intergenerational programs

Growing Up In Israel: Generations Communicate October, November 2003

Is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict the only topic to focus on when teaching about Israel? Drexel’s Judaic Studies Program is determined to teach students of Jewish and non-Jewish backgrounds about the growth and accomplishments of Israeli culture and society. To this end, we held an intergenerational project, Growing Up in Israel: Generations Communicate at the Hebrew school of Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel in Center City Philadelphia. In conjunction with the "Modern Jewish History" course taught by Dr. Rakhmiel Peltz at Drexel University, students, as a special term project, studied the way adults and Hebrew School students learn about the diversity of traditions that helped build the Israeli society and state.	Bella Shafer describes her years in the the Israeli army as a young woman to Hebrew school students. Mr. Yoel Mester, Consul of the Consulate General of Philadelphia looks on.
Together with the Hebrew school teachers, Dr. Peltz introduced the students to the history of Israel in background lessons. In the ensuing meetings, local adult community members who grew up in Israel shared their experience with the students, describing their family backgrounds, education, homes, and neighborhoods while they were growing up. The students shared their own connections with Israel during the sessions. The curriculum ended with a concert, “Lost in the Stars: Jewish Music in the Years After WWII,” featuring music of the 1950s following the establishment of the state, in Hebrew, Yiddish, and English on Sunday, November 23, 2003, at Drexel University. At the concert, the students and community members who took part in the project were honored. The concert was part of the fifth anniversary celebration of our Judaic Studies Program. This project wass made possible by grants from the Robert Saligman Charitable Foundation, the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, and the Louis and Bessie Stein Foundation.

The Judaic Studies Program of Drexel University
331 Hagerty Library • Drexel University • 33rd and Market Streets • Philadelphia, PA 19104
TEL 215.895.6388 • FAX 215.895.0229
judaicstudies@drexel.edu •  www.drexel.edu/judaicstudies