It was a remarkable year at the Hartman Institute.
It was a remarkable year at the Hartman Institute.
It was a remarkable year at the Hartman Institute.
It was a remarkable year at the Hartman Institute.
Min habe'erot initiative
Training Israeli Jewish and Arab educators to better understand their own tradition and that of the other through interfaith study of the defining elements of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions, values, culture, and ideology
Min HaBe’erot (MHB) is an educational program for Jewish and Arab educators that brings values-based knowledge and practical pedagogy to educators, who become committed partners in developing interreligious and intercultural educational opportunities in their school communities. The program is founded on the premise that bridging the Israeli Jewish-Arab divide requires not only economic and social empowerment, but also joint educational engagements that deepen our understanding of the other’s culture, ideologies, and value systems, and the use of that shared understanding to increase social cohesion.
The program is built upon three core activities: leadership enrichment; curriculum and content development for schools; and empowerment of participants and alumni to create change in their home communities. MHB engages educators through a two-year training program followed by the integration of alumni into the MHB educator network, where they continue to learn together, deepen their knowledge, and strengthen relationships among their communities.
This year we...
Four years ago, while participating in the first MHB teacher training course, Sumaya Muslimani from Jadeidi-Makr and Rona Mikhailovitz from Haifa dreamt of bringing their students together for powerful encounters to help them understand themselves and each other. Today, that vision has become a central part of the educational program at the schools where they teach.
The collaboration launched in 2016 with the active support of the leadership teams in both schools, including graduates of the inaugural Min HaBe’erot principal training course, who had recruited Sumaya and Rona for MHB training.
The joint initiative engages both faculty and students, strengthening the commitment to shared society in each school. This year, Jewish and Arab educators from each school met with an MHB facilitator throughout the year to study together and prepare to lead the student sessions. These teachers led four intercultural study encounters that brought together more than 50 Jewish and Arab students in which students learned about each other’s values, traditions, and holidays and developed relationships.
“After the sessions, we established friendships with the Reali students. We exchange messages on Snapchat and Whatsapp and can communicate despite the language barrier. At our last meeting we visited their school and learned about the traditions of Passover. We look forward to our next meeting where we will expose them to the traditions of Ramadan.” -8th grade student, Albirony Middle School
Min HaBe’erot is supported by the Beracha Foundation, the Cohn Family, Keren Daniel, Jewish Federations of Canada-UIA/Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver, the Pechter Family Foundation, Stefanie Raker & Josh Siegel, The Senser Foundation, the Alan B. Slifka Foundation, and other generous donors.
