In the News

Jewish in Seattle Magazine highlights the Teen Israel Leadership Institute which CIE presented in Seattle in May 2019.

In eJewish Philanthropy, CIE’s Day School Specialist, Dr. Tal Grinfas-David writes about the transformations taking place at the eight day schools participating in CIE’s day school initiative. The article details how the schools have introduced or significantly expanded dedicated Israel courses as well as integrated Israel into other aspects of their curricula.

The Center for Israel Education (CIE), directed by Prof. Ken Stein of Emory University, has conducted seminars for high school instructors teaching courses on modern Israel. For over two decades CIE has convened one-week intensive summer workshops on Israeli history and politics for over 800 participating teachers.

CIE President and Founder Professor Ken Stein writes about the lessons learned forty years after the Egyptian-Israeli peace agreement for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Stein outlines the impact of Begin and Sadat’s nationalist sensibilities, the importance of each country prioritizing its national interests, the trade-offs that each side was willing to make, and that the mediator cannot desire a deal more than the respective sides.

The Vancouver Jewish Independent profiles Tal Grinfa-David’s visit to the community in February, 2019. Tal worked closely with a number of day school educators over her three days, including delivering a keynote address, “Teaching Modern Israel – Challenges and Opportunities,” as part of a community professional development day.

The Los Angeles Jewish Journal highlights the impact of CIE’s Day School Initiative with two LA schools: Pressman Academy of Temple Beth Am and Sinai Akiba Academy.

Jewish in Seattle Magazine spoke with CIE President Professor Ken Stein about a special collaboration aimed at enhancing the Israel knowledge among teens in the community. In May, a cohort of Seattle teens will take part in the Center for Israel Education (CIE) Teen Israel Leadership Institute (TILI). The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle is bringing TILI to the community to provide high school-age students with an academic-level formative, substantive, and immersive opportunity to learn about Israel and gain leadership skills.

On January 23, 2019, Ken Stein spoke to the Atlanta Council on International Relations on the topic of “The US and the Middle East: Policies Amidst a Fragmenting Region.”

The Atlanta-based Center for Israel Education will convene its second Israel seminar this spring to deliver historical context and state-of-the-art educational and experiential methods to Jewish summer camp staffers.

CIE’s Grinfas-David says, is why it’s important for students to go into college with an understanding of those charges, and how to meet them with a wealth of knowledge to draw from in defense.

FOUR NEW Jersey teens were among 24 high school students who gathered on the Emory University campus in Atlanta October 26-28 for the second Teen Israel Leadership Institute.

Tal Grinfas-David is the day school education specialist at the Atlanta-based nonpartisan Center for Israel Education. A former day school principal, Epstein now consults with day schools across the country on strengthening their Israel education. The mere fact that many Baltimore schools teach modern Israeli history gives them a leg up on most day schools, she says, as many across the country leave it out of their curricula entirely.

Twenty-four teens gathered at the Emory University campus in Atlanta from October 26 to 28 for the second Teen Israel Leadership Institute hosted by the Center for Israel Education and the Emory Institute for the Study of Modern Israel. The weekend featured a mix of activities, discussions and educational games designed to expand students’ knowledge and understanding of Israel and Zionism and to help them plan learning programs back home.

Rich Walter, vice president of curriculum and outreach for the Center for Israel Education, said his organization tries to focus on “context and content” instead of giving “props” to the BDS movement. With more than half the states in the country having anti-BDS legislation, and less than 10 percent of universities having BDS resolutions, Walter doesn’t believe the movement is effective.

CIE led teen programs for BBYO and NFTY events, held pre-Israel trip seminars for seniors of The Weber School, conducted sessions at The Epstein School and AJA, saw 10 local schools use its Israel curriculum for second- to seventh graders, provided speakers at the Atlanta Jewish Film CIE Builds Better Model of Israel Education Festival and Book Festival of the MJCCA, and partnered with such organizations as Hadassah, American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta.

