Prizmah Responds After Jewish Educators Cancel Reggio Emilia Study Trip

Prizmah CEO Paul Bernstein called the pressure on Jewish educators antisemitic in an October 15 statement. He also acknowledged subsequent changes and an apology to an Israeli delegation.

Prizmah, the network supporting Jewish day schools, issued a response on October 15 to the cancellation of a professional study trip to Reggio Emilia in Italy. CEO Paul Bernstein said Jewish educators had faced political pressure and safety concerns while preparing to attend the programme.

His statement addressed both the circumstances that led the American group to withdraw and changes made afterward. The cancellation preceded the statement; October 15 was the date of Prizmah’s institutional response.

A study visit cancelled before departure

The trip was organised through the Paradigm Project for educators interested in the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education. Bernstein said it was cancelled less than 48 hours before departure after discussions with Reggio Children, the organisation involved in the study programme.

WABC reported that about 70 American Jewish educators had decided not to travel. Their concerns centred on a proposed political statement about Israel and on whether the participants could attend safely.

Jewish schools have drawn on the Reggio approach in developing their own educational settings. The visit was intended as professional learning, giving the educators access to the place and institutions associated with that approach.

Prizmah describes political pressure

Bernstein said a local campaign had introduced a hostile statement about Israel into preparations for the event and that Reggio Children had suggested participants sign it. He also described a call in which individual educators were named after their social media connections to Israel or the IDF had been examined.

He characterised the treatment of the Jewish educators as antisemitism. In Prizmah’s account, the initial handling of security concerns failed to give the organisers the assurances they needed, contributing to the decision to cancel the American group’s participation.

Reggio Children gives its position

Reggio Children told WABC that the proposed text had never been adopted. It said its official Charter for Democratic and Participatory Education applied to all countries and did not target a particular state.

The organisation said that approximately 70 participants from the United States had chosen not to travel, while 25 Israeli educators were attending as planned. It also described continuing dialogue with the Paradigm Project.

Bernstein acknowledged that the statement had subsequently been revised, that Israeli and other participants were not being asked to sign it, and that the Israeli delegation received an apology at the opening ceremony. Those developments distinguish the American group’s cancellation from the experience of the delegation that went ahead.

Schools consider their next steps

Prizmah’s response left decisions about future use of the educational approach to individual schools. Bernstein did not prescribe a single response for every Jewish institution, instead recognising that schools would assess their relationships and teaching practices themselves.

Bernstein credited the advocacy of Paradigm Project leaders, the Israeli delegation and participating educators with helping secure acknowledgement of the hurt caused. He offered support from the wider Jewish day school field to each educator affected by the experience, while leaving decisions about future teaching practice to individual institutions.