Art Project for the Legacies for Life Communities:
South Area Solomon Schechter Day School, Stoughton / Ironi Gimmel Middle School, Haifa / Shneerson Jewish Day School, Dnepropetrovsk

The Legacies for Life art project will create an artistic piece, combining the efforts and talents of approximately 50 students from South Area Solomon Schechter Day School, Ironi Gimmel in Haifa and  the Dnepropetrovsk Jewish Day school in Dnipropetrovs’k. The piece will be dedicated to the survivors of the Shoah and displayed alternately in the three communities as a tribute to the CJP Boston-Haifa Connection.

The conceptualization of the piece is modeled after the free flowing sculpture of orange fabric that adorned Central Park in NYC this past spring.  A group of students from each school will be selected to participate in the creation of the collaborative piece and will work with an art teacher or artist-in-residence at each school. They will also work with survivors to gather inspiration and ideas for the piece. The individual pieces will be assembled in each school and will be combined through computer technology/imaging and through physical transport. Near the end of the school year the sculpture will be dedicated and displayed in all three communities.

Building Bridges:
Boston-Haifa Russian Partnership: Brookline High School / Ironi Alef High School

The goal of the Building Bridges program is to strengthen the ties between the Russian-speaking communities in Boston and Haifa.  This is implemented through the creation of community-building programs, Jewish identity development, meaningful dialogue and support for Israel.  In addition to getting as many members from the Boston Russian community involved in Jewish communal activities as possible, this program is also developing more effective and creative teaching methods and materials for teaching Jewish history and tradition to immigrant youth and families. These goals are implemented through the “Young Leaders for Dialogue”, two groups of 30 teenagers in Boston and Haifa who participate in a year long study program culminating in mifgashim in Haifa and Israel. This program is jointly implemented by a partnership of Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Jewish Family and Children’s Services and OREN-The Department for World Jewry. Another component of the program is the Arts Festival which includes fundraising for Israel and CJP, including the Boston-Haifa Connection, home hospitality for Haifa visitors, formal and informal discussions, lectures and people to people connections between members of both the Haifa and Boston communities. In 2006-2007 two new programs are being added based on accumulated experiences and successes: a new young adult program focused on community building and an exchange program with young adults in Haifa as well as a leadership development program for 15-20 people who have leadership potential and interest in community involvement. The leadership development program will include biweekly lectures and reading based on an E-Academy model, 4-5 Shabbatonim in the Boston area, exposure to CJP supported social and educational projects in Haifa culminating in the development of a project designed by this group that will serve the Russian Jewish community in Boston.

Collaborative Science Project:
South Area Solomon Schechter Day School/ Ironi Gimmel Middle School

Since 2002, students from SASSDS and Ironi Gimmel in Haifa have collaborated on long term science projects.  The idea of using science, a neutral topic, to bridge the gap between American Jewish teenagers and Israeli teenagers came from the headmaster of Ironi Gimmel, Yehoshuah Ben Itamar. The project for the 2006-2007 school year is carried out as a true collaboration.  Teams of 6th-9th grade students from SASSDS and Ironi Gimmel meet (physically or online) to discuss and work jointly. The program has been designed by Dr. Nitzan Resnick (SASSDS) and Mrs. Pnina Bar (Ironi Gimmel) to research and understand forest ecology in New England and the Mediterranean. The goals of this project are for students to understand basic definitions and concepts in ecology. These definitions serve as the foundation to research each group’s home habitat and compare it to their partner school’s habitat. Each group will become acquainted with the oak and pine habitats and determine a research topic, formulate a hypothesis, conduct research and analyze the data.

At Schechter the whole middle school will be divided into 10 teams and will meet once a week for an hour.  Twice a week during enrichment science the students will study various aspects of ecology including  hands-on labs. All the grades will have 2 visits to Moose Hill as an introduction to the oak and pine forests.
There is a joint science fair planned where the Ironi Gimmel students will travel to SASSDS to jointly present their research and finding to the SASSDS community. There are also plans for SASSDS kids and faculty to travel to Haifa for a second joint science fair in the Haifa community.

