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Research
Projects |
| When
Israel and Diaspora Meet? Educational Possibilities and
Realities |
Project
Two:
The Role of the Jewish Agency in Making a Mifgash Work:
Administrative, Cultural and Ideological Dimensions
Researchers: Dr. Jackie Feldman and Ms. Neta Katz
Over the past decade, educators concerned with Israel-Diaspora
relations have enthusiastically embraced a new educational paradigm
that they call “Jewish Peoplehood Education.” The
dramatic increase of physical “meetings” (mifgashim)
between Israeli and Diaspora Jews is a direct outcome of the
rise of the Jewish Peoplehood paradigm. The mifgash is increasing
found both in programs involving Diaspora Jews coming to Israel,
or Israeli Jews traveling to the Diaspora. The goal is to use
an educational encounter with Jews from other countries to create
a feeling that “we are all one.” Educators are embracing
the mifgash with fervor, making it an integral part of almost
all educational projects dealing with Israel-Diaspora relations.
Is the increasing use of the mifgash as an educational tool
representative of a larger shift taking place in Israel-Diaspora
relations? If so what is the significance of that shift for
the work of the Jewish Agency vis-à-vis other organizations
in Israel and the Diaspora? The researchers argue that for a
mifgash to succeed all participants must feel that they are
citizens “in a global Jewish culture.” The mifgash
program creates for program participants a public environment
in which the conditions and possibilities of Jewish citizenship
are spelt out. When mifgashim fail, the participants continue
to view themselves as citizens of their national sub-groups,
rather than as equal members of the group. Indeed, without proper
organizational and educational investment the mifgash as an
educational tool often fails to produce the intended results.
Indeed, participants may leave the encounter with stronger negative
stereotypes of the Other than they held prior to the meeting.
The researchers inquire into what type of bureaucratic, administrative
and organizational work is required to create a feeling of Jewish
citizenship during the mifgash. The research focuses on three
mifgashim run in Israel during the Spring and Summer of 2001,
providing an ethnographic portrait of the interaction between
administrators, madrichim (counselors), professionally trained
mafgishim (meeting facilitators) and the youth who participate
in the mifgash, with a focus on the collaboration between Jewish
Agency personal and those from other organizations.
(Hebrew) |
Dr.
Jackie Feldman and Neta Katz, Three Mifgashim in 2001:
How Youth Encounters Reflect Israelis and Diaspora Jews
Ideological Position towards Each Other
(January 2002) |
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