New Jewish Education

The World's Largest Menorah is NOT in NYC?!?

2011-12-09T11:10:00.001-05:00

Despite what Chabad and the City of New York may claim, it appears that the largest menorah in the world is neither the 32 foot high one to be lit in Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn (pictured above), nor the one designed by Yaacov Agam that will be lit on Fifth Avenue (apparently also known as "Grand Army Plaza," terribly confusing to all Brooklynites, pictured to the right), beginning December 20th, 2011. I'm shocked too. I mean, Chabad even owns the webpage "www.largestmenorah.com."

No, as reported in the New York Times just over a year ago, the world's largest menorah is in...Indonesia! Indonesia? Where Judaism isn't even an officially recognized religion? Where, during World War II, Jews were scapegoated and placed in concentration camps by the Japanese? Where Jews were killed or forced to leave after World War II and during the 1950s? Didn't all the rest emigrate? Aren't there only, like, 20 Jews left in all of Indonesia? I mean, Israel and Indonesia don't even have diplomatic relations! And yet...yes, Indonesia!

As described in a New York Times article from November, 2010, Manado, the second largest city in Sulawesi, is home not only to the fourth-tallest statue of Jesus in the world, but also to a 62 foot tall menorah. According to the article by Norimitsu Onishi, the menorah was erected at the cost of $150,000 by the government of this largely Christian region. The Jakarta Globe reports that the menorah was the brainchild of Denny Wowiling, a local legislator who "proposed building the menorah after learning about the one in front of Israel's Knesset," in the hopes that it would help attract European tourists and business.

For more about Manado's small Jewish community, check out this article from Jewish Times Asia (where according to the website, as I post this, it is already tomorrow - neat!), this one from "Vos Iz Neias?" (a rather bizarre site, but the article has terrific photos), or best of all, this video about Indonesia's Jewish Micro-Minority from the VJ movement. Happy Chanukah!

How to help your daughter's teachers re-think gender

2011-12-02T11:55:00.001-05:00

There's so much good stuff going on right now to help Jewish boys and girls grow up with a sense of self-confidence -- and one that isn't predicated on gender stereotypes. But what do you do when your child's teacher didn't grow up attending Moving Traditions programs, hasn't been to a training on the "evaded curriculum" and doesn't even realize that Jewish chicks rock?

Julie Sissman writes:

"I wanted to share with you the email below that I wrote to my daughter's school administrators. Not in response to any incident or specific concern I had about the school, but rather in response to my ongoing fear/concern about raising strong, healthy girls with high self-esteem and confidence - and my concern about raising boys who see their full range of humanity open to them, rather than a narrow view of what 'masculine' means.

"I encourage you to use this email as a template to edit and send on to your own kids' school administrators and community group leaders (or forward to friends/siblings with kids). If we each take up this important issue, and each school does professional development around it, we could, together, have a big impact. (Obviously, if your child doesn't go to a Jewish school, then you wouldn't include the Jewish-related items. Similarly, if your kid is well past pre-school, you would put in different examples.)

"To give extra motivation - I sent this to our school, not knowing what response I would get. They took it up very seriously and appreciatively, spending 3.5 hours today on a professional development workshop for faculty and administrative leaders on the topic.

"If you're in NYC - I actually designed and facilitated the workshop! And I'd be happy to bring it to your school, also.

"Here's to building a world where both girls and boys see a broader range of possibilities!"

Here's Julie's letter:

Hi xxx,

I never fail to notice how often someone limits my daughter's choices - at the doctor's office, when they say "Do you want princess stickers?" At the arts shop, when they say "Do you want pink paint?" I recently saw a couple of articles that made me think more about how gender is "taught" (formally/consciously and unconsciously) to children, which prompted me to write this email.

Our children spend so much time in school and their teachers and administrators have such a powerful influence on their individual thinking, as well as their group dynamic. Therefore, it's incredibly important that teachers and administrators have a gender lens as they look at what goes on in the classroom and as they interact with children. Here are a few examples:
Do the teachers react with as much excitement when girls build a tower with blocks ("Look at how tall/complex that tower is!!!!!!!!!") as when they dress up as Snow White ("You look so beautiful!!!!!!!!!")?

Do they offer all children, both boys and girls, varied options for exploring the world (such as puzzles and blocks or art/crafts) and equivalent suggestions for play-acting ("Would you like to dress up as a firefighter today?")

Similarly around holidays - Because there are so many more men in the stories and holidays, are teachers/administrators going out of their way to bring women's stories and women's voices in? Is Esther viewed as a critical protagonist or as a confused and scared accomplice to Mordechai? Are figures like Deborah brought in to the curriculum? Is Miriam highlighted as a critical player in the Pesach story as well as Moses? Are Ushpizot invited into the sukkah, in addition to the traditional group of Ushpizin?

Are girls encouraged towards math and science as much as boys are?

Are teachers aware - or do administrators who observe point out - any subtle differences in ways that teachers interact with boys and girls?

What ongoing professional development and ongoing feedback is included/provided for faculty - especially those who may have grown up in communities where girls and boys were not given the same opportunities?
I'm hoping that school can be a place where my daughter's options are kept as open as possible - which is only possible if her teachers have an awareness of these types of things and how limiting they can be. Especially since many other children will be perpetuating gender stereotypes with their words and actions, I'm hoping that the teachers will help keep open the windows to opportunity.

These windows of opportunity are, of course, also important for the boys. There's a world and palette that our society tries to limit boys to, also.

These articles that I read not only comment on what teachers say and what they encourage, they also comment on what is included in classrooms. For example, perhaps the preschool classrooms do not need to have high heeled shoes for the kids to dress up in. As I've watched the girls having to walk gingerly around the classroom, I've wondered, "Is 3 years old really the age at which we want to impede our girls' movement in this way? We don't have shoe-dress-up for police officers or firefighters or chefs. Maybe dressing up the body but not the feet is good enough for a princess, also."

In case you're interested, I'm including the links to the articles that prompted me to write now. I'd be happy to hear your reactions. And I'd love to hear more about how the school - both in the preschools and beyond - thinks about these issues. One of the things my husband and I love most about the school is how thoughtful you all are, so I'm sure you already have a point of view! :)

Thanks for listening,

Julie

And here are the articles Julie recommends, that led her to write this letter in the first place:

1. How to Talk to Little Girls, by Lisa Bloom (Huffington Post). "This piece resonated a lot with me because I've been struck how waiting in the morning for school to start, almost every parent says to each girl as she arrives, 'Hi! I love your dress/hair/shoes/coat/etc.' I've been bothered, but couldn't quite articulate it to myself. This does a great job."

