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RECORD NUMBER OF TEENS TO VISIT ISRAEL & POLAND ON IST 2001
Over 130 high school juniors from Denver,
Boulder, Colorado Springs and Fort Collins have already signed up
for the 29th Annual Israel
Study Tour (IST) this summer. The teens will spend an
life-changing 6 weeks learning and getting to know each other
as they experience the land, people, and culture of Israel.
The students attend a yearlong Hebrew High preparatory course in
Israeli history, language and culture and spend the summer
traveling
throughout Israel, visiting both ancient and modern landmarks that
have defined Jewish history. In addition to the study component,
participants will hike through waterfalls, taste Kibbutz live, train
in the Israeli army, welcome Shabbat in the mystical city of Tzfat,
tour the Negev, and snorkel in the Red Sea.
A large contingent of the teens will choose to begin their
amazing summer with a 4 day pre-trip extension to Poland where they
will explore the effects of the Holocaust on Poland and the rebirth
of the Jewish community. Risa
Buckstein, CAJE's Associate Director remarked that "an
important part of planning the Poland experience is our goal to
balance the horrors of the Holocaust with the beauty and vitality of
Jewish life in Poland prior to World War II. All students who choose
this optional experience are required to enroll in a Holocaust
studies class at either Denver or Boulder's Hebrew High School.
The Israel Study Tour is
the number one choice for Jewish high school teens in Colorado. The
trip and yearlong study is coordinated by CAJE in collaboration with
the Rocky Mountain Rabbinical Council, local synagogues and the
Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado.
IST 2000 REUNION-A HUGE SUCCESS
100 IST 2000 students participated in a weeklong reunion with
their American and Israeli counselors last month. Steve Zerobnick,
director of the Israeli Studies Institute (CAJE's tour company in
Israel) and 9 former counselors toured area high schools and met
with parents and community leaders. "This was a wonderful
opportunity for the Israelis to learn about the lives and challenges
Jewish-American teenagers meet in developing their Jewish
identity," said Ira Miller ,
CAJE's Youth Outreach Coordinator and reunion coordinator. The
reunion week culminated with a Shabbaton for the teenagers followed
by a breakfast where almost 300 people gathered to meet and greet
the Israelis, many of whom will lead the IST trip this year.
The current crisis in the Middle East presents a challenge
to educators
and parents: how do we effectively help our children understand this
current crisis? Fortunately, excellent materials on this topic are
available at the CAJE Library and on various web sites.
A topical resource is Response Curriculum: Crisis in the Middle East,
produced by the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland. This excellent
resource focuses on historical context information, resources, text study
and classroom activities. The goal of the program is to help students make
sense of what they are seeing on the Internet and TV and are reading in
newspapers and periodicals. The curriculum is geared to students in grades
four through high school. Three areas of emphasis encourage students to
become critical consumers of media, educate students to understand that
Jews are responsible for one another and discuss children on the front
lines of the conflict.
Whether discussing the current crisis in Israel at the dinner tale with
your children, as a unit of study with your students, or with your
colleagues at work, it is critical to be informed and knowledgeable about
the true situation in Israel. The CAJE Library can help you find resources
that can help you gain the knowledge to discuss the Middle East crisis
with understanding. The following is a short list of suggestions to get
you started.
Broken Bridge by Lynne Reid Banks. Morrow, 1994. For members of the
Shelby family who have made aliyah from Canada to Israel, a terrorist
attack on a teenage visitor changes all of their lives. (Ages 12-16)
Gavriel and Jemal: Two Boys of Jerusalem by Brent Ashabranner. Dodd,
Mead and Co., 1984. Photo essay describing the surface similarities and
deep cultural differences between two Jerusalem boys, one Jewish and one
Arab. (Ages 9-12)
If You Could Be My Friend: Letters of Mervet Akram Sha'ban and Galit
Fink presented by Litsa Boudalika. Orchard Books, 1998.
Contains the correspondence between two girls, one an Israeli and the
other a Palestinian, from August, 1988 until their meeting in April, 1991.
Includes a brief history. (Ages 9-12)
Jerusalem Mosaic: Young Voices from the Holy City by I. E. Mozeson and
Lois Stavsky. Four Winds Press, 1994. Young people-Jews, Muslms,
Christians, from traditional to atheist, are among those who describe
their lives as teenagers in Jerusalem sharing thoughts about family,
school community, relationships and dreams including stories of the
Persian Gulf war, ethnic conflict and political upheaval. (Ages 12-Adult)
Neve Shalom, Wahat Al-Salam: Oasis of Peace by Laurie Dolphin.
Scholastic, 1993. Color photographs add interesting and important details
to this book about a Jewish boy and an Arab boy who are classmates in an
unusual school, dedicated to peace, near Jerusalem. (Ages 8-12)
The Secret Grove by Barbara Cohen. Union of American Hebrew
Congregations, 1985. Tells the story of two young boys, one Israeli, the
other Jordanian, who meet in the orange grove separating their two border
villages and there make a secret pact. A fictionalized account based on
true events. (Ages 7-11)
Welcome to Israel! by Lilly Rivlin with Gila Gevirtz. Behrman House,
2000. Illustrations, photographs, maps, and text introduce the history,
culture, religions and peoples of Israel. (Ages 9-12)
Books for Adults
Beyond the Promised Land: Jews and Arabs on a Hard Road to a New Israel
by Glenn Frankel. Simon and Schuster, 1994.
Brother Against Brother: Violence and Extremism in Israeli Politics
from Altalena to the Rabin Assassination by Ehud Sprinzak. The Free Press,
1999.
