Cultivating Respect in Teaching the Arab-Israeli Conflict

Cultivating Respect in Teaching the Arab-Israeli Conflict

Being a Jewish History teacher in a pluralistic Jewish day school, I often find myself up against the question of how we apply the principles of pluralism to the teaching of Israel, and especially the teaching of the “Conflict.” Given that Jewish identity and religious expression are tied to Israel, it is important to help guide students through the fraught path of figuring out the relationship between their emotional connections and the political and social responses to the academic study of Israel. But, just as we set out guideposts for the limits of pluralism, it is important to craft boundaries of what is acceptable within our classroom environment. Key to this challenge is helping students understand their identities and how this sense of self shapes the way that student views the historical realities behind these conflicts.

Cultivating Respect in Teaching the Arab-Israeli Conflict

Teaching Jewish Histories: Broadening the Scope of the Jewish World

When students whose families come from the Jewish communities of North Africa, Central and East Asia, Latin America, or the Middle East enter our schools, are they able to find and situate themselves within the Jewish history that we teach? Do students from Ashkenazi backgrounds find ways to place their families within these broader, more diverse narratives of Jewish history?

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