18/12/2018
During the Hanukkah week, 15 Israeli educators explored NYC on a TALI Halleli study trip.
TALI Halleli is a professional development program for school principals and preschool educators. Jewish peoplehood and the plurality of voices in the Jewish world are the main messages of the program.
Halleli was launched in 2016 as an intensive, non-academic learning experience aimed at engaging senior educators from TALI schools and encouraging them to embark on personal journeys, exploring their individual Jewish identities as Israelis and as members of the Jewish People. Increasing numbers of educators from non-TALI educational frameworks have expressed interest in Halleli, and now the program is offered to participants from both TALI and non-TALI schools and preschools.
This 2018/19 academic year, 116 participants participate in Halleli, and delve into topics as varied as Philosophy of Jewish Education; Classic Jewish Texts; Israel’s Relationship with Overseas Jewish Communities; and Pluralism, History and Challenges in the North American Jewish Community. This journey is augmented by a study trip to a North American community, where Israeli educators meet professional peers and engage with opinion makers who define the North American Jewish agenda.
This eye-opening encounter with the American Jewry shines a new light on the Israeli participants’ identities, and shapes educators who actively engage with the world of ideas and transmit the appreciation of pluralistic Judaism to their students.
In the words of one junior high school principal from Yokne’am in Northern Israel:
“Halleli has sharpened my understanding that nothing about the Jewish people is monolithic. Everything is nuanced and complex, and there are many ways of reading a text. It has opened my mind and heart to try and view Judaism from more than one point of view.”
Pictures taken during the trip: