Vision
The Meitarim Inclusive Jewish Education & Community Network breaks down the polarization that exists in Israel between religious and secular societies by developing and supporting a network of integrated secular-religious schools and communities that instill Jewish and universal values. Founded in 2001 by Rabbi Michael Melchior, Meitarim helps students, parents and community members develop strong Jewish identities, while finding common ground as Jews and Israelis.
Activity
Meitarim’s diverse network of integrated schools, located throughout the country, from the center to the periphery, includes schools from a wide-range of socio-economic levels and parental involvement. Each school differs in its capacity to bring “out of the box” curriculum and activities to its students.
This program seeks to engage school principals to identify the unique needs of their schools and student bodies. Through a planning process, Meitarim helps the principals brainstorm and create pilot projects that address the schools’ individual needs and opportunities. These projects may be “Science to Life” labs, “Making History Alive” explorations, social-distance activities or something else entirely. Meitarim then selects a number of these pilot projects and guide the principals and teachers in implementing the project over the course of the school year. The projects that are successful and have the capacity to be sustainable, are replicated to other schools
The project:
- Creates engaging school programs.
- Helps implement sustainable, grassroots programs in its network of schools.
- Increases the capacity and agency of school principals to develop ideas and implement programs in their schools.