Term 2, Week 4: First They Came

One of the nice things about teaching Cheder is that I can decide what to do from week to week, and if I think the kids need extra time on something, it's easy to re-jig the term plan. I have a rough idea of what I want to cover in a term, but it's not set in stone.

After our Holocaust Memorial Day session, the children definitely needed more time to get the hang of the tolerance theme, so we spent part of the following week looking again at the Niemöller poem and writing our own version. After a slow start and lots of help from the parents, they suddenly seemed to understand what I was getting at, and the relevance to their own lives, and after that, there was no stopping them. I felt immensely honoured that they trusted me (and each other) enough to talk about painful experiences that they had had, as well as what they had seen or heard about happening to other people.

We brainstormed on how people can be different (differences they might be treated badly for), and ways in which they are treated badly. After that, we talked about standing up for people, why we should stand up for other people even if we are not directly affected, and how they might be able to help, since one person wading in on a gang of five might not be the best plan...

After the session, I compiled the results of the brainstorm into a poem modelled on Niemöller's. Here is the original (there are several versions, but this is the one we used), followed by our version. I think they speak for themselves.

First They Came
By Pastor Martin Niemöller


First they came for the Communists,
And I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist.

Then they came for the Socialists,
And I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists,
And I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
And I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for me,
And there was no one left to speak up for me.



First They…
By Cheder Nitzanim, Exeter Hebrew Congregation


First they made fun of the people who looked different,
And I didn’t speak up, because I didn’t look different.

Next they didn’t let the people in wheelchairs play,
And I didn’t speak up, because I was allowed to play.

Then they laughed at the people who weren’t very good at school work,
And I didn’t speak up, because I was good at school work.

Next they left out the people with different-coloured skin,
And I didn’t speak up, because I didn’t have different-coloured skin.

Then they bullied the people who were too short or too tall,
And I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t too short or too tall.

Next they played tricks on people from other countries,
And I didn’t speak up, because I’m from this country.

Then they picked on people with different clothes,
And I didn’t speak up, because I didn’t wear different clothes.

Next they fought the people who had a different religion,
And I didn’t speak up, because I didn’t have a different religion.

Then they made the people who felt bad feel worse,
And I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t feeling bad.

Next they called people who wore glasses names,
And I didn’t speak up, because I didn’t wear glasses.

Then they said nasty things to the people whose families were different,
And I didn’t speak up, because my family wasn’t different.

Next they teased the people who cried,
And I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t crying.

And then they turned on me,
And there was no one left to stand up for me.


If you would like to use this poem for anything, please drop me a line asking for permission first!