Section archive - Israel Education

I also cannot help but think of all of the Jewish educators in the world, those at summer camp and in southern hemisphere classrooms today, and those who in a few short weeks will be seeing the fresh faces of children coming back to school after their summer vacations. In conversations with many of you, I can sense the anxiety of what you will say and do in relation to this summer’s events in Israel. But this piece is not about what an Israel educator ought to do. Nor is it about what to include when educating about these conflicts or when it is developmentally appropriate to do so - both are clearly important topics for educational settings to address. This piece is about something even more fundamental - acknowledging that our educators, just like our learners, are real people.

Some 140 Jewish educators from 16 countries participated this week in the First International Dialog on The Israel Educator. The four-day conference in the capital was organized by the World Zionist Organization, the ministries of Education, International Affairs and Strategy, and Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs, and the iCenter for Israel Education. The conference was built around the idea that there is a need to develop a common language toward fostering an attachment to Israel among youth in the Diaspora. The program aims to address issues relating to the role of the Israel educator in facilitating this process and strengthening Jewish identity and acceptance of the Jewish state.

From Professor Barry Chazan's Introduction: 'This BJPA Readers Guide on Israel Education is a valuable resource for students, scholars, researchers, and educators. Moreover, it is a document that may well constitute a significant barometer of an important change concerning the place of Israel in American Jewish education. This Guide is so timely and refreshing. It is an accurate scan of the issues, topics, discussions, and trends in the field and reflects what I believe is a new blossoming, a new maturity, and new hope for a subject held so dearly.'

In this article we explore how we as teacher educators translate a new vision of Israel education into curricular practice in the preparation of emerging Jewish educators. Using a practitioner inquiry mode of research, we reflect on our existential vision of Israel education and its translation into practice as creators and directors of a semester in Israel program. Analyzing a variety of data sources—including internal and external documents, course syllabi, the program’s experiential components, and strategic institutional partnerships, as well as students’ course papers, emails, exit interviews, and oral conversations—we find that an immersive cultural curriculum yields important outcomes for students who engage with our vision of Israel education.