Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Israelis To Learn About American Jews in School

Growing up, American Jews spend hours learning about their Israeli counterparts. They descend on the Jewish state in droves, where they kiss the ground (and sometimes the soldiers). But – until recently – Israeli schools have given little attention to their country’s biggest fans.

That’s about to change.

As part of a new effort to educate young Israelis about Jewish life outside the Jewish state, plans are now underway to incorporate lessons on the American Jewry into Israel’s official high school curriculum. The new unit – reported today by JTA – is scheduled to begin in Israeli public schools in fall 2012 and will likely include teachings about the Conservative and Reform movements and Jews in the Diaspora.

“We in Israel, by not learning how American Jews think, lose in our capacity to engage in deep dialogue with them,” Rabbi Ed Rettig, acting director of the American Jewish Committee in Israel, told JTA. “We are smacking around the people who love us most.”

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.