Lesson Plan Suggestion:

Here is a jigsaw activity for Jerusalem Day. The activity is based on an article,
"Jerusalem: Focus of a People" - - - - ( WORD file)

- I've included the sources. I edited the article to simplify it a bit. After doing the jigsaw, there is a worksheet. I made a criss-cross crossword with the answers to the worksheet using the Puzzlemaker on the Discovery site, but you could do the same with any puzzle site. The answers could also be put into a wordsearch. Unfortunately, I can't send my puzzle in. If I can get it scanned, I'll send it in as a scanned file.

The text for the jigsaw is in the file called -
"Jerusalem focus 1" - - - - ( WORD file)

I printed it out a number of times, cut it into sections and laminated each section.
Each group had to read and understand the passage, try to write the main idea and write a new sentence with each word in bold. Then the groups reassembled so each group had a complete article. Each person shared the main idea of his section with the new group. Then they solved the puzzle / worksheet -
Jerusalem focus clues - - - - ( WORD file)

together. The entire activity takes two lessons. I have used this lesson three times already and it has not failed yet. It is appropriate for ninth grade aleph classes up through high school.