The direction of Israel education is lagging woefully behind the changes that have taken place among American Jewish youth. Although substantive changes are slowly taking place through the efforts of various institutions such as the Jewish Agency, the I-Center and others, it takes a long time to effect change in the field. In the end, people stick to what they are used to. Most of the teachers in today’s classrooms grew up and were educated themselves in the era of post-1967 knee-jerk connection to and support of Israel. Too often, we enter the classroom with the same falafel, Herzl, and “they-want-to-kill-us-but-they-can’t” narrative. Most of our students are simply not in this place.

Yigal Ariha and Laura Shaw Frank, “Ears that Can Hear: Israel Education for the Twenty-First Century,” Conversations Issue 10 (Spring 2011), 45.

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