Announcing 2 New Books from Z3!
Z3 Fellows Einat Wilf and David Bryfman take on the education of Zionism and Israel
David H.—When Einat Wilf , one of the most important voices today about Palestinianism, UNRWA, and the nature of Zionism, submitted her path-breaking 2023 Jewish Priorities essay “Zionism as Therapy,” I knew it was worth expanding. Teaching Zionism: Reflections from a Skeptical Classroom (Wicked Son), walks you through a course she taught in 2021 at Georgetown University, which had a simple goal of exploring Zionist thinking from its earliest phases, and pairing it with objections to Zionism coming from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim writers. As I explain in the foreword to the book, we discover two crucial things: First, that Zionism began not as a political platform but rather as a critique of Jewish life after many centuries of exile—and second, that this critique resonates powerfully among Jewish students today. The book follows the course, its primary sources, and the reactions of students, and includes a curriculum that can easily be replicated.
At the same time, David Bryfman, director of the Jewish Education Project and a Z3 fellow, has written a fabulous work aimed specifically at educators. Heroism and Hope: Recharging Israel Education in a Post-October 7 World (Wicked Son) explores the unique position Israel education finds itself in, along with the author’s own personal story as an educator, and reaches a powerful-conclusion: That ultimately the aim of teaching Israel to Diaspora student’s isn’t to make them better advocates against anti-Zionism or scholars of the Jewish state’s history, but foremost to help them find their own Jewish self-understanding through their exposure to Israel.
Both books are available now on Amazon and other stores, and are published by Z3 in collaboration with Wicked Son Books. Through our fellowship program, we help authors develop and bring to publication a range of books covering the future of Jewish life. To take a look at all Z3 books click here:
