Program Background
Since opening the doors to Mishkenot Ruth Daniel in 2007, the Daniel Centers' mission has been to be an active player in strengthening Jaffa and improving relations between the Arab and Jewish populations in that mixed city. One of the main venues through which we promote change in Jaffa is at the Weitzman Elementary school. This school, set in the heart of Jaffa and currently enrolling approximately 300 students in kindergarten to sixth grade, traditionally served the impoverished Jewish population of Jaffa. However, in the past decade, Jaffa's Arab population has begun to also start sending their children to Weitzman, even though it is officially designated by the Municipality as a Jewish (Hebrew language) school. This recent influx of Arab children to the school, coupled with the existing challenges of a struggling, poor population has intensified issues of religion, nationality, language, and identity, and it poses a multitude of problems for both the city and the school. Even with a process of urban awakening, and a new affluent population that has moved into parts of Jaffa, the Weitzman School continues to struggle because the new affluent population that has moved into parts of Jaffa is increasingly sending its children elsewhere.
In 2009, at the request of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality, the Daniel Centers undertook the challenge of advancing the Weitzman School. The initial goal was to ensure that Jewish students remained in the school and to draw to the school some of the more affluent Jewish population in Jaffa, while strengthening Arab-Jewish relations through community and family events. Over the two years we ran the Daniel Track for kindergarten and grade one, the number of Jewish students in the school more than tripled. We focused on enriching the Jewish identity component of the curriculum, while fostering respect and a sense of community within the track, which consisted of seventy percent Jewish students and thirty percent Muslim or Christian students. The parents' satisfaction in the Daniel Track was very high. Yet as time went by, we realized that maintaining two tracks in one school was increasingly becoming a source of tension. We reassessed our involvement and beginning in the 2011-2012 school year we no longer manage a separate Daniel Track. Rather, at the urgent request of the Municipality, parents and the new principal, we have now decided to become involved with the entire school.
Program Rationale
As an organization which advocates pluralism and engages in education, we view our work in Weitzman, where currently over half of the population is Arab Christian and Muslim, and many of the students come from impoverished homes, as a place where we can apply in practice the values that we stand for: expression of identity, equality, community, mutual responsibility, multiculturalism and tolerance towards others.
The Values through the Arts program aims to transmit these values to the school children at Weitzman through the medium of the arts, including music, graphic arts, drama and storytelling. Beyond making available to these children a multitude of artistic experiences, which the majority of their families would not be able to afford, this program focuses on creating shared and positive meeting points between the mixed community of Arabs, Jews, immigrants and veterans of the city. The program includes stories, songs, musical instruments, poetry, paintings, and more - sharing traditions from different cultures. [1]
Program Structure
Values through the Arts includes stories, songs, musical instruments, poetry, paintings, and more - sharing traditions from different cultures. The program includes both weekly lessons and special events throughout the year, including:
1) Together Through Music-
Music classes will be taught by both an experienced Jewish- and Arab teacher team which has already been identified, with program content consisting of songs from Arab and Jewish culture and world music, and songs that reflect different identities, narratives and cultures. The shared musical foundation will expose the students to the commonalities of different traditions as well as the cultural nuances inherent to each identity. It is hoped that the shared musical foundation and basic musical knowledge will create a level of intimacy and comfort amongst the children and build a community based on understanding and communication. This program will initially be offered to the approximately 50 second graders in the school. As additional funding is found it will gradually be expanded to the entire school.
2) Our Different Tales: Tolerance and Understanding through Storytelling-
Storytelling classes will teach students local and global myths, legends and folk stories. These stories provide valuable insights into cultural identity and can highlight similarities across cultures. Students will learn to identify and analyze a variety of recurring narratives, and in describing their own experiences, they will create their own stories and find meaning within these stories. This will build confidence in each student's unique identity, create a classroom community and instill recognition of the importance of the value of diversity. This program will also be initially targeted to second graders and will be led by a diverse group of experienced storytellers selected and overseen by Daniel Center's educators.
3) Universal Holidays
We believe that finding ways to celebrate together is a prerequisite to finding ways to live together. Through our holidays and celebrations we not only create magical moments and joyous memories, but also promote important ideals and values. In today's growing mixed cities and diverse societies shared holidays create an essential opportunity to explore diversity and reinforce universal collective values. Through exploration, study and celebration of international civic holidays such as: "International Day of Families," "A Day without Shopping," "International Women's Day," "International Day of Tolerance," "Earth Day," and other international noted days or universal concepts such as "New Year and New Beginnings," "Days of Reckoning," etc., we create a common ground for Arab and Jewish children, a meeting place that is joyful, respectful of others and holds promise for a better world, and inculcates pluralistic and democratic values. This program has successfully brought children, teachers, and parents together over the last two years and we hope to continue and expand its outreach.
Expected Outcomes and Longer Term Goals
Arab students in Israel are increasingly attending schools with majority Jewish students where Hebrew is the language of instruction, especially in places such as Haifa, Lod, Nazareth, Illyit, and Asa well as Jaffa. But there are often clashes and misunderstandings between the different ethnic groups. We believe that the curriculum developed and experience gained at Weitzman could eventually become a model for mixed schools in the rest of Israel. To ensure that our experiences can be replicated, we intend to seek professional evaluation of the impact on knowledge, attitudes, and actions of children as well as their parents of the Values through the Arts program.
[1] Students at the Weitzman School score poorly on tests of learning achievement, and a program of academic strengthening is sorely needed. It is expected that the city of Tel Aviv Jaffa as well as other funding agencies will support programs to build language and mathematics skills, especially of disadvantaged children in the school.
