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…
JNF’s Alexander Muss High School in Israel (AMHSI) is proud to announce that it will be hosting its largest Spring Semester session in its 43 year history with 61 students attending the 4 month, full semester. The Spring sessions will total 314 students, including Day School and Communal partners. Never have so many students registered…
Transmission of Jewish continuity and Israel connectivity does not take place in the formal classroom setting on its own. Israel and Jewish education must include an experiential component; it is through experientialism that our children explore and discover meaning that they can connect to. Transmission to the recipient in a more practical – less theoretical…
So who is a righteous person, a tsadik? Is one born a righteous person? Or does one evolve to become – a righteous person? Was it Noah? Abraham? Two weeks ago we read about Noah, and that he was a righteous man – within his generation; well what does that tell us about Noah? After…
There is no doubt that we, here in Israel, need to go through some process of cheshbon nefesh, self-reflection, reconnecting with our principals for humanity and seeing the sanctity of life in all that we do. We can discuss politics, society and the educational system – all of which require serious thought & consideration. My…
This week’s Torah portion, the beginning of the book of Exodus (Shmot – שמות) describes the realities in Egypt as the Israelites multiply and their presence becomes of national interest, or rather disinterest. In it there is a verse that spells the beginning of the end: ויקם מלך חדש על מצרים אשר לא ידע את…
This week we read about Abraham preferring to greet strangers over his 1:1 w/ Gd. Its quite perplexing & here is the scenario: the previous portion (Lech Lecha) ends with Abraham entering the covenant (circumcision) @ 99 yrs of age. Abe, sitting there in the heat of the desert, in great pain, and Gd shows…