Dear Het (8th-grade) Parents,
The past month of Kitah Het has been interesting and full of learning. We’re deep into learning about Israel from many points of view. First, we watched videos and discussed the role Israel plays providing humanitarian aid around the world. Next we focussed on Israel as a world leader in innovation and technology. We focussed on four areas: high tech, water/agriculture technology, green tech, and medicine.
The teens are anxious to start talking about the Palestinian/Israel crisis, so we’ve backtracked to learn more about the founding of the modern State of Israel. We learned about political zionism, social/labor zionism, religious zionism, and cultural zionism. In groups, the teens taught their peers then told me which type of zionism resonated most closely with their point of view. We learned about the Balfour Declaration and UN Resolution 181, the partition plan of Israel. We will continue on this path for the next few class sessions.
For the past couple weeks we’ve also been discussing the war in Ukraine. There are so many connections between Ukraine, Russia, and Israel. We’ve discussed some of the history of Jews in those areas, how many Israelies have ties to Russia and Ukraine, Israel's role in diplomacy, and the role Israel is playing in regard to Ukrainian refugees.
Your teens are smart and insightful and I’m really enjoying getting to know them better while also learning with them,
L’Shalom,
Anne Hope