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For Strong Western Zionism
Welcome to OyPad Kids—a concept for a mobile app and
Zionist education/entertainment hub
for children from screen-age up and their parents.
First, Schoolhouse Rock-inspired videos about
artifacts that reference ancient Israel
(singing samples still needed)
A song about Hezekiah's Tunnel to the tune of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home"
In the 8th Century BC, King Hezekiah of Judah ordered the construction of a tunnel
to provide water to Jerusalem ahead of the Assyrian King Sennacherib's siege:
" … and on the day when the tunnel was being cut out,
the stone-cutters struck each man in front of his neighbor,
axe against axe and the waters from the source flowed into the pool … "
– Siloam Inscription, 700 BCE
First Verse:
Chorus:
Assyrians marched,
we needed a well
Cha-cha, cha-cha
If it took half the time,
that sure would be swell
Cha-cha, cha-cha
we cut from the sides
'till we can say hi
the water flows to
Jerusalem's pool
And we've still got the
tunnel - that's pretty cool
More Verses:
The tunnel slants down
but not very steep
Cha-cha, cha-cha
A novelty of
a chiseling feat
Cha-cha, cha-cha
Sennacherib's banners
and trumpets were blown
Cha-cha, cha-cha
Axe-against-axe and
they cut through the stone
Cha-cha, cha-cha
Next, a song about the Obelisk of Shalmanesser III
to the tune of "Battle Hymn of the Republic"
(the obelisk, dated to the 820s BC, contains a reference to the House of Omri and the first recorded reference to the Persian people.)
First Verse:
Shall-mon-esser's an ancient king
who made a giant stone
He wanted everyone to know
just what he did and owned
He talked about some other kings
and mentioned Omri's throne
and the Omris ruled our home
Chorus:
Shal-ma-nesser had obelisk
Shal-ma-nesser had obelisk
Shal-ma-nesser had obelisk
and it talks about our home
More Verses:
It talks about the Omris
(and the Persians are there too)
It said we had a king back when
the carving was brand-new
We're not completely sure if it's
Jehoram or Jehu
but we know he ruled our crew
Six feet of black limestone carved
with Akkad's ancient script
Been twenty-seven hundred years
but we still know the gist
They found the block in Nimrud
back in 1846
And the Kings book timeline fits
A song about the Mesha Stela to the tune of "Yankee Doodle Dandy"
(the stele, dated to the 800s BC, comes from Moab and describe the Moabites defeating the Kingdom of Israel)
The Mesha Stele is a lengthy
Iron Age inscription.
King Mesha of the Moabs
said he wanted his own kingdom.
Mesha went to war with us,
he won our eviction
And now we know our ancient story is a good depiction
Next: concept for a simple mobile game about
building a fence and water tower before sunrise to
teach them about wall-and-tower settlements in Mandatory Palestine
(sample HTML game generated with Gemini)
Visually it will probably end up more kid-friendly, more similar to this:
Next, an archaeology game about matching artifacts and documents to their respective eras:
SARGON to HADRIAN
Next, a comic about ancient empires and their interactions:
Heavily inspired by Tintin and Asterix. Designed to familiarize kids with
which empires were contemporaries, who conquered whom, and the
cultural relationships roughly 2500 BC – 130s AD or: from Sargon to Hadrian.
These sections will be part of a 15-20 page comic book:
Akkad
and
Sumer
Egypt
and
Hyksos
Canaanites,
Israelites,
Sea People
Divided Monarchy
Hadrian
and
Severus
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