October 2003 \ Tishrei 5764 Educational Vision for Israel Created by Yonatan Glaser, UAHC Shaliach The following program is likely to be suitable for an older or more serious group and may be best used in a residential setting. It may also be broken into two shorter programs for use with a more typical NFTY TYG. Rationale As Reform Jews, we have a particular vision for the State of Israel - a way we understand its potential and its significance and therefore a path we would like it to take. All Jews do not necessarily share this vision, including not all Israelis (which is fine). This vision – an answer to the question, “What do we want Israel to be like?” is not self-evident to our participants. It needs to be articulated by us and understood and reflected on by them. We need to make explicit and give prominence to the specific content of our movement’s vision. At the same time that we share with them that vision as articulated by the Movement’s leadership (in this case, the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR)), we use that learning to engage our participants in a conversation about Israel, one that has to do with vision and values, not just yesterday’s headlines. As school-age education is both well known to NFTYites and a key part of the nation- building process, this program adopts schooling as a prism through which to explore the possible content of, and tensions within, that vision. After the participants brainstorm about the ideal Israel, the program moves on to a small-group exercise about Israel’s school system. This is designed to help the participants explore and clarify their vision and to see how that might be achieved through education. They then explore the CCAR Miami Platform in a context that invites reflection on their work till that point. The Platform is framed as worth knowing and understanding because it contains critical ideas that can inform and enrich our thinking about Israel. After this simulation, the next stage of learning is a ‘meeting’ with actual Israel through the investigation of real Israeli educational Institutes of all kinds (through use of Israeli Web sites in English). This peek behind the curtain of the ‘CNN’ media image of Israel will show participants that the simulation about the Israeli education system points towards an actual, thriving, complex society that has high schools, Universities, special programs (including Institutes for Peace, Film Schools and more) that are Israelis’ answers to the question “What do we want Israel to be like?” Goals 1. To explore different ideas about how we would like to see Israeli society 2. To understand that the Reform Movement has such a vision and to become acquainted with that vision 3. To learn about and connect with a small aspect of Israel’s education system as Israelis’ answer to the question, “What kind of Israeli society do we want?” Materials Depending on the number of participants, enough of the following: 1. Flip chart or whiteboard + markers for brainstorming with the group 2. Poster Boards and markers, pens and paper (one set for each of the break-out groups) 3. Handouts included in this program: a. Imaginary Exercise b. Extracts from CCAR ‘Miami Platform’ c. List of Israeli education Websites (this can be distributed electronically as well). 4. Access to computer workstations to access to the Web during the activity (is there a library or office that you can access with prior coordination?), OR other ways to access the information available over the Web (these are detailed in the body of the program) Timetable: # Time Activity 1. 0:00-0:15 Brainstorm about “What kind of Israel do we want?” 2. 0:15-0:35 Small groups Part #1 – Emergency meeting to advise Israel’s Education Ministry 3. 0:35-0:55 Small groups Part #2 – “Visit” by CCAR and continued work 4. 0:55-1:15 Discussing the work of the small groups 5. 1:15-1:20 Introduction to Web-work 6. 1:20-1:40 Learning about actual Israeli education settings - searching Websites 7. 1:40-1:50 Conclusion Detailed Procedure: 0:00-0:15 Brainstorm about “What kind of Israel do we want?” Introduce the program by referring to how much we hear about Israel in the press – often in relation to conflict and violence. Yet day-to-day, Israelis get on with the business of building their country and making it the kind of place they want to live in as best they can (read an extract from the interview with Sharon Morgenstein in this Esource, if you wish). Tell them that not only do Israelis think about and work towards making Israel the kind of country they want to live in, Jews in North America do too. Ask participants “What kind of country would you like Israel to be?” List their responses on a poster board. The list can include some aspects of Israel as it is, others as they wish it would be. To include only one implies that it is either totally perfect or totally imperfect. You may even wish to divide your flip chart into two sections and make the distinction explicit. 0:15-0:35 Small groups Part 1 – Emergency meeting with Israel’s Education Ministry Explain to the group in a half-serious, half-‘winking’ style that they have been asked by the Israeli Ministry of Education to act as an advisory committee. The country is soon to review and evaluation the education system to see whether and how it is leading them in the direction they wish to go. Israel believes that the education system of today has a decisive impact on what kind of country we live in tomorrow – the subjects we teach, the experiences children have all an impact on the way they see the world, on how they act as children today and adults tomorrow. Split the participants into small groups (5-6 people) that can effectively do the task that follows. One person should be nominated as the group facilitator and another as the person who will report back to the whole group at the end of the exercise. According to how old the group is and how practiced they are at this kind of exercise, you can nominate these people or ask the group to do so as a first task. Define the roles as much as required (in writing if necessary). Once in the small groups, give each group the “Emergency meeting to advise Israel’s Education Ministry” hand out and ask them to start work. Tell them that they will have about 20 minutes to complete the exercise. 0:35-0:55 Small groups Part #2 – “Visit” by CCAR and continued work After the first 15 minutes (above), even if they have not finished, hand each group the next sheet “A CCAR delegation visits your group.” Give them another 15 minutes to read and discuss this, to consider changes and prepare their amended report. 0:55-1:15 Discussing the work of the small groups Back in the large group (if you have over 30 people, do this part in sub-groups), ask groups to: Describe their final curriculum and the principles behind it Report what they changed after the CCAR and why they made these changes Ask them to vote on the best proposal (individually, not as groups). You can not vote for your own group’s proposal. When the work groups have finished reporting, ask the large group: What did people think of the extracts they read from the CCAR Miami Platform? With what did they strongly agree or disagree? Have the participants take out their sheets with the Platform on it so that they can recall what they saw and read parts out. What does it mean for the Reform Movement – for them as Reform Jews – to have opinions about what Israel should look like when Israel is a sovereign, independent country thousands of miles away? What point is there to such a discussion, to forming opinions about these things? Do we have a right to support those forces in Israel that see things the way we do? Answers to these questions are not simple. You can let them flounder a little if they can’t respond. Conclude by suggesting that we are all part of the same extended family and that families do have discussions and try to influence each other – not force each other – by taking an interest, supporting, questioning, encouraging, helping and where necessary challenging each other out of their concern and love for other family members. That is the relationship we have with Israel – one of peoplehood, of family. 1:15-1:20 Introduction to Web-work To see what Israelis are doing to help the next generation prepare for the kind of country they dream of, you are going to offer the participants an opportunity to look through a window into the real Israel of 2003. That window is the Internet. If until now you have been talking ‘in principle’, now you will be introduced to the real thing. The actual task is to get an impression of several sites then settle on one or two and learn a little about them. They are not gong to master anything in this small amount of time, just as no Israeli student would master the Schools, Universities and specialty Colleges of New Jersey in 20 minutes. They should, however, be able to make some comments about what they learnt and the very fact of what it was like to go on-line to gain this insight to Israel.