2. Taking a Stand Against the Princess Culture, by Susan Tomchin (Jewish Woman Magazine). "An interview with Peggy Orenstein, author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter. This made me think about how girls are dressing up, how Talia's already asking me to wear nail polish (because she sees other girls wearing it), etc. and helped paint a broader context for all of that."

3. The film Miss Representation. "This film focuses on media and advertising - I think it's a really important film."

Do you have suggestions of other resources and must-reads? Post them in the comments.

Job Posting: Director, Jewish Journey Project

2011-12-02T08:50:00.001-05:00

Well, here's a job description you've never seen before: To direct a new initiative that will attempt to replace individual synagogue schools (in Manhattan) with an elective-driven communal coalition:

"Applications are now being accepted for a Jewish educatorwith an ability to think outside the box to lead a cutting-edge complementaryJewish education program based in Manhattan for children in grades 3-7.

"The Jewish Journey Project (JJP) seeks to revolutionizesupplementary Jewish education for children. JJP catalyzes collaborationsbetween congregations and JCC’s to create customized learning journeys forevery student based on their interests and passions. JJP’s educational designis experiential and oriented to address the whole child, applying the wisdom ofthe Jewish heritage to the social, emotional and intellectual growth of eachand every student. Families are deeply involved in the JJP process as they helpto customize their children’s learning journey in consultation with advisorswho serve as the liaison between families and member institutions. Mostimportantly, in JJP the entire community becomes a living classroom and, as aresult, a breeding ground for lifelong Jewish engagement.

"The Jewish Journey Project was launched in the winter of2010 based a concept paper written by Rabbi Joy Levitt, the executive directorof the JCC in Manhattan. Currently, six synagogues spanning the denominationalspectrum and two JCCs are participating in a year-long planning process todevelop this new model for elementary Jewish education. The program will launchas a consortium in the fall of 2012. The position is available commencing March2012 with the immediate tasks being the hiring of a faculty, the marketing of anew program and working closely with our partner institutions to meet theirrespective needs.

"Candidates should have at least an MA in the field of Jewisheducation or the equivalent. They should have experience in both formal andinformal Jewish educational settings. The position will require strongmanagement skills (e.g., budgeting, putting new systems in place,communications strategy, hiring and supervising personnel, scheduling,) as wellas leadership savvy (e.g. inspiring faculty, raising the bar of what iscurrently acceptable in the realm of Jewish education, working with funders,Jewish communal professionals, parents and their children). Previous experiencein running a school would be most valued though we will consider candidates witha less conventional background.

"Interested candidates should send in a resume, a letterexplaining their interest in and suitability for the position and their salaryexpectations to Rabbi Sid Schwarz, project director for the Jewish JourneyProject at dokrent@jccmanhattan.org."

If this is the first time you're hearing of the Jewish Journey Project, you might want to read Joy Levitt's editorial or Julie Weiner's article in Jewish Week.

We at Emanu-El have been involved in the planning process for over a year, so feel free to be in touch with me directly if you are curious about this initiative or my thoughts on the position.

Should Religious School be Cancelled on Halloween?

2011-10-21T13:00:00.001-04:00

This year October 31st, a/k/a Halloween, falls on a Monday.

This poses a unique challenge for religious schools. Unlike Thanksgiving or New Year's Day, Halloween is not a national holiday, and secular schools do not close. Yet, practically speaking, for many children in the United States, the afternoon of the 31st is meant for trick-or-treating - exactly the time-slot when religious school is in session. And when I say "many," I think back to the last time that Halloween fell on a day when our school was in session. Out of 75 students, exactly six showed up. One kid brought his mom, and I overheard him telling her, "You see, I TOLD you I would be the only fifth grader here!"

So this leaves religious school principals in a complicated position. On the one hand, it is hard to rationalize closing school for a non-Jewish holiday (I'll say here, parenthetically, that although some Jewish schools and teshuvot take a strong stance against Jews participating in any non-Jewish celebrations, I find unconvincing the arguments that Halloween is a "Christian" or "pagan" celebration. True, it has pagan roots, but so do many Jewish holidays and rituals. There are indeed Celtic neopagans celebrating Samhain on October 31, but that's not really the issue here. And, we aren't talking about cancelling school on November 1, "All Saint's Day," but on "All Hallow's Eve," the night before; Halloween can be confusing and problematic for Christians too).

On the other hand, how do we ignore the reality that many of the kids will skip school, and that this will impact the experience of the ones who do attend? Do we take a public stance on whether or not it is okay for kids who do attend - and faculty - to come in costume?

So what to do? I know of several schools that close for the day and instead run an in-service for their faculty. This is a sensible response, and consistent with how some schools handle other holidays, such as Veteran's Day or Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Other schools allow for, or even informally encourage, early dismissal - a sort of compromise approach.

Still others offer special programming on the day, meant to entice students to view school as both a worthwhile alternative to trick-or-treating and to feel rewarded for their attendance. One school I know offered a program on demons, ghosts and witchcraft in Judaism; another ran "Purim in October."

We are in the fortunate position at Congregation Emanu-El of running a one-day a week school that offers classes on Sundays as well as weekday afternoons. We have a general policy of encouraging students who are unable to attend on their usual day of school to attend on the other day. In fact, we've had students who regularly alternate between Sunday and weekday attendance, including children of divorced parents who have alternate custody over weekends and kids who change their day of school with the change in sports seasons. This year, we will suggest that parents whose children might miss school on the 31st should send their children on the 30th instead. I'll let you know in the comments section how this goes.

This is, of course, just the first year in a new cycle of dealing with the "October Dilemma." In 2012 and 2013, when Halloween falls on a Wednesday and Thursday, it will conflict with the schedules of many religious schools. Then, in 2014, we'll turn this problem over to the clergy; they'll have to figure out how to handle attendance at All Hallow's Eve of Shabbat.

Jewish Education Is About Living Jewish Values

2011-10-03T14:57:00.000-04:00

I wrote the cover story for the Temple Emanu-El Bulletin, Vol. 84, No. 2, October 2011. Here is the text of the article:

In the fall of 2009, Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York was named one of 24 “innovating congregations” in the New York area because of our dedication to educational transformation. We became a founding member of LOMED (Hebrew for “learning”), a coalition of diverse institutions from New York City, Long Island and Westchester, all committed to developing educational programs that are relevant, engaging and inspirational.

