Aaron WeinbergAaron studies Jewish Professional Leadership (MA) at Brandeis University. He has worked at the Shalom Hartman Institute, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, J Street, and in Jewish Outreach for the Obama campaign. He attended the gap-year program Kivunim: New Directions, based in Israel, studying and traveling to many world Jewish communities.

Session 1: Holocaust Taught in Morocco? A Historic Conference

In September 2011, a group of Moroccan Muslim students at Al-Akhawayn University hosted the first Conference on the Holocaust in the Arab World, to honor King Mohammed V’s work to save Moroccan Jewry. The conference brought together Moroccan officials, and community leaders, with a Holocaust survivor, scholars, and students from America.

Session 2:  Untold Stories of The Jewish Diaspora Experience

In 2009 and 2010, Aaron Weinberg and Jonah Adams traveled to many countries around world on an academic program called Kivunim: New Directions. While based in Jerusalem, they studied and then traveled to visit 10 countries with unique Jewish histories. Along the way, they met individuals with interesting stories of their Diaspora experience. These somewhat untold stories should inform our reading of Jewish History, and can provide lessons for us to consider while we grow as a global people.

Session 3: Learning From Mistakes in Israel Education

How do we teach many different perspectives on Israel, while ensuring our children are committed to Israel’s future? How do we empower learners to engage with Israel in all her facets and nuances while building a life-long relationship? How do we teach our children to grapple with Israel’s challenges and affirm Israel’s potential? How to we reconcile teaching liberal Jewish values with a reality in Israel that doesn’t always reflect them? How do we learn from the mistakes we have made in the past in teaching our children about Israel? In this session we will cover some of the key challenges of Israel education (sometimes through personal story and anecdotes) and explore paradigm(s) that might help us in building more productive Israel Educational visions for the future.