Jesus

We are currently in a drama unit where we are acting out a play called "The Diary of Anne Frank." As most of you who have attended middle school know, Anne Frank was a Jewish girl living during the Holocaust who penned a diary that has since been published widely.

Today, we were acting out a scene where the Frank family is celebrating Hanukkah as best they can despite being cooped up in hiding. One of my students who blames most of his behavior issues on ADD--let's call him Peanut--was in the class during this time. Turns out, Hanukkah sparks all kinds of learning.

"Alright kids, so who knows what Hanukkah is?"

Peanut: "I think it's a holiday."

"Good! Do you know who celebrates Hanukkah?"

"I think, I think, yeah I know, the Chinese, it's the Chinese who celebrate Hanukkah!"

"Well, okay, maybe some do. But most of the people who celebrate Hanukkah are--"

At this point, I have this other student who pretty much yells out whatever happens to be in his mind at any given moment. And he does this loudly. Let's call him Kenny.

Kenny: "Blacks!"

Peanut: "No you're stupid. Blacks celebrate Kwanzaa."

"Don't call him stupid. So okay, actually, the people who celebrate Hanukkah are Jewish. Do we remember who's Jewish in this play?"

Peanut: "Now I know I'm in the special class. Mr. Chen, do you know how I know? He's in my class, and he's retarded, so I'm retarded too."

"No, no, you're both not retarded. Don't use that word. It's not acceptable. Now, can we please remember who in this play is Jewish?"

Peanut: "Anne Frank!"

Kenny: "Hanukkah!"

Me: "Okay, yes. The Franks are Jewish. Hanukkah is the holiday, not the people, okay Kenny? Very good. Now what are they doing right now?"

Peanut: "I think they're praying."

"Excellent, that's exactly what they're doing."

And this is where things got confusing. Peanut, as always, started it.

Peanut: "Are they praying to Jesus?"

"Well, not really. You see, Jews--"

"Mr. Chen, was Jesus black?"

"Well, not really. I wouldn't call him black. Jesus was Jewish. He was from--"

"How do you tell if someone's Jewish?"

"Well, you see, it's sometimes hard to tell. Though there are--"

"Oh, but I heard Jesus was dark-skinned. Jesus was dark-skinned, right?"

"I guess so. Probably. It's hard to know--"

And then, before I could explain, I was interrupted again with another question which, I suppose, if you think about it, is kind of related:

Peanut: "Jesus had dreads, didn't he?"

"I'm not positive, but probably not." Sadly, this was the best I could come up with.

Oddly enough, that was Peanut's last question. I would like to take that as a sign that my answers were so complete that there was no more learning left to be done, but that, as always, would be awfully presumptive.