This 3-session course offers foundational knowledge about Israel and shows how historical facts affect key stances today. This lively interactive class will include readings of source material, group discussions, and role-playing demonstrations that bring to life seminal arguments between figures of historical importance, and between supporters of conflicting viewpoints for the future of Israel and its people and neighbors.

Class #1, Hatikvah (The Hope): In this session, we will look at the origins of Zionism, exploring the views of Theodore Herzl and Ahad Ha’am, and looking at the contents of the Balfour Declaration. The role play will be Ben Gurion versus Jabotinsky, debating whether to accept the Peel Commission in 1937. This debate is the foundation of Israel’s current debate on a two-state solution.

Class #2, HaMatzav (The Situation): In this session, we’ll look at the impact of the 1948 and 1967 wars, with a focus on maps, the Palestinian refugee question, and the future of the West Bank. The role play will show the Israel Cabinet debate in 1967, right after the Six Day War, on what to do with the West Bank.

Class #3, HaYom VeHaAtid (Today and the Future): In this third session, we’ll look at the past 50 years, with a focus on the Oslo accords and the impact of the first and second Intifadas. We’ll also take a look at a more modern context, include current Israeli elections and politics. The role play will be a debate on a one-state versus two-state solution, within Israeli society itself and in a global community.

About the Instructors: Dr. Jonathan Golden is the Israel Curriculum Coordinator and history teacher at Gann Academy. With a background in Reform, Conservative, Modern Orthodox, and non-affilitiated congregations, Dr. Golden is interested in historical and contemporary questions of Jewish pluralism. Dr. Golden is the recipient of numerous awards, the most recent being the CJP Chai in the Hub award, which honors contributions of lay leaders in the greater Boston Jewish community. Dr. Golden serves on the Steering Committee of AJC’s Contemporary Jewish Life Commission and the Jewish Religious Equality Coalition, which works to bring religious freedom and equality to Israel.

Yoni Kadden is the Chair of the History department at Gann Academy. He has spearheaded numerous curriculum initiatives, including the develop ment of a perpetrator-focused study of the Shoah, an intensive study of the US Supreme Court and a course called “Can the World Live with a Nuclear Iran?”. Yoni regularly leads Civil Rights tours of Georgia and Alabama, and has helped lead numerous trips to Poland with Facing History and Ourselves, and Forum for Dialogue.