Min Habe’erot Initiative: Jewish-Arab Education Toward A Shared Society

Min Habe’erot Initiative: Jewish-Arab Education Toward A Shared Society promotes coexistence in Israel by bringing together Jewish and Arab educators to address issues related to their shared background as citizens of the State of Israel through the study of common values based on traditional Muslim, Christian, and Jewish texts.

This joint study strengthens personal identity, social and moral values, and mutual respect. Through this program, Be’eri will eventually work with the entire educational faculty in partner schools to transform coexistence education into a meaningful part of the curriculum and the school culture. We believe that this will lead to a joint commitment to create a unified Israeli citizenship.

Min HaBe'erot in Haifa

Min HaBe’erot has developed a partnership with Haifa, Israel’s largest mixed city, to work with municipal leadership in thinking about how the city cultivates a shared society. As part of this framework, Min HaBe’erot works with local schools to advance a dialogue in the spirit of Min HaBe’erot and together with school staff is designing a municipal student leadership program to nurture shared leadership among Jewish and Arab youth in Haifa.

In partnership with the Haifa Department of Education, Culture, and Welfare, Min HaBe’erot  ran a seminar for department directors on the theme “Living in a Mixed City” aimed at discussing the challenging questions of shared society to begin to plan activities to advance shared society.

Min HaBe’erot also worked with local principals to create a study component to the annual “Hag HaHagim” festival, a municipal festival held in December 2017 centered around the holidays of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, in which participants studied central texts off all three religions in the Min HaBe’erot spirit.

Min HaBe'erot principals and Hartman Institute President Donniel Hartman met with President Reuven Rivlin at the President's House in Jerusalem

Supported by governmental partners in the Ministry of Education, Min HaBe’erot is being developed based on the successful Be’eri program methodology of transmitting knowledge and practical pedagogy that encourage educators to become committed program partners. The program drew the attention of President Reuven Rivlin, who expressed his support and met with the group at the president's residence.

Through a two-year training course, principals and their faculty members undergo a personal and professional process wherein they gain crucial knowledge of relevant sources, better understand their relationship to their own heritage and that of the "other," and work together to develop methodologies for transmitting these lessons to school faculty and in the classroom.

Min HaBe’erot Program Components

• Principal Training: Min HaBe’eot launched in 2014 with a two-year training track for principals based in northern Israel. In Fall 2016 two new principals’ cohorts - in northern and central Israel - will increase the program’s geographic and quantitative reach.
• Teacher Training: The first two-year teachers' cohort, comprised of educators recruited by participating principals, began in 2015. Back at their schools, alumni teachers and principals work together to develop and implement coexistence education programs.
• Curriculum Writing: The Hartman Institute is convening a Jewish-Arab pedagogic research team of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian educators to create a Min HaBe’erot curriculum to be used in schools.

Participants approach the program with honesty, a willingness to be reflective and self-critical, an understanding of and appreciation for the initiative’s pedagogic methodology, and a deep commitment to the program and to translating their study into meaningful action. Participants have exhibited optimism, hope, and a desire to lead real change in their schools, especially during difficult times in Israel. Be'eri eventually expects to initiate and build infrastructure to support a cultural conversation between educators and students from different sectors focused on building coexistence in Israeli society.

"Principals and educators from different places, different backgrounds, Muslims, Christians, and Jews, a fascinating human mixture. It has been an interesting and challenging journey during troubled times, to say the least. The wisdom and faith of the management team instilled a desire to listen to each other, to share our difficulties, to create a real and continuous dialogue, and to help us believe that we are strong enough to make a difference in Israeli society. We are not 'condemned' to live together, we are meant to live together in this small country without dismissing what makes each of us unique." - Alik Avner, Principal, Kiryat HaChinuch, Ort Chatzor Haglilit

In October 2015, Jewish and Arab principals in the program published a manifesto in response to terror attacks taking place in Israel. The manifesto ran in the Hebrew and Arabic press in Israel and went viral on social media. A lesson on the Jewish-Arab relationship in Israel based on the manifesto was developed by Be'eri and taught in schools across Israel.

“We urge religious, intellectual, and political leaders in Israel – Jews and Arabs alike – to speak in the name of moderation, peace, and cooperation. We take it upon ourselves to do the same in our own schools and communities, and call upon every principal and teacher in the country, Arabs as well as Jews, to follow suit." - Min HaBe’erot Jewish and Arab School Principals, October 2015

Min HaBe'erot Conversation with President Reuven Rivlin