Teaching Israel

"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.

"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.

"Teaching Israel"... initiates a worthwhile dialogue between Israel education and Israel studies by conceptualizing an area of inquiry that can be beneficial for both fields, specifically, with insights on aims, pedagogy, context, and identity. Most importantly, Zakai and Reingold highlight that the scholarly dialogue is mutually beneficial. I recommend Teaching Israel for any educator or scholar interested in practical insights about the "pedagogical choices that teachers make when Israel, in all its many forms, is the subject matter." I hope this anthology is only the first of many volumes of empirical studies on what Zakai and Reingold have conceptualized as teaching Israel.