Polish-Israeli Youth Meetings
An Overview from an Israeli perspective
Avigail MosheAdam le'Adam
Israeli youth delegations to Poland
Timeline
1996- Educational goals and binding regulations under the title “I seek my brethren” (Genesis 37:16)
80’s- The first Israeli groups visiting Poland.
1989- Opening the opportunity for more schools.
1991-A course for group guides. Yad Vashem and the Ministry of Education.
Israeli youth delegations to Poland
Educational Philosophy
“The educational system in Israel sees itself
obligated to endow the full historical, moral and
educational significance, both Jewish and human,
of the Jewish fate, to our children as they grow-up
and continue to shape the future and existence
of the Jewish people and the state of Israel”
Israeli youth delegations to Poland
Educational Philosophy
“The Ministry of Education will encourage and
assist Israeli students in visiting the traces of
Jewish communities and the extermination sites in
Poland. This journey is meant to strengthen the
students’ sense of belonging to the Jewish
people and its heritage”
Israeli youth delegations to Poland
The preparation process
•The Jews in Poland until the German occupation
•Poland during WWII
•Nazi ideology
•The Jews in Poland during the Holocaust
•Righteous among the nations
Israeli youth delegations to Poland
The preparation process
•Holocaust survivors
•Holocaust remembrance in today's Poland and Israel
•Jewish - Polish relations after the war
•Today’s Poland
•Meeting with Polish youth
Israeli youth delegations to Poland
The journey to Poland
The journey moves in three circles:
The Jewish past
Poland and the Polish
people
The Holocaust
Israeli – Polish youth meetings
“Getting Closer”
•Meetings based on personal initiatives were held since the very beginning.
•In the year of 2005, establishment of cooperation between:
The Israeli and the Polish Ministry of Education and
Israeli – Polish youth meetings
“Getting Closer”
• Training for Polish and Israeli teachers, twice a
year in Israel and in Poland
• Polish and Israeli youth meetings, during Israeli
students’ journeys to Poland, aiming to:
Israeli – Polish youth meetings
“Getting Closer”
1.Start the dialogue between young people
2. Create connections based on common interests
3. Stimulate contacts and cooperation between schools
4. Form in the young generation the attitudes of
patriotism, tolerance and respect for human rights
Israeli – Polish youth meetings
“Getting Closer” – my observations
• An increased openness for the option of meetings
• Personal connections between the teachers – role
models
• A successful meeting will become a tradition of
corporation
Israeli – Polish youth meetings
“Getting Closer” – my observations
• The meetings give the opportunity of dealing with issues
that are not in the common discourse of the other
community
• The meetings helps both Polish and Israeli students to
break stereotypes and challenge common conceptions
about the “other”
• The young students are eager to find common interests.
Avoiding the “difficult questions” in favor of
contemporary immediate encounter
Israeli – Polish youth meetings
“Getting Closer” – my questions
• The effectiveness of a one time meeting?
• The majority of schools are not willing to add the
meeting component into their program. Why?
• Are the students’ journeys to Poland serve as the best
frameworks for such encounters?
Adam le'Adam
Aims to give young Israelis the opportunity to live in Poland for several months, and volunteer in different initiativesthat are dedicated to the preservation of the Jewish past.
Create a new Israeli-Polish dialogue, based on the preservation of Jewish heritage in Poland as an element of shared identity, and as a source of reconciliation and bonding between the two Peoples.