NFTY in Israel Educators are ready to greet our teens

By Rabbi David Wilfond, Director of Education

One month ago, on Thursday May 17, 2018, NFTY in Israel office in Jerusalem held a graduation ceremony for 10 new graduates of the NFTY “Israel Educators Course.” The way NFTY in Israel trains its “Educators” is truly one of the outstanding features of our summer program. This year we interviewed more than 130 people for 10 positions. In the world of “Israel Education for Teens,” it is very desirable and competitive to land a position with NFTY in Israel.  We are in the enviable position of being able to select the best of the very best teen educators. All of our educators have years of experience in informal teen education and almost all have been staff members of a URJ Summer Camp. All of our educators are in the mid-20’s, which means they are young enough to know contemporary teen culture, but old enough to be able to serve as inspiring role models of cool Israeli Jews committed to building an exciting and creative future for the Jewish Community.

The NFTY in Israel Educators training extended over five months meeting Thursday nights in the classroom and then field trips on Fridays to learn how to guide teens at Israel’s most evocative sites. Thursday’s were dedicated to learning Educational Methodology, Pedagogy and “Best Practices” of Informal Education. On Friday’s the educators-in-training got to hone their skills while practicing “in the Field.” The course curriculum is ordered just like the summer itinerary, in the sequence of the chronology of the Jewish Narrative. What the leaders learn during five months, the participants live in five weeks. The idea is to live the story of the Jewish people, so that it becomes personal and their own. We want teens to be able to say “It’s not history, but my story.” We want the participants to feel they cannot tell their own story without also telling the story of the Jewish People, and to feel that their future and the future of the Jewish People are intertwined.

This year, for 2018, we have educationally revamped the last 10 days of the trip to put a sharper emphasis on Israeli society today. We are not trying to impose a political agenda upon our participants, but trying to teach them to be critical thinkers and to figure out what the right questions are to ask that reflect Reform Jewish Values. Israel today is a complicated, fascinating and compelling place. We have found teens can better understand the subtlety and nuance of contemporary Israeli society, if they better understand what the history of the state of Israel emerged from and what is was a response to. Our educators help out teens to engage with Palestinians, Israel Arabs, Druze, Bedouin, Israeli Ultra-Orthodox Jews (Haredim), Jewish Nationalists, Jewish Culturalists, and Israeli Reform Jews. The idea is to expose our teens to the diversity and pluralism of Israeli society today.

Others have asked us “instead of training your own Israel Educators, why not just hire Tour Guides?”  Our answer is we have found teens respond better and are significantly more inspired by Israel Educators who are experts in informal education for teens. Our Educators don’t teach sites, they teach teens. This sites are merely a trigger for deeper conversations about issues relevant in their life and choices of our Jewish teens today. Our Educators know how to make education active and fun so the kids never feel like they are “in school,” but feel like they are being challenged to think critically and form their own opinions about exciting and relevant issues.  Reform Jewish Values infuse the culture of our discussions and questions. Our Educators are not merely guides, they are mentors and Jewish role models for our teens.

At NFTY in Israel, education is about creating memories. Jewish Education is about creating Jewish memories. Jewish memories can lead to Jewish dreams. We want our teens to have their own personal Jewish dreams for their personal Jewish future and we want them to have dreams of what they would like the collective future of the Jewish community to look like.  Ultimately we want to empower our teens to feel that the Jewish future belongs to them, so they can shape and own the Jewish future through their activism and involvement.

Our NFTY in Israel Educators are ready to meet our teens. They have been preparing themselves now for months, creating activities and games to make Israel come alive for our teens.  They will build nurturing communities of friends that will share the journey with the hope of keeping this summer’s memories alive to inspire a lifelong connection to the Jewish People and the Reform Jewish community.

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