To paraphrase the old cliché about real estate, when it comes to new programming at the Bureau of Jewish Education, three things matter most for the coming year: Israel, Israel, Israel.
With peace fragile, terrorism rampant and global anti-Semitism on the rise, Israel has never been in greater need, according to Robert Sherman, executive director of the S.F.-based Bureau of Jewish Education.
That’s why Sherman and his staff decided to expand BJE programming that puts Israel front and center throughout the coming school year.
“Because of what’s happening in Israel now, people have conflicted feelings,” says Sherman. “We have to deal with those feelings, and help students have a deeper understanding of Israel’s meaning to Jewish life and Jewish thought.”
Along those lines, BJE, in partnership with the S.F.-based Israel Center, recently launched its first-ever summer institute program, an intensive three-day retreat for educators from both congregational schools and Jewish day schools. The topic: teaching Israel.
Explaining the rationale for the program, Sherman notes, “We did a survey last year and discovered that everyone is struggling with this issue right now. Educators out there take it seriously, but they don’t always have the capacity to teach it well. We want to help them do professional development in their own schools.”
The program doesn’t end there. Participants will continue to meet monthly throughout the year, culminating in a trip to Israel next summer.
This wasn’t the BJE’s only pairing with the Israel Center. Sherman also collaborated with the agency on a new initiative for professionals working in an early childhood educational setting. The aim is to present the centrality of Israel to the youngest students.
For older kids, the BJE’s lauded Havurah High School programs in the South Bay and San Francisco have also sharpened the focus on Israel in their curriculum.
More than 300 Havurah High teens will meet once a week year-round, often under the aegis of a local synagogue. This year, the talk will center increasingly on Israel. “It’s important to help young people in high school clarify their thoughts about Israel,” notes Sherman, “so they can form their own opinions intelligently.”
Some of those students may want to sign up for Panim al’ Panim, a national program based in Washington, D.C., co-sponsored by BJE. It’s a retreat, set for March and geared toward 10th- to 12th-graders. Kids from across the country will gather to study public policy and social activism, filtered through a Jewish lens. They will also meet with members of Congress and other officials.
Jewish kids don’t have to go all the way to Washington to learn about repairing the world. This coming school year, BJE is launching SPARK, a service learning program that teaches youth how to work with the elderly. “It’s about tikkun olam,” says Sherman, “and how we make that a part of the learning experience.”
For college-age students, BJE has a couple of new programs of interest. “Getting Ready for the Campus Challenge” is a program for 12th-graders, taught by college students, university instructors and others. Its aim is to help college-bound seniors deal with the challenges of being Jewish on campus.
BJE’s “Open University” creates opportunities for students to go to workshops and lectures from noteworthy guest speakers. “We round up all kinds of people from community to talk to kids about things that don’t fit in normal curriculum,” says Sherman.
“Spiritual Quarter,” a peer-led program in which teens explore their spirituality under the guidance of BJE staff, is another new feature.
Finally, Sherman is excited about a new grant from the Keshet Fund. It allows the BJE to develop new programs through the Jewish Community Library, now located at the Jewish Community High School of the Bay.
“This is intended to reach out to populations we normally haven’t worked with before,” he says. “We live in a highly educated, highly literate community, and there is a great number of Jews who might be attracted to programs through the library.”