Above from top:
Photograph by Israeli photographer Avishai Finkelstein, Israeli band Hatikva 6, still from the Israeli film “Ushpizin,” still from the Israeli short film “Draft.”

ARTup

NATION

by YAEL MIRIAM and EDOE COHEN

B y taking advantage of the resources available in Israel, Omanoot Education brings the Israeli arts community’s diverse and nuanced perspectives on important Jewish and Israeli issues to the larger public.

What can an Israeli reggae song teach our children about God and spirituality? What can a short film about an Israeli teenager’s struggles with his father on the eve of his induction into the Israeli Defense Forces teach American Jewish teens about adolescence, responsibility and relationships? What can an Israeli photographer’s series of photographs of her diverse extended Israeli family add to the Jewish identity of a young college student in New York? According to Omanoot, a lot.

Omanoot Education is a non-profit organization that provides educators with tools for exploring Israel through the arts. This new organization, based in both Israel and North America, opens the door to Israeli culture by offering Israeli arts-based lesson plans to educators around the world, making it easy and inexpensive to incorporate Israeli arts into their classrooms. By taking advantage of the resources available in Israel, Omanoot Education brings the Israeli arts community’s diverse and nuanced perspectives on important Jewish and Israeli issues to the larger public.

Omanoot Education’s lesson plans can be found along with art content on Omanoot.com, a new web portal that markets Israeli film, music, visual art and literature. Omanoot’s team of educators develops the lesson plans and often tests them in classroom settings before marketing them on the site. To date, the lesson plans, which have been used in numerous outlets across North America, including day-school and after-school programs, camps and young-adult educational settings, have received great feedback and appreciation across the board. Jessica Lissy Trey, a teacher from the Hannah Senesh Day School in Brooklyn, wrote to us, “I wanted to let you know that we started the ‘Adi Nes’ Omanoot lessons today with 6th–8th (grade) and they were fantastic! Everyone participated and shared ideas — they were REALLY engaged!”

As the glare of the mainstream media focuses on Israel’s politics, it is easy to lose sight of the many achievements and advances seen through Israeli art and culture. Israel’s films have won three consecutive Oscar nominations, and its music and visual arts have earned international recognition. Both the Israeli and Jewish worlds are making their marks in these fields, allowing for new ways to connect and empower Jewish identity and engage with critical issues.

By exploring both Israel and international Jewish Peoplehood through diverse artistic media, we hope to catalyze an expansion of thought as well as an opportunity, particularly among young adults, to connect to Judaism.

Omanoot Education’s mission is to encourage art as a means for learning and for a deeper dialogue within the Jewish community about Israeli culture and society. Israeli art is thriving, but as of now it is a minimally tapped resource in the education and non-profit worlds. We would like to see this change by allowing educators access to the arts as well as guidance on facilitating conversations around many hot-button issues. Throughout time, within both Jewish and non-Jewish cultures, art has served as a conduit for thoughtful exploration and empowerment. Omanoot Education aims to use Israeli art to develop greater engagement with the international Jewish world and with the full spectrum of Jewish identities.

Through various perspectives and previously unheard narratives, art can be a powerful educational tool that supports individuals and communities in their explorations of the diverse questions facing the Jewish people. In its multiple forms, art is a universal language that allows empathetic engagement and understanding. By exploring both Israel and international Jewish Peoplehood through diverse artistic media, we hope to catalyze an expansion of thought as well as an opportunity, particularly among young adults, to connect to Judaism. This connection can open up a new and invigorating way to be Jewish. ■

Yael Miriam, Omanoot Education Creative Consultant, is a New York City based performance artist and educator. A former Dorot Fellow, she has written and performed in numerous theater productions and films and developed empowerment education curricula and art workshops throughout the United States and Israel. Edoe Cohen, Founder and CEO of Omanoot.com, produced a number of Israel-related culture projects while studying at Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary. He founded Omanoot while serving as a Legacy Fellow in Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.