Collaborators and reference centers include:

In Israel:

• the pre-academic unit at the Technion in Haifa,
• the Department of Agriculture and Industrial Engineering
• Fourier Industries.

In Massachusetts:

• Simbiotic-and MIT based software company and the experimental software, “Ecobeaker.”
• Moose Hill Audubon Society
• Harvard Forest- The Department of Forest Ecology at Harvard

Distance Learning Project/School Exchanges:
Gann Academy-The New Jewish High School/ Ironi Hey High School

Through distance learning and exchange programs, students at Ironi Hey High School in Haifa and at Gann Academy- The New Jewish High School in Boston bridge the distance that physically separates them. Between the two schools more than 100 students are involved in either one or both of these projects.

Distance Learning Project: Each week a group of students at both schools work together through web conferencing on topics that range from current events to holiday celebrations to text studies. Each year there has been more talk about how critical it is to talk about life in America and in Israel.  The topic of where Jews should live and how they should live as Jews permeates many of the discussions regardless of where the conversation begins. This year the goal is to create more sessions planned together by students -one from GA-NJHS and one from Ironi Hey. They will communicate through email and then lead the session together on both sides of the camera. This type of project has allowed the kids to feel connected to real people, not just “Jewish brothers and sisters in Israel.”

Exchange Program:  The fall exchange of 20 Ironi Hey kids, including members of the web conferencing project, provides an opportunity for Israeli teenagers to learn about the Jewish community of Boston. This year’s theme of Jewish identity and leadership was carried out through structured discussions as well as activities. A Harvard Hillel student designed two sessions that investigated how students define their Jewishness. One of the most successful aspects of each year’s program is the study session in our Hebrew classes, at elementary Jewish day schools and Waltham High School.

This year two groups of students will be going to Israel. A group of Gann Academy students will be hiking sea to sea and spending an evening with their friends from Ironi Hey High School. This spring 38 senior students will spend a week of home hospitality with families from Ironi Hey. Students will also meet with top professors from Haifa University on the subject of terrorism and the Arab/Israeli relationship and situation as well as with media experts.

Early Childhood Educators Exchange: Bureau of Jewish Education, Boston/Haifa Municipality-Department of Education, Early Childhood Division

The Boston-Haifa Connection Early Childhood Educators exchange is a partnership committed to the development of personal and professional relationships between EC teachers and administrators and their pre-schools in Boston and Haifa.  Teachers meet in their local communities at least five times per year in our respective professional networks to learn together and further the Exchange. Communication is maintained and expanded between pre-school partner programs in Boston and Haifa through monthly phone calls and periodic web conferences. During the 2006-2007 school year, there will be  a 12 day exchange of pre-school educators.  Up to 25 educators from Boston will spend six days in Haifa and several days including Shabbat in Jerusalem. During the seminar the Boston educators will visit their partner sites, learn with their peers and develop curriculum and related projects that will enhance the programs and classrooms and create a deeper connection between the children, parents, and families in the programs. Planning and implementation of the exchange is accomplished both at a grassroots level, teacher to teacher, as well as by a standing committee the BJE convenes.

The International Book-Sharing Project:
South Area Solomon Schechter Day School / Ironi Gimmel Middle School / The Ghetto Fighters’ Museum / The Yad Layeled Children’s Museum and Memorial

The International Book-Sharing Project links American and Israeli students in the reading, study and on-line discussion of Holocaust literature and history.  American and Israeli classes are teamed up and read the same book, view the same movie or explore the same historical exhibit. The American students are connected to their counterparts in Israel to form a joint e-learning classroom and to begin an Internet-based discussion of their thoughts, opinions and concerns which arise from the text which they are studying.  The project is coordinated though a  sophisticated bilingual ‘virtual school’ website, which offers a specific ‘classroom’ for each pair of schools, a teachers’ room for discussion and networking among the project teachers, a gallery of students’ work, and a site of historical documentation which includes documents and photos chosen from the extensive archives of The Ghetto Fighters’ Museum.

