ABOUT THIS BOOK

An edited volume that grapples with the complex issues and conflicts that face instructors developing curricula about Israel.

Jewish Americans are divided in their views on Israel. While scholars have outlined philosophical principles to guide educators who teach about Israel, there has been less scholarship focused on the pedagogy surrounding the country. This book resituates teaching—the questions, dilemmas, and decision-making that teachers face—as central to both Israel studies and Israel education. Contributors illuminate how educators from differing pedagogical orientations, who teach in a range of educational settings learn, understand, undertake, and ultimately improve the work of teaching Israel. The volume also looks at the professional support and learning opportunities teachers may need to engage with these pedagogical questions.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Sivan Zakai is the Sara S. Lee Associate Professor of Jewish Education at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion’s Los Angeles campus. She directs the Children’s Learning About Israel Project and codirects Project ORLIE: Research and Leadership in Israel Education. She is the author of My Second Favorite Country: How American Jewish Children Think About Israel, winner of the 2022 National Jewish Book Award in Education and Jewish Identity. Matt Reingold is a practitioner-researcher of Israel Education. He teaches and serves as the cohead of the Jewish History Department at TanenbaumCHAT in Toronto, Canada. He is the author of Gender and Sexuality in Israeli Graphic Novels: Contested Masculinity and Independent Femininity, Reenvisioning Israel Through Political Cartoons: Visual Discourses During the 2018–2021 Electoral Crisis, Jewish Comics and Graphic Narratives, and The Comics of Asaf Hanuka: Telling Particular and Universal Stories.

REVIEWS

“Teaching Israel is a superb collection of essays that sheds light on the central issues and challenges confronting all Israel educators. Zakai and Reingold have made an invaluable contribution by showcasing a wide range of pedagogical reflections informed by the authors’ personal experiences in the classroom. The volume is also a must-read for scholars in the general field of education who will find in Israel a fascinating case study to test their pedagogical approaches and techniques and to develop new ones.”

— Csaba Nikolenyi, professor of political science and director of the Azrieli Institute of Israel Studies, Concordia University

“Teaching Israel centers the dilemmas and decisions of educators teaching a topic viewed by many as fraught and divisive, and is oriented to diverse learners and distinct pedagogic goals across a spectrum of settings. An important contribution to the scholarship of teaching and Israel education, practitioners will appreciate the opportunity to peer inside the classrooms of other educators as a means to illuminate their own challenges and choices.”

— Arielle Levites, managing director of the Collaborative for Applied Studies in Jewish Education, George Washington University

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Acknowledgements
Introduction (Sivan Zakai)
Section I: The Reflective Teacher
1. Teaching about Israel as a Modern State of Migration: Learning with Diverse, Inner-City, Nontraditional College Students in New York City (Robin A. Harper)
2. Navigating Complexities: Teaching Israel Studies in the Professional Military Education Context (Amin Tarzi)
3. Voices on the Page and in the Room: A Pedagogy of Jewish Text Study in Israel Education (Joshua Ladon)
Section II: Using Student Voices to Examine Teacher Choices
4. Complex Texts and Complex Identities: Helping Students Navigate Personally and Emotionally Resonant Topics about Israeli Society (Matt Reingold, Alexa Jacoby, Benjamin Day)
5. Into the Intimate Discourse: Rachel Korazim as an Exemplary Israel Educator (Diane Tickton Schuster)
6. Knowledge, Connection, and Stance: Toward a More Enduring Israel Engagement (Jonathan Golden and Yoni Kadden)
Section III: Navigating the Teaching of Politics and the Politics of Teaching
7. Cultivating Critical Inquiry about Israel: Teaching Israel in Our Time (Bethamie Horowitz)
8. Activism and Identity: Teaching (About) BDS in the Israeli-Palestinian Relations Classroom (Mira Sucharov)
9. Barriers to Entry: Exploring Educator Reticence for Engaging with the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Keren E. Fraiman)
Section IV: When Teachers Learn
10. “What are We Doing?”: The Pedagogical Questions of Jewish Early Childhood Educators and Teacher Educators (Sivan Zakai and Lauren Applebaum)
11. Teaching Who They Are: Understanding Teachers' Connections with Israel and How Those Enter into the Classroom (Laura Novak Winer)
12. Nurturing Jewish Consciousness: Utilizing Values at Synagogue Supplementary Schools to Teach Israel (Ezra Kopelowitz and Abby Pitkowsky)
13. A Kite on a String and a Box that Opens: The Challenges of Transformative Professional Learning for Israel Educators (Lauren Applebaum)
Conclusion (Matt Reingold)