School Hebrew Classes

Hebrew in Public Schools

Posted Fri, 01/15/2010 - 11:07 by Adam Stewart

Shalom, and welcome to another update from Shorashim.

These past few months, Shorashim - along with a number of partners in Chicago, including parents and students - have been dedicated to expanding and preserving Hebrew learning in the public schools in the Chicago-area. We are proud to say that last Monday, the Glenbrook High School District voted to add Hebrew to their course offerings and the Niles High School District elected to preserve the program that was considered for reduction. At the Niles High School District Board meeting, we were proud to see over a hundred community members - parents and students - come out to support the program (see video on our facebook page and the article in the Pioneer Press).

The new addition gives Chicago its seventh public-high school Hebrew program, and along with the offerings at jewish day schools and camp programs such as Chalutzim at OSRUI, makes Chicago the largest community of teen Hebrew learners in the world outside of Israel. For Shorashim's Club Israel, public high school Hebrew classes are where we are able to do some of our most creative work and we we continue to engage hundreds of students a month in Israeli culture and Hebrew language.

Shorashim Welcomes New Shaliach to Chicago

Posted Fri, 01/15/2010 - 06:03 by Sharna Marcus

Shorashim, in partnership with Habonim Dror - Camp Tavor and the Jewish Agency for Israel, welcomes its first Shaliach (emissary) to Chicago: long time Shorashim staffer Shahar Gal. Shahar’s passion for youth education started as a branch leader in the Hanoar Haoved movement in Israel. In the army, he served as an infantry solider and also worked with disadvantaged youth. Shahar is a licensed and accomplished tour educator in Israel.

Since arriving to Chicago, Shahar has been running Israel programs in local high schools and Israel clubs. He has also been reconnecting with Chicago Community Taglit-Birthright Israel groups that he has staffed in the past. During his time in Chicago, Shahar is also a fellow in Project Incite, a cohort of youth professionals who are to become part of the next generation of innovative Jewish educators. As part of the program, he participated in the ten-day seminar in Israel, after which he staffed a Chicago Community Taglit-Birthright Israel trip with students mostly from the University of Illinois.

Shahar is married to Lee Perry Gal - also a Shorashim educator - who is pursuing an advanced degree in ancient history and archaeology. They live in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago.

Club Israel Envisions Israel in 60 More Years

Posted Tue, 12/09/2008 - 17:15 by Miriam Brosseau

Shorashim launched Club Israel in 2004 in order to help bring high school students all over Chicago the very best in Israel educational and cultural programming; since then, thousands of students have benefited from this enterprise. Today, Club Israel is taking on new and innovative projects including high school excursion days, two year-long fellowships, a new website, and programs for public school Hebrew classes such as "Israel 2068,” which looked at the future of the Jewish state through the eyes of four writers and statesmen.

Etgar Keret, Israeli Author In September, Shorashim’s Club Israel visited several schools in Chicago (Niles North High School, Deerfield High School, New Trier High School, Evanston High School) offering a glimpse into the future of the Jewish state in honor of Israel’s sixtieth birthday.

Israel 2068 is a program based on TIME Magazine’s feature, Israel in 2068.  The premise of the feature was to ask twelve prominent writers, statesmen, and thinkers the following: Israel has existed for sixty years so far…how do you feel it will respond to the challenges and opportunities of the next sixty? Club Israel selected four of the twelve responses -  Israeli writer Etgar Keret, Talmudic scholar Adin Steinsaltz, former U.S. national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, and Holocaust survivor/writer/humanitarian Elie Wiesel. 

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