Throughout the year, and in this season in particular, the lives of our students are so different from the lives of their peers in Israel. The Israeli kids just participated in 1 seder, they will have entirely different experiences throughout the “yamim” (try as we might to mirror the awesomeness of the “yamim” in Israel) and as of this week we will even be reading a different Parsha on Shabbat.

What can we do with our students that doesn’t contribute to an “us” and “them” reality, but fosters a real sense of Achdut and sameness with our fellow Jew living in Israel – and everywhere else in the world – despite our often differing experiences?

I  recall that in my early teaching years, as a high school teacher I yearned to be able to learn from a variety of pedagogical techniques from elementary and middle school teachers. At the same time, in conversations with some elementary and middle school teachers, I repeatedly heard them seeking high school teachers who could enrich and deepen their content. Since making Aliyah, part of my work has taken me to visit many schools, from elementary to high schools. Although there have been exceptions, it seems like the generalizations I experienced years ago are, for the most part, still valid.And I wonder how we can create the kind of mutually beneficial dialogue between different groups of educators – those who have strong pedagogy and those who have deep and broad content knowledge – to create more meaningful, substantive, and pedagogically sound educational encounters for our students.