Leo Baeck Ambassador Program:
Temple Beth Elohim, Wellesley/ Leo Baeck High School

Temple Beth Elohim is hosting a teen ambassador from the Leo Baeck Education Senior High School for one school semester. The student is hosted by an active TBE family, with a high school student who is also active in TBE life, including the Havayah (high school) program and the youth group, BELY. With his/her host family, the LBEC student participates in holiday and Shabbat celebrations and other temple events. With his/her host teen, the LBEC student participates and takes a leadership role in the high school learning program and youth group.  The major goals of this program include: building a relationship between LBEC and Temple Beth Elohim on an institutional level that could lead to longer term educational partnerships, creating cross-cultural interpersonal relationships between the LBEC ambassador and the TBE host family and other TBE teens, and extending the relationship beyond the TBE teens and LBEC ambassador to the broader LBEC community when the TBE teens visit Israel in the summer of 2007.

Links in the Chain™: Boston-Haifa Eastern Europe Journey:
Prozdor-Reali Beit Biram High School

Links in the Chain is an educational initiative for reflective encounters with the Holocaust.  Designed to provide a unique learning experience for all of its participants, the journey includes visits to Jewish communities of the past, sites of destruction during the Shoah, and interactions with both Jewish and non-Jewish locals for an understanding of the issues relevant today.  An emphasis on Yiddishkeit, Jewish identity, family and community invite the participants to engage with the legacy of what was lost, and to recognize that we, the generations after the Holocaust, become the witness to the witness.  This journey encourages critical thinking skills in analyzing what forces influenced the growth of Antisemitism, the implementation of Nazi ideology, the causes of local collaboration and the overwhelming indifference of the world which allowed the Shoah to take place.

The Links in the Chain program is developed under the leadership and expertise of Elana Yael Heideman, Ed. M., and is run through Prozdor High School of Hebrew College.  For the 2007 mission, this unique mission will be a collaborative effort between Prozdor High School and the Reali High School of Haifa.  The interaction of American and Israeli teens will allow them to consider the significance of this event to their common past and their common identity, while incorporating the differences of culture and perspective into the internalization of this powerful experience.

Hands-on, interactive, discussion-oriented programming enhances the individual experience by allowing the students to explore their personal connection to the dark chapter of Jewish history, as they take their place as future leaders of the Jewish world in the Diaspora.  Recognition of each individual's ability to make a difference in the world is how we give to the past a living future as we become a link in the chain of Jewish history and memory, for the future of the Jewish people. 

Making Personal Connections:
Prozdor/ Alliance High School

This will be the fourth year of the flourishing partnership between the Prozdor Hebrew High School of Hebrew College and the Alliance High School in Haifa. This dynamic and constantly-evolving relationship has grown tremendously over the past several years. In 2006-2007, the partnership will be highlighted by the annual 10th grade exchange in December 2006, when twenty-five Alliance students will be hosted by Prozdor tenth grade students and families. This peer group will spend two weeks together, including a trip to New York City, and will continue their relationship throughout the semester by studying the same Jewish Leadership curriculum and participating in web conference sessions. The course centers around Jewish leaders in the Bible and in modern Israel, and discusses how Jewish leaders have led, governed, and built consensus throughout history. 2006-7 will also feature a 7th grade partnership focusing on the Shorashim curriculum, with both cohort groups tracing family histories and getting to know each other through the use of videoconferences and e-mails. This year will also feature the continuation of the highly successful 12th grade trip to Israel in June. The trip is structured as a culminating piece of the Moreshet seminar for Prozdor 12th grade students, a year-long educational training seminar that prepares Prozdor graduates for leadership positions in the Jewish community. While in Israel, the 12th graders will not only enjoy home stays with their friends in Haifa (whom they hosted two years ago), but also make connections with Ethiopian Israeli teens who participate in SPNI’s “Friends By Nature” program.

