Local educators strive toward connection with Israel
BETH OLSON
Staff Writer
Teaching children about Israel used to be fun and games - some tasty food, Israeli dancing and maybe some cursory history or geography. But recent events in the Middle East have forced local day schools and religious schools to address the topic of Israel in new ways.
Rabbi Elana Kanter, Judaic studies instructor at the Jess Schwartz Jewish Community High School, says her goal is to make her students constantly aware of Israel.
"We try to keep Israel in our hearts and in our thoughts as we go through the day," she says.
Likewise, Bonnie Morris, head of school at Pardes Jewish Day School and director of education for Temple Solel's religious school, wants her students to internalize their feelings about Israel.
"My purpose in everything we've done is to help the kids make intimate, personal connections with Israel," Morris says.
With over a decade of experience in Jewish education, Kanter has seen a change in the complexity of issues relating to Jews and Israel.
We really have a sense of Israel being attacked in a way that it hasn't been attacked before because it's not just an attack on the physical state of Israel, it's an attack against our right to exist," Kanter explains. "I also think the propaganda that's coming from the other side is much more sophisticated now and needs to be answered in a much more sophisticated way than we've had to answer before."
Both Morris and Kanter say that teaching children critical thinking skills is paramount.
"I want (the students) to ... learn to ask questions about what they read in the media and what they see on TV and so forth. I want them to become more educated and aware and not be afraid to ask us questions and to get answers," says Morris.
An important element to being able to think critically about the situation in Israel, says Kanter, is to have an understanding of history.
"Remember that a lot of the reason given for these anti-Semitic incidents is Israel's occupation of the West Bank, but it's very important to remember that in Europe they were burning synagogues when there was no state of Israel," she explains. "So the idea that it's now because of something the state of Israel is doing or not doing simply doesn't line up with the facts that the history of Europe suggests.
"Being able to put these (events) in a factually correct, historical context is some of the best equipment we can give our kids in terms of facing the situation."
Morris says teaching about Israel is even more challenging in religious school than in day school.
"In the day school I have more time. The subject can come up in all different contexts. It can come up in social studies and not just Judaic studies," she explains.
To address the issue with students, faculty members must have a deep understanding of the issues themselves, Morris believes. For this reason, Morris has had ongoing training for teachers with local rabbis and other experts.
In addition to discussion and instruction about Israel, Morris feels it's important for the students to be able to take action.
"I think for the past couple of decades it's been easy to be complacent as an American Jew and that's no longer the case," says Morris. "There has to come a time when you translate learning into action."
Several day schools and religious schools, including Phoenix Hebrew Academy, Temple Chai Religious School, Pardes Jewish Day School and Temple Solel Religious School, embarked on a letter writing campaign to President Bush, urging him to act in support of Israel. "The reason I had them write the letters to President Bush is because we couldn't be at the rally in Washington (April 15) and I felt that something should be done, so the whole school wrote letters," says Debbie Schechter, third-grade teacher at Phoenix Hebrew Academy (see excerpts from these letters on this page).
Pardes students have also written letters to Israeli soldiers and to Israeli children their own age.
Additionally, Pardes students have raised money for Magen David Adom.
"We asked the kids not to do a fund-raiser, but give from themselves - share from their allowance, their tzedakah," Morris says.
Kanter believes that, most importantly, Jewish education offers young people the opportunity to understand what Israel stands for.
"What the state of Israel represents is a core base of values, namely the value of human life," explains Kanter. "In Judaism, the value of human life is infinite and primary - and that is something that clearly differentiates us, unfortunately, from the people who are fighting us, who have a very different view of human life - and that's what makes Israel worth fighting for."
Contact the writer at beth_olson@jewishaz.com.
|