Jewish Democracy Education Labs Initiative Aims to Strengthen Civics Education in Israeli High Schools
October 22, 2024
Advancing democratic principles and strengthening civics education in the Israeli school system is the objective of Jewish Democracy Education Labs in Israel, a new initiative of the Education Department at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion’s Taube Family Campus in Jerusalem.
The program in local high schools – known in Hebrew as מורה.כיתה.מדינה (“Teacher. Class. Country.”) – aims to cultivate a generation of students committed to what HUC-JIR educators call Jewish-democratic values of citizenship, by establishing teachers’ communities focused on the pedagogical implications of Israel’s dedication to being both Jewish and democratic.
“Members of these communities get the chance to experiment with a range of different educational approaches, and, by building strong networks among what we call ‘action-researchers,’ they can change the field of education and the future of the country,” said Michal Muszkat-Barkan, Ph.D., Director of the Department of Education and Professional Development at HUC-JIR in Jerusalem, and Professor of Jewish Education in the Parallel Track.
Michal Muszkat-Barkan’s work has long focused on pluralism in Jewish education and teacher training across cultural boundaries. In 2007, she founded Rikma, a two-year master’s degree program in pluralistic education in partnership with the Melton Centre at Hebrew University, which continues to attract committed educators from all sectors of Israeli society. In 2014, she founded the professional development program Heder HaMorim (The Teachers’ Lounge, in memory of Shira Banki), which brings together Jewish, Muslim, and Christian teachers to encourage cooperation – enabling educators from diverse backgrounds to engage in open dialogue aimed at overcoming barriers to peaceful coexistence. Muszkat-Barkan is currently also serving as the Chief Content Advisor at President Isaac Herzog’s Voice of the People initiative to identify and address the biggest challenges facing Israelis and Jews in the diaspora.
Joining Muszkat-Barkan in overseeing the latest initiative at HUC-JIR in Israel is Nimrod Smilanski Fridman, who directs the Jewish Democracy Education Labs and helps educators navigate the challenges of the Israeli public school system. For the past 12 years, he has also served as a pedagogical mentor at the Branco Weiss Institute, where he developed the mentoring program as part of the “Leading Teachers” initiative in the Tel Aviv district.
Jewish Democracy Education Labs in Israel is currently working with 30 teachers from eight different high schools in Jerusalem: Evelina De-Rotschild, Adam, High School for Arts, Professional High School “Hoshen”, Ziv High School, ”Keshet-reem” High School, Gimnasia, Rene-Kasin, and Beit-Himuch. Future phases of the initiative will expand beyond the city to reach high schools around Israel.
The initiative was launched recently during an event at the Taube Family Campus in Jerusalem featuring Dr. Muskat-Barkan; Dr. Nachman Shai, Dean of the Jerusalem Campus; and Emanuel Zilberman, Director of the National and Religious Education Department at the Jerusalem Municipality, who referred to the program as a “beacon of hope in these hard times.” Project partners include The Lighthouse – Political Education for Liberal Democracy, The Israeli Ministry of Education – Headquarters for Civic Education and Coexistence, Idea – Center for Research Laboratories in the Sciences of Humanities at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and The Sylvia and Moshe Ettenberg Research Grant in Jewish Education.
“HUC-JIR remains committed to the Zionist principles upon which the State of Israel was founded: the right of the Jewish People to live freely in their historic homeland, for their self-defense, the flourishing of Judaism, and according to modern principles of democracy and human rights,” said Andrew Rehfeld, Ph.D., President of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. “As all states are imperfectly realized, we understand that within Israel, there are differing views about how this vision is realized. The difficult public struggle over its judicial system illuminated growing divisions among Israelis about the centrality of democratic institutions to the state. After the barbarism of October 7 initially unified Israel, the divisions reemerged, now about the appropriate way to a just war. Our Israeli faculty and alumni have been long-time advocates for a pluralistic Israel in which democratic deliberation is supported and protected through institutional design, and through the strengthening of civil society. This initiative is HUC-JIR’s essential contribution to that effort.”
Support for this initiative comes from the Sylvia and Moshe Ettenberg Memorial Fund, the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation, the Robert Sillins Family Foundation, Hillside Memorial Park and Mortuary, Paul A. Beck, and Sanford Weiner.