This article presents a qualitative practitioner research study designed to understand how a morally complex Israel curriculum impacts the nature of secondary school students' relationships with Israel. The research was conducted with 31 students enrolled in an elective about Israeli society at a Jewish high school in Canada. At both the start and…

The Israeli education system is divided and segregated along the lines of nationality and religiosity. While Israeli society and its education system, in particular, have generally been subjected to the influence of globalisation, including universal discourses of citizenship, in many ways it remains highly particularistic and nationalistic. To a…

In New York State, private and religious schools are required to offer a curriculum "substantially equivalent" to what is available in local public schools. Substantial equivalency--which has been law for nearly 130 years--allows parents to direct the education of their children by enrolling them in the school of their choice, while also…

Over the course of the 2015-2016 academic year, 12th-grade students at a Jewish high school in Canada participated in a research study that assessed how they integrated morally complex narratives in Israel's past into their own relationship with the country. This article presents material based on how students reacted to learning that some Jewish…

Missing from the growing literature on Jewish camps is Lukinsky's (1968) pioneering study of the curriculum to teach responsibility that he designed for the 1966 Ramah American Seminar. Reviewing this work I discovered that Lukinsky--under Schwab's (1971) influence--creates a rare balance between his own perspectives as an educational practitioner…

"The Final Journey: How Judaism Dignifies the Passage" is a trailblazing curriculum developed to teach Jewish death rituals to high school seniors. For the students, it served as a transformative experience. They emerged more reflective, more spiritual, and with a greater sense of the importance of community involvement. The article…

In this article we explore how we as teacher educators translate a new vision of Israel education into curricular practice in the preparation of emerging Jewish educators. Using a practitioner inquiry mode of research, we reflect on our existential vision of Israel education and its translation into practice as creators and directors of a semester…

This paper presents the author's response to Jon A. Levisohn's article entitled "A Menu of Orientations in the Teaching of Rabbinic Literature." Levisohn has written a wonderful piece developing a list of 10 orientations for the teaching of rabbinic literature. His categories will be invaluable in aiding and encouraging teachers of rabbinics to…

In this article I investigate how one group of teachers deliberated about Israel education with the intention to "modify the myth" as they engaged in curriculum reform. I begin from the idea that curriculum development should be an in-house endeavor that encourages faculty to embrace their roles as curricular decision-makers.…

This article extends the conversation begun by Levisohn in "A Menu of Orientations to the Teaching of Rabbinic Literature" (volume 76, issue 1 of this Journal), and continued by a number of respondents (volume 76, issue 2). After discussing several insights offered by respondents, the article takes up the question of whether the menu is accurate.…

In this article, the author talks about Jon A. Levisohn's article that develops a menu of orientations for the teaching of rabbinic literature. The author suggests that Jon A. Levisohn's article should be required reading for all Jewish educators who are interested in curriculum and teaching. The essay is a vehicle for introducing a way of looking…

This article presents the author's response to Jon A. Levisohn's article entitled "A Menu of Orientations in the Teaching of Rabbinic Literature." As someone who is experimenting not only with how to teach rabbinic texts but with which texts to select in virtually every course the author teaches for American undergraduate as well as graduate…

This article presents the author's response to Jon A. Levisohn's article entitled "A Menu of Orientations in the Teaching of Rabbinic Literature." While the "menu" Levisohn describes in his groundbreaking work on orientations to the teaching of rabbinic texts will almost certainly be refined over time, even as it stands this article should be of…

This article presents the author's response to Jon A. Levisohn's article entitled "A Menu of Orientations in the Teaching of Rabbinic Literature." As a discipline, the teaching of rabbinic literature is still in its early stages of development. Levisohn's menu of orientations and reflections about its usefulness are welcome additions to the…

This document-based historical study explores the nature of the Jewish social studies curriculum in American Jewish schools in the early 20th century (c.1910-1940), a period of significant growth and reform in the modern American Jewish education enterprise. "Jewish social studies" refers to school programs in which Jewish history, Jewish…