Children of Israel, Children of Palestine: Our Own True Stories by
Laurel Holliday. Pocket Books/ Simon Schuster, 1998. These first-person
accounts by Jews and Palestinians living in Israel's cities, kibbutzim,
refugee camps and small towns reveal frustrations, fears, and hopes for a
peaceful future.
The Fifty Years' War: Israel and the Arabs by Ahron Bregman and Jihan
El-Tahri. TV Books, 1999.
From Herzl to Rabin: The Changing Image of Zionism by Amnon Rubenstein.
Holmes and Meier, 2000.
His Brother's Keeper: Israel and Diaspora Jewry in the Twenty-first
Century by Yossi Beilin. Schocken Books, 2000.
The Jewish State: The Struggle for Israel's Soul by Yoram Hazony. Basic
Books, 2000.
A Little Too Close to God: The Thrills and Panic of a Life in Israel by
David Horovitz. Alfred A. Knopf, 2000.
Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Charles D. Smith. St.
Martin's Press, 1992.
Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1981-1999 by
Benny Morris. Alfred A. Knopf, 1999.
Sacred Landscape: The Buried History of the Holy Land Since 1948 by
Meron Benvenisti. University of California Press, 2000.
Zionism: The Sequel, edited by Carol Diament. Hadassah, 1998.
CAJE LIBRARY-A WEALTH OF RESOURCES
In addition to our over 10,000 periodicals and books for children and
adults, CAJE also houses a large and well-catalogued video collection.
Membership is free to all members of the community. Come check us out:
Videos
Children of Jerusalem. Montreal, Quebec: National Film Board of Canada,
1995-1998. A series of seven half-hour documentaries that focus on the
lives of Palestinian and Israeli children. Narrating the films themselves,
the children provide an engaging and detailed portrait of their daily
lives, hopes and fears.
The Fifty Years War: Israel and the Arabs: Part 1 and 2. WGBH Boston,
Brian Lapping Associates, 1999. Statesmen, generals, terrorists and others
who made headlines in the bitter Arab-Israeli conflict tell the story from
the decision to partition Palestine in 1947 to the Oslo agreement in 1993,
and the current attempts to consolidate a shaky reconciliation.
Israel: From Exodus to Independence. Films Inc. Edited from the film
classic, Let My People Go, this is an uplifting and informative
documentary on Israeli history from Herzl's vision to the creation of the
State.
Many people now know about CAJE's Florence Melton
Adult Mini-School,
the dynamic two-year program of adult learning that covers Jewish
philosophy, ethics, practice, and history in a systematic, comprehensive,
basic-yet-sophisticated manner. Not as many people know that graduates of
the two-year curriculum have the opportunity to visit Israel for a special
10-day seminar. This year's trip, which combines touring with on-site text
learning, will take place June 25 - July 5, 2001. The typical program
utilizes the city of Jerusalem through the ages as a primary focus, and
also integrates a number of other components: an exploration of the
desert, a roving seminar in Galil, an encounter with contemporary Tel
Aviv. Locally, so far 14 people have expressed interest in participating;
there are still a few spaces left for Melton students who will graduate
this year. For more information on Melton classes, or the Melton Israel
trip, call Maggie Miller at (303) 321- 3191 ext. 17, or send her an email
at mmiller@caje-co.org.
Attention Mini-CAJE Teachers and Learners
Were you among the 300 teachers, principals, rabbis, and lay leaders
who attended Mini-CAJE in November and enjoyed the Beit Midrash Study
Session? Beit Midrash was a wonderfully successful chevrutah study project
modeled after Limud, London's annual teacher conference. We have a few
extra study guides available. If you would like another copy, please call
Maggie Miller at (303) 321-3191 ext. 17.
CAJE's Special Education programs have many ambitious objectives and
hopes - but a major goal is always to enhance Jewish community connections
for people with special needs. What better way to form real personal
connections than for kids to have fun with other kids?
Kochavim children and staff make Hanukkah cards - and a
mess - at Congregation Emanuel. (L-R: Shayna Singer, Shoshana Ward, Rena
Halu, Leah Glass, Rachel Glass, Edward Wachter, Josh Dember, Ryan Allen,
Mary Clark)
Friends play in the DAT playground on a snowy day. L-R:
Rafi Krausz, Ben Sanders, Zahava Busse
For more information about CAJE's special education programs, contact
Rita Schwartz Singer at rschwartz@caje-co.org
One of the initiatives developed by the Commission on
Jewish School Excellence calls for personalized needs assessments. CAJE Advocate for School
Excellence, Carol
Morris is interviewing all of the members of the Jewish Educators
Council as part of CAJE's yearly school population survey. "The
educators' comments are extremely enlightening, and the information we
gather will be useful in the development of programs proposed by the
Commission on School Excellence," said Carol. "What we're
finding out about what our schools is essential for us to know if we are
to do a better job educating our children."
In addition, at the urging of the school directors, Carol is busy
contacting all of the new teachers in the supplemental schools. She is
welcoming them to the noble profession of teaching and sending each new
teacher a packet of information about CAJE, its library and continuing
educational opportunities. The new teachers have enjoyed the personal
contact and support and her efforts are seen as a wonderful opportunity
for CAJE to reach out to the supplemental school community.
The report of the Commission on Jewish School Excellence, aptly titled
"Blessing and Challenge,"
appears on the CAJE website.
Ardie Wandel was the honoree for CAJE's second annual Leaders of
Learning Dinner held last August 27 at the Hyatt Regency downtown. Over
600 friends and supporters of Ardie and CAJE attended and were treated to
an exciting evening. The dinner raised significant funds for our programs
and services. Thanks to all our Leader of Learning donors as well as to
our other donors who support us throughout the year!
