Adapting Podcast: Educating After October 7 - Israel, Identity, and Hope with David Bryfman

After October 7, educators were asked to guide students while still making sense of their own evolving relationship to Israel and to Jewish peoplehood. What does it mean to teach when the ground beneath the curriculum is still shifting? What has changed in Israel education? What do educators need to hear? 

As season of six of Adapting comes to a close, Samantha Vinokor-Meinrath interviews David Bryfman on what’s changed in Israel education after October 7, drawing on ideas from his new book, Heroism & Hope: Recharging Israel Education in a Post-October 7 World. Together they reflect on how educators and communal leaders have had to navigate the emotional and ideological terrain since October 7, and how history and memory are being shaped in real time. Sharing personal anecdotes and powerful insights, Bryfman articulates a vision of Jewish learning rooted in pride, inquiry, and student agency, offering language for education that makes space for reflection before it demands answers.