Responding to the Fallout From October 7th: From Crisis to Opportunity
December 9th, 2024
Since the events of October 7th, 2023, Jewish educators have found themselves at the center of an unprecedented challenge, guiding learners through a landscape shaped by intense emotions and complex questions. The research findings show that Jewish educators are experiencing considerable emotional strain, with many expressing anxiety and despair as they navigate teaching in the post-October 7th environment. Educators also report their learners experiencing similar negative emotions including confusion, anger, and isolation in response to the unfolding events. Many feel unprepared for addressing the crisis within their existing frameworks, revealing gaps in training and resources to navigate these challenging topics.
This moment, while difficult, offers a unique opportunity for rethinking how Jewish education responds to crisis and challenge whether involving Israel, or other areas of life that involve emotional challenge and/or the need to address diversity of opinion and behavior. In such moments, individuals must respond to the world around them, and Jewish educators should see themselves as a resource and guide for doing so. Our focus here is the post-October 7th crisis, and the way Jewish educators are responding.
The power of the events playing out is such that educators realize they need to respond. Events include the war in Israel, the ideological prism through which the war is covered in the media and accompanying public discourse amplified by the 2024 Presidential election, the increased diplomatic isolation of Israel, and the sharp rise of antisemitism. The post-October 7th events are existential in nature, causing many Jews to assess their relationship to the Jewish People, to the society around them and to Israel.
As with any crisis or challenge there are diverse Jewish reactions as to how to understand and respond. Drawing on the survey data we show there are currently three approaches among Jewish educators to Israel.
- Solidarity: A focus on nurturing a love for Israel, meaning positive emotional bonds.
- Criticism: A mirror image of the solidarity approach with the emphasis on enabling criticism of Israel as
legitimate Jewish expression. - Complexity: A third approach, which works to strike a balance arguing that to educate a love of Israel, requires learners not only to form positive emotional bonds but also to formulate their opinion and ability to discuss with others Israel in all its social and political complexity.
The tendency of most educators is to embrace one of the solidarity, complexity or criticism approaches, which we argue is not productive for forging a constructive response to the post October 7th crisis, or any other emotional crisis or challenge. Either solidarity or criticism when taken alone cannot enable education to strengthen emotional bonds between Jews who hold different opinions in the face of crisis. Alternatively, complexity cannot stand as a goal unto itself, as the creation of positive bonds between Jews and Israel is a core goal of Jewish education.
Currently the dominant approach to Israel in Jewish education only emphasizes “solidarity,” educating for love of Israel. The result is that many Jewish educators are unprepared for responding to intensely negative events that require consideration of a complex social, moral and political reality and divisive Jewish communal environment. Many Jewish educators are expressing feelings of anxiety and uncertainty, unsure of how to tackle the negative intensity of their personal emotions and those of their learners.
We call for an integrative approach that emphasizes forging positive emotional bonds between Jews while recognizing the need to enable learners to grapple with both complexity and criticism. Our call is for educators to lead the integration of Israel into Jewish life as a positive force for Jewish belonging and identification. In a moment of crisis, can Jewish educators bring learning and engagement with Israel to serve as a source of constructive bonding between Jews, rather than a catalyst for division?
For this purpose, we draw on the research data to advocate for an integrative model of Jewish education in which Israel in integrated into all areas of the discipline. In so doing educators facilitate (1) Jewish bonding and (2) complex thinking. Educators nurture their learners’ consciousness of belonging to the Jewish People and enable each to develop a robust self-understanding of their desired Jewish life in relationship to other Jews, Israel and the society in which they live.
The Fallout from October 7th: From Crisis to Opportunity, Ezra Kopelowitz Ph.D., Shlomi Ravid Ph.D., Iris Posklinsky Ph.D.,
Jonathan Golden Ph.D. and Jake Gillis M.A., The Center for Jewish Peoplehood Education & Research Success Technologies, November 2024
View a presentation on the report’s key findings. View A Call for Action: Jewish Education on Israel – Post-October 7th.