From the song Jerusalem of Gold to the movie Exodus, the popular arts have always been a part of the Israel engager’s “kit-bag.” How might we update our material to accommodate new Israeli popular arts, and a 21st century Jewish community? This seminar focuses on contemporary Israeli music as an educational resource and the ways in which Israeli arts present a window into the questions and complexities of Israeli life.
In this session, we address four areas of practical work: how to work with the “priestly” (praising and unifying) and the “prophetic” (criticizing and raging) in contemporary Israeli music; how to navigate the phenomenon of popular Israeli music that uses Jewish texts and liturgy; how to create a video translation; and how to apply structures of Jewish traditional study to Israeli pop songs.
Participants take with them several cognitive tools, including the following resources:
- Makōm Matrix for Israel Engagement
- Arts in Education cognitive tool
- Access to YouTube channel of useful Israeli video clips with embedded translation
- “Tips for the Road,” a logistics check-list for working with the arts,
- “Provocative Facilitation,” a six-point guideline
