Each year on Remembrance Day, Israel pauses together. For one sacred minute, the siren sounds, and we stand united in grief and memory. But when the silence fades, we are left with a pressing question: What kind of society are we building in the memory of Israel’s fallen?
The October 7 attacks made this question impossible to ignore. Alongside the tragic loss of life, they exposed deep fractures in our society – ideological, social, and civic.
If we are to heal and prevent further disintegration, we must do more than remember. We must rebuild. We believe that the path begins with education.
To that end, the Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem (MOTJ) has launched two groundbreaking initiatives: the Leadership Academy and the School of Civic Discourse – complementary educational responses to a national crisis.
The Leadership Academy offers fully customized programs for youth, educators, soldiers, and national security professionals in the IDF and Israel Police. This comprehensive national platform identifies and cultivates leadership from adolescence through military and government service.
We work with 9th-12th graders across all sectors – religious, secular, Druze – throughout the country. Each group receives a customized experience that reflects their own needs and challenges.
In partnership with the Defense Ministry, we run programs for students in Israel’s periphery – from Netivot to Kiryat Shmona – hosting roundtable discussions about the challenges of life on the margins. These help participants articulate their concerns and develop an understanding of fellow Israelis long before they enlist in the military.
Additionally, our work with Israel’s security forces has become especially vital in the aftermath of October 7. Through our 06:29: From Darkness to Light exhibition, which tells the story of 35 brave women who witnessed the horrors of that day, we offer a powerful springboard for meaningful reflection about the societal and ethical dimensions of that day.
Soldiers and commanders from the Israeli security establishment, like those working in the Border Police and in the Defense Ministry, engage with this content as a means to process, analyze, and ultimately grow from the events of October 7.
We also offer in-depth discussions from those who were personally affected by that tragic day; for example, Sigal Mansuri, a bereaved mother, has shared her painful story about how her two daughters were brutally murdered at the Nova music festival.
Participants, from elite intelligence officers to new recruits, grapple with more than just tactical failures. They explore the civic implications of their service, confront ethical dilemmas, and discuss the values that must guide their mission.
Border Police officers, for example, are often the first point of contact with Israeli civilians in tense situations. As such, we emphasize communication, empathy, and exposure to a wide range of Israeli voices.
This is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Some units receive ongoing training; others participate in high-impact, one-day intensives. The model is strategic, modular, and deeply responsive to each group’s needs.
RUNNING IN parallel is our School of Civic Discourse, which is part of the museum’s deep commitment to educating the next generation of Israelis. The School of Civic Discourse addresses the very foundations of how we engage with one another as citizens.
Our mission is to equip young Israelis – mechina (pre-military leadership academy) students, gap-year participants, and high schoolers – with the cognitive, cultural, and communication tools to disagree better, speak with purpose, and listen intently.
How the program works
This program rests on two central pillars. First, the Jewish tradition of machloket l’shem shamayim – disagreement for the sake of heaven. Our one-to-three-day seminars at the museum introduces students to the ethos and methodology of Jewish disagreement, so they can learn how to live with ideological differences in a diverse society and work to ensure that all voices can be heard.
As such, the School of Civic Discourse offers seven unique seminars and 55 workshops, which were co-written by Dr. Sigal Khanovich, a psychologist with 30 years of experience in talent development, learning management, and digital transformation.
Secondly, the school teaches digital and civic literacy. A core objective of the school is to foster an understanding of human attention and the digital space of social networks, which exploit that attention to engineer consciousness, sow division, and incite polarization.
This understanding aims to awaken individuals to take responsibility and adopt healthier digital behavior, because in today’s world, digital health is not a personal concern but a civic necessity.
It helps, of course, that our classroom is Jerusalem itself – a city that embodies both conflict and coexistence. It’s where prime ministers David Ben-Gurion and Menachem Begin once warned of civil war and chose restraint for the sake of the collective good. We not only teach that history here, we build on it.
Together, these two schools form a framework for strengthening the social fabric of Israel. One teaches how to listen with humility. The other, how to lead with integrity. Both are grounded in a core belief: that the ability to live with disagreement is not a liability – it’s a strength.
This Remembrance Day, we remember the cost of our freedom. But remembrance is not enough. We must learn how to move forward, and in our little corner of the universe, teach how we can live with disagreement to create a better tomorrow.
Dr. Granit Almog-Bareket is the founder and head of MOTJ’s Leadership Program. Miri Dayan is the head of MOTJ’s research and development content for the School of Civic Discourse.