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The archaeologists hard at work excavating ancient Jerusalem are focused on the land, or more precisely, what’s underneath it.

As the unearthing of pathways, walls, pottery, official clay seals and more continues under the watchful eyes of thousands of annual tourists, scholars are learning more about the spot where King David once reigned, now known as the City of David.

What these archaeologists are not consumed with, however, are the borders and politics of the modern land they’re digging beneath—East Jerusalem—mostly inhabited today by Palestinians. And yet their work makes life above ground more complicated, 

Educating students about modern Israel is not an easy task.  It presents numerous challenges, including our personal and political biases, where to devote our energies, and how to help our students truly understand the country’s many complexities. Challenging, however, does not mean impossible. So writes Richard Walter, associate director of the Center for Israel Education at Emory University, in the Foreword to the Israel…It’s Complicated Teacher Resource Guide.

Developed by Behrman House in consultation with the CIE, the resource guide offers a package of materials for teachers of all experience and skill levels. As Walter writes, “Our aim as Israel educators should be to create critical thinkers, not followers, no matter our personal politics.”

Here are three strategies you can focus on for effective Israel education, as excerpted from the Foreword:

1. Focus on the broad concepts like ensuring the

Dina Maiben is the Hebrew program director at Gratz College, where she is also a doctoral candidate focusing her research on the second language teacher education of Hebrew teachers.  She has written extensively on Hebrew reading and language education and is the author of twenty-one books and more than two dozen journal articles and stories. With lots of conversation happening lately around Hebrew learning in part-time educational settings, we asked her to explain the research.

What do you remember about learning Hebrew yourself?

Many years ago, when I was first learning to read Hebrew, I remember sitting in the sanctuary, prayer book open, and feeling like I was drowning in a sea of Hebrew letters, when suddenly a single word jumped off the page: “שָׁלוֹם.” I knew that word! I not only knew how to sound it out, but I knew what it meant. It was the word that my teacher used to greet us at the start of every class and it was what she wished u