The success of the Prozdor-Alliance relationship would not be achieved or maintained without the support of Oren- The Department for World Jewry. Oren, located in Tivon at Oranim Teacher's College, programs our 12th grade trip, trains the Alliance 10th graders for the exchange, and regularly meets with all of the peer groups involved.

Making Personal Connections:
Temple Beth El, Sudbury/ Hugim High School

The Hugim and Temple Beth El Schools, with the guidance of Roberta Bell-Kligler and the staff at OREN-The Department for World Jewry, are following the model of the Prozdor-Alliance initiative in a project that strives to build connections between students, staff and leadership of both school communities. Driving the initiative is a vision of Jewish peoplehood. The goals of the program include:

• Enhancing the sense of Jewish peoplehood in both school communities;
• Creating a stronger knowledge base and emotional attachment to the State of Israel;
• Offering participants a range of opportunities for exploring and experiencing different forms of Jewish expression
• Strengthening the bonds between future leaders of the respective communities

At Beth-El, 12 students between the ages of 14 and 17 participate in the “Israel Netiv”, one of five pathways for Jewish identity exploration and growth offered to Beth El’s high school students. The content of the weekly meetings has been divided into three main sections: getting to know one another, defining the questions they want to explore together and jointly watching the Israeli film “Hitchhikers”, as a jumping off point for discussing Jewish identity. The film section, which takes place immediately before the mifgash in Boston with the Israeli students, will provide an opportunity to prepare the students for discussions of Jewish community. This discussion will prepare the Israeli teens for their visit to the Boston Jewish community in March 2006 and make the American teens aware of how their experience of Jewish life in America differs from that of their Israeli peers.

School Exchange:
Solomon Schechter Day School, Newton /  Reali Ahuza

The Schechter-Reali exchange program is an ambitious and successful set of learning opportunities that bring young people from middle schools in Newton and Haifa together for extended visits and for shared educational experiences. Now in its third year, the program is built around shared objectives, planning and experiences all designed to create and enrich connections and friendships between students from both schools.

The primary goals of the exchange for the SSDS students are to have first hand experience with Israel as a living community and to increase their awareness of Israeli history, culture and customs.

Tzmatim:
Rashi School/Leo Baeck Junior High School

Lokey International Academy of Jewish Studies
Leo Baeck Education Center

The Tzmatim curriculum aims to introduce and expose students to a dynamic and unique way of looking at Jewish history and the land of Israel: one that portrays the development of Judaism in Israel as a series of watersheds or of new Jewish realities. In Modern Hebrew a tzomet (in the plural, tzmatim) literally means a crossroads, a meeting point,  road junction.  In the language of the Tzmatim curriculum, a tzomet is a particular time and place in Jewish history in which various factors encountered one another and interacted, defining decisions were made and as a result, a new Jewish reality was created. The Tzmatim theory is that the study of Jewish history, of particular events or periods in our collective past, is most important in allowing history to act as a mirror for our own lives today. This curriculum presents an innovative educational approach that weaves both philosophy and methodology of informal values education into a formal classroom framework.

Yachdav- School to School Program:
Yachdav- School to School Program: Temple Israel, Boston/ Ramot Elementary, Temple Sinai, Sharon/ Herzel, Temple Sha’aray Shalom, Hingham/ Ben Gurion Elementary, Temple Beth Avodah, Newton/ Alon, Temple Shir Tikva/ Yizraelia Elementary, Temple Ohabei Shalom/Maale Hacarmel elementary

Yachdav: School to School Israel-Diaspora Virtual Mifgash aims to cultivate meaningful connections between Jewish 5th and 6th grade students in Israel and in the Diaspora.  The basis of these connections is in getting both groups in touch, through a mutual learning experience, with what they have in common-Jewish content and values-while at the same time, giving them the opportunity to explore each groups’ own unique identity as citizens of different cultures and countries.