Yom Ha’atzmaut and Teaching About Israel

Education and Youth Director, April 2004

Each year we celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel Independence Day. This year Yom Ha’atzmaut falls on April 26th, 2004. As a Torah School we will acknowledge it, on Wednesday, April 21st, we will have a day of playing Hebrew games and learning about Israel for the entire school. On Shabbat and Sunday, the students will mark the date in each of their individual classrooms. But Israel’s importance dictates that our children should learn about her in a more comprehensive way throughout their education.

Where were you during the Six-Day War? Do you remember Yom Kippur of 1972? Jewish identity is very often closely tied to Israel. What does that concept have to do with us as Reconstructionist Jews and how does Adat Shalom respond and teach our children about Israel? When teaching about Israel, we have to examine the many aspects that go into developing the curriculum: history, geography, politics, and yes, religious significance.

Developing a strong Israel curriculum which covers the above themes is a tall order for any Torah School, but it is nonetheless our goal to have children leave the Torah School feeling a strong connection with Israel. We formally teach Israel in grades 2, 4 and 7.

Teaching Israel through a spiral curriculum or scattering the knowledge over the years is of significant importance. It allows our students to learn about Israel or any other topic in an age-appropriate way. We are blessed to have some good teacher/student resources to go through this process, as well as Adat Shalom members that are always willing to share their knowledge.

Some of the specific considerations that have gone into the planning of our Israel curriculum include, but are not limited to:

• The goal is to establish meaningful connections with the collective Jewish homeland; linking personal past, present and future with Am Yisrael (People of Israel).
• Israel is one of the greatest contexts for Jewish experimentation and exploration of diverse Jewish values. Make the most of this.
• Consider an informal and interactive notion of engaging with Israel, not as ”subject matter for education” but as a real place with real people and a distinctively Jewish rhythm and time.
• Cultivating collective Jewish responsibility in relation to Israel facilitates enables one to engage in a dynamic, ongoing partnership.
• Hebrew is a living link that enriches connections with Am Yisrael (People of Israel or Jews) or Medinat Yisrael (State of Israel)

(These ideas were found in article written by Sally Klein-Katz and Paul Liptz in Ultimate Jewish Teacher's Handbook edited by Nachama Skolnik Moskowitz.)

Adat Shalom Torah School wants to give children a love of Israel. Our goal is not to give them a political foundation. As your children grow, they will hopefully be able to analyze the information that they have learned to be more informed.

I hope many of you choose to celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut as a family and/or with others. Some possible ways to do this is very simply to decorate the house with blue and white, eat Israeli foods, talk about Israel, or put up an Israeli flag or map. If you need any more suggestions on how to do celebrate Israel’s Independence Day in your home, please contact me.

L’shalom,

Toni Bloomberg Grossman