Paramus—Ten teachers from Northern New Jersey visited 10 teachers from Nahariya, Israel this summer. Now hundreds of Israeli and American students will be working together on sharing cultures and projects in their classrooms.

Partnership2Gether, an initiative of The Jewish Agency in Israel in conjunction with the Jewish Federation in the U.S., “twins” areas of America and Israel whose citizens visit, learn from and build relationships with each other.  The Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey has twinned with Nahariya and conducts several programs including Israel Teachable Moments, a summer teachers’ seminar that brings together 10 teachers from North Jersey and 10 from Nahariya each year, resulting in joint curriculum between the schools about Israel as the Jewish homeland and Jewish identity from a cultural, historical and religious perspective.

Phyllis Miller, Education Task force Coordinator at the Federation’s Paramus office, said the teachers come from all segments of the Jewish community.  “The teachers are from day schools and congregational schools.  They are working and traveling together with a shared love for Israel and Judaism.”

Miller, a teacher who has worked at the Board of Education in New York and at the Federation, was hired three years ago to coordinate the annual Teachable Moments program.  She hires the North Jersey teachers and her counterpart, Mercedes Hadad who teaches English at the Ulpanit Harel High School for Girls, picks the Israeli teachers.   They get together in Israel during the summer for eight days of traveling and working in Northern Israel, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.  In the working sessions, the teachers are paired and develop the broad outlines of the curriculum they will introduce.

Miller gives the teachers a booklet of ideas but some teachers develop ideas on their own.  Paula Kaplan, who teaches seventh grade at the Glen Rock Jewish Center after-school program, said she came up with her idea from visiting a museum in Israel.  “We’re a scattered people and we always ask people we meet about where they and their ancestors are from.  At one museum we visited this summer, there was an exhibit at the end for a ‘Roots’ project competition.  When I met with Rachel Bonder, my Israeli counterpart, and told her about it, we decided to do something similar with our classes.”  Their students have exchanged introductory, getting-to- know-you-letters.  Now Kaplan is researching how to implement the next segment—tracing family roots and exchanging discoveries with each other.

Ahuva Mantell, an art teacher at The Frisch High School, is working on an “Altered Book” project that is being integrated into several disciplines in the ninth grade curriculum.  Frisch students are taking discarded books and transforming them into creative works of art using a mix of media and techniques to convey ‘identity,’ the unifying theme of grade nine. “A primary theme of the ninth-grade literature curriculum is the concept of coming of age.  As they work through the literature, the students will be asked to use the Altered Books to reflect on what coming of age means to them,” Mantell said. The goal of the project is to create a shared visual language to enable the high school students in both countries to appreciate the differences and similarities between them.  The project is well underway.   This week, Mantell and her Israeli counterparts, Shalom Sonino and Tzion Rosner, held a Skype meeting to review progress and discuss next steps.

Skype will enable Sharon Kinstlinger, Choir Director and Music Teacher of the Moriah School in Englewood and Andres Chait, Musical Instrument Instructor of the Even Shoham School in Nahariya, to share four concerts this year. Kintslinger said the Nahariya students, who are learning flute, saxophone, trombone, clarinet and trumpet, will partner with her Shir Chadash Choir for third, fourth and fifth grade students.  “I was thrilled to be accepted into the Nahariya Twinning Project and to add this special dimension to our music program,” Kintslinger said.  They have begun rehearsing for Chanukah performances and are planning future concerts for Purim, Yom Ha’atzmaut and Yom Yerushalyim.”

The youngest students in the twinned classes are the second graders in Dina Lehman’s class at the Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey and the first graders in the Rambam School.  The students will soon have a great time shopping in a joint Chanukah store where they will purchase prizes using each other’s currency to learn about addition and subtraction.

While American students are eager to learn more about Israel, the Israelis are also learning about us.  Unless their families are from the United States, many Israeli students have questions about Jewish life in America.  Miller said a student once asked her if American Jews celebrate Chanukah and Purim.  Another asked if New Jersey was next to Turkey.

At the end of the year, the Jewish Agency surveys participants and evaluates the program against a set of benchmarks and standards.  Last year, Teachable Moments won the “Excellence Award.”

Partnership2Gether also funds exchanges with Nahariya medical and community groups including a Young Leadership Teen program, Professional exchange and artist exchange.   Miriam Allenson, Director of Marketing Services, said the relationship between northern Jersey and Nahariya has benefited both and become very close.  “We like to say we’re really the same community, just separated by a little bit of water.”

Bracha Schwartz