We Teach Who We Are: A Practical Guide for Classroom Educators
Teaching About Israel in Times of Crisis Table of Contents Introduction: The Educator at the Center Chapter 1: Understanding the Changed Landscape The New Reality The Ripple Effects Opportunities Within Crisis Chapter 2: The Educator’s Journey—Personal and Professional Integration Acknowledging Your Own Experience The Professional-Personal Interface Modeling Resilience Chapter 3: Rethinking Educational Objectives Core Questions…
The Global Jewish-Israel Syntheses Imagine: We Are All Israeli
I was thinking, growing up, my world was a tapestry of hyphenated identities. There was my Russian-American friend, my Italian-American…
Colonization vs. Decolonization
Historical Patterns of Conquest and Return in the Middle East The narrative of colonization and decolonization has become central to…
The Voice That Calls: Jewish Awakening in Our Time
Imagine being awakened at 4 AM by a voice calling you to something urgent, something that cannot wait for a…
To Occupy or Not To Occupy Gaza
The morning of October 7, 2023, marked a watershed moment in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hamas militants breached the Gaza-Israel…
Exodus describes the Israelites as a “stiff necked people”; I prefer a “Resilient People”. Resilience is an individual’s tendency to cope with stress and adversity. This coping may result in the individual “bouncing back” to a previous state of normal functioning, or using the experience of exposure to adversity to function better than expected. Resilience…
Yitro, (Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law), a priest of Median “…heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel…” freeing them from slavery and guiding them through the Sinai wilderness (Ex. 18:1). This notion of hearing/knowing all that God has done is magnified here in Israel throughout the Jewish calendar. Since making Aliyah this…
Jacob was to be known as Isra-el.”…כי שרית עם אלוקים ועם אנשים, ותוכל…” (בראשית לב:כט) – ‘Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for thou hast struggled with God and with humanity, and hast prevailed.’ (Genesis 32:29). Isra-el struggles with God and with humanity. We, the People of Isra-el, maintain that struggle/interaction…
בשבת הקרוב, שבת שירה – אנו מוצאים חיזוק והשראה דרך שתי דמויות מרכזיות: מרים הנביאה ודבורה הנביאה ושופטת. כשחוצים בני ישראל את ים סוף, חוצים את קו העבדות לחירות. זה בעצם תחילת התפתחות בני ישראל –> לעם ישראל, “וַתִּקַּח מִרְיָם הַנְּבִיאָה אֲחוֹת אַהֲרֹן, אֶת-הַתֹּף–בְּיָדָהּ; וַתֵּצֶאןָ כָל-הַנָּשִׁים אַחֲרֶיהָ, בְּתֻפִּים וּבִמְחֹלֹת. כא וַתַּעַן לָהֶם, מִרְיָם: שִׁירוּ לַה’…”…
This Shabbat, Shabbat Shira, we find strength and hope in two strong women: the Prophetess Miriam (sister of Moses and Aharon) and the Prophetess AND Judge Deborah. In the former, upon crossing the Sea of Reeds, “Miriam…took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.…