During the past academic year, LOMED provided the resources for us to create a four-minute video about our seventh grade Mitzvah Corps. (View it at www.youtube.com/emanuelnyc.) LOMED also awarded us a grant supporting professional development for our faculty and experimentation with new approaches to learning. We’ve put this funding to good use: After its pilot year, our eighth grade Lirdof Tzedek (“Seeking Justice”) program was identified as a “highly effective model” recommended for replication by other synagogues.

Most important, our work with LOMED has provided a framework to think deeply about the ultimate aims of our school. What is it we hope our children and their families will gain from the Religious School experience? How will it influence our community, both now and in the future? Through LOMED, we defined the purpose of Jewish education at Emanu-El: To support our families in living Jewish values.

Living Jewish values means much more than remembering stories from the Bible or being able to say a prayer in Hebrew. There are far too many examples of people who are knowledgeable and perhaps even religiously observant but who somehow fail to live ethically. For our students, studying a Bible story involves investigating the dilemmas faced by our ancestors and exploring their actions, the virtuous and the shameful, the praiseworthy and the irresponsible. We ask how the decisions they made might serve as examples in our striving to be wise, just and compassionate individuals.

Many ways exist for educators to talk about what we do, and as in any profession, much of it is insider jargon. LOMED provides a language with which we can articulate the goals of the school curriculum clearly and simply. Using the diagram that accompanies this article as a guide, our teachers collaborate to shape meaningful and vital learning experiences.

This diagram is a clever mnemonic device that highlights four dimensions of effective instruction. First, every lesson must engage and inspire the mind of the learner (the “head”). Second, the “hand” is a reminder that every learning experience must both incorporate and lead to action—perhaps a change in behavior or the development of a new skill. Third, we must consider the “hearts” of our learners, for in everything we teach we must ask, “Why should we care?” And finally, the “feet” remind us that effective Jewish education leads us to take a stand on our beliefs as a part of a community.

This “whole person” approach ensures that our Religious School program is responsive to the genuine questions of our learners, that the learning is applicable to daily life, and that our school community is one in which our children will grow into responsible and capable Jewish adults. Each classroom is a laboratory for Jewish living in which the teachers model the thoughtfulness and mutual respect that we seek to promote in our students. The care and concern our teachers have for each child enables our students to support one another and to challenge themselves to grow as individuals, as family members and as part of an ethical Jewish community.

We are fortunate to be the inheritors of ancient wisdom that guides us in living principled lives in complicated times. At Emanu-El, our students become reflective about their actions, passionate about their beliefs and kindhearted toward one another. As we strive to become the best people we can be, proud of our heritage while accepting no dogma blindly, we are prepared to join together with those of all faiths and backgrounds to build a just and virtuous society.

Best. Chanukah. Video. Ever.

2010-12-30T12:06:00.006-05:00

The Great Dreidel Spinoff 5771, from Temple Sinai in Dresher, PA.

Hats off (or maybe on, it's a conservative synagogue) to David Monblatt, Director of Congregational Learning.

I also want to give a shout-out to Temple Emanu-El of West Essex, New Jersey, for a video with great photos of their edible menorah competition (more easily viewed on their flickr photo-stream):

Best quote -- Rabbi Mark Kaiserman, on the miracle of the oil: "The Bible is full of miracles [but] this is not much of a miracle"

Hebrew Teachers -- Take Heart!

2010-11-23T15:54:00.000-05:00

One of the baffling questions Jewish educators in the diaspora face is whether we should prioritize teaching Biblical Hebrew, prayerbook Hebrew, or contemporary spoken Hebrew. In her article What Kind of Hebrew, Isa Aron observes that while there is overlap between them, each is "different kind of Hebrew, or, more precisely, a different aspect of the Hebrew language," requiring dissimilar methods of study.

Thanks (once again) to the Lookjed list, I have just learned of a very interesting resource that is on-line – a list of the top 1000 words most frequently appearing in the siddur and tenakh and a comparison of the frequency of their use in modern Hebrew literature (the original source is Prof. Shlomo Haramati, 'Havanat haNikra baSiddur uvaMikra' published by the Jewish Agency, Department for Religious Education and Culture in the Diaspora 1983) .

On the charts, the left-hand column (marked with roman numerals I – V) indicates how often a word appears in the siddur (a I indicates 500 or more times), and in the right-hand column, how often in the Bible (again, a 1 means at least 500 times). The middle column (alef-hey) is how often the word is used in contemporary Hebrew (alef is most frequently).

Now, couple this with Rahel Halabe's assumption that the top 100 most frequently used words actually account for nearly 60% of all the words that are used, and it becomes clear that any word that receives a rating of I – alef – 1 would be an especially useful word for your students to know.

And what are some examples? Yom, Lo, Hu/Hi, Melech, Natan, Aseh, Olam, Shem...

So, if your students manage to learn only 100 useful words over the course of their Hebrew studies, as long as they are the right words, it will actually give them a huge head-start not only in understanding the siddur, but also in reading the Bible and in conversing in Hebrew!

An excellent resource for discussion of teaching Hebrew in the diaspora is the wiki The Hebrew Project. Of particular note are Avram Mandell's description of his "Derekh Ha-Limmud" program, the Hebrew literacy "manifestos" of Nachama Skolnik Moskowitz and Isa Aron, and Lifsa Schachter's essay on teaching the Hebrew alphabet and decoding. But there are many other interesting and useful things to discover there.

Lookjed is a project of the Lookstein Center for Jewish Education.

Emanu-El | Weekly Torah Commentary: Balak

2010-06-21T10:17:00.003-04:00

I write the Weekly Torah Commentary for the Congregation Emanu-El website about three times a year. This time, I thought it made sense to share it here. Shabbat Shalom.

Balak (June 26, 2010)

Translation:

Numbers 24:2-5
(2) As Balaam looked up and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the spirit of God came upon him. (3) Taking up his theme, he said: Word of Balaam son of Beor, Word of the man whose eye is true, (4) Word of him who hears God’s speech, Who beholds visions from the Almighty, Prostrate, but with eyes unveiled: (5) How fair are your tents, O Jacob, Your dwellings, O Israel!

Excerpted from The Torah: A Modern Commentary, Revised Edition, editor W. Gunther Plaut (NY: URJ Press, 2005). Used by permission of URJ Press, www.urjbooksandmusic.com.

