Abstract
Drawing upon a longitudinal study tracking a group of Jewish children from the start of elementary school (ages 5–6) through the end of middle school (ages 13–14), this article examines how young Jews develop an initial understanding of Israeli politics. It outlines four distinct stages in the development of political understanding. First, in early elementary school, children develop an awareness of civic issues at a stage that might be understood as pre-political. Second, in the upper elementary grades, children develop new knowledge of political issues and political leaders in the USA, but their understanding of the parallels in Israel often lags behind their developmental capacities for understanding political systems. Next, in the transition from late childhood to early adolescence, this gap in children’s understanding begins to narrow as tweens and young teens begin to make sense of politics in Israel and politics about Israel in the USA. Fourth, as children near the end of middle school, many begin to understand the ways that their own personal decisions can also be political, especially as they attempt to navigate how Israel functions in online, often hostile discourse.
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Notes
Throughout this manuscript, I use the term “politics in Israel” to refer to issues, processes, and leaders within the Israeli government and Israeli political system. I use the terms “politics about Israel” to refer to the politicized ways that Israel functions in the American and American Jewish landscape. I use the term “Israel politics” as a broader umbrella term to capture both of these types of Israel-related politics.
To help the reader keep track of the same children at a variety of grade levels (kindergarten through 8th), all quotations from children or direct references to their ideas include their grade levels in parentheses.
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Acknowledgements
This longitudinal research study, the Children’s Learning About Israel Project, is a project of the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University. The author would like to thank the Mandel Center Director Jon Levisohn, research assistant Hannah Tobin Cohen, and Matt Reingold for his comments on earlier drafts of this work.
Funding
The Children’s Learning about Israel Project is funded by the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University.
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Zakai, S. “We’re Not Friends Anymore Because I Support Israel”: Evolving Beliefs about Israel Politics from Elementary to Middle School. Cont Jewry 44, 83–105 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12397-024-09549-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12397-024-09549-7