Fifteen teachers from the Jewish education system in Pittsburgh recently visited the Karmiel-Misgav region as part of a project sponsored by the Jewish Agency's Partnership 2000 program.

The teachers arrived in Israel for a two-week visit as part of a bi-annual teacher education seminar on the subject of "Educating about Israel". During the first week of their visit, the teachers participated in an intensive workshop held at the "Melton Institute for Jewish Education" at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The next week, on July 17th, they arrived in the region to continue their seminar at the "Makom B'Galil" Seminar Center of the Galilee Foundation for Value Education located at Moshav Shorashim. Marc Rosenstein from "Makom B'Galil" facilitated their Seminar.

The teachers were the guests of local area teachers who had participated in a similar seminar held in Pittsburgh in December 2004 and were now participating in a parallel seminar held in Karmiel. The objectives of these joint seminars are to foster a professional dialogue between the teachers of the Karmiel-Misgav region and the Pittsburgh Jewish Community while enhancing feelings towards Israel in Pittsburgh's Jewish schools and Diaspora-Israel relations in schools in Israel.

The teachers' visit to the region included study tours to Yodfat, Tsipori, Kvutzat Kinneret, Tzafat and the Golan Heights, ancient Akko and the Northern Border, etc. They also had the opportunity to meet with residents of the Golan Heights as well as Arab and Jewish young people participating in a joint summer camp in Shorashim.

The teachers expressed their hope for a continued dialogue and the development of mutual ventures between their students as well.