Original Text:

Commentary

Saul Kaiserman,
Director of
Lifelong Learning

ach week, we in the Religious School begin our worship services with the students by singing the words from Numbers 24:5, “How good are your tents, Jacob, your dwellings, Israel!” These are the words that traditionally begin morning daily worship, said upon first entering a synagogue. The word “dwellings” might also be translated as “sanctuaries,” and it is fitting that we begin our prayers with words of appreciation for the space in which we will offer our prayers.

In their original context, in this week’s Torah portion, these words are spoken by the prophet Balaam, who has been hired to curse the Israelites by Balak, the king of Moab. Balak has seen the victories of the Israelites against other nations as they have traveled in the desert, and he fears that this soon will be the fate of his own kingdom. But Balaam finds himself only able to offer words of blessing, and it is these words of praise, first spoken by a non-Jew, that now are part of our daily liturgy.

When we teach our students about this prayer, we ask them to offer a compelling explanation for what we could possibly mean when we say the word “Israel” in this prayer. Some say that this prayer is a wish for the well-being of the people who live in Israel today, whether Jewish or not. Others note that the prayer also mentions Jacob and argue that this is a prayer for all of those descended from him — all Jews, everywhere. Still others observe that Jacob’s name was changed to Israel after wrestling with an angel, so this prayer is a reminder that we must grapple with the Divine when we pray.

This prayer has been a sort of “theme song” for our two congregational family trips to Israel, in July 2008 and this past December 2009 – January 2010. Shortly after arriving, we sang these words while standing on a hilltop in Jaffa, looking out on the city of Tel Aviv. I tried to imagine how all of the people living in every apartment complex and villa are trying to make a good and beautiful place for themselves and their families. A few days later, while visiting a mountaintop kibbutz overlooking the Lebanese border, I looked out towards the houses on the other side of the valley separating the two countries. I thought to myself, if only the people living on each side of the border could look to the other and offer words of blessing: How good, how beautiful, is the place where you live.

On our final night in Jerusalem, just before heading to the airport, we again sang these words while looking out at the Old City, divided into four quarters like the four chambers of the human heart. It is to this spot that we turn when we pray, reminding ourselves that the heartbeat of Jerusalem has kept the Jewish people alive throughout the centuries. Yet, here too is where Jesus walked and, some say, was resurrected; where Muhammad is reported to have ascended to heaven; for Christians and for Muslims, as for us, Jerusalem is the beating heart of a people.

We teach our students that there isn’t a single correct answer as to what we mean when we say “Israel” in these words. But I know that for me, I agree with all three of these answers. I am praying for the beautiful homes of the Jews, my people, my own ancestry. I am praying for the good homes of the people living in Israel, whatever their religion may be. And I am grappling with the Divine and wondering when will the time come that enemies will turn to one another and find themselves only able to offer words of blessing.

My favorite quotes: Ravi Shankar

2010-04-09T19:32:00.002-04:00

I have no idea where I came across this quote - or if it is accurately attributed - but I found this in my notes earlier today. This is the purpose of life in the words of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of the Art of Living Foundation:

"One who knows, will not tell you! And anyone who attempts to tell you, please know that they don't know! But this much I can tell you...this very fact this question has arisen in your mind, you are lucky! Many people just live life without asking what is the purpose of life. This question itself is like tool, a vehicle for you to go deep into life...the quest for reality!"

A statement that I do know is authentically his: "My vision is a world that is stress-free and violence-free where each one of us takes responsibility for our dear planet." Amen, brother.

An Ironic, Post-Modern Passover Anecdote

2010-03-29T12:06:00.000-04:00

Since junior year of college - that's more than 20 years ago - I've been celebrating the second seder with friends. Most of us hated our parents' seders - rushed, boring Maxwell House eat-fests - and we wanted something a little more meaningful for ourselves.

For the first ten years, there was only one rule: No parents invited - and then we had to do away with that rule too, as we started becoming parents ourselves. So now there are no rules.

The seder is run as a pot-luck: Everyone brings a dish, a bottle of wine, and contributes some cash towards rental of tables and chairs and such. The amount of text from the haggadah that gets read has declined dramatically as the number of kids at (or near) the table has surpassed the number of adults - although as the median age of our children climbs, I'm sure they'll take a more active role in shaping the evening.

For many years, the seder would be held at whoever's apartment was the biggest - for the past few years, we've been consistently in the same Park Slope brownstone. This year, however, at the last minute (the night before Erev Pesach), we had to suddenly find a new location.

This turned out to be a challenge: Most of our apartments can't accommodate around twenty adults and an equal number of kids, many under the age of two. One couple was traveling back from another country that afternoon, another had just moved into a new apartment and hadn't unpacked, a third was hosting the first seder and then working all day on Pesach, a fourth lived in - gasp - New Jersey.

But here was the most amusing complication: You see, most of us who come to this seder don't keep a kosher kitchen (especially those of us who aren't Jewish). So one couple couldn't host because they had kashered their apartment for Passover. In other words, because their place had been made ready for Pesach, it was no longer possible to have a seder there. If you ask me, that's the irony of post-modern Jewish life.

Don't worry - that friend's mom has come to the rescue, and we're hosting it at her place - if she comes, she'll be the first grandparent we've had at the seder.

Chag Kasher v'Sameach!

Good Teachers Make a Difference. No, Really?

2010-03-04T09:44:00.069-05:00

The NY Times finally tells us what we've all known all along - and does it really, really well. I can even (almost) forgive the writer, Elizabeth Green, for ending a sentence with a preposition:

"When researchers ran the numbers in dozens of different studies, every factor under a school’s control produced just a tiny impact, except for one: which teacher the student had been assigned to."

[The photo to the right is copyright Benjamin Norman for The New York Times.] The article begins by noting that paying higher salaries does help to attract and retain the best and most qualified teachers. However, it also notes that we need to simultaneously be focused on improving pedagogy and content knowledge through professional development, because of the vast number of teachers that the education system requires to operate (and especially at a time when the baby-boomer teachers are retiring).

The main focus of the article is Doug Lemov, author of an as-yet-unpublished, 375-page long taxonomy of 49 essential teaching techniques (apparently, he distributes it at training seminars, and it will be available from this spring). Much of the piece describes effective classroom management techniques that the Times illustrates with videos narrated by Lemov. I suspect that every one of our Religious School teachers would benefit from watching these brief videos - and especially the Hebrew teachers.

The article is on-line as of this morning, and already is getting much buzz around the blogosphere (a term I use derisively, btw. Nothing better than reading a piece in which the author writes "I haven't finished reading this article yet, but I had to post...").

