish families live in neighborhoods throughout our expansive city, however, at different times in L.A's history, there have been parts of the city that have attracted a concentration of Jewish families. Drawn to the diverse synagogues, community centers, Jewish markets and delis and familiar neighbors--these places created a cohesive sense of Jewish community. A few of these neighborhoods are featured below. As Los Angeles continues to grow and evolve, centers of Jewish life keep changing, as we have seen with more Jewish families moving back to the L.A.'s East Side, and the resurgence of Wilshire Boulevard Temple's newly renovated campus and growing community. 

What do YOU Know About How YOU Got to L.A.?

• Students will interview each other about their family’s journey to L.A. and will make a list of questions that they need to find out to complete the story. 
• Pair students who will work well together.
• Have them take 10 minutes to ask questions of each other, 5 minutes each student. Use this worksheet "Landing in L.A." for the interview questions, make one copy per student. 
• At the conclusion ask each each person to read over the notes of their family's journey and circles the following categories: places of origin, dates, neighborhoods in L.A. family members lived. 
• Bring the group together and ask each partner to present to the group one interesting thing they learned from the interview.
• Discuss commonalities and differences in their family journeys. Note places of origin, timelines, and places in L.A. families first moved to. 
• Ask students to write on the back of their notes 5-10 additional and specific questions they would now like to know about their family's journey to L.A.  Share these questions as a group to stimulate ideas. Encourage students to add to their list. Discuss different topics they can inquire about to flesh out the stories. Use the questions above for suggested categories of inquiry.  
• Ask students to write down who they would like to talk with to find the answers to their questions. 
• Introduce students to the art of interviewing well. Give each student a copy of this handout How to Interview Well. Review it with the class. 
• Assign students the task of interviewing their family members. Provide a date for them to present their findings to the class. Suggest they use their camera phones to video some of the interviews. They should all write down the answers they receive as best they can during and right after the interview. Consider sending an email home to parents/guardians describing this project and encouraging their participation and assistance. 

What is YOUR PLACE in the L.A. Jewish Story?
When the students return with their interviews, collect, display and discuss  the diverse journeys to Los Angeles reflected in your students. Use big posters, the white board or a digital polling app to aggregate all the responses in these categories: 

1. The diverse places families members came from in different years. Compare great grandparents, grandparents and parents.
2. Historical events which pushed or pulled family members to L.A.
3. Jewish traditions they brought with them.
4. Jewish organizations in L.A. they were involved with. 
5. Other organizations that the family members contributed to. 
6. The first family members that joined Wilshire Boulevard Temple.
7. The different neighborhoods family members lived in at different times. 

For additional family history project ideas see the curriculum section "Journey to America: An Outstretched Arm"

iPresenting, Preserving & Expanding on the Interviews 
A collection of ideas; choose the approach that best fits you and your group. 

• Organize a "My Place in the L.A. Story" Artifact Fair and Generations Day. Ask parents and grandparents to bring in objects that tell about their journey to L.A. and their Jewish connections past and present. Bring photographs, heirlooms and memorabilia, letters, and more that tell stories about their family connections to this city and synagogue. 
• Bring in a panel of carefully selected family members and community members who are engaging storytellers. Prepare the class by asking them to reflect on their interviews and come up with compelling questions about the changing Jewish community in Los Angeles today. Assign a few students as rotatiging talk show hosts. 
• Create individual or collaborative "story posters" that illuminate the unique journeys and contributions of students' families. Consider  printing out 11 x 17 black and white L.A. neighborhood maps and use that as a background for a collage. 
• Create a collaborative "My Place in the L.A. Story"  video. Students video or audio record their interviews;  include photo stills, video of different neighborhoods and Jewish institutions, student artwork, music and more. 

On Line Resources for Exploring Los Angeles Jewish History
Mapping Jewish L.A. --A project through UCLA
Jewish Museum of the American West