Jewish Peoplehood

These 75 people helped establish the foundations for a Jewish state in the Land of Israel between the start of the 19th century and independence in 1948. Those involved in the work of Zionism in the...

The Hebrew Bible, Prophetic Books, the Talmud, the daily prayer book, and ancient Jewish texts reinforce Judaism’s relationship to G-d and Eretz Yisrael.

Glossaries This section offers easy access to names, events, and terms associated with modern Israeli history. Terms listed were used successfully by students for understanding context in learning about modern Israel and the Middle East....

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...

The Israel Year Book, 1950/51, Tel Aviv, Israel Publications Limited, 1951, pp. 23-34.,(reprinted with permission). The Zionist Movement, the unique instance in world history of a people without a land organizing itself for the rebuilding...

In this 32-minute video recorded July 24, 2023, Mauricio Friedman, the head of Jewish education at Mexico City’s Hebraica University, and Steven Bayme, a longtime American Jewish Committee official, address the ongoing importance of Zionism...

During the 2019 CIE/ISMI Educator Workshop on Modern Israel, Emory University Professor Michael Berger traces the evolution of religious Zionism from its roots in Europe to its participation in current Israeli politics.

Winter 1979 By Shlomo Avineri “Zionism as a National Liberation Movement,” Jerusalem Quarterly 10 (Winter 1979): pp. 133-144. At the root of Zionism lies a paradox. On the one hand, there is no doubt about...

Dr. Rabbi Michael Berger analyzes the history of Judaism and the origins of Jewish nationhood -- from the initial settling of Eretz Yisrael to the aftermath of the Bar-Kochba Revolt -- at the 2018 CIE Educator Enrichment Workshop.

Rabbi Michael Berger, a professor in Emory University’s religion department, and CIE President Ken Stein, an Emory emeritus professor, trace 3,000 years of Jewish connection to the Land of Israel and the strategies that prepared...

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...

E-book

Covering the foundations of Judaism and the history of the Jewish people, the unit starts with the ‘covenants’ and ends in 1897. It traces the Jewish connection to the land of Israel, in the land and in exile. It explains how and why Jews retained their traditions in the face of enormous challenges. It concludes with the birth of Zionism as one answer to Jewish insecurity.

• Suitable for learners 9th grade and up
• The first of four planned units covering Israel and the Jewish Nation
• 37-page teacher guide
• 78-page student workbook
• Covers the foundations of Judaism and Jewish people starting with the 'covenants'
• Learn how and why the Jews retained their traditions in the face of enormous challenges
• Explore the connection to the land of Israel and the birth of Zionism

Eventual head of the World Zionist Organization, Theodor Herzl says anti-Semitism requires a Jewish state.

Three European journalists provide their first hand accounts of the First Zionist Congress and reporting of the delegates attending.

E-book

Travel back in time to August 29, 1897, when the First Zionist Congress was held in Basel, Switzerland. Experience the meeting from the inside, participating as the delegates from seventeen different nations! This guide includes an activity guide, a full list of all 200+ participants, biographies of 25 of the delegates and extensive background readings, including full translations of some of the speeches given at the congress.

• Suitable for learners 9th grade and up
• 72-page learners guide

E-book

Explaining Hebrew language beyond religious practice and making it a spoken language of the street gave rise to a rich literary renaissance. In this curriculum, Hebrew literature excerpts demonstrate how the Hebrew language became a core element in Jewish state identity.

• Suitable for learners 8th grade and up
• Fifteen lessons (30 minutes each)
• Understand the significance of the language and how it became essential to Jewish state identity.
• Discover key Hebrew literature excerpts from rare source documents
• Perfect for individual, groups or classes

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,...

April 14, 2025 The period of the New Yishuv lasted from the last 40 years of Ottoman rule in Palestine through the British Mandate until the establishment of Israel in 1948. It saw the growth...

March 12, 2025 By Ken Stein The Jewish growth in Mandatory Palestine in the period of the New Yishuv to establish a Jewish territory for a state had significantly developed by 1939. Arab leadership in...

Israel's first prime minister was a prolific writer. In this excerpt of a 50-page document, he notes that the Jewish nation’s DNA included relentless challenges marked by dispersal, ostracism and hatred by many people. Despite these adversities, Israel’s establishment symbolizes a remarkable victory against all odds — a culmination of the Jewish people’s tenacity and unyielding spirit. The state and Zionism were not remotely close to being finished, nor having succeeded in the quest for the Jewish people’s normalization.

