Israel Unit

Israel is an ancient land, it’s right smack in the middle of the Cradle of Civilization, so everywhere you look in the country is covered in history. It’s also a land of controversy, I know, I’m stating the obvious here, our Israel Unit was completed probably two years ago, before the current hostilities broke out. Our geography lesson was a fun quick way to learn about Israel, and I wish, in retrospect, I had done a current events unit with our Israel Unit.

Missed chances.

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Israel Unit resources

Not too surprisingly, a country with as much publicity as Israel has books at my library, so I happily have books to share for our Israel Unit.

I know, it’s a rare thing recently.

But, first let me share the online resources that everyone can get.

• 73 Interesting Facts– Some of them are not really interesting, and even more sad, there are not really any good pictures on it.
• National Geographic Kids Israel
• CIA: Israel– yes, this still amuses me
• BBC Israel
• 73 Fun Facts– complete with a picture of novelty sunglasses featuring the Israel flag, and some great images, and very weird gifs

But, here is the video from Geography Now. The comment section from both Israelis and Palestinians say he did a great job of summarizing the conflict and both sides in an unbiased way (this video was made 6 years ago).

It’s also interesting, because the comment section of the video, an area of YouTube known for being toxic, is fairly amicable.

An impressive job.

Israel unit booklist

Now, if I had deliberately searched out books about Biblical events, than this list would be much longer. Instead, I focused on modern Israel or specifically Jewish celebrations. All of these books came up when I searched Israel, so in theory they all take place there.

In theory.

• Engineer Ari and the Rosh Hashana ride– Engineer Ari “drives” the first train from Jaffa to Jerusalem, as he does, he gathers the materials needed to celebrate Rosh Hashana
• First Rain– The story of Abby, who has moved to Israel, and her life as she settles in and how much she misses her Grandma back in America. It’s interesting to me to see a “reverse” immigration story. Also, it’s a super cute story.
• Harvest of Light– Following a family of olive growers and how they gather olives to press into oil, and then celebrate Hannukah
• Israel ABCs– I always have fun seeing what words will be used for the alphabet words, and the pictures are always great
• Jodie’s Hanukkah Dig– What’s not to love about a story where a little girl goes to work with her Dad on an archeological dig? Seriously, it’s an adorable book as Jodie learns more about Hanukkah and the Maccabees
• What’s the buzz? Honey for a Sweet Year– An amusing way to write this, it follows a class on its field trip to see how honey is made to celebrate Rosh Hashanah
• Yaffa and Fatima: shalom, salaam– When I saw this was a fairy tale told in both Jewish and Arabic families, I knew I had to check this out. A young Jewish girl and a young Muslim girl are best friends, then they both fall onto hard times, and work to help the other to survive
• Zvuvi’s Israel– Apparently this is part of a series of books about Israel, this follows a fly as he travels through the country, with the challenge to find him on each page, sort of a weird I-spy

I had one more originally on my list, but once I got it, I realized it took place in Lebanon, Three Lucys, so I need to add it into the Lebanon post when I write it.

Israel Unit recipe: Chewy Tahini Blondies

When I looked up this recipe, I had no idea what Tahini was, or if we would like it, but I’d also found a recipe from somewhere else that used Tahini in it, so I thought, “Excellent, I’ll use it all up, and have no leftovers.” Then I discovered from the other recipe, we really do not like the taste of Tahini. Thankfully, it was not a noticeable flavor when we made the Tahini blondies.

Tahini blondie ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter melted and cooled
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons lightly toasted black sesame seeds
• 2 tablespoons lightly toasted white sesame seeds
• 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup tahini paste*

** Tahini paste can be found on international aisles at major grocery stores, or at Asian markets

Mixing up the Tahini Blondies

Random side note, but by the time I went to take a picture of the Tahini blondies they were mostly gone, so Tahini as part of a sauce is a no, but in a dessert is a yes.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and butter an 8 inch pan.
2. Mix together the brown sugar, butter, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.
3. Slowly add in the dry ingredients until just mixed.
4. Finally, fold in the tahini until smooth.
5. Pour the batter into the pan.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out dry.

Yield: 12 brownies

Tahini Blondies

Print

These Tahini blondies make a nice light dessert to share with friends over a nice warm cup of tea.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter melted and cooled
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons lightly toasted black sesame seeds
• 2 tablespoons lightly toasted white sesame seeds
• 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup tahini paste

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and butter an 8 inch pan.
2. Mix together the brown sugar, butter, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.
3. Slowly add in the dry ingredients until just mixed.
4. Finally, fold in the tahini until smooth. Pour the batter into the pan.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out dry.

Israel Unit notebooking pages

We grabbed our Asia notebooking pages and started filling them out.

In case, you are wondering, you can fit 31 of Israel inside of Texas. That is a very important fact for you to know.

But, officially my fun facts for Israel are:

• There is a micro-nation inside of Israel, Akzhivland
• Israel has the highest percentage of recycled water
• It houses half of the world’s Jewish population
• Six-Day War- while this is not the shortest war on record, it’s got to be pretty close

Israel Animals

If you want to add in a bit more about Israel, a great short study would be to fill out the animal minibook for one or more of the Israeli animals.

• Caracal- just a cool sounding animal
• Nubian ibex
• Arabian leopard
• Hoopoes- it looks like a zebra and a deer smashed together
• Sand cat

Israel picture