Reform Movement Leaders Define Our Commitment to Israel Education
Six months after the horrors of October 7, the ARJE convened representatives from the ACC, CCAR, ECE-RJ, HUC, and the URJ to develop a core framework that would deepen and broaden our approach to Israel education and guide our movement’s leaders and learners.
“In the wake of October 7, our hearts were torn not only around the devastation in Israel and the rise in antisemitism, but by the painful divides and debates happening within our educational programs around what we are teaching and what our students ought to know, do, think and feel in relation to Israel,” writes Association of Reform Jewish Educators’ CEO Rabbi Stacy Rigler.
ARJE Board member, Rabbi Carrie Vogel, RJE, and Dr. Lesley Litman, RJE, Founding Director of the EMA & Faculty, HUC School of Education, and Senior Consultant at the iCenter, spearheaded the working group. From the beginning, their goal was to empower Congregational, Camp, and Immersive educational leaders to articulate the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values they aim to teach within a post-October 7 milieu.
Looking to the future, the group worked to articulate our aspirations for Israel education and create outcomes that are meaningful, authentic, pertinent, and of the highest quality and integrity for use in our varied settings.
“Our process included reflecting on current best practices and research, then exploring how to leverage our institutional expertise to address the Reform movement’s diverse needs. We concluded by developing a concrete set of outcomes to guide the work of Reform Jewish education across the age span, addressing cognitive, spiritual, and emotional aspects of connection with Israel,” according to Rabbi Vogel.
“The group responded to the very real concerns of those who serve our communities in a professional capacity and the members of our movement who want to understand better what Israel means for them,” said Dr. Litman Vogel and Litman led the working group for over six months, which resulted in the formation of the Israel Education Outcomes, now found on the ARJE website. These outcomes debuted at the joint ECE-RJ and ARJE conference in January 2025 and are now being integrated into the work of URJ Camps, Israel immersive, and congregational learning communities.
“As an educator, I wanted a framework to scaffold my Israel curriculum, and these educational outcomes are the perfect guide to help me in this complex, nuanced work,” said conference chair and ARJE Board Member Rabbi Eve Rudin. Since the ARJE Conference in January, Rudin and other ARJE members are bringing these outcomes to their teachers, school committees, and professional colleagues to enrich their year-end reflection and Fall curriculum planning.
Creating, designing, and implementing Israel education is a long-term commitment. It will take years to fully address the effects of October 7 and its aftermath. In a constantly evolving reality, these outcomes provide our leaders with a starting point for discussing and reassessing their approaches to Israel education. They also offer Reform communities a shared language to guide their efforts and intentions around this often-challenging subject matter. These outcomes encourage educational communities to explore possibilities. They are not a checklist or to-do list; instead, they offer guiding principles for difficult material.
These outcomes are for families, adults, high school students, elementary and middle-school-aged children, and early childhood families—that is, people of all ages and stages. We hope all those who are wrestling and refining their Israel educational approaches will use this gift and share with us how the document has enriched their practice.