Home Online consulting My Morim Site information Contact us JewishPrograms.Org

Israel, Age 60—from Utopia to Everyday Life

This project entails four activities covering the history of the State of Israel, from the gestation of its idea, in the second half of the nineteenth century, to the everyday life and decisions of Israelis nowadays. By means of analysis of primary sources, role-playing games, and guided debates, participants may better understand the history of Zionism, the different interests in play, and the language used in different epochs. At the same time they may appropriate arguments enabling them to develop personal opinions with respect to their present-day ties with the State of Israel, the conflict in the Middle East, and the Jewish question in general.

See Program

Israel Is Our Jewish Home: Integrating Israel into the Early childhood Classroom

‘Our connection to and love for Israel is at the core of a Jewish identity. Our relationship with Israel connects us to Jews all over the world. We strive to instill in young children a feeling of belonging to Israel because Israel gives us so much: a sense of pride, a connection to our history, a gathering place for all Jews, and a place to feel holy and close to God. While the concept of "country" is very difficult for young children to grasp, the concept of "home" is not. Israel is our Jewish homeDuring a child’s years in preschool, a goal is to plant seeds of recognition and desire toward Israel. In surroundings infused with the values and particulars of Israel, Jewish children can be drawn into a relationship with Israel. Teachers need to do everything in their power to help flesh out each child's imagination of Israel so that each child begins to form a connection to and love for this home so far away. Every child should think of Israel as their own Jewish Homeland.”

ByMaxine Handelman

See Article

Reflections on the State of the Land: On the Occasion of 60 years of Medinat Israel

The reemergence of the national state of the Jewish People in the land of Israel calls us both to shared joy and to reflection on certain crucial points in the Jewish thought of all ages.

The existence of the State of Israel can be understood from a perspective inviting us to stand up as an exemplary society that functions as a paradigm for other nations, but it can also be experienced as the attempt to be just another country, without claiming to be a light or compass to anyone, finding in the land the space to live in peace, without being persecuted by any other people. Thus, to begin with, Israel must be able to respond to the following: Do we accept the challenge of being a “light to the nations” (Isaiah 42:6), or do we prefer to be “like all the nations” in the land (I Samuel 8:5)?

In this sense, the article proposes we examine some of these points by means of questions that open up dialogues in an attempt to explore positions that lie latent in the Jewish texts, but which have taken on great relevance with the rise of the State and with the challenges generated by it.

Thus, the independence of Israel is seen in the light—for example—of the idea of the holiness of the land, the involvement of G_d in history, and of the relations to be strengthened between those who live in Israel and those who do not.

by Rabbi Joshua Kullock

See Article

Multi-faceted Israel: 4 Activities to Illuminate Israel’s Richness

Activities in this project allow participants to look at Israel through the lenses of language, geography, and music, while examining some of the many coexisting ideas inherent in each, such as ancient and modern, ideal and real, and secular and religious and so forth. Activities will provide a multi-dimensional picture if run in sequence; yet each may be completed as a self-contained lesson.

See Program

One Morning, I Woke Up in Israel

Using the diary of a young girl, Sophie, on her first trip to Israel as a leitmotif to this program, it is designed to help kindergarteners experience a virtual visit to Israel. Each diary entry is accompanied with a variety of activities that mirror the events recounted in the diary and attempt to render the experience as tangible as possible thus reinforcing concepts about: the State of Israel, Israeli culture, the land, the geography, Israeli people, the Jewish people and the diversity of all of the above.

See Program