The Israeli-Palestinian Reality in Jewish Education with Encounter
This session will explore how Jewish camps might approach educating about the Israeli-Palestinian reality in all its complexity, from a place of deep loyalty and in-group care for Israel and the Jewish people, alongside a commitment to dignity and security for all. Encounter believes that Jewish education must embrace, not avoid, the most pressing and contentious discussions shaping Jewish society today. Instead of ceding these conversations to activists and extremists, Jewish educators should support young people to explore multiple perspectives, analyze competing claims, and grapple with difficult realities — and offer them structured opportunities to think through their own conclusions.
Yona Shem-Tov is CEO of Encounter Programs. Yona has worked as a Jewish educator for over 20 years. Prior to joining Encounter in 2011, Yona pursued graduate studies at The Hebrew University and doctoral research in Education and Jewish Studies at New York University as a Wexner Graduate Fellow. While at NYU, she co-founded a national program linking scholars and practitioners of Jewish History Education, and helped launch the Ariane de Rothschild Fellowship — an initiative of the Edmond de Rothschild Foundation linking Muslim and Jewish social entrepreneurs from France, the U.K. and the U.S.
Leah Solomon is Chief Education Officer at Encounter. She has worked since 1997 in the field of experiential pluralistic Jewish education, including as Associate Director of the Nesiya Institute and prior to that at Gann Academy in Boston. Leah holds a degree from Harvard University, completed advanced studies at the Conservative Yeshiva, Pardes, and the Hartman Institute, and is a Schusterman Senior Fellow. She serves as Chair of the Board of Zion: An Eretz Yisraeli Community. Leah writes about the Israeli-Palestinian reality for outlets such as the Times of Israel, JTA, and Sources Journal, and is editor and publisher of the Anim Zemirot bencher. An L.A native, she moved to Jerusalem in 1999 where she lives with her family.
About Encounter:
Encounter is a nonpartisan, educational organization cultivating more informed and resilient Jewish leadership on the Israeli-Palestinian reality. Founded in 2005, we seek to foster a widespread culture shift recognizing that the Israeli-Palestinian reality is one of, if not the most, consequential issues facing Israel and the Jewish people in our lifetimes, and as such it cannot and should not be ignored or “managed” indefinitely. Our programs invite leaders and decision makers to reassess long-held beliefs and attitudes, to integrate new and sometimes challenging data points, and to reorder their leadership priorities to more fully contend with these urgent realities in service of a better future.