British Foreign Ministry promises to set up a Jewish National Home in Palestine with no harm to non-Jewish populations, or to Jews living elsewhere who might want to support a Jewish home.

Moshe Sharett urges the British and Americans to open Palestine to unimpeded Jewish immigration from Europe.

E-book

Join special guest curriculum contributor Dr. Yaron Ayalon and the CIE Curriculum team as they take you and your students on a riveting adventure through the lives of the Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews of Southern Europe and the Middle East. Explore the differences between Sephardi and Ashkenazi cultures, and discover the great wealth of knowledge and spirituality of the Sephardi Jews. Utilizing maps, photographs, primary documents, an extensive timeline and even a recipe for a traditional Sephardi dish, this book is the perfect introduction to Sephardi Jewry for the individual learner or in a classroom setting.

• Suitable for learners 9th grade and up
• Maps, Photographs, Primary Documents, Extensive Timeline
• Perfect for individuals, groups and classes
• Develop an understanding of the differences between Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jewry

 

Jews worldwide are given the right to come to Israel and become citizens.

Jewish Historians Gil Troy and Steven Bayme cogently discuss the ties and tensions between Jewish communities, primarily between American and Israeli Jews. This 37 minute video is entwined with extraordinary vivid insights.

Zionism and Israel: From the Tanakh to 1948 explores the foundations of the centrality of the Land of Israel to the Jewish people and how the relationship between the people and the land evolved over time. Activities and background information are provided to help learners explore the growth of the Jewish Diaspora, the evolving relationship between the people and the Land and the origins of the Zionist movement.  Following the First Zionist Congress in 1897, Zionism and Israel: From the Tanakh to 1948 shifts to explore how the Basle Declaration and subsequent documents guided the movement’s actions towards its vision for a Jewish State.  The material concludes with an exercise on Israel’s Declaration of Independence. 

August 23, 1950 American Jewish Yearbook, Vol. 53. 1952. 64-8. Over time, world Jewish opinion became splintered not only about the nature of Zionism or the role of Israel in their identity, but the degree...

Ben-Gurion elegantly connects modern Israel from messianic redemption to Zionism, building the country through labor and immigration, with dual needs to remain actively linked to the Jewish diaspora and Jewish values through education.

The June 1967 Middle East War transformed Israeli, Jewish, and Middle Eastern History. In the span of six weeks, in May and June 1967, Israel, its neighbors and the international community were engulfed with varying emotions including admonition, arrogance, audacity, astonishment, bravado, boasting, daring, euphoria, fears of annihilation, hesitation, humiliation, indecision, miscalculation, pride, procrastination, relief, resignation, self-doubt, self-importance, and tension.

Capturing these moments as well as the prelude and aftermath of the War dominate the contents of The June 1967 War: How It Changed Jewish, Israeli and Middle Eastern History in both the Leader’s Guide and Participant Booklet.

• Suitable for those with varying knowledge levels. Valuable for those traveling to Israel, for easy use in summer camps, and in adult education, college, and high school settings.
• The Leader’s Guide − 111 pages; Participant Booklet− 117 pages
• Adaptable for use in three 75-minute sessions, five 45-minute sessions, or more

Begin welcomes Sadat’s bold initiative, seeking an end to the conflict with other Arab states through negotiated treaties. Begin invites other Arab leaders to negotiate as Sadat was doing.

In September 2023, thirty years after the historic signing of the Oslo Accords, there is occasion to review Prime Minister Rabin’s understanding of them. I assembled this collection years ago from Daily Reports- Near East and South Asia, 1993-1995. Two short items about Rabin’s views are also found or linked here. Rabin provided a summary of his views of the Accords in a Knesset speech in October 5, 1995. Some of Rabin’s reasons for signing the Accords are also provided in Yehuda Avner’s The Prime Ministers.

Netanyahu praises the Obama administration for its support of Israel’s security, then roundly criticizes it for negotiating a deal with Iran that will not roll back its nuclear breakout time and for not demanding that before sanctions are lifted that Iran stop its support of terrorism and threats to wipe Israel off the map.