Israel
Facing History and Ourselves has forged important intellectual partnerships and engaged educators in Israel. We work closely with Yad Vashem, presenting at their conferences and learning from their scholarship. Since 2005, we have been connected to the Center of Humanistic Education at the Ghetto Fighters’ Museum. The director of the Center of Humanistic Education, Raya Kalisman, has attended Facing History seminars and participated in our Global Symposium with educators from across the globe. Our relationships with Yad Vashem, the Ghetto Fighters Museum, Beth Hatefutsoth, and the International School for Jewish Peoplehood Studies have all been assets to our growth and to our study of the Holocaust and personal and National identities.
Through these partnerships, and since the inception of Facing History and Ourselves’ international expansion and its work in Jewish day and congregational schools, educators from Israel have participated in professional development seminars and workshops, both on-line and in person.
Highlights
- In partnership with Beth Hatefutsoth and the International School for Jewish Peoplehood Studies, a group of 15 educators traveled to Israel during the Summer of 2009 to study the themes of membership, Jewish identity, community, and pluralism. Since then, they have been collaborating with Facing History staff to develop materials for their classrooms and have been in touch through an on-line educator community. A new group of educators will participate in the same program again this summer.
- The quality of our program delivery is dependent upon our ability to offer rich, vigorous and intellectually stimulating opportunities for our program staff to immerse themselves into the historical content that we teach. Facing History and Ourselves Program Staff travelled to Yad Vashem in February 2010 for two weeks of Holocaust education and collaboration.
- For many years, Facing History has had a relationship with Raya Kalisman, Director of the Center for Humanisitic Studies at the Ghetto Fighters Museum. Raya Kalisman has attended Facing History seminars and participated in the Facing History Global Symposium in the summer of 2005 with educators from across the globe.
- Facing History and Ourselves brought its curriculum Choices in Little Rock to Sderot, Israel in 2007.
- In the fall of 2006, Facing History received a grant to work with the New Israel Fund to create educational materials and facilitate a seminar and a day long work shop for educators, administrators, and individuals from the Ministry of Education in Israel. The seminar was hosted by the Ghetto Fighters’ Museum.
- Facing History has also been involved with JCRC and CJP in the Boston-Haifa connection. In 2006, educators from Haifa attended a Facing History seminar and then were partnered with three Boston area schools.
- Over the years, Israeli educators have participated in our professional development seminars and workshops.