You'll want to read the whole article so that you can read in context little gems like these:

"All Lemov’s techniques depend on his close reading of the students’ point of view, which he is constantly imagining. In Boston, he declared himself on a personal quest to eliminate the saying of “shh” in classrooms, citing what he called “the fundamental ambiguity of ‘shh.’ Are you asking the kids not to talk, or are you asking kids to talk more quietly?” A teacher’s control, he said repeatedly, should be “an exercise in purpose, not in power.”"

"...One [student] is playing with a pair of headphones; another is slowly paging through a giant three-ring binder. Zimmerli stands at the front of the class in a neat tie. “O.K., guys, before I get started today, here’s what I need from you,” he says. “I need that piece of paper turned over and a pencil out.” Almost no one is following his directions, but he is undeterred. “So if there’s anything else on your desk right now, please put that inside your desk.” He mimics what he wants the students to do with a neat underhand pitch. A few students in the front put papers away. “Just like you’re doing, thank you very much,” Zimmerli says, pointing to one of them. Another desk emerges neat; Zimmerli targets it. “Thank you, sir.” “I appreciate it,” he says, pointing to another. By the time he points to one last student — “Nice . . . nice” — the headphones are gone, the binder has clicked shut and everyone is paying attention.

"Lemov [explains] “Imagine if his first direction had been, ‘Please get your things out for class,’ ” he said. Zimmerli got the students to pay attention not because of some inborn charisma, Lemov explained, but simply by being direct and specific. Children often fail to follow directions because they really don’t know what they are supposed to do."

The article also notes that "content can’t be completely divorced from mechanics" and that different types of knowledge - mathematics, reading, science - require not only general skills but also ones unique to the subject. The implications for Jewish education are clear: There are skill sets that make for effective teaching of, say, Hebrew, that aren't necessarily the same as teaching about holidays or transferable if you can effectively teach French. Teachers need to be able to deeply understand the material and then be able to effectively share that knowledge with a room full of students who have diverse ways of thinking and learning.

"“If I’m asking my students a question, and I call on somebody, and they get it wrong, I need to work on how to address that,” [fifth-grade math teacher Katie] Bellucci explained in February. “It’s easy to be like, ‘No,’ and move on to the next person. But the hard part is to be like: ‘O.K., well, that’s your thought. Does anybody disagree? . . . I have to work on going from the student who gets it wrong to students who get it right, then back to the student who gets it wrong and ask a follow-up question to make sure they understand why they got it wrong and understood why the right answer is right.”"

Interestingly, although Lemov's taxonomy, or a similar mathematics-content-driven approach developed by Deborah Loewenberg Ball at the University of Michigan, can be used as a metric to observe what makes for effective education, there isn't clear evidence that these skill sets can actually be taught.

"Jonah Rockoff, an economist at Columbia University ... favors policies like rewarding teachers whose students perform well and removing those who don’t but looks skeptically upon teacher training. He has an understandable reason: While study after study shows that teachers who once boosted student test scores are very likely to do so in the future, no research he can think of has shown a teacher-training program to boost student achievement. So why invest in training when, as he told me recently, “you could be throwing your money away”?"

Which brings us back to the original point: Now that we may be able to assess what skills are evidence of effective teaching, we need to offer salaries that will attract and keep the most qualified people in the classroom.

I'm encouraging all of my school faculty to read the article, and especially to watch the videos that the Times has posted. This is some good stuff.

The more things stay the same . . .

2010-02-18T15:31:00.004-05:00

I thought this was as good a time as any to share with you a few choice quotes from David Resnick's terrific article, The Current State of Research in Jewish Education, which appears in Studies in Jewish Education, Volume III:

"... There is no deep-seated desire on the part of educational consumers to improve educational effectiveness. This is not to say that Jewish parents do not care about their children's Jewishness. Indeed, Jewish education for many American Jews serves as the key expression of their Jewishness, rather than as an instrument of educational mastery.

"The nature of the dissatisfaction expressed by parents about school programs is usually more about the appeal of the program to the child, than about its failure to achieve particular subject matter goals.

"... Attending school, rather than achievement in school, is the primary, even if implicit, goal of Jewish education — at least in its supplementary form... The desire for identification rather than instructional effectiveness characterizes the culture of the Jewish school.

"Furthermore, community preoccupation with a host of other quasi-research issues — censuses of Jewish students; calculations of percentage of eligible students receiving a Jewish education; drop-out rates; retention rates; successful outreach programs — indicates concern with getting and keeping students in the educational system as the primary goal. Enhancing the instructional effectiveness of that system is not a priority.

"... Since failure to achieve even minimal learning levels has next to no social consequences (aside from mastery of Bar Mitzvah skills), there is little need for research related to the improvement of educational attainment. In this regard, it is worth bearing in mind that much of the recent push for excellence in general education has been at the behest of private industry and higher education, both of which bear the brunt of ineffective schools. No comparable institutional demand exists in American Jewish life."

This article was published in 1988.

Why my Students were Texting in Class

2010-02-17T17:31:00.002-05:00

This story has been making the rounds - I keep hearing people referring to it - so I'm posting the link in case you haven't yet heard this idea for using technology in the classroom from Rabbi Karen Reiss Medwed. Here is an excerpt:

In designing my lesson plan, my hope, as a constructivist educator, was to create an active learning experience that would engage the students by using tools that were familiar and comfortable for them. At first my plan was to play a game, something like "Mitzvah Jeopardy." But I needed something different, something new, which would push my boundaries as an educator. Answering a text on my phone in the midst of my planning, I found my inspiration: text messaging in class as a tool for collaborative learning.

"How many mitzvot are there? Let's text a sister, a friend, Dad, as many ‘lifelines' as we want." My students eagerly clicked on their cells, and the numbers started coming in. "Do we have to fulfill all the mitzvot?" A quick yes/no text poll of everyone sparked an engaged conversation about the different understandings of commandment as obligation.

Comments from our lifelines punctuated our conversations: "My mom thinks that the mitzvot we fulfill are about making our lives feel more connected to other people." "My dad thinks we can't do mitzvot that have to do with the Temple." One friend remembered that there was "something about Israel" and how that changed which mitzvot we do.

This original post appeared on the Jewish Education blog of Boston Hebrew College, and thanks to David Wolkin for forwarding this to me in the first place.

My Favorite Quotes: Steve Lorch

2010-01-06T17:44:00.001-05:00

This is from the January 2010 (Vol. 3, No. 4) issue of "Lev Ha'inyan," published by the Solomon Schechter School of Manhattan:

...schools are not, first and foremost, academic institutions at all! Cognitive learning is not primary, and physical, social-emotional, and moral-spiritual learning are not an afterthought. No, schools are institutions of healthy human development, which means that they are institutions of learning of every kind, and the way to decide which type of learning should be prominent at any given moment is by carefully attending to the healthy-human-developmental needs of the learner or learners who are participating in that moment.

