jews in the d
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MORE ABOUT THE CENTER
FOR ISRAEL EDUCATION.
Deepening
Israel
Education
Israel education consultant
spends time at FJA and Hillel.
MICHAEL JACOBS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
A
areas that we can get to, the depth and
consultant visiting Detroit on
the rigor in terms of Israel literacy, and
Oct. 10 helped with the effort to
how we can use that to actually address
boost Israel education for day
community needs and long-term needs,”
school students.
Grinfas-David said. “That’s exciting.”
Dr. Tal Grinfas-David, a day school
A grant from the Legacy
education specialist for the
Heritage Foundation enabled
Atlanta-based Center for Israel
CIE to launch its day school ini-
Education (israeled.org), planned
tiative last year. Frankel, which
to spend two days working
had sent educators to the Atlanta
with teachers at Frankel Jewish
center’s weeklong summer work-
Academy and Hillel Day School
shops on Israel education, was
as part of CIE’s three-year initia-
selected to participate.
tive to bring resources and exper-
Dr. Tal
Seth Korelitz, FJA’s director
tise to a national group of select
Grinfas-David
of Jewish studies, jumped at the
day schools seeking more depth
opportunity, which includes the
in their teaching about Israel.
use of CIE curricular materials and a
CIE is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, inde-
grant of up to $2,500 per year to help the
pendent institution committed to using
school meet its goals in Israel education.
primary materials to teach students,
“CIE is just a tremendous resource,”
educators and the public broadly about
Korelitz said, citing its summer work-
modern Israel.
shop, its curricular resources and
Because most Hillel students go to
Grinfas-David’s creativity.
FJA for high school, “you’re able to
The initiative’s timing was fortuitous
look at the long-term experience of the
because, in the curriculum cycle of
students and think about the different
24
October 11 • 2018
jn
implementation, review and revision,
FJA had reached the preliminary stag-
es of a re-evaluation aimed at making
Jewish studies more meaningful for
students. “I think the Israel piece is just
critical in general, but also to who we are
as a school,” Korelitz said.
Frankel entered the initiative from
a position of strength, including a col-
lege-level 12th-grade course incorporat-
ing CIE resources to produce graduates
who are knowledgeable about modern
Israeli history, Grinfas-David said.
But the high school saw a need to
bring that history teaching to earlier
grades — enabling students to delve
into the complexities of Israeli culture,
democracy, diplomacy and conflict —
and to integrate Israel across the curric-
ulum, Grinfas-David said.
She visited Frankel for two days last
school year to meet with administrators
and teachers, including those serving
on a special Israel education commit-
tee, and to lead an hour of professional
development for the faculty.
“How do we start thinking about
integrating Israel into what we’re already
teaching in other subject areas, and how
do we ensure that the Israel education
we are providing these students is what
they need before they graduate from
a Jewish setting?” she asked about the
focus of the initiative at Frankel. “Are
they Israel-literate and ready for the
campus and beyond?”
She and Korelitz are in continual
contact about the ideal student experi-
ence — what classes, what grades, what
depth, when to take the traditional class
trip to Israel. They are, Grinfas-David
said, “looking at making everything
spiral in a very deliberate way and some-
times providing electives for students
who want to go deeper into learning
about Israel.”
FIRST YEAR FOR HILLEL
Unlike Frankel, Hillel Day School didn’t
join CIE’s initiative last school year. It’s
one of three Jewish day schools joining
this year and thus cramming three years
of work into two school years.
Hillel learned about the program
when two of its teachers attended this
June’s CIE summer workshop.
“It was beshert,” said Saul Rube,
Hillel’s director of Judaic studies. “It’s a
great time to take a qualitative leap for-
ward.”
Yifat Golan, the school’s Israel coor-
dinator, said the school started talking
with students and faculty last year about
how Hillel alumni view Israel. That
effort contributed to the portrait of a
graduate as someone who has developed
“a deep connection to and the ability to
advocate for the State of Israel.”
“We want kids who have a very strong
commitment to Israel and Zionism from
a position of knowledge,” Rube said.
He said CIE is the perfect partner for
the heavy curricular lifting needed to
meet that goal.
As a first step, Golan has launched
an eighth-grade course to teach Israeli
culture, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
Jewish peoplehood and other Israel-
related topics with more depth and
nuance. The bigger effort, Rube said, is
to integrate Israel education throughout
the curriculum.
The work at Hillel could help schools
across the country learn how to apply
CIE’s document-based, context-heavy
educational approach from kindergarten
up. “How do you take some very sophis-
ticated ideas and primary sources and
make them age-appropriate and friendly
for kids?” Grinfas-David asked.
She split her time between the schools
during her two-day trip. After her visit,
the two schools plan to meet to discuss
an organic continuum of Israel educa-
tion from kindergarten through 12th
grade, Rube said.
Korelitz said it’s too early to project
the outcome of the Frankel-Hillel con-
versations, but the schools have a good
relationship and try to talk frequently.
“This partnership is a great example of
making the most out of Jewish educators
working together,” Rube said. “We could
try to reinvent the wheel, but we proba-
bly couldn’t make it as round or as good
as somebody’s already made it, and it
would take us a lot longer.” ■
Michael Jacobs is the communications director for
the Center for Israel Education.