January 15, 2009 ~ 19 Tevet 5769
Auerbach CAJE Israel Update #2:
Helping Our Children to Become Informed and Engaged

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Dear Jewish Educators and Youth Leaders,
Israel's operation "Cast Lead" against Hamas in Gaza has moved from an air strike to a ground operation, and the situation has becoming increasingly complex.  I encourage you to compare and contrast the available information and media coverage so that you can enable your students to become savvy media consumers.

Facilitating a conversation can be a great opportunity for students to teach as well as to learn.

Ask them:
  • What do they know?
  • Where did they learn it?
  • How are the issues affecting them?
  • Have they been discussing this situation in school? At home? With friends?
  • Have they been confronted with questions they do not know how to answer?
  • What would they like to know about what's going on?
· Here are some important links for educators:

-  Our colleagues at the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland have produced another in a series of Response Curricula - "Israel - Connecting with Our Hearts, Heads and Hands: Gaza 2009"  It includes many sections on the current situation as well as suggestions for effectively integrating Israel in Jewish education.

- Our partners in Israel engagement at Makom of the Jewish Agency for Israel take a nuanced and thoughtful approach to what they call "hugging and wrestling with Israel." Check it out for updates on the operation and for a Makom guide to watching "Waltz with Bashir"- the Golden Globe award-winning animated Israeli film that deals with Israel's 1982 Lebanon War.

· Here are two blogs authored by Israelis with personal links to the Greater Philadelphia Jewish community:

- Steve Burnstein was the former ACAJE Israel Education consultant. Some of you may have learned about Israel with Steve in workshops or traveled there with him on a program sponsored by our community. You can read his blog, which began on January 9, about how the situation has affected him and his family, and his thoughts on the events.

- Noa Cohen-Orlov is from Netivot, not far from the Gaza border. Some of you may know her from her work as the "Living Bridge" coordinator in the framework of the partnership between Philadelphia and the Netivot/Sdot Negev region in Israel.  In "Operation Cast Lead and Me," Noa discusses her daily experiences as a young mother living within range of the Hamas rockets and missiles.
Consider joining with colleagues for Israel study and Israel travel through the Philadelphia Israel Education Project. There will be a day-long workshop, with
Professor Ken Stein of Emory University, this Sunday from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM,
at Gratz College.

The PIEP is sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, the Auerbach Central Agency for Jewish Education, Gratz College Jewish Community High School and the Atlanta-based Center for Israel Education. 

As always, please feel free to contact me for assistance.

With hopes for a return to the path of peaceful resolution for all of those concerned -

Kol Tuv,
Josh

Dr. Joshua Yarden
Consultant for Israel and Adolescent Education
Auerbach Central Agency for Jewish Education
jyarden@acaje.org ~ 215.635.8940, ext. 1226
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