Ilana Blumberg Bridges Classroom Divides with Life Writing

The author and professor uses personal narratives to connect students of different backgrounds at Bar Ilan University in Israel.

Published on Mar. 2, 2026

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Ilana Blumberg, author of "Open Your Hand: Teaching as a Jew, Teaching as an American," described how she used life writing to bring together her diverse students at Bar Ilan University in Israel. Blumberg found that her classes, which included Jewish, Muslim, and Christian Arab students, were essentially "parallel playing" without knowing each other. By having students write and share personal narratives, Blumberg was able to break down barriers and foster understanding between the different groups.

Why it matters

Blumberg's approach highlights the power of personal storytelling to bridge divides, especially in educational settings where students from different backgrounds may not naturally interact. Her work demonstrates how life writing can cultivate empathy, uncover shared experiences, and challenge preconceptions.

The details

After leaving a teaching position at Michigan State University, Blumberg moved to Israel to teach Victorian literature at Bar Ilan University. She was surprised to find her classes included not only Jewish students, but also Muslim and Christian Arab students - a minority population at the university. Blumberg observed that these students existed in "parallel play," unaware of each other's lives and experiences. To address this, Blumberg incorporated life writing assignments, having students share personal stories, such as confessions of childhood theft. This led to rich discussions where students learned about each other's backgrounds and found common ground.

  • Blumberg moved to Israel to teach at Bar Ilan University a little over ten years ago.
  • Blumberg has been teaching life writing and memoir in her classes at Bar Ilan University.

The players

Ilana Blumberg

An author and professor who teaches Victorian literature at Bar Ilan University in Israel. She is a scholar of life writing and has worked to use personal narratives to bridge divides between her diverse students.

Bar Ilan University

A university in Israel where Blumberg teaches and where approximately 1,600 of the 20,000 students are Israeli Arabs, a minority population on the predominantly Jewish campus.

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What they’re saying

“I believe in the power of the humanities to create spaces of dialogue and engagement and I have felt that her work in this area can teach us all about the power of reading and listening and writing.”

— Ronnie Perelis, Director of the Rabbi Arthur Schneier Program for International Affairs (The Commentator)

“A lot of us have read memoirs by Holocaust survivors or political memoirs, books that are really important and impactful memoirs. But Holocaust memoirs are in our own daled amot, our own circles. Dr. Blumberg challenged us to find memoirs of people whose lives we might otherwise not have access to. Find Palestinian memoirs, find non-American memoirs, find memoirs that were translated, find great works that come from outside of our cultural context, and read them and understand them.”

— Bruria Schwartz, SCW '26 (The Commentator)

What’s next

Blumberg plans to continue incorporating life writing assignments in her classes at Bar Ilan University, with the goal of further breaking down barriers between her diverse students and fostering greater understanding.

The takeaway

Blumberg's work demonstrates the transformative power of personal storytelling in educational settings. By having students write and share their own life experiences, she was able to challenge preconceptions, uncover shared humanity, and build connections between students from different backgrounds.