Getting UnStuck

In-Person

Moving Your Israel Education Program Forward

Many of us, from the classroom to the board room, are considering ways to adapt or build Israel education opportunities for learners of all ages. Jewish LearningWorks invites you to think with us about how to get unstuck in your planning, and move toward experimentation and implementation. 

When: Three half-day seminars from October 2026 to March 2027.

Where: Three Bay Area locations (San Francisco, Foster City and the East Bay).

"The task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone"

Exodus 18:18

Even Moses was advised to seek help from the people around him when encountering a daunting task. Surely the rest of us can benefit from support too!

Over the last two decades Jewish LearningWorks has supported educators across Jewish educational settings to grapple with the design and implementation of their Israel education program. Over the last three years we heard person after person say “I’d like to try… but…”

The complexity of the conversation about Israel and Palestine is the need to help learners of all ages engage with the people and land of Israel, from the Torah to contemporary politics.

This three-part series is designed to help teams get Israel conversations unstuck, and move their teaching and learning forward.

  • Aimed at:
    • Congregational education teams (educators, lay leaders, clergy, executive director). Teams from other educational settings are also welcome.
    • We strongly encourage the participation of organizational teams that include at least three members.
    • If you would like to attend but do not have a team, please contact Jenni Mangel at jenni@jewishlearning.works.
  • Series structure:
    • Three in-person seminars.
    • It is critical that a Team Lead, generally the education direction director or program head, attend all three seminars. It is ideal for the same team of people to be present at all three seminars.
  • Facilitated by Jenni Mangel, MA Senior Director of Impact and Evaluation, Jewish Learning Works. The seminars will be led by:

Learning Arc & Program Details

Our goal for your team is to deepen your thinking, open communication lines, and launch a new Israel education approach, or experiment more confidently with what is already in place. Each session will have preparation and follow up work designed to enhance and advance your learning from this series. Each session of this three part series will be led by expert facilitators who are dedicated to helping you advance this work.

Your team, along with others in the room, will grapple with these questions:

SEMINAR 1: WHAT DO WE KNOW?

What do we know about Israel education? What is age and stage appropriate for the youngest and oldest learners in our community? How might we ensure that what we offer is in alignment with our learners

This session will be based on the work of Matt Reingold, Sivan Zakai and Alex Pomson in Ages and Stages of Learning About Israel. 

  • Date: Wednesday, October 7, 2026
  • Time: 10:00 am – 2:30 pm
  • Place: Peninsula JCC (800 Foster City Blvd, Foster City, CA 94404)
  • Led by: Dr. Matt Reingold and Dr. Sivan Zakai

SEMINAR 2: WHAT'S IN THE WAY?

What’s in the way? How do we, as individuals and as a collective, get in our own way? What do we need to do to close the gap between our intentions and our behaviors?

This session will draw on the work of Robert Kegan and Lisa Lehey at the Harvard Graduate School of Education on our Immunity to Change.

  • Date: Tuesday, December 8, 2026
  • Time: 10:00 am – 2:30 pm
  • Place: Jewish Federation Bay Area (121 Steuart St, San Francisco, CA 94105)
  • Led by: Tania Schweig

SEMINAR 3: WHAT MIGHT WE TRY?

What else might we try? What are our educational goals? What are our next steps?

Using the framework of logic model design, participating teams will consider and articulate the what, for whom, how, when, and what’s needed for creation or adaptation of an Israel education program.

  • Date: Early March 2027 (Exact date to be determined)
  • Time: 10:00 am – 3:00 pm
  • Place: East Bay (Exact location to be determined)
  • Led by: Frayda Gonshor Cohen

Registration

This series is designed for teams of a lead educator, lay leader, and executive leader. If you are interested in participating but are unsure how to create a team, please contact jenni@jewishlearning.works for support.

Jewish LearningWorks offers all of our programs at a subsidized rate due to the generous support of our donors. As an organization that primarily serves the San Francisco Bay Area, and receives funding support from donors in the Bay Area, we are happy to offer an additional 18% subsidy to educators who live in the 9 Bay Area counties and/or work for organizations that primarily serve the 9 Bay Area counties (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Santa Clara, San Francisco, San Mateo, Solano, Sonoma).

Early Bird Fees

Bay Area Organizations: $360 for the first three participants from a single Bay Area organization, and $60 for each subsequent participant. 

Non-Bay Area Organizations: $425 for the first three participants of non-Bay Area organizations, and $60 for each subsequent participant.

Fees rise on September 1, 2026: $400 for Bay Area organizations, and $472 for non-Bay Area organizations. Subsequent participants remain $60 each. 

Regular is open until September 25, 2026 or until the program is full.

Register Here Today

Questions

Please contact Jenni Mangel, Senior Director of Impact and Evaluation, at jenni@jewishlearning.works for any questions or more information.

All trainings at Jewish LearningWorks are subsidized by our generous donors. If the cost is a barrier to your participation, do not hesitate to contact us.

About Our Presenters

Matt  Reginold, Ph.D., joined Rosov Consulting in 2025, bringing a background in Israel education, qualitative research methodologies, and arts-based learning. Before joining Rosov Consulting, Matt taught at TanenbaumCHAT, where he chaired the Jewish History department and taught courses in Jewish and Israeli history as well as Jewish Philosophy. He has published extensively, with dozens of articles in peer-reviewed journals, four books on Jewish and Israeli comics and cartoons, and as co-editor of Teaching Israel: Studies of Pedagogy from the Field. He is also the editor of Education after October 7, a collection of essays published in Fall 2025.

At Rosov Consulting, Matt works on projects that explore how Israel is taught, learned, and experienced in day schools, camps, and digital media.

Sivan Zakai, Ph.D., is the Sara S. Lee Professor of Jewish Education at Hebrew Union College/Los Angeles. A thought leader in Jewish and Israel education, Dr. Zakai is the director of the Children’s Learning About Israel Project and co-director of both the Learning and Teaching about What Matters Project and  Project ORLIE: Research and Leadership in Israel Education. She also serves as an associate editor of the Journal of Jewish Education and as a member of the faculty at the Mandel Teacher Educator Institute.

Tania Schweig, M.Ed., is the Head of School at Oakland Hebrew Day School in the California Bay Area. With over twenty-six years in Jewish educational leadership, Tania brings a strongly relational approach to her work, focusing on building positive organizational culture through self-reflection, learning and growth. As a leadership coach, Tania draws on tools from design thinking, mindfulness practices, systems thinking and self-reflective change frameworks to support emerging leaders as they navigate the rich and complex experience of leadership.

Frayda Gonshor Cohen, Ed.D., has been part of the Rosov Consulting team since 2011. She brings expertise in educational research and a breadth of experience in a variety of Jewish educational contexts. At Rosov Consulting, Frayda has served as a lead researcher on evaluations of programs spanning the Jewish educational sector — from camps (Hiddur Initiative, Kaytiz Kef) to day schools (JBlend Miami, Hearts and Minds) to leadership development programs (Hillel U and Wexner Field Fellows). She consults with a variety of organizations on their evaluation planning and capacity building as well as logic modeling/theory of change. As Managing Director, Frayda also leads company-wide efforts to hire and grow a talented and well-supported team of professionals. She provides leadership and programming to foster a culture of collaboration, learning and growth.

Previously, Frayda has been a teacher in Jewish day schools, congregations, and communal organizations. She served as the first female Congregational Intern at Hebrew Institute of White Plains, and worked in a variety of informal Jewish educational settings including summer camps, Birthright Israel, and the Jewish Agency for Israel in Kiev, Ukraine. She is also one of the founders of Kevah.