Havaya (Experiential Educational Activities for “Jewish-Israeli Culture” Pupils)

As part of the curriculum for the subject “Jewish-Israeli Culture”, taught in grades 1-10, the Ministry of Education (MoE) provides a budget for two experiential educational activities for each pupil, per year. These activities are administered by educational organizations approved by the MoE.

With the goal of expanding and deepening the content offerings, the Posen Foundation partnered to fund Havaya activities developed by four organizations – Shitim Institute, Hamidrasha at Oranim, Bina and Habama Theater. This allows schools to enjoy educational activities showcasing a diverse, pluralistic Judaism.

As an example, one of the offered activities is an experiential learning activity exploring Jewish Holidays from a Jewish-Israeli humanistic approach, incorporating an informal, playful and creative encounter, with an intellectual discussion on values. In such an activity, the stories we share as a people come to life and take on a current validity: during Hanukkah we ask, in the spirit of the rebellion of the Maccabees, what is heroism nowadays? In Passover we ask, in the spirit of the Haggadah, we should we remember slavery?

These experiential learning activities are offered in two formats – directly to groups of pupils or as instruction sessions to teachers, in which teachers are given the tools to be the facilitators of an experiential activities to their pupils.

The Posen Foundation seeks to encourage subject educators to be accountable for presenting a Jewish-Israeli worldview that is both pluralistic and inclusive, thus enabling pupils, their families and the school’s educational staff to all feel “at home” in their culture.