American Jewish Civics 

Resource LIBRARY

Purpose

Resources & Insights is a living library of essays, educational materials, case studies, and tools produced through the American Jewish Civics Program.

Together, these resources show how Jewish civic values can be applied across educational settings, communal institutions, and public life, and how civic learning can strengthen

Want to learn more about American Jewish Civics? Learn more here.

How to Use this Resource

This resource library is designed to meet you where you are — whether you are exploring American Jewish Civics for the first time or looking for concrete tools to deepen civic learning in your community.

Rather than offering a single pathway, the library is meant to be browsed, adapted, and applied across diverse Jewish settings. We invite you to use it in whatever way best supports your educational, communal, or leadership goals.

  • If you are new to American Jewish Civics, begin by exploring the Five American Jewish Civic Values. These values provide a shared language for understanding what democratic life requires of us and how Jewish tradition can help cultivate those habits. They can serve as orienting principles for teaching, learning, and institutional decision-making.

  • Use the filters to explore resources by format (essay, curriculum, lesson plan, case study, guide), audience (educators, clergy, students, community leaders, funders), theme, or civic value. Whether you are planning a class, designing a program, leading a board conversation, or preparing for a civic moment, you can quickly identify materials tailored to your needs.

  • These resources are not meant to be used “off the shelf.” They are designed to spark conversation, experimentation, and reflection. We encourage you to adapt them for your institution, debate their assumptions, and translate ideas into practice in ways that resonate with your community’s culture and constraints.

  •  As you explore, notice how each resource links back to one or more of the Five Civic Values. Together, they illustrate how abstract principles can become lived norms — shaping classrooms, communal spaces, leadership choices, and civic engagement over time.

  • This library will continue to grow as new essays, tools, and case studies are developed. We encourage you to return regularly, share resources with colleagues, and revisit materials as your civic learning work evolves. With your help, this collection -- and its impact, will grow over time.

    • Format: Essay • Curriculum • Lesson Plan • Case Study • Guide • Jewish Texts/Sources

    Audience: Jewish Educators • Jewish Religious Leaders• Jewish Organizational Leaders

Resources

Featured
Civic Pilgrimages
Civic Pilgrimages

This itinerary for a 2-day pilgrimage to Gettysburg and Washington D.C. will offer Jewish religious leaders a way to bring faith productively into the American public square for the sake of civic healing and increased civic commitment. It offers an educational opportunity to cultivate a renewed, responsible religious voice in public life through a physical and textual engagement with American history.

Civic Initiatives Playbook
Civic Initiatives Playbook

When we (if we?) teach civics in our schools, we generally take one of two approaches: civics as a body of knowledge, or civics as a set of practices in conversations across lines of difference. In the former category, we teach our students about the founding documents or principles such as checks and balances and the rule of law; in the latter, we ask them to engage in civil discourse, consider others’ perspectives and values, and avoid getting stuck in conversational ruts of mutual refusal-to-listen.

DafAmerica: Weekly Parshah Study through the American Scripture Project
DafAmerica: Weekly Parshah Study through the American Scripture Project

American Scripture Project deepens conversation about what it means to be Jewish and American in the 21st century by connecting the spiritual thinking of Torah study to core documents from U.S. history. The DafAmerica initiative of ASP will produce a Daf for all the parshiot in Shmot, Vayikra and Bamidbar.

Jewish Text Sources for Principles of American Jewish Civics
Jewish Text Sources for Principles of American Jewish Civics

A series of texts from traditional sources to align with the “Principles of American Jewish Civics,” along with tagging of key terms and discussion questions for each text, which will allow educators and leaders to bring additional Jewish wisdom and grounding into their applications of the Principles document.

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Essays & Thought Leadership

Featured
A Peanut Farmer and Hasidic Rabbi Helped Build the Department of Education. Can Their Legacy Save It?
A Peanut Farmer and Hasidic Rabbi Helped Build the Department of Education. Can Their Legacy Save It?

by Tamara Mann Tweel

A historical and ethical reflection on Jewish investment in American public education, tracing the values that motivated this engagement and asking what they demand in today’s debates over the future of the Department of Education.

Investing in Jewish Civic Learning
Investing in Jewish Civic Learning

By Jon A. Levisohn

This essay offers a concise and accessible argument for treating civic learning as a core communal investment. It distills five principles of American Jewish civic education and situates them within the context of democratic fragility.

Civic Learning at Hillel
Civic Learning at Hillel

by Danielle Kranjec

This internal article aims to tell the story of "what Hillel is doing about civics" to Hillel professionals. It will provide a unifying framework/way of thinking for the organization.

Fraternity and Democracy
Fraternity and Democracy

By Alon Shalev

This essay explores how fraternity—basic social trust and mutual care—functions as a foundational element of democracy. It examines polarization not as a set of attitudes, but as a breakdown in the social mechanisms that allow democratic disagreement to be managed productively.

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Other Resources