The Jewish world in the age of coronavirus – A special Israel Hayom project
Part III: How gaming and Zoom can redefine Jewish education
The decision of many US Jewish summer camps to cancel their programs this year due to the coronavirus crisis has had a ripple effect across the Jewish community in the country, upending the plans of many youths who had looked with anticipation to the camps as the highlight of the year and the pinnacle of their Jewish education.
But some see a silver lining in this development: It has given Jewish teens their proper space to use the pandemic to realize their ideological goals.
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Netanel Afek, who has been sent to Cleveland by the Bnei Akiva youth movement and has lived in the city for the past seven years, told Israel Hayom that "we, as educators and community leaders, must marshal their support and give them the power."
Afek is convinced that if the youth are empowered, the educational goals will be met and the "youth movements will consider themselves to be Israel's reserve forces ."
According to Afek, "this will help bolster the bond with Israel and their sense of Jewish peoplehood." He noted that the crisis would allow communities to ditch programs that have not worked, and embrace more innovative teaching tools that would enhance Jewish education down the road.
"The world of gaming is a godsend that the young people can embrace wholeheartedly," he said, referring to the new technological means through which people can be taught Jewish values and history.
In practical terms, this means creating online lessons that would draw youngsters into Jewish education and create curiosity. Afek believes that new technology can help promote this sense of peoplehood.
Afek said he viewed Tikkun Olam (the Jewish concept of making the world better) not as some abstract concept but as "seeing the needs [of] and helping people around us." He stressed that the ties to Israel are going to be of crucial importance in this situation, "especially in light of the problems that will emerge in the communities down the road; some of them are now in a state of disintegration."
French Jewish youth movements are expected to announce this month whether they would proceed with the summer programs, but they are already planning virtual camps.
Dvora Serao, who heads the Lamorim organization and has been collaborating with the Diaspora Affairs Ministry and the Education Ministry in a project call United to bolster Jewish education abroad, says the role of the educator "has changed."
She noted that the rules had to be adjusted to the online classrooms, affecting the project's 30 schools in France and 14,000 pupils who take part in it. "Because we deal with formal education, it is not easy to let loose of the disciplinary rules and to embrace online learning. The virtual activity is slow, but it nevertheless allows us to explore directions in a more in-depth manner," she said.
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