The ‘What If’ technique is a way of helping you create new ideas and solutions , and thinking about new possibilities and paradigms. Throughout Arachim, you will have the chance to practice this technique, and we will be asking a series of short, thought provoking ‘What if …..’ questions.
‘what if all Jewish education happened in museums? ‘

A key question we all face as Jewish educators is the balance between a Jewish identity built on remembering an often traumatic past and one built on a positive future. This is particularly apparent in Poland, and over the three days of Arachim we will be able to interact with a young and vibrant, current community, and in so doing, hopefully raise questions about the messages we give our students.  As a start, we will be visiting this magnificent new museum which offers not just historical insight, but also raises important questions about who owns and ‘uses’ the Jewish past.  You will be able to explore the exhibition through a choice of different themes, followed by a discussion on Jewish identities with Tamar Sorek and Yael Rosen of the International School for Jewish Peoplehood Studies at Beit Hatfutsot. 

Which Jewish identity do our students build?

The lecture will present an overview of human behavior during crisis, normative and non-normative traumatic reactions during emergency and vulnerability circles. By focusing on leadership in educational systems, post-emergency intervention tools for working with students and their families will be discussed, while addressing personal experience of the events by school management.

The underlying principle presented is that in order to build community resilience, post traumatic intervention and support may be given by non-clinicians in the psycho social professions. Teachers, parents as well as community leaders can be trained to support their circles of influence and extend coping skills and resilience to the community-at-large

a fun, interactive session when everyone will have a chance to build (create) their own ‘what if’ questions and suggest some innovative answers.– interactive session with participants ‘

How do we best equip our schools, communities and students  to face the challenges of 21st century European Jewish life? – the experience of two  communities facing two different challenges Experience acquired and lessons  learned in dealing with acute crisis and emergency within the school community

a) The crisis and I –  Discussing the principles of continuity in the aftermath of traumatic events
The overall goal of the workshop is to help school management become more aware of the effects of trauma on themselves and how it could impact their work and interaction with school staff, parents and students in times of emergency and crisis.

The workshop makes use of art therapy techniques, promoting self-awareness to the effects on both the professional and personal levels of living and working in the community.
Dr Shiri Daniels, Israel Trauma Coalition/ Eran, Israel

Early Years Educators– a practical workshop building on the recent Prague seminar, but open to all early years educators at Arachim.  Nic will work with some Jewish artefacts to help give you some fresh ideas for teaching the chagim and Jewish ideas in the early years setting.

Nic Abery, Look to learn

From children to adults and back again – ideas and issues in Jewish working with adolescents.  Adolescence can be a challenging time but also a hugely rewarding one.  Starting with some theories about how teenagers learn best, we will share some programmes for Jewish identity work.
Mario Izcovich, Director of Pan European Programmes and Leatid, JDC Europe

Face to Faith : talking across faiths , cultures and continents : Face to Faith connects school children (12–17 years) across the world.  Its aim is to break down religious and cultural differences and thereby reduce conflict, by giving the young people who participate a voice that may be heard around the world.  Armed with the knowledge, understanding and the profound experiences of interacting directly with others whose views and faiths may differ, students in the programme are equipped to challenge and resist narratives of close-mindedness.
 Jo Malone, Senior Project Manager, Tony Blair Faith Foundation

This innovative fair of ideas and experiences will be open from 12.00 to 14.0 to enable participants to visit the different exhibitors,including different schools and organisations working on different materials and techniques

Israel and Diaspora education  - how can Israel help? – Come and learn about how the Israeli Ministry of Education is assisting Jewish schools in the Diaspora, including curriculum development and teacher training and approaches that help young Diaspora Jews make sense of what Israel means to them.

Tzila Meron, Israel Ministry of Education

Breaking down the Jewish school gates – reaching out beyond the formal. For many Jews, the local Jewish school is the Jewish space they most often encounter.  How do we use this, and the buildings, technologies and resources at the school’s disposal, to reach outside the school gates and create new models of Jewish learning and living?   This session will also look at a model of teenage engagement offered through the Centropa programme.
Mariano Schlimovich, ECJC DIrector and  Marcel Kenesei , Centropa

Teaching  the Holocaust –the Yad Vashem International School for Holocaust Studies – our approach revolves around two main axes: historical and educational.  The historical axis deals with teaching about the Holocaust itself, whereas the educational axis demands that the Holocaust be regarded not only as a historical narrative, but also as a human story.  This session will explain how these approaches work and how the work of Yad Vashem can be used in your school. 
Dr Ephraim Kaye, The International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem,  Director of the Jewish World and International Seminars for educators 

Learn Talmud Like An Artist : What does an artist notice that a yeshiva student  might not see?  Daf Yomi is the study of a page of Talmud a day.  Once only practiced in traditional communities, it’s now popular across the Jewish world. Drawyomi is Jacqueline’s on-line project that draws inspiration from the day's Talmud page, and offers a different perspective on the text. ( o previous knowledge of Talmud is required)

Jacqueline Nicholls, artist

Face to Faith – linking schools and communities - The Face to Faith project is a programme connected school children (12–17 years) across the world. Its aim is to break down religious and cultural differences and thereby reduce conflict, by giving the young people who participate a voice that may be heard around the world; directly challenging prejudices and assumptions, and empowering students with the experience of direct and meaningful connections around the globe.

Jo Malone, Senior Project Manager, Tony Blair Faith Foundation

Facing the Holocaust – what should be the aims of Holocaust education?  Is it about building Jewish identity or developing positive action against all racism? This session will look at contrasting approaches to teaching the shoah and ask if we have overemphasised teaching the Holocaust at the expense of all other Jewish history?

 Dr. Ephrayim Kaye , The International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem,  Director of the Jewish World and International Seminars for educators 

Creative approaches to changing  Jewish identities  – how to work with art and creative areas in the Jewish school, to respond to the very many ways in which today’s Jews express and understand themselves, and the shifting nature of gender and other traditional identities. 

Jacqueline Nicholls  / Nic Abery

TAL AM online - an introduction to the new on line version of one of the world’s most successful and popular school Ivrit programmes.

 Esti Schwartz and Yael Dahan, ITalam

Linking Generations in the Community –using intergenerational programming to create meaningful Jewish education –

Yael Rosen, Beit Hatfutsot – The Museum of the Jewish People, Bet Hatfutsot

 6 x 10 minute talks where we imagine some new and creative solutions to some big issues in Jewish education.

 The JCC Warsaw is all about Jewish informal education. It offers educational activities for kids, family workshops, lectures and meet-ups for adults. Its team put all their efforts into making JCC Warsaw a welcoming place, where one can spend his or her free time surrounded by friendly atmosphere, discover Jewish culture and develop their Jewish identity. 
Their ambition is also being a part of and facilitating the creation of lively modern Jewish culture and the culture of the city of Warsaw. For this reason, they organise as well artistic events and social projects reaching beyond the Jewish community itself.

Who is JCC Warsaw for? For all people having Jewish roots and background, for their families and relatives, but also their non-Jewish friends interested in Jewish culture. JCC Warsaw is a place open to individuals of all sorts of backgrounds, whether they are deeply religious or atheist, affiliated with Jewish organisations or they prefer to stay unaffiliated. They work for the benefit of the Jewish community as a whole, considering all possible meanings of this term and being open to all of them - no matter the age, values they are driven by or their lifestyle.

Welcome to Warsaw JCC, Presentation of the center and introduction to the modality of the evening

Agata Rakowiecka, Director JCC Warsaw.

An exclusive programme for Arachim participants inviting local JCC members for a night of social, education, food, music & dance