An Unpacked for Educators and Machon Siach conference, featuring:

This session outlines the Unpacked for Educators’ vision for Israel education, the importance of introducing nuance and diversity of perspective into discussions about Israel, and the need for a shift from advocacy to education. In this interactive session, participants will discuss and debate what paradigm shifts are needed in Israel Education today.

Recommended for educators new to this approach to Israel education.

What is the purpose of Israel education in schools with Zionist missions? How can we balance the promotion of critical thinking and open inquiry with the goal of graduating students who are proud Zionists? To what extent should we engage with differing narratives about Israel in our classrooms? Are we educating to inoculate or to indoctrinate—and what do our students need to face the challenges of today’s world?

One of the most important tools in Israel education today is ensuring our students have a strong sense of cultural literacy around Israel and Zionism. This session will highlight five key moments in Zionist history that our students should know, discuss why each event is so crucial to learn, and share practical tips on how educators can use UED resources to teach these moments in their classrooms.

Though the moniker Religious Zionist is currently being used as the name of a particular political party, in truth there are multiple Israeli Religious Zionist sub communities and voices, and they disagree about important issues. In this session we will map out some of the core disagreements taking place within this broad slice of Israeli society to gain a better understanding of both values and ideology.

In a recent article, Dr. David Bryfman advocates for schools to develop “a canon for Israel education”, a list of fundamental texts and awarenesses that young people need to have about Israel. In this workshop, educators will think about what core texts and ideas they want their graduates to leave with, building out their own canons for Israel education unique for their school communities. This session will also discuss different ways to integrate this canon into their school curriculum.

Are your graduates ready to have informed conversations about modern Israel? We will examine how to align your curriculum so that you can identify where your program meets students' needs, where it has gaps, and how you can use standards and benchmarks to creatively fill those. Participants will come away with a full set of enduring understandings, essential questions, and guiding concepts that promote a deep, thoughtful and rigorous framework for exploring Israel. Collaboratively, we will come up with some of the best resources to tackle the lessons that don't yet exist at your school!

Jewish day schools face both a challenge and an opportunity when it comes to Israel education. What message do our students hear about Israel as they matriculate in our schools? Are we consistent, and do we have clear educational goals in what we want to impart to our students about Israel and Zionism? This challenge is also our opportunity - how do we coordinate what is taught in history or social studies, Judaics and rabbinics, Hebrew, along with how we celebrate and commemorate Israel throughout the year?

Our session will begin with a facilitated conversation about the educational goals for both the implicit and explicit teaching of Israel in our schools. From there, we will think together about how we might develop a holistic approach to Israel education that would integrate the disparate strands of how we teach about Israel in our schools, aligned to our goals and missions.

In this session, we will explore insights from recent research on how twenty Israel educators from Jewish high schools across the denominational spectrum approach the teaching of modern Israel. Our focus will be on why and how they incorporate both Zionist and Palestinian perspectives, seek to deepen students' Jewish identities through the study of Israel, and prepare students — through education rather than advocacy — to engage, lead, and/or understand the 'Israel conversation' on campus.

This session is an opportunity to explore teaching Israel in congregational schools in the post-October 7th world. It's an interactive dive into best practices, and will be a space to grapple with the questions of when/where Israel is part of the curriculum, how to empower your teachers to confidently talk about Israel, and the role of parents/stakeholders in this critical work.

In today’s polarized climate, discussing Israel in the classroom can be challenging. This session offers best practices for fostering an environment where students can engage in these difficult conversations, learn to disagree respectfully, and appreciate diverse perspectives.

This session will delve into some of the biggest questions facing Israel today: Is Israel an apartheid state? Is the IDF an occupying power? We will unpack each topic while leaning into the complexity and nuance of each issue, developing a model that can be used with students to analyze other challenging questions around Israel.

Israel’s history is an ongoing saga that continues to capture the attention of the world. Current events in Israel are complicated and this session takes the most pressing issues taking place in Israel and unpacks the history, context and the wide contours of dispute surrounding the issue.

What does Israeli music released since Oct. 7th teach us about Israeli society and what it’s going through right now? This session will lead educators through a model lesson using Israeli music to connect students to Israel in a practical, meaningful and engaging way.

In this session we will approach the unique challenges and opportunities of teaching Israel to middle school students, including how to address topics in an age appropriate way, and creative ways to integrate Israel in the middle school curriculum.

How do we teach about and make sense of acts of terror that are perpetrated by Jews, as opposed to scenarios where Jews are the victims? This session will explore how to teach about morally complex topics in Israeli history (Lehi, Baruch Goldstein), and how to connect these ideas to how we teach about current events.

Explore the often-overlooked aspects of Israel education that occur between, before, and after school trips to Israel. Together, we will reflect on the goals of teaching the complexity of Israel’s history, culture, and society, and how this complexity shapes students' understanding. We will also address practical ways to build a roadmap for more robust Israel education throughout the school year, examining where educational ideas around Israel may not fully align with broader curricular goals. The session will offer tools for educators to bridge these gaps and create a cohesive approach to Israel education.

The Irgun’s bombing of the King David Hotel in 1946, and the nature of the advance warning that was given, have remained subjects of controversy in pre-state Israeli history. This incident will provide a case study for how to integrate primary source material from the historical Jewish press when evaluating events, and for showing students how to pursue the trail of information to (try to) determine what really happened.

In today’s polarized climate, discussing Israel in the classroom can be challenging. This session offers best practices for fostering an environment where students can engage in these difficult conversations, learn to disagree respectfully, and appreciate diverse perspectives.

This session will delve into some of the biggest questions facing Israel today: Is Israel an apartheid state? Is the IDF an occupying power? We will unpack each topic while leaning into the complexity and nuance of each issue, developing a model that can be used with students to analyze other challenging questions around Israel.

Israel’s history is an ongoing saga that continues to capture the attention of the world. Current events in Israel are complicated and this session takes the most pressing issues taking place in Israel and unpacks the history, context and the wide contours of dispute surrounding the issue. The best way to engage with Israel in a meaningful way is to be part of the conversation.

What does Israeli music released since Oct. 7th teach us about Israeli society and what it’s going through right now? This session will lead educators through a model lesson using Israeli music to connect students to Israel in a practical, meaningful and engaging way.