Teaching Israel

Studies of Pedagogy from the Field

Matt Reingold

Sivan Zakai

Edited by Sivan Zakai and Matt Reingold

An edited volume that grapples with the complex issues and conflicts that face those who teach about Israel.

Jewish Americans are divided in their views on Israel. While scholars have outlined philosophical principles to guide educators who teach about Israel, there has been less scholarship focused on the pedagogy surrounding the country. This book re-situates teaching—the questions, dilemmas, and decision-making that teachers face—as central to both Israel studies and Israel education. Contributors illuminate how educators from differing pedagogical orientations, who teach in a range of educational settings learn, understand, undertake, and ultimately improve the work of teaching Israel. The volume also looks at the professional support and learning opportunities teachers may need to engage with these pedagogical questions.

Series:

The Mandel-Brandeis Series in Jewish Education

Paper: $40 | Cloth: $120 | E-book: $39.95

ISBN-13: 9781684581177

Pages: 384 | Size: 6 in. x 9 in.

Date Published: March 28, 2024

Imprint:

Brandeis University Press

Reviews

"Teaching Israel" is a superb collection of essays that sheds light on the central issues and challenges confronting all Israel educators. Zakai and Reingold have made an invaluable contribution by showcasing a wide range of pedagogical reflections informed by the authors’ personal experiences in the classroom. The volume is also a must read for scholars in the general field of education who will find in Israel a fascinating case study to test their pedagogical approaches and techniques, and develop new ones.

Csaba Nikolenyi
Professor of Political Science and Director of the Azrieli Institute of Israel Studies, Concordia University
"Teaching Israel" centers the dilemmas and decisions of educators teaching a topic viewed by many as fraught and divisive, and is oriented to diverse learners and distinct pedagogic goals across a spectrum of settings. An important contribution to the scholarship of teaching and Israel education, practitioners will appreciate the opportunity to peer inside the classrooms of other educators as a means to illuminate their own challenges and choices.

Arielle Levites
Managing Director, CASJE (Collaborative for Applied Studies in Jewish Education), George Washington University

About the Author

Matt Reingold

Matt Reingold is a practitioner-researcher of Israel Education. He teaches and serves as the cohead of the Jewish History Department at TanenbaumCHAT in Toronto, Canada. He is the author of Gender and Sexuality in Israeli Graphic Novels: Contested Masculinity and Independent Femininity, Reenvisioning Israel Through Political Cartoons: Visual Discourses During the 2018-2021 Electoral Crisis, Jewish Comics and Graphic Narrative, and The Comics of Asaf Hanuka: Telling Particular …

Sivan Zakai

Sivan Zakai is the Sara S. Lee Associate Professor of Jewish Education at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion’s Los Angeles campus. She directs the Children’s Learning About Israel Project and codirects Project ORLIE: Research and Leaderishp in Israel Education. She is the author of My Second Favorite Country: How American Jewish Children Think About Israel, winner of the 2022 National Jewish Book Award in Education and Jewish Identity.

Founded in 1971, Brandeis University Press is a nonprofit publisher dedicated to publishing innovative, high-quality books for a general audience, as well as scholarship that advances knowledge and promotes dialogue in the humanities, arts, and social sciences around the world.

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