Daphna Levin-Kahn – Coordinator High School Jewish Life

Year 8 – Experts on Israel

Over the course of Term 1, Year 8 Jewish Studies students researched various topics relating to Israel for the Israel Expo. Some of these included Food, Tourism, Science & Technology, IDF, Gender Issues and our topic, Religious and Ethnic Diversity. We learnt all kinds of things such as looking at different viewpoints, statistics, related religious texts and the connection between Australia and Israel in regard to our chosen topic.

For our project on Religious Diversity in Israel, we learnt a lot about the stories of different religious and ethnic groups, the struggles they face and also about the treatment of refugees in Israel. Then on 8 May, all of Year 8 gathered in the Lehrer Family Building (MPH) and set up their stands to display their newly-acquired knowledge on their specific topic. The MPH was full of colour, conversation and excitement as we shared the wealth of knowledge with parents, teachers and other students.

Overall, we found this project an incredible learning experience where we were able to expand both our teamwork and project skills as well as our knowledge on our chosen topic area.

We would like to thank our teachers Morah Becky, Morah Gaida, Ms Rosin and Mr Bloom for their hard work in putting this all together and for the incredible opportunity that this project offered, and for Ms Levin-Kahn for overseeing the entire task. We all feel more knowledgeable about Israel and aware of many of the issues facing our Jewish nation.

 Anna Davis and Lily Berger

Other comments from the event:

The Israel Expo displayed a good deal of effort and dedication on the part of the students and (staff). The parents were genuinely interested and were experiencing the positive outcomes of (our staff’s) teaching and investment in the students.

Rabbi Daniel Siegel – Head of Jewish Life

I marvelled at the energy, enthusiasm and level of engagement of all the students! I only had very little time to look, but I loved everything I saw/read. Well done to you and all the staff involved in the preparation of this amazing project. 

Alexandra Levy – Kornmehl Pre-school Teacher

I really enjoyed seeing how engaged the students were and how proud of and confident they were in explaining what they had learned.

Grandmother of Layla and Lilly Goldberg