“Between the Lines”, a documentary about Israel education in U.S. Jewish Day Schools

From the Directors

Between The Lines offers a deep-dive into how Jewish Day Schools teach Israel’s controversial narrative, and the students who emerge with quivering loyalty toward their community and the State. We explore the scope of content offered on Israel’s history and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in various Jewish Day schools across the country.  

We ask: Who structures Jewish day school curricula about Israel? Who decides what content to include and exclude? How do you sufficiently explore the Palestinian narrative in the context of a Jewish Day School, which has an obvious (and understandable) agenda of connecting young Jews to the State? What happens to now-college students who feel they were miseducated, undereducated, or too distracted to care at the time? 

We focus a critical eye on the responsibilities schools have to their pupils, especially when it comes to educating material that defines and shapes not only intellectual but religious identity – when it comes to teaching about a country that intrigues not only our insular community, but the world at large.

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The Goals – as expressed on the film’s launch website

1) In an ideal scenario, this documentary will motivate high school students to do their own outside learning when it comes to Israel’s history and current events, rather than taking their day school curriculum as the end-all source of information. We hope this will better prepare students for college campuses, and ensure that educated Jewish day schools students are informed representatives of the Jewish community.

2) We want educators to see this piece and rethink the Israel narrative Jewish day schools have grown comfortable teaching. Is this a full story? Is this curriculum more about advocacy, or true education? Does this story elucidate the complexities of Israel, its coming into being, and its current existence? Does our learning environment allow for challenging the narrative, asking questions, or opening up about inner tensions or emotions?

3) We are hoping parents of day school students view this piece and push for a fuller Israel narrative in their children’s schools. We hope parents feel motivated to champion an Israel narrative that trusts a student’s ability to wrestle with complexity, as they wrestle with complexity in all other classroom subjects and materials.

4) On a larger scale, we hope this documentary motivates Jewish communities around the country – synagogues, camps, schools, programs – to stray from a whitewashed Israel narrative and instead engage alternative perspectives and current day complexities, criticisms, and accomplishments. We believe you can love Israel with a critical eye, and we hope this piece exemplifies that breed of love – as well as the hypothesis that Israel can be *taught* with this type of love in mind.

About the directors

Ali Kriegsman

This documentary is inspired by Ali’s personal experience. After taking classes on Israel’s history in both Jewish day school and throughout college, she noticed a great discrepancy in the information provided: historical events explained, primary documents presented , and scopes of opinions mentioned. She had a visceral feeling that she was not alone, and that various other Jewish day school students would notice or have noticed a difference in Israel education from youth to university. 

A Modern Middle Eastern Studies graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Ali has cared about Israel and the Middle East throughout her entire academic career. Having attended Jewish Day School her whole life, Ali first focused a critical eye on this type of education system senior year of high school,  publishing a front-page newspaper study of her school’s pluralistic identity. A creative writing student and storyteller by nature, Ali has gained a firm grasp of building narrative. She is Co-Producer and Story Coordinator of Between The Lines.

Jana Kozlowski

Jana Kozlowski is an Associate Producer of HBO’s Emmy-winning documentary series VICE, a program that explores underreported international news and culture stories. Jana studied Film at Barnard College of Columbia University. She is a native of Ridgefield, Connecticut, where she was active in her Jewish community. She is the Co-Producer and Director of Photography of Between The Lines. 

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