The “Acknowledge the Voices” Initiative, founded by the Posen Foundation, Kol Israel Haverim (Alliance Israélite Universelle), and the Ministry of Education, aims to enhance the training of future educators in academic institutions and support the professional development of teachers through learning communities. The initiative focuses on subjects related to identity and belonging, with sensitivity to the diversity of Jewish traditions and identities among students in the state education system.
The initiative develops teachers’ interdisciplinary teaching skills while strengthening their abilities to lead identity-based dialogue, teach Jewish textual literacy, and implement Beit Midrash-inspired pedagogy geared toward instruction. It introduces teachers to content areas that are insufficiently addressed in the public education system, such as traditional Jewish identity and the heritage of Sephardic sages.
In the wake of the profound upheaval caused by the events of October 7th, the importance of connecting to our diverse and profound Jewish-Israeli identity has become even more apparent. We seek to provide teachers with pedagogical tools to help guide their students in clarifying and shaping their identities, in connection with the heritage and culture they bring from home. We believe that such an educational process can strengthen classroom, school, and community resilience.
Program Highlights:
- A fruitful gathering and peer learning.
- A personal and collective identity journey inspired by engagement with the Jewish-Israeli bookshelf.
- Hands-on experience with identity-based pedagogy that makes visible the range of traditions and identities of learners.
- An introduction to the spiritual worldview of Sephardic sages in recent generations and how to integrate their perspectives into teaching, learning, and assessment processes across relevant subjects.
- Exploration of Jewish traditional identity and its potential contribution to enrich the diversity of voices in the education system in particular, and in Israeli public discourse more broadly.
