by Carl Schrag
For one of the Yom Meuchad (special day) programs with Bogrim (entering 9th grade) and Machon (entering 10th grade), we did a deep dive into Israel’s Declaration of Independence. During the program, campers were divided into groups and took on different personas in Israeli society to assess what they like and dislike about the existing declaration from the perspective of their group’s persona. The personas they took on were religious Zionists, ultra orthodox, secular Jews, traditional Jews, Arab citizens, immigrants from Soviet Union, right wing Zionists, left wing Zionists, and American Jews.
In the evening for peulat erev (evening activity) they reenacted the reading of the declaration and the day concluded with an independence party.
What this day does every year is give a huge number of campers and staff an opportunity to do a deep dive that isn’t directly related to news and headlines. It helps give them a perspective to have a deeper and richer understanding of news as it’s unfolding. It came together really well. And during the dance party, some of the campers said, “That was a really great Yom meyuhad!”
Carl Schrag Israel Educator-in-Residence
Carl is a senior educator at The iCenter for Israel Education, and he teaches about Israel and Jewish affairs in many settings. He and his wife, Lilach, met in Israel and live in Highland Park, IL. During his first career in journalism, Carl served as the editor of The Jerusalem Post. He continues to bring an obsession with current events to all that he does.
