Pluralistic Israeli Educators Exchange Ideas With NY Counterparts

An Israeli school choir takes part in a Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony at the Tali school April 16, 2007 in Hod Hasharon, Israel. The Jewish State came to a standstill as sirens wailed for a minute’s silence in memory of the Six Million Jews who perished at the hands of the Nazis in World War Two. The teachers and principals from elementary, junior and high schools from throughout Israel visited pluralistic Jewish day schools in Manhattan and Brooklyn and met with teachers, administrators and communal professionals. HOWARD SCHNAPP/JNS

For 11 senior educators from TALI schools, the educational track within Israel’s state secular school system that offers non-Orthodox religious education and programming, it was an exhausting, exhilarating week in the Big Apple. 

The teachers and principals from elementary, junior and high schools from throughout Israel visited pluralistic Jewish day schools in Manhattan and Brooklyn and met with teachers, administrators and communal professionals. For most, used to being surrounded by Hanukkah menorahs in Israel each December, walking on Fifth Avenue to see Christmas in full display offered an additional eye-opening experience.