Who we are:
The Common Sense Circle was established by a group of prominent academicians as a tax-exempt corporation in 1997 with the aim of making a positive contribution to Israeli public life. The Common Sense circle organizes educational programs and develops curricular materials designed to help Israeli students gain an appreciation of Zionist and Democratic values by learning about Jewish history.
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Some recent activities:
A View of Peace: Opportunities and Risks
A user-friendly tutorial designed to address the fundamental issues involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict, A View of Peace was distributed to all public schools and social studies instructors within Israel. By explaining the structure of the Middle East, the geopolitical forces at work within it and past diplomatic initiatives, the tutorial enables students to think critically and independently about the Middle East.
Platform and Reality
A user-friendly tutorial designed to educated its user about the electoral process and political parties within Israel. Platform and Reality compares and contrasts the leading political parties' platforms and behavior regarding foreign affairs, security, economics and social issues.
At the Moment
A programming guide for secondary school (head) instructors.
Oslo on trial
a mock trial of the Oslo Agreements, featuring expert witnesses and student-prosecutors and -defense attorneys.
My Courtyard
A series of secondary-school newspapers in Haifa, Herzliya, Jerusalem and Rishon Le'Tzion covering school news, sports, politics, mathematics, computers, music and theater.
Black and White
a student-managed Hebrew University newspaper featuring in-depth analysis of events affecting the Israeli public today.
Current and Future Activities:
To See, Feel and Remember the Past
An integrated program of feature films, texts, tutorials and dramatic recreations of major episodes in Jewish history.
The program’s purposes are:
a) To help the student identify with the Jewish people by gaining a deeper sense of its history: its Judges, Kings, and Prophets; its leaders in the return from Bablylonia; its priests, Hasmonians, defenders of Jerusalem and Masada; the sages of the Mishna and the warriers of Bar Kochba; the leaders of the revolt against against Galos, the Sages of the Gemara; the Jews of Spain and the keepers of the Jewish flame in Europe; the first modern Zionists and returnees to Zion; the underground of Nili and the defenders of Tel Chai; the Haganah, Irgun and Stern Gang, the victims and survivors of the Holocaust; the Israel Defense Forces and those who settle Israeli land.
b) To help the student to understand and narrate Jewish history (to themselves and others) in a vivid, continuous fashion.
c) To reach students who find it hard to grapple with historical and biblical texts enabling them to gain a sense of Jewish continuity and collective identity.
The Commensense Circle plans to widely disseminate the See, Feel and Remember the Past program in ready-to-use sets and train middle- and high-school teachers in Israel to use them.
A View of Peace and War
an upated edition of A View of Peace, including an examation of the reasons for the total failure of the Oslo Peace Process and the war that arose out of it. Like its predecessor volume, A View of Peace and War will provide the teacher and student with a tutorial for examing the multiple facets of Israel’s current geopolitical sitation and the forces that brought us to it.
At the Moment
a biweekly magazine for teachers proposing activities and discussions on current issues of relevance to Israeli public life.
Zionism in the 21st Century
an anthology of important 19th and 20th century Zionist texts accompanied by discussion questions designed help students gain an appreciation of these texts and the importance they continue to hold today.
Issues in Israeli Democracy
an updated notebook helping the student gain a critical understanding of some of the important issues with which the Israeli democracy is wrestling today. Among these are: the distribution of power between the executive, legistlative and judicial branches of the Israeli government; the role of wealth in the political process; pluralism and oligopoly in the media; the role of vote brokers in the political process; the rights and loyalties of Israeli Arabs; the status of foreign workers; whether Israel is a Jewish state or a state of its citizens, who mainly happen to be Jews; activism and the Supreme Court; whether the State has the right to order the Army to abandon an injured soldier stranded in battle; whether the state has the right to demand a settlement to dismantle itself; the status of conscientious objectors to military service.
Donations:
Donations to the Commensense Circle are tax-deductable. Please make Israeli checks out to:
(çåâ äùëì äéùø ò"ø)
or Deposit in Safra Bank Acount No 409-251577
Join the Circle
If you identify with us please join the circle
The Chairmen of the Circle:
Dr. Elimelech (Meli) Naphcha
Dr. Itzchak Yogev
Dr. Lev Reitblat
Mr. Erez Fridman
Mr. Ran Segal
Mr. Ira Haviv
Mr. Ran Seri
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