To subscribe, or read the full article, email communications@sssm.org.

Neuroscience research shows that Big Bird was right: Praise effort, not ability

2009-09-08T09:42:00.006-04:00

I am just lifting this wholesale from a review of the book "How we Decide" by Jonah Lehrer, appearing on Boing-Boing:

"...mistakes are critical to good decision-making, as they are our best tutors. Lehrer describes a famous study from Stanford psych research Carol Dweck, who administered easy tests to 10-year-olds, who did well on it. The control group was praised for 'being smart.' The experimental group was praised for 'trying hard.'

With only this difference, the two groups were then administered progressively harder tests. Dweck discovered that the 'smart' kids did worse: they believed their initial good result was due to some innate virtue beyond their ken or control, and feared that a failure would show that they lacked this intangible. But the 'hard-trying' group had been rewarded for taking intellectual risks, and so they continued.

Afterwards, the 'smart' kids rated the hardest tests as their least favorite; the 'tryers' rated it as their most favorite."

Read the full review, by Cory Doctorow, for more about dopamine, meta-cognition, introspection, and how having too many choices leads us to make poorer decisions.

Dawn of the Chimpanzee! (Relax, folks, they're just a metaphor)

2009-08-21T12:37:00.003-04:00

Hurray for Eli Valley, and for Makom and Ha'aretz being brave enough to post this comic onto their website, writing:

"More than its blunt critique of Israel, Israeli policy, and Israelis, the cartoon points an accusing finger at all aspects of the Jewish establishment of the United States. Eli Valley is clearly no outsider to the Jewish community. The cartoon jabs at Jewish schools, camps, Israel advocacy programs, and even pokes fun at a sociologist whose work is well-known in the Jewish world. Valley himself is a regular cartoon contributor to The Forward newspaper.

We may disagree with the cartoon's sentiment, but we cannot accuse it of ignorance."

Here's the link to the comic, Dawn of the Chimpanzee!, in its original home on Gawker, where the comments forum is surprisingly thoughtful.

Thanks to Alex Sinclair for the tip-off on this. Voonga...Voonga!!

Staff Appreciation: The Value of Informal Recognition

2009-05-13T12:35:00.006-04:00

This is from Mifgashim Volume 8 Issue 69:

As staff appreciation events are taking place or being planned, schools might find worthwhile the results from a study of office staff recognition.

The top five most appreciated forms of recognition are:
verbal recognition (42%)
cash bonuses (19%)
additional time off (9%)
training or seminars (7%)
cards/notes (6%)
To view a slideshow presentation of the methodology and results, see http://www.slideshare.net/stuartwingate/officearrow-recognition-research-420099.

According to the findings, informal (generally verbal) recognition is most meaningful when it is timely, spontaneous, personal, and genuine. Other kinds of informal recognition that are widely appreciated include having a boss who is open to suggestions, having flexibility in managing one's schedule, being recognized in meetings with the management, and being asked to stretch by taking on new responsibilities and special projects. These kinds of recognition let staff members know that their input is valued and their skills and abilities are trusted and respected.

The Mifgashim List is a project of The Lookstein Center for Jewish Education in the Diaspora, The School of Education, Bar Ilan University.

Best Practices: Holocaust Memorials

2009-04-17T16:54:00.004-04:00

In honor of Yom Ha-Shoah, this is a guest post from Leah Zimmerman, the Director of Education at Beth Chayim Chadashim in Los Angeles, California and Temple Beth Israel in Pomona:

Two of the most active and distracted boys in my Kitah Zayin (7^th grade) class stood together in front of a room full of their peers and their parents and presented their Holocaust Memorial. A single tree in the center of a field with a single headstone alongside it. Around the perimeter of the field was a barbwire fence. They explained the simplicity of their design and the way that it remembered all the people who had died. The moment of their presentation was quite noteworthy. But it was the fact that they had met on their own time outside of class to create this entirely of wood that totally floored me. Why hadn’t they just goofed off and blown off the assignment or the idea? Why did they take it to heart and create something genuine?

In another project, three statues surround reflective pool: a Jew, a homosexual, and a gypsy. “We made these statues colorful for a special reason. The Nazis wanted everyone to look the same (blonde hair, blue eyes, Christian, etc.) so by making them colorful we are showing that even though everyone looks different we are all equal.”

I asked the students, “What motivated you to do these projects? Why do you think you did such a great job?” The students told me that they loved the opportunity to be creative and work with art materials. When we reflected on this experience and why it had been valuable, the students told me that it gave them a chance to make the material meaningful. I too noticed that their projects demonstrated what they had each personally connected to most. For one group of students it was the stories of surviving and how hard the surivors had worked to find a way to live. For another group of students it was stories about the partisans who had fought against the Nazis despite the odds. Some students thought more about how to create symbols of memory and others about how to create something that would engage the audience and require the audience to experience and learn.

The students have told me many times that they learn more when they get to work together in groups. As they planned, designed and created their projects I could see them huddled together leaning forward towards each other listening, watching and sharing their ideas. In their small groups they talked about what was important to them, shared ideas back and forth and came to consensus about what to do. Each group did something unique and different. While some students took a stronger leadership role in the design or assembling materials, each student contributed ideas and helped to create the final product. As I watched the groups working I could see how one student sharing an idea or an insight sparked another student to share another idea. Groups of students emerged as teams as their common goal and common purpose brought them in synch with each other.

The students impressed themselves and each other with their creations. By seeing what they could create and what their friends created, they realized how much they had learned and its relevance for our community. The same is true for the parents. Majority of the students felt that sharing the projects with their parents helped them to show the parents what they learn in Hebrew school. “Because when they ask you what did you learn today, I just say “nothing.”

Having a communal moment where the students, parents and I all revel in what has been learned brings us together as a community and builds our commitment to working with each other. In creating memorials for our community, our students had created for themselves an memorable event of learning and reflecting.

Telling Jokes in Auschwitz

2009-04-02T10:29:00.003-04:00

This comes from my friend Hal Cohen, on behalf of his friend Mikal Reich:

I am writing to all my friends for a bit of help...

Please vote for this short film about my dad, called "Telling Jokes In Auschwitz."

Please vote today. If it gets enough votes it will air on PBS this Saturday. (I think it would make my dad really happy and I don't do that a lot.)

