Jewish Portal of Teacher Education

Lindsay Shapiro is the Director of International English Programming at The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot. Lindsay holds a BA in History from New York University and an MA in Holocaust Studies from the University of Haifa. She has worked with Jewish communities and museums around the world: with the Museum of Jewish Heritage and Congregation Beth Elohim in New York, the POLIN Museum in Warsaw, and Yad Vashem and Taglit in Israel.
 

The Koret International School for Jewish Peoplehood takes the core ideas of Beit Hatfutsot, focusing on the concept of You Are Part of the Story. connections, similarities and differences, between Jews around the world, and translates these to practical educational and community building opportunities open to schools, synagogues, youth movements, cultural centers and organizations throughout the Jewish world. The School currently works with communities in over 40 countries, the idea being that all participants are undergoing a personal experience together with their community, while being part of an experience that simultaneously engages around the world.

Explore The Koret School’s community programs:

• My Family Story (for ages 9-14) involves over 20,000 Jewish youth from 30 countries around the globe. Students research their roots and use their creative skills to design original installations that capture the essence of their family history. Top entries are selected for display in an international exhibition, with the winners receiving a free plane ticket to Israel to participate in the opening. Watch this brief clip for a taste of the program.

  Goal: Students learn their family history and then tell it in a creative way, increasing their sense of belonging to the greater Jewish story.
   

• The Jewish Lens (for ages 14-18, as well as a special track for Hillels and college age students) challenges teens around the globe to explore their Jewish lives through photography. Participants worldwide submit photos answering the question “What is my connection to the Jewish People?” Winning photos are displayed at The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot in Tel Aviv, and the top three winners of the international competition receive a free ticket to Israel to attend the gallery opening. 

  Goal: Encourage Jewish teens to think about and share their unique Jewish identities through today’s visual language. Provides organizational opportunities for social media presence or exhibit, as well as local and international exposure. 
   

• G2G: Generation to Generation (for ages 9+) connects younger and older generations through innovative intergenerational programming. Engaging in mutual learning, students and older adults use apps to share life experiences and upload them to the Beit Hatfutsot worldwide story collection. This program can enhance existing programming (such as Grandparents Day) or create new opportunities.

  Goal: Bridge the multigenerational gap in a community. Provide the older generation the opportunity to tell their unique stories, and strengthen the younger generations’ sense of history and roots.
   

• Treasuring Communities (for ages 14+) invites students to delve into the story of their community and explore storytelling techniques to relay what they’ve discovered. Relevant entries are uploaded to the renewed Beit Hatfutsot databases and become part of the online Museum of the Jewish People.

  Goal: Empower students to discover and share their own local histories by giving them the tools of a historian and anthropologist and uploading their research to the plethora of databases from Beit Hatfutsot.
   

• Com.unity (all ages) an interactive display in the new Museum of the Jewish People, will feature contemporary global Jewish communities through stories and photos. Com.unity aims to create a rich mosaic of today’s vibrant communal activities, and is accompanied by a designated website based on user-generated content. 

  Goal: Communities upload their profile and become part of a display in the new core exhibition. Participants create an active, living record of their community to be shared with thousands all over the world.
   

• Live! (for ages 9-14) The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot invites groups around the world to join innovative and groundbreaking virtual tours, all within the span of one class period. In the online live session, your group will be able to tour the museum in Tel Aviv with a museum educator from the comfort of a smartphone or computer. Students will be able to explore the Jewish world, and participate in a fascinating and interactive tour of our "Hallelujah! Assemble, Pray, Study – Synagogues Past and Present" gallery.

  Goal: Connect online with the museum in Israel and provide students with an original content filled experience. 

Professional Development  

What are the core structures that make the Jews a people? Why is preserving and strengthening the Jewish people important? Which creative educational tools can we use to engage this generation with its roots, heritage, culture and values to envision itself part of the ongoing story of the Jewish people?

The Koret School for International Peoplehood offers professional development workshops, aimed at educators, community leaders and museum professionals. The sessions can be run both at the museum in Israel, or within local communities with museum staff. All sessions are inspired by our programs and museum content, while giving hands-on tools to formal, informal and community-based educational initiatives. Our staff have led professional development seminars around the world including in Toronto, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Birmingham, Frankfurt, Moscow and Warsaw.