New Consensus Seen Emerging On Israel Education - by Julie Weiner

  Centrist players now calling for more open, critical approach to teaching about Jewish state..Two years ago, when the Gaza war began, Moriel Rothman felt caught in the middle.Then a sophomore at Middlebury College, he was distressed by what he saw as the “disproportionate” number of Palestinians killed. Read more

The Jewish Future’s so Bright I got to Wear Blinders - Joel Lurie Grishaver

Once upon a time there was “The Board of Jewish Education of Greater New York and Suffolk Association for Jewish Education Services.” The two have merged and the new organization has just re-branded itself as “The Jewish Education Project: We pioneer new approaches in Jewish Education for every age.” This is not that organization’s first name change. Before it was “The Board…” it was the “Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater New York.” Read more:

The Future is our Teacher - by David Breakstone

"The best way to predict the future is to invent it." 

An appropriate choice of words for a Chief Ideas Officer, which is what Jonathan Woocher is at the Jewish Education Service of North America. Read More about the Jewish Futures Conference at the GA this week

Happy Birthday Herzl!

By Carine Warsawski

Yesterday, 10 Iyaar 5620, marks the birth of a true visionary. It also marks:

A most important holiday…
A hearty Zionist holiday…
An often forgotten holiday…

Yesterday was… YOM HERZL!

The 6th one, as a matter of fact. And this year we are celebrating 150 years since the birth of Binyamin Ze’ev Herzl.

The significance of Zionism for Jews in Israel has changed throughout the history of Israeli civil religion. Cultural processes such as assimilation and secularization have contributed to these social and ideological changes. There has since been a divergence in Zionist ideologies which one might argue has weakened the national collective identity for Israeli Jews. So Herzl Day is an attempt by the State of Israel to restore Zionist sentiment and provide Israeli Jews with a renewed sense of collective identity and nationalism.

In 2004, the Israeli government decided to observe Herzl's birthday rather than the day of his death specifically so that it falls during the school year, albeit landing in an already overburndened time in the Jewish calendar. By becoming the subject for youth essay contests in Herzliya, appearing on the Bagrut, and Galgalatz playing a hip new version of a song about Herzl, are we successfully appealing to youth and fulfilling the holiday's mission? I can't say. Come the next stage of Israeli civil religion and we might have a better idea, although it may already be too late.

My bigger question is: As Jewish educators living in America, are we on a mission to restore Jewish collective identiy, nationalism, or is it something else? How are we already striving to realize similar goals?

While maybe a grand total of 23 people on the planet annually celebrate Herzl Day (5 of whom are my family), it only feels right to remember the significance of this day alongside the group of people and community who most closely identify with its meaning.

Thank you for the work you do for the Jewish people. Herzl, if anyone, would truly appreciate it.

-Carine