It's behind by 200 votes right, so we need all the clicks we can get [editor's note: It is behind by more than 400 votes at the time of posting].

Here's the link...
http://www.thirteen.org/sites/reel13/category/vote/

(It's the film in the middle.)

And if you can, please post/send this link to your friends. If you have already, thank you. If you don't, don't feel guilty, but 6 million...

Thanks so much,
Mikal

It's spring, and funding is in the air

2009-04-01T12:12:00.002-04:00

Legacy Heritage Programming LLC announces two new exciting non-denominational funding opportunities for synagogues in North America seeking to (1) strengthen congregants' engagement with the State of Israel or (2) integrate music throughout congregational life:

Legacy Heritage Innovation Project: Israel Engagement supports synagogues using an integrated approach to deepening adults' and/or children's connection to the State of Israel. While Israel advocacy may be an aspect of the approach, the primary purpose to support connection with the people, culture, and history of Israel.

Legacy Heritage Innovation Project: Music supports synagogues strengthening Jewish identity through the creative use of music in multiple aspects of congregational life and in programming for different age groups.

Grants: For the next funding cycle (8/09-7/10), the Legacy Heritage Synagogue Innovation Project will award grants of up to $25,000 to selected synagogues. Grantees may be eligible to apply for additional funding of up to $25,000 per year for up to two additional years. In any given year, congregations may apply for funding only from one Legacy Heritage Innovation Project track (Congregational Education, Israel Engagement, or Music).

Proposals will be evaluated on the basis of the following criteria, among others:

Extent to which the proposal integrates Israel or music into programming for different age groups and across multiple aspects of congregational life, e.g. Torah, avodah, gemilut hasadim. For example, preference will be given to proposals which incorporate Israel awareness or music frequently and regularly into congregational prayer, study and action. Grants are not intended to support one-time or "stand-alone" programs.
Degree to which the proposal is sustainable (maximally uses funds to develop capacity within congregation, training existing staff and lay leaders, targeting reusable resources, integrating approach within existing structure of congregation, etc.).
Extent to which "best practices" are exemplified in the proposed initiative (the possibility of the proposed program being adapted by other congregations, organizations, etc.).

Online grant applications and more detailed information may be obtained at www.legacyheritage.org, or by contacting Rabbi Marc Margolius, Project Director, at 212-578-8190 (ext. 106) or marcm@lhfl.net. The deadline for completing the online application is Monday, May 11, 2009.

The project is sponsored by Legacy Heritage Programming LLC, an affiliate of the Legacy Heritage Fund Limited.

How Spiritual are America's Jews?

2009-04-01T10:53:00.003-04:00

The first-ever comparative national study of spirituality among American Jews and Christians demonstrates that young Jews are more spiritually inclined on every available measure than their elders. The historic large gap in spiritual orientation between Jews and others is narrowing, especially among younger adults, those 35 and under. The S3K Synagogue Studies Institute report, written by Professors Steven M. Cohen and Lawrence A. Hoffman, both of Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion, draws upon a web-based national survey of 1596 Jews and 1520 respondents drawn from the general population.

This growth of spiritual receptivity among young adult Jews can be attributed to 3 factors:

The growth in the number of Orthodox Jews, especially among people under 35.
The parallel, and even more substantial, growth of intermarried families and Jews by choice, both signifying the growth of Jews with Christian parents, husbands and wives. These family members appear to render their Jewish relatives more open to, and comfortable with, the ideas, expressions and language of spirituality.
Even non-Orthodox Jews with two Jewish parents (a shrinking population sector, albeit still a majority) are more receptive to spiritual language than older counterparts.

As ethnic ties among American Jews diminish -- with more non-Jewish parents, spouses, children, friends and neighbors -- American Judaism is becoming, in broad terms, less ethnic and more religiously and spiritually oriented.

These findings have serious implications for Jewish communal policy makers, rabbis, educators, and planners. More American Jews are expressing interest in the study and experience of spirituality. The two population segments showing especially elevated spiritual concerns are precisely the two major demographic growth sectors of the Jewish population: the Orthodox, and Jews with at least one non-Jewish nuclear family member.

As spiritually oriented American Jews grow in number, seminaries will have to educate students to show comfort with spiritual language, and help congregants with their spiritual search. Congregational rabbis, especially those serving large numbers of intermarried families or the Jewish children of the intermarried, will find greater demand and greater receptivity to spiritual language and concerns in the years to come.

Download PDF

Discuss the S3K Report

Hurray for Jim Joseph!

2009-03-31T10:36:00.002-04:00

The Lookstein Center is inviting nominations for the first cohort of Fellows for the Jim Joseph Foundation Fellowships-Leading Educators Online program.

This two year professional development experience will provide 14 select participants with leadership development, enriched Jewish learning, and in-depth training in how to build online communities of practice..

The anticipated outcomes of the program include (1) enhanced skills and capabilities of accomplished leaders in the field of Jewish education and (2) unprecedented new opportunities for communication and collaboration for hundreds of Jewish educators who will be invited to participate in new online communities of practice.

Participating Fellows will receive an annual stipend of $10,000 for each of the two years of the program, in addition to travel, room and board at the seminars and retreats. They will be currently employed in the U.S. in the field of informal and/or formal Jewish Education; have professional supervisory responsibilities; have demonstrated leadership in Jewish education and the vision the to stimulate, inspire and impact on others; have strong interpersonal skills that will enable him/her to collaborate (online) with others; be part of an organization that understands that importance in online networking and collaborative work; be comfortable working in a web 2.0 environment

Direct applications are not accepted; Fellows must be nominated. For more information and to nominate a candidate go to http://www.lookstein.org/jjff.htm (or write the program directors, Esther Feldman or Shalom Berger at jjff@lookstein.org.)

There is still some funding left for innovation in Jewish Education...

2009-01-08T17:18:00.002-05:00

Bikkurim: An Incubator for New Jewish Ideas is accepting applications for 2009. Bikkurim seeks innovative, NYC-based, Jewish, non-profit projects that are in early stages of formation and organizational growth. We provide free office space, free and subsidized capacity-building consulting, small stipends, and a peer community with other Jewish start-up initiatives. Bikkurim is a joint project of UJC and the Kaminer Family.

Pre-applications can be downloaded from www.bikkurim.org and are due February 11, 2009. Full applications, by invitation only, will be due April 21, 2009. Finalists will be interviewed and selected in mid-June. Residency begins in July, 2009. For more information, contact Nina Bruder at nina@bikkurim.org or 212-284-6892.

