Brooklyn Nets Draft One-Fifth of a Minyan
June 27, 2025 The Brooklyn Nets drafted two Israelis, Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf, back to back in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft on June 25. Saraf and Wolf, the first Israelis…
June 2025 Pew Research Center Surveys on Israel
Divided at home and condemned abroad, public opinion of Israel sinks in response to war and domestic politics.
Explainer: Historical and Evolving Israel-Diaspora Relationship
From Ancient Times to the 19th Century The bond between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel is one of the most enduring in human history. Since the Roman destruction of the Second Temple…
Jewish Immigration to the Land of Israel
By Scott Abramson and Ken Stein, April 4, 2025 The Exile and the Homeland It may be said that the Jewish people’s entire cosmology (the origin and nature of the universe) from their birth as…
Explainer: Jewish Immigration to the Land of Israel (Zion) to 1949
By Scott Abramson and Ken Stein In his famous 2004 essay “Between Right and Right,” Israel’s most celebrated novelist, Amos Oz, reflects on Israeli society, summing up his fellow citizens with this appraisal: “What we,…
Second Trump Administration’s Views on Israel, Middle East
By Aidan New and Michael Jacobs (updated April 9) President Donald Trump’s second administration had an impact in the Middle East even before his inauguration Jan. 20, 2025: Special Middle East envoy Steven Witkoff was…
Scott Abramson, “Gen Z, Infected With Antisemitism, Is Spreading the Very Disease It’s Committed to Eradicating, Racism”
April 8, 2024 By Scott Abramson If, in the eyes of a generation, social justice is the highest good and racism the greatest evil, shouldn’t that generation fiercely oppose history’s oldest and deadliest bigotry, antisemitism? …
Gil Troy, “Our Failed Colleges: Time to Get Radical” With Pre-University Israeli Literacy
America’s need for a robust higher education system, where students learn to think deeply, engage respectfully, and disagree constructively, is greater than ever.
Ken Stein, “Anti-Israel Teaching on American Campuses: Origins, Extent and Remedies”
Since the June 1967 war, Anti-Israeli sentiment on US campuses has grown to extraordinary proportions merging with previously evolved anti-Zionism into sporadic mention to regular embrace.
Dayenu — From Exodus to Contemporary Israel
Sung or recited on Passover, the original Dayenu is reflective appreciation of 14 significant events specifically wrapped around the exodus from Egypt. The Dayenu presented here chronicles Jewish history from Exodus to the present day. This history can be read individually or responsively. Different moments and personalities in Jewish history could have been included. Hebrew and Spanish versions of Dayenu are available.
Origins of Israeli Democracy: Jewish Political Culture and Pre-State Practice
Neither Israel’s political culture nor Israel’s democracy based on Jewish self determination simply materialized on May 15, 1948. A connection exists from Jewish self-rule in the Diaspora to Zionist political autonomy during the Yishuv and to contemporary Israeli political culture. Likewise, the origins of Israeli democracy are found in the hundreds of years of Jewish Diasporas transitioning into the Zionist movement to the state; from aliyot before the Palestine Mandate to 1948 and since. Components of Israeli political culture…
2022-2023 Day School Initiative Partner School Testimonials
“We are very grateful for the learning and the PD that the program provides our faculty and look forward to continuing this in the next school year 2022-23.” Sinai Akiba, Los Angeles, CA “For years…
Lessons from the Day School Initiative, March 1, 2022
Dr. Tal Grinfas-David, March 1, 2022 When it comes to boosting Israel education, some schools go through transactional changes, and some go through transformative changes. What’s the difference? Transactional schools add units and information, making…
American Jewry and Israel: Whither the Next Generation?
Steven Bayme In early November 2021, The New York Times Magazine posted an essay under the provocative title “Inside the Unraveling of American Zionism.”1 The essay focused on a letter signed by 93 rabbinical and…
As President, Herzog Offers Advancement of Israel-Diaspora Ties
Isaac “Bougie” Herzog’s election as Israel’s 11th president on June 2 was such “big” news that it was all but impossible to find on the home page of The Times of Israel a day later. That’s because reporting on a largely ceremonial position was overwhelmed by the end of a two-year wait for the monumental announcement of an eight-party government coalition, including Islamist Arabs and religious Zionist Jews, to unseat the longest-serving prime minister in Israel’s history.
Hannukah: Predictions, Politics, the Pandemic, and Accountability
Do you think any of the Maccabees would have guessed that the one jar of oil would have kept the menorah burning in Mod’in for eight days rather than one? If one had predicted yes or no, there probably would not have been either good or bad consequences in the years after 165 BCE.
Proven Success in Israel Education: Context, Sources and Perspective
Using original sources and employing perspective are keys to substantive Israel education. Failure to use either, handicaps and prejudices learning about Israel. When documents and texts or a broad overview of the literature in a field are not employed, there is a strong possibility that the educator either has a personal political agenda or, is covering up for their own lack of knowledge of what they are teaching. This premise is true for teaching any country’s history and through the lens of any discipline. I reside in the discipline of history.
A Panacea in the Pandemic: Distance Learning
June 10, 2020 By Dr. Ken Stein, Founding CIE President The pandemic has had a blistering impact on our lives. When and where will it end? Unexpected and unnecessary deaths. We have learned that some…
Origins of Yom Hashoah: Holocaust Memorial Day
Using original sources, learners will explore the origins of Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Memorial Day, in Israel. The unit includes historical discussion on the importance of commeorating the tragedy of the Holocaust and different proposals that were put forward in the Land of Israel both before and after the creation of the state doing so. A writing prompt is included for use in school settings.
Is Passover a Legacy Moment in Jewish History?
Ken Stein, Emory University, Center for Israel Education, spring 2020 What are turning points or legacy moments in history? That was the focus of my Zoom class at Emory for 80 students in late March…
Infusing Israel into Your Passover Seder
CIE is pleased to offer this collection of readings, discussion questions, and activities all designed to incorporate Israel into your Passover seder this year.
Is the BDS Movement on the Rise?
According to the BDS movement’s Palestinian branch, the impact of the movement “is increasing substantially.” Many pro-Israel sites and organizations agree with that assessment. But how accurate is this prognosis?
Lag B’Omer’s Musical Traditions in Israel
Lag B’omer is celebrated Wednesday evening, May 22-23. The Omer is the Hebrew term for the 49-day period between the Jewish holidays of Passover and Shavuot. This period commemorates the Spring harvest, and at the end, the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people.
Israeli And Diaspora Jews: ‘We Are Siblings, Not Cousins’
The concurrent success of American Jews and Israeli Jews, even if they are developing with two different understandings of Jewish identity, should not lead to distancing or sibling rivalry. Rabbi Cosgrove relates to the emergence, in both the U.S. and Israel, of two Jewish communities no different than the Sephardic and Ashkenazic. In Israel, the Sephardi-Ashkenazi divide belongs to the past. The greatest success of the Jewish state is Kibbutz Galuiot, the creation of a unifying identity for Jews of every stripe.
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