Curriculum Resources for Teaching Modern Israel מדינת ישראל
On this page:- Educators’ Resources
- Historical Documents
- Maps and Multimedia
- Museums
- Research into Teaching Israel
- Secondary Materials on Israel’s History
Do you know of a good resource we should list? Please contact us.
Educators’ Resources
Declaring the State of Israel, May 14, 1948
About Israel (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs) — This section of the MFA website includes “Fast Facts” (population figures, currency), and links to pages on education, economy, science, and more.
Central Zionist Archives — English version of the Hebrew site above, includes history of the first Maccabiah games and resources for Family History Research.
COJS Educational Resource Guides: Zionism — Offers nine lesson plans using primary documents as their core.
The iCenter for Israel Education — Provides resources to create a comprehensive and thoughtful Israel curriculum
Makom — An initiative of the Jewish Agency, the website “offers a cutting-edge approach to rich, meaningful, experiential Israel education.” Website areas include educational resources, and book, film, and song material to teach Israeli culture.
Reader’s Guide to Jerusalem from the Berman Jewish Policy Archive (BJPA.org) — filled with articles on politics, religion, archaeology and more. There is also a link to their Reader’s Guide to Zionism at the end.
Historical Documents
Database of Israel’s Treaties (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs) — The database contains scanned copies of bilateral and multilateral treates.
Israel’s Foreign Policy – Historical Documents (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs) — Provides to links to documents organized by historical period, 1947-2004).
Letter from British Navy Regarding S.S. President Warfield (Exodus 1947) — Letter from a secret British admiralty report in July 1947 detailing the boarding of the S.S. President Warfield, which was renamed the Exodus 1947, as it attempted to land in Haifa with Holocaust refugees on board.
The Middle East 1916-2001: A Documentary Record (The Avalon Project at Yale University) — Documents organized chronogically from the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement to a 2003 House of Representatives hearing on the Middle East peace process. Also includes a link to UN Resolutions on the Arab-Israeli Conflict.
The National Library of Israel — Offers links to many interesting sites including: the Historical Jewish Press; the Digital Manuscript Collection; and, the National Sound Archive.
National Archives Online Public Access — Search to view declassified reports from the US Government on Israeli political history.
Old Magazine Articles — The category Jews in the 20th c. provides articles on Mandate and early Statehood.
Recognition of the State of Israel (Harry S. Truman Library & Museum) — This site includes links to historical documents, oral histories, and lesson plans.
Teaching with Documents Lesson Plan: The US Recognition of the State of Israel (National Archives) — Lesson information based on two historical documents: State Department telegram to Middle Eastern embassies and consulates about imminent US recognition of Israel statehood; and, President Truman’s letter of recognition.
Zionism: Historical Documents and Texts — Arranged chronologically from 2004 back to the 18th c.
Maps and Multimedia
Map of the British Mandate in Palestine
British Pathé YouTube Channel provides links to 85,000 historical films dating from the invention of the moving image in the 1890s. Many of the films come from the British mandate period of Israel’s history (1918-1948), as well as films documenting Israel up to 1976. See Holocaust survivors arriving in Haifa and President Chaim Weizmann presenting President Harry Truman with a Torah at the White House.
Efootage — collection of historic films on the events of modern Jewish History. See films such as films of Golda Meir and David Ben-Gurion, among many others.
Exodus 1947 — in Inside Out Documentaries, WBUR. Details the American crew who refurbished the S.S. President Warfield and renamed the ship Exodus 1947 when they sailed her to Europe to pick up Holocaust refugees bound for Israel.
Israel in Maps — Jacob Richman’s Hotsites: (updated 12/19/12)
Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive — Click on “Pre-State” or “State of Israel” to view historical films of Israel.
Travel Film Archive (Historical Films of Israel) — This unusual website lists hundreds of films from the 1920s and following. Search “Israel” to view silent films of Palestine and Jerusalem from the 1930s and beyond.
Museums
Beit Lohamei HaGhetaot — The Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum offers a virtual tour, as well as educational and historical materials about the Holocaust and the State of Israel.
Bet Hatefutsot — “Museum of the Jewish People,” offering online exhibitions, education programs as well as educational materials which can be viewed online.
Israel Museum — See information about the special exhibit on King Herod, as well as the Shrine of the Book resources on the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Yad Vashem — Israel’s Museum of the Holocaust has many exhibits and resources on the post-war creation of the State of Israel. See especially: “My Homeland: Holocaust Survivors in Israel“; “To Build and To Be Built: The Contribution of Holocaust Survivors to the State of Israel“; lectures by historians including “The Influence of the Eichman Trial on the Israeli Public’s Attitude Towards Holocaust Survivors” and “The Holocaust and the Establishment of the State of Israel”; and an article for educators on The Survivors of the Holocaust.
Research into Teaching Israel
Day School Israel Education in the Age of Birthright — Article by Alex Pomson in the January 2010 issue of Jewish Education. Full article access by subscription only (check with your school to see if you are subscribed).
Defining Israel Education — by Bethamie Horowitz for the iCenter, March 2012. Available from the Berman Jewish Policy Archive, NYU.
Hearts and Minds: Israel in North American Jewish Day Schools — Study commissioned by the AviChai Foundation and written by Alex Pompson, Jack Werthheimer, and Hagit Hacohen-Wolf. Published April 2014.
Israel Curriculum in North American Jewish day schools: a study of untapped transformative potential — Report from the iCenter to Shusterman and Jim Joseph Family Foundations, 2009.
Israel Education — Publication from the Berman Jewish Policy Archive that explores questions such as What is Israel education? What is the relationship between Israel and Jewish education? What is the role of trips to Israel in Israel education? Introduced by Barry Chazan, Professor Emeritus of Education at The Hebrew University as well as Senior Educational Consultant at Taglit Birthright Israel and educational consultant at the iCenter.
Israel Education Research Briefs (at The Consortium for Applied Studies in Jewish Education) — Read five articles on five “areas of priority” for Israel research and education.
Israel in Jewish Day Schools — Report on a study conducted by Peter Geffen on the current state of Israel education.
Sacred Vision, Complex Reality: Navigating the Tensions in Israel Education — Article by Lisa Grant in Fall 2008 issue of Jewish Educational Leadership.
Sh’ma: A Journal of Jewish Ideas — This issue is devoted to Teaching Israel.
Secondary Material on Israel’s History
Delegates to the First World Zionist Congress, Basel, Switzerland, 1897
Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History — Click on menu options for Zionism and State of Israel to link to periods of Israeli history. Resource menu offers Texts and Documents, Maps and Atlases, and more.
Encyclopedia of the Founders and Builders of Israel— Created by the Touro College Libraries, this site is the online version of the 19-volume book published by David Tidhar between 1947 and 1970. Search either in Hebrew or English, or Browse in Hebrew.
A History of Israel — From Zionism-Israel.com, this page is a portal to biographies, maps, timelines and other useful resources for teaching the history of modern Israel.
Timeline of Zionism — From the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this timeline runs from 1870 to 2002, with imbedded links to pages that define terms and persons of significance to Israeli history.
Zionism: The First 120 Years — Timeline of Zionist history from 1882 to 2002 at the website of the Jewish Agency. The website also offers many more pages on Israeli history.