Givat Haviva's March 2016 Newsletter
 
Upcoming Events!

Come out to hear from our Executive Director - Yaniv Sagee - in Closter, NJ at Temple Emanu-El on April 9th at 4pm on Shared Society in Israel.

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Mohammad Darawshe returns for an amazing event - The Amy Adina Schulman Memorial Lecture on April 12th at 7:30pm at the Jewish Center in Princeton, NJ.


In Case You Missed It!

Photos from Mohammad's Recent Speaking 
Tour in the US

Mohammad at Temple Beth-El in Hillsborough, NJ

Mohammad at Connecticut College hosted by the Jewish Federation of Eastern Connecticut
Mohammad at Adat Shalom Congregation in Bethesda, MD

Mohammad at the AIPAC Policy Conference
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Hebrew Language Day at
Musmus Middle School

Hebrew Language Day at Musmus Middle School
Video from Hebrew Language Day at Musmus Middle School - Click to View!
 
As part of the " Yihyeh B'seder " (Hebrew Language Enrichment for Arab Schools) program, the Musmus Middle School held a Hebrew Language Day for the whole school. Each class prepared a station of Hebrew language activities in their classroom for the rest of the school to visit and delivered a presentation in Hebrew before an audience of two teachers and two students who then evlaluated the production. The classes' topics included tolerance, animals, professions, outer space, food, racism, and famous Islamic scientists and mathematicians. The children also heard presentations in Hebrew from a team of firefighters and an emergency first-aid provider. The school principal, Hassan Mahajne, the Yihyeh B'seder program instructor, Noam Raz, the school's other Hebrew teachers and the rest of the school faculty worked together to make a fun, educational, and inspiring day for the whole school.

More good news for the program came this month, that the Ministry of Education gave the "Yihyeh B'seder: Hebrew Language Enrichment Program" their hoped-for seal of approval in the form of a two-year plan to expand the program nationwide to the Haifa, North, Central, and South regions of Israel, reaching almost all of the Arab junior high schools in the country, and doubling the hours of instruction per class. This will mean an eight-fold increase in the number of students reached by the program over the coming two years. The program staff at Givat Haviva have begun accelerated recruitment of new teachers for the expansion, and production of more pedagogical material is underway.
Celebrating the Opening of a Shared Arts Center - between our Ma'ale Eron and Meggido Shared Communities Pair
 
A dream came true on Saturday, March 26th for one of our  Shared Communities partnerships between the Arab local authority of Ma'ale Eron and their neighboring Jewish regional authority of Megiddo. The two mayors, along with regional partners in the Arts & Culture Committee and two Arab Israeli local artists who pushed for this project celebrated the long awaited opening of an Arts Center in Zalafa, a town in Ma'ale Eron. The building has been completely renovated by the two communities - now featuring a beautiful gallery space and two additional open workshops for public use. 

The opening ceremony highlighted the hard work of the Arts & Culture Committee's initiative to transform this shared space for the communities. Local artists and citizens gathered for a celebratory ceremony officially opening the space to the public. Local artists are happily in the midst of filling the gallery's calendar and introducing joint workshops and art classes for the additional spaces.
DATE CHANGE!! 
Givat Haviva's Annual Conference Moved to  Tuesday, May 24th
 
Due to the opening of the Knesset's summer session on Monday, May 23 - we have moved our Annual Conference to the following day: Tuesday, May 24th in order to ensure full participation and coverage.

This year's Fourth Annual Conference theme is " Implications of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict on Common Citizenship for Jews and Arabs in Israel". The Conference will run for the full length of the day (9am-5pm) and will include various panel discussions held in cooperation with partner organizations dealing with the topics of education, employment, municipal cooperation and forms of communication and discourse for a sustainable democracy and shared society in Israel.  The Conference is a wonderful moment where prominent leaders and representatives from civil society, government, and the private sector in Israel and around the world gather in solidarity for Shared Society.  We hope to see you there!