Underground Movements in Pre-State Israel

Jerusalem Forest , The National Institutions

Culture , History , Independence Day , Jerusalem Day

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In this activity the students will learn about the different underground movements in Pre-State Israel. Through an experiential escape room game, the participants will become members of underground organizations in Israel and will come into contact with different situations and places from the lives of members of the underground movements. Afterwards, the participants will process the experience through discussion and will come to understand the importance of the underground movmements in the establishment of the Jewish State. Finally, the participants will create a placard to hang in the room that will be made up of the characteristics that they learned from the members of the underground movements.

Goals and the activity order

Goals:

The students will get to know the different underground movements that operated in Pre-State Israel.
The students will experience the special atmosphere of the underground movements through the escape room.
The students will adopt one characteristic that they learned from the members of the underground movements.

The activity order:

Introduction – getting to know the underground movements.
Escape Room.
Discussion.
Conclusion.

Activity Preparation

Print the information pages and spread them around the room.

Prepare a table with 5 letters.

It is possible to decorate the room Israeli-style with flags and picture, and to turn into an authentic escape room.

Download and print

Atmospheric photos for classroom decoration Escape room set Hint page

Introduction – getting to know the underground movements

Part 1 15 min

We’ll split the participants into 4 groups. Each group will receive information on a different underground movement. Each information sheet will also contain 3 leading questions for enrichment of the subject.

The leader of the activity will allow the groups three minutes in order to read the page and to answer the questions. After the three minutes, the groups will swop sheets.

*Possible follow-on activities: After the groups have received all four sheets, the activity leader will choose a representative from each group who will present one of the underground movements.

*Another suggestion: Each group will concentrate on only one underground movement and at the end of the assigned time, each group will present the underground movement that they learned about to the other groups.

Escape Room

Part 2 30 min

Each group of participants will receive an escape room set on the subject of events or main principles in the lives of members of the underground movements.

The set will contain 7 pages of puzzles, a puzzle board and clues, an instruction page and an answer page. The activity leader will scatter information pages around the room that can help the participants solve the puzzles. The groups will compete against each other in solving the riddles.

In the activity, the participants are members of the underground movement in Pre-State Israel. Their aim is to drive out the British from the land, and to establish a Jewish State. In order to do so, they need to enter the room of the British commander and to take a letter that is on his table that contains important information about the planning of an imminent operation.

There will be five different letters on the commander’s desk. After solving the riddles correctly, the participants will know which letter is the one they need.

Afterwards, the activity leader will read the letter’s contents to the participants.

Discussion

Part 3 10 min

After learning about the underground movements in an experiential way, we will try to delve deeper with the participants into the essence of the underground movements and of the deep desire for independence.

Conclusion

Part 4 10 min

Each participant will choose one characteristic that he learned from the members of the underground movements that he wishes to adopt for himself. The group members should write the characteristics on a big placard which will be entitled Underground Movements and will create a kind of calligraphy.