International Seminars for Educators in English and the Jewish World

What should you expect in the educational seminars?

Although you have already received a previous program that outlines the length and breadth of a seminar - content and structure - we are sure that you may be unclear as to what we intend to accomplish during the eighteen days of the seminar.

First and foremost, this will be a learning experience that will require a tremendous amount of physical, intellectual, and emotional stamina. Most of the seminar you will find yourself sitting in a chair and listening, listening, and listening.

You will be meeting, listening to and learning from some of the top scholars, academics, and educators with decades of pedagogical experience in the field of Holocaust education and research. After all is said and done, and as intensive as this seminar appears - you will merely be scratching the surface of a topic that to this day generates over four thousand, books, articles, and commentaries per year.

In order to create the educational atmosphere that we believe is important, this seminar will require a tremendous amount of listening, patience, and humility.

What are the educational goals and objectives in our seminars?

Essentially this seminar is built upon three major pillars, which comprise the educational philosophy of the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem. These three pillars are academic, pedagogical, and experiential.

A. The academic component will take you through the history and culture of the Jewish people in the interwar period, a people with diverse interests and roots – not a people born as victims. It will continue through the history of Antisemitism, the stages of the Final Solution, and the Jewish response to the Nazi onslaught. This component, although historically based, will include lectures on literature, theology, psychology, and art.

B. The pedagogical component will provide the participants with the tools to translate this academic content into suitable pedagogical materials that are age appropriate and multi-disciplinary. We intend to present a multitude of different teaching resources that have been developed in the school over the past decade. There will also be time for dialogue with the participants concerning educational activities and tools that have been developed by the participants in their different endeavors.

C. The experiential component is made up of three sub-components. The first and probably most important is meetings with survivors during different phases of the program. You will meet with ten to twelve survivors whose testimonies document and personalize this tragic historical event and provide it with a human face and heart.;

The second sub – component is field trips that will connect the participants not only with the recent history of the Jewish people but also with its ancient roots in the Land of Israel.

The last sub-component is a series of films and optional workshops that will enhance both the historical and pedagogical components of the program.

The seminar will also deal with the recent upsurge of Antisemitism and Holocaust denial through out the world today including strategies for combating these phenomena.

We will also do our best to address the Arab – Israeli conflict as it unfolds, although this is not a major component and certainly not the focus of this seminar.

We believe that if you apply these components of listening, patience, and humility, we will together be able to create an educational and pedagogical dialogue as part of the dynamic of this seminar. It is possible that for some of you this will only happen after the conclusion of the seminar and you have returned to your places of endeavor.

Essentially, we will do our best to lay the groundwork for developing a dialogue - not only with us here at Yad Vashem but also with your students, colleagues, community, and environment.

If you feel that you are up to this challenge, we whole-heartedly hope to see you at our educational seminars. We will do our best to support you intellectually and emotionally and to help you through this challenging process.

Ethics of the Fathers 2:21 - ”It is not for you to finish the work, but neither are you free to desist from it”

Previous Seminars

Program of Jewish Educators Seminar - “Learning to make a difference” Teaching the Shoah, Antisemitism and Contemporary Israel - Summer 2006

Program of the International Seminar for Educators - “Teaching about the Shoah and Antisemitism" -  Summer 2006

Ephraim Kaye
International School for Holocaust Studies
Director, International Seminars for Educators in English and the Jewish World
Yad Vashem