CIE is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, independent institution committed to using primary materials to teach students, educators and the public broadly about modern Israel. Because most Hillel students go to FJA for high school, “you’re able to look at the long-term experience of the students and think about the different areas that we can get to, the depth and the rigor in terms of Israel literacy, and how we can use that to actually address community needs and long-term needs,” Grinfas-David said. “That’s exciting.”

The Atlanta-based Center for Israel Education and the Emory Institute for the Study of Modern Israel invite Jewish 10th- and 11th-graders to apply to attend the Teen Israel Leadership Institute during the weekend of October 26 to 28. The institute will feature a series of learning activities to expand students’ knowledge and understanding of Israel and Zionism while they experience Jewish life on a college campus (Emory University) and forge friendships with peers from across the country.

It’s so much more powerful to say, ‘I know something because I saw the document,’ rather than ‘because my Hebrew teacher said so,’” said Tal Grinfas-David, day school education specialist at the Center for Israel Education, an Atlanta-based clearinghouse for best practices in Israel education, which also offers training and curricula and which provided a grant to GOA to write the curriculum.

Kenneth W. Stein, a leading scholar on the politics of the Arab world, credits the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat for serving as the “engine that drove the Camp David Peace Process forward” to a successful conclusion. Stein is regarded as a pioneer in Israel education, having established the Center for Israel Education in 2008 in Atlanta. The center’s website is considered one of the most reliable and innovative web-based sources for learning about modern Israel.

It has been almost 40 years since former president Jimmy Carter initiated the negotiations that led to Israel’s peace treaty with Egypt. To commemorate that historic accomplishment, the Center for Israel Education is incrementally releasing sensitive memoranda from the Carter administration archives detailing those negotiations.

Eleven local educators attended the Center for Israel Education’s (CIE) 17th annual educator workshop June 24-28 in Atlanta. The event was hosted by CIE and the Emory Institute for the Study of Modern Israel (ISMI). The objective of this exceptional learning opportunity, funded by the AVI CHAI Foundation of North America, is to empower educators, and through them their students, with an understanding of Israel’s history, politics, and culture.

Last week, the Center for Israel Education (CIE) in Atlanta, with the cooperation of the Foundation for Jewish Camp, led a three-day Israel learning retreat for 35 overnight and day camp staff most of them either in college or recent college graduates. Participants represented twelve US summer camps which were either unaffiliated or part of the URJ, Young Judea, and Ramah camping movements.

The surrounding Muslim-majority states weren’t friendly in 1948, but now many are in turmoil.

New initiative provides staff and resources to boost Israel education in K-12 day schools

High schoolers prepare to confront BDS, anti-Zionism on campus

Dunwoody’s Congregation Beth Shalom was given a Solomon Schechter Award for a teen learning program developed in part by CIE.

Israel Direct Education and Learning -CIE launched its first on-line course Modern Israel, a six part course.

Sixty five teachers from North America and Central America attended the 16 Annual pre-collegiate teacher one week workshop.

Headmaster Adam Shapiro credits CIE with infusing himself and staff with Israel curriculum for entire school in West Orange, N.J.

Rich Walter suggests that educators and learners rejuvenate their memory about the importance of Zionism and Israel.

Israel and Holocaust Reparations

Monthly Suggested Readings-online Cyberwar, BDS, Media Bias against Israel and more

Eli Sperling lauds Israel’s Minister of Culture, Miri Regev, as she pushes diligently for state support of Mizrahi culture.

Why does PA plan to sue Great Britain over Balfour Declaration? It is part of their Israel delegitimization effort.

Documents in Israeli History: The Alon Plan (1969)-early plan for what land Israel should control in the post 1967 war era

AJT Editor Michael Jacobs reviews Hebrew University Professor Reuven Hazan’s analysis of Israelis balancing security needs with their domestic agenda

Professor Ken Stein Receives ‘Opher Aviran We Stand with Israel’ Award from Hillels of Georgia

Ken Stein moderates discussion with Ambassador Dennis Ross during the Book Festival of the MJCCA

Ken Stein Warns of Iran Threat

CIE Spreads Israel Literacy

CIE Workshop Enlightens Educators About Modern Israel

Stein Discusses how Israel and the U.S. will Fare as Regional Landscapes Shift in Turbulent Middle East