November 19, 2026 Citizens or Foes? Jews, Arabs, and the Moral Challenge of Sovereignty

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Join master Jewish educator, Dr. Rachel Korazim, as she shares selected poetry of  Nathan Alterman. Alterman (1910-1970) was a key figure in the Labor Zionist movement, though he held complex views on party leadership. His poetry is recognized for its sophisticated use of symbolic structure and played a significant role in shaping public discourse. Alterman was deeply committed to Zionism and the Jewish state, but nevertheless insisted on confronting questions of justice, human dignity, and responsibility toward Arabs.

Dr. Korazim served as translator and edit alongside Michael Bohnen, Hirsh Cashdan and Heather Silverman, making these poems accessible to English and Hebrew speakers alike. These poems invite the reader to explore complexity and the possibility of holding commitment and criticism—and more than one truth—at the same time.

Dr. Rachel Korazim

Rachel is a Jewish education consultant in curriculum development for Israel and Holocaust education. Rachel opens for her audiences a window to Israeli society through literature; through stories, poems and songs of the best of Israel’s writers, she invites listeners to engage with Israel in an innovative way. Since the beginning of the Covid 19 pandemic – Rachel created a global community of hundreds of learners who meet to study Israeli poetry online regularly.

Recently she edited a bilingual edition of Nathan Alterman’s poetry “The Mirror of The Times.” Rachel collected, edited and published a bilingual anthology of Israeli poetry written in the wake of October 7th – called Shiva שבעה. She teaches at Israel’s well known learning centers such as Pardes and the Shalom Hartman Institutes, as well as numerous world Jewish communities. In her free time, Rachel enjoys scuba diving in the cenotes of Playa del Carmen in Mexico and the amazing coral sites of the Red Sea. Rachel is also a very active grandmother of eight grandchildren who all live in Israel.