IMPJ Newsletter

The Yachdav Program enables our 5th and 6th grade students to investigate their Jewish identity with greater depth and breadth.  The opportunity to see and hear their peers in the Glilot School creates a reality that cannot be matched by conventional study.  In 2008, our fifth graders signed their names on an American football, which I delivered to the talmidim of Glilot (in Nesher) when I visited for Israel's sixtieth anniversary.  Our encounter in Israel added yet another layer to the connection between our children. I believe mishpacha is the key to a long-term relationship between the Jews of Israel and Jews around the world.  Seeing, hearing and meeting other Jewish students engages curiosity and, I believe, promotes a desire to visit Israel.  

Larry Kohn
Education Director, Temple Beth El
Madison, Wisconsin

IMPJ's Yachdav Program is part of our curriculum, yet it offers something special beyond our regular studies. Our children at the Nesher School benefit from enrichment in topics of our Jewish heritage and culture. They also gain friendship with their peers in their twin community in Wisconsin - and insight into the nature of Jewish communities beyond Israel. I believe Yachdav offers an opportunity for American and Israeli children to create a meaningful relationship and deepen their bonds in a way that will strengthen Jewish identity throughout the world.

Adi Bleicher
Principal, Glilot School
Nesher (Haifa District) 

Jewish educators from across North America are ivited to
enlist in IMPJ's School Twinning programs. Learn more about:

Click here to download: School to School (for fifth and sixth graders) 
Click here to download: "You, Me and Our Holy Days"

You are invited to contact me, Yael Katz, IMPJ Director of Education, for more information. yael@impj.org.il

"You, Me and our Holy Days " has enabled  second graders in my Sunday School class at Temple Sinai in Brookline, MA to embark on a journey of  creating a connection with that country that exists over an ocean and across many seas (GASP, it takes over ten hours to get there by plane). 

IMPJ's program enables our children to piece together an understanding of continuity among Jews internationally. This spring, for example, we learned that eight-year-olds in Israel celebrate the holiday of the trees,  Tu B’shevat, just like we do here.  We created a tree poster that included each of our names and our personal plans to positively impact our planet.  Shortly after shipping our project to the Leo Baeck School in Haifa, we received a poster from our Israeli friends that reflected a different visual interpretation of the very same assignment.

We have written letters introducing ourselves and sent photos and videos. When we learned about Sukkot, we filmed a video so that the Israeli kids could see our Sukkah and watch us singing freshly learned Hebrew words. Upon learning about Shabbat, each student drew a picture of how they tend to spend their Friday nights with their families, whether it’s by sharing a meal or watching a movie. Without fail, we always received a piece of work representing an identical assignment from our pen-pals in return.

This program has validated our children's notion of a Jewish state. It has also personalized their relationship with Israel by encouraging contact with real eight-year-olds and not just dusty textbooks. Furthermore, it has solidified the conception of the Diaspora and the strength of the Jewish people: Jews really have survived from one end of the world to another. The understanding that Jews here and in Israel maintain the same beliefs and practices is we hope, forever ingrained into these young minds.