Please help spread the word!

Are we teaching "Hebrew" or "Israeli?"

2009-01-02T10:13:00.005-05:00

Haim Watzman, on the excellent lefty blog "South Jerusalem" writes about two book reviews in Ha'aretz:,

"According to Ordan, Zuckerman is correct to claim that the language we speak today in Israel is a language distinct from than that of the Hebrew-speakers of the biblical and classical periods. The Zionist revivers of the language, beginning at the end of the 19th century, sought to reinstate a pure Hebrew based on the language of the Bible (not the rabbis!). But, since they were native speakers of Yiddish and Slavic languages, what they actually ended up doing was grafting a Hebrew vocabulary onto the grammar and syntax of their mother tongues. Therefore, Ordan views with favor Zuckerman’s claim that the language spoken in Israel today should not be called 'Hebrew' but rather 'Israeli.'

"Of course the Hebrew we speak today is not the Hebrew of the prophets. Even the Bible’s Hebrew, written over many centuries, differs from one book, even one chapter, to another. The language of the rabbis of the Second Temple and Talmudic period was quite different in its vocabulary and structure, and had absorbed much vocabulary from Aramaic, Persian and Greek. And that should be no surprise: a living language constantly metamorphoses. It accepts vocabulary, syntax, structures, and connotations from other languages while it coins new words and usages of its own. Linguistic policing that denies or seeks to prevent such change robs the language of its flexibility and relevance.

"But that does not mean that there are and should not be any rules at all. I correct my children when they say hamesh shekel (feminine plural number with singular noun) instead of hamisha shkalim (masculine number, plural noun) because they should know the rules so that they can speak standard Hebrew when that is called for. But I don’t expect them to speak that way to their friends—they’d sound like nerds if they did."

Get Paid to be Jewish? Part 2

2008-11-06T20:56:00.003-05:00

Do you remember way back when, when I blogged about Moishe House, with a quote from the JTA:

"Say you’re a few years out of college, living with friends and working in a low-paying job for some do-good organization. You don’t go to synagogue but you miss the camaraderie of your college Hillel, and you like to invite people over for Shabbat meals.

"Imagine if someone was willing to pay you to keep doing it?"

Well, Ben Murane has thrown down on birthright NEXT's similar initiative on Hazon's Jews-n-food blog "The Jew and the Carrot," under the heading "Do We Need to Pay Birthright Alumni to Have Shabbat Dinner?"

"Once again, the organized Jewish community has decided to answer the droopy quality of Jewish life offerings with a marketing campaign and financial largess. I think NEXT’s money is mispent."

Now, what makes this such a tremendously worthy read is that the very first response to Ben's post is from none other than Birthright Israel NEXT Executive Director (and fellow blogger) Daniel Brenner:

" . . . we are proud that through small grants that we have been able to encourage over 600 people across the country to host meals in their homes. For a majority, it has been the first time in their life that they hosted a Shabbat meal. So far, 74.6% of those meals have been homecooked by many hands. Most people had 14 guests! We sponsored many vegan shabbats, raw food shabbats, organic shabbats, you name it. And good food is often not cheap — and not everyone has the luxury of being near a farmer’s market. And not everyone has the time or skill to cook!

"Could we do it for $15 per person? maybe so. But we felt that $25 per person would make for a special meal.

"By the way, we are also providing financial assistance for Birthright Israel alumni to attend the upcoming Hazon Food Conference. We do so because we have found that in these economic times, people in their twenties do not have alot of spare change to go to Jewish confereces."

But wait! Who is the next comment from?

"Don’t worry, Rabbi Brenner. I’m hosting plenty of birthright NEXT shabbat dinners at the apartment I share with Mr. Murane . . .

". . . The money isn’t an incentive for me to host a dinner. It’s an *enabler*. Big difference."

Read the whole fun debate, and then get yourself some excellent baby swag, at The Jew and the Carrot.

Job Posting: Executive Director of the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center

2008-10-10T11:33:00.003-04:00

Adam Berman writes:

...in the coming months, I will be leaving my position as Executive Director of Isabella Freedman. The past six years have been the most meaningful years of my life. Together with an exceptional board of directors and an amazing staff, we have recreated an institution that is bringing extraordinary gifts to the world. We have welcomed, nourished, taught, inspired and loved more than 30,000 visitors. We have provided -- and continue to provide -- Jewish programming that is cutting-edge and unique. By integrating environmental stewardship and spirituality with Judaism, we have connected thousands of young adults and children with Jewish tradition and community. And we are inspiring the New York metropolitan Jewish community to engage in environmental issues in ways that were not possible just a few years ago.

Being part of Isabella Freedman has enabled me to express who I am and my highest vision for the Jewish community in ways that I do not believe would have been possible at any other organization. My gratitude is infinite.

As a proud member of the board of IFJRC, I want to publicly offer my deepest gratitude for the phenomenal work Adam has done over the past six years. A full description of the position for Executive Director is posted on the Isabella Freedman website at: http://isabellafreedman.org/job-opportunities. Please share this link with anyone whom you think may be appropriate for the position, or anyone who may be interested.

The High Cost of Jewish Life is on Everyone's Mind this Yom Kippur

2008-10-08T14:36:00.005-04:00

This just in, from my friend Adam Dershowitz:

Of course, once again, Chabad was there first (well, to be fair, Larry David and HBO probably deserve the credit, but Chabad is making good use of it):

Join Chabad for High Holidays! from JAB MEDIA on Vimeo.

This clever little video, adaptable for the Chabad house near you, is the brainchild of Jewish Abstract Media. Kudos. And G'mar Chatima Tova.

Get trained to save the world

2008-10-05T11:04:00.003-04:00

Two of our favorite organizations, Abraham's Vision and Jewish FundS for Social Justice (JFSJ) have launched innovative training programs this past month.

Through their Center for Transformative Education, Abraham's Vision is

"training students to work as facilitators of groups in conflict, utilizing methods created and designed by a foremost expert in the field, Wahat al-Salam/Neve Shalom’s School for Peace. Co-taught by an Israeli and Palestinian co-facilitator/co-educator team . . . this course will be offered in partnership with Columbia University’s Center for International Conflict Resolution (CICR) from January 2-10, 2009 and the University of San Francisco from Monday through Friday from January 12-23, 2009."

Visit their website for detailed course information and an online application for one of the 18 spots available in each of the two trainings.

While the Abraham's Vision training doesn't directly incorporate any specific opportunities to make use of your new facilitation