We talk a lot about education on Lamed, but sometimes it can feel like a lot; after all, who cares, anyway?
Well, you should!
Being an educator is nearly useless if the educator themselves isn't motivated to do it. Particularly in Israel education, it's easy to get caught up in the "I should"s and to lose sight of the "I want to"s and the "I care about"s. Teaching high school students about advocacy on college campuses is important, but if you're passionate about Israeli film, talk about that too (or even instead)! It's so easy for anyone, including students, to tell when you don't care about a subject, and their learning will reflect it! Trudging through a seemingly-obligatory lesson on the Knesset is never as productive as an energetic presentation about your favorite song or an icon of Israeli history that you admire. There is so much going on in Israel, don't feel like you have to cover things that you don't think are important!
That being said, it's also likely that at some point you'll be teaching about a subject you don't have an initial passion for. Say you're an artsy person, but you are trying to run a program about Israeli sports teams. This can seem daunting at first; after all, won't they be able to tell if you don't like sports? Not necessarily, if you play it right! Try to find something that you can relate to within that subject. Not a fan of basketball, but your favorite color is red? Get excited about Hapoel Yerushalayim! Or try to find a player from your country or someone with the same name or birthdate as you. Even the smallest of connections can help you flash a genuine smile when you're talking about something new, and that energy will transfer onto everyone around you. And thus, better learning!
Passion is the driving force behind most of what we do during our day. We understand people based on their passions and we learn based on our own. If we don't use our passions to drive our teaching as well as our learning, who knows what we could be missing?