Program to Help Teens Become Israel Experts
For Jewish teens to fully understand the value of Israel in their identity, they need to grasp it before their college years.
For Jewish teens to fully understand the value of Israel in their identity, they need to grasp it before their college years. That’s the conclusion reached from more than a decade of the Center for Israel Education’s engagement with Jewish pre-collegiate teachers.
Atlanta-based CIE is holding its fourth Teen Israel Leadership Institute in November with others planned for the months ahead.
In partnership with the Emory University Institute for the Study for Modern Israel, TILI will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. Nov. 8 and 15. Applications from teens across the country are welcome, with space limited.
Interactive, innovative and online, the sessions offer Jewish 10th to 12th graders educational activities and experiences that acquaint and deepen knowledge about Israel’s place in Jewish history and enable them to answer how Jews sought, made and are sustaining a state. Topics include Israel’s changing borders, the connection between Jewish identity and Israel, Israel in the media, Israeli culture and politics, and what to expect about Israel on college campuses.
TILI teaching faculty have more than seven decades of experience in the classroom and in experiential learning settings.
With the guidance of CIE staff after the institute, each participant is asked to deliver an Israel learning program for a community, synagogue, school or youth group, whether a one-time event or an ongoing series. Projects can be collaborative efforts.
Comments from previous workshop participants and applications can be found at israeled.org/teens. Applications are due Oct. 25. Because they are reviewed on a rolling basis, teens are encouraged to apply as early as possible. Participants pay a $54 fee for the program, which is heavily subsidized by donors. Students who complete the program will earn the CIE Teen Israel Leadership Institute Certificate in Israel Education.
CIE is a nonprofit, independent institution governed by a board of trustees, one-third of whom are current or past Jewish educators. CIE rests its Israel enrichment upon the use of primary texts and source materials, so as Israel’s story unfolds, learners grasp the skill of analyzing sources and placing them in context.
For more information, contact CIE’s teen program manager Michele Freesman at michele.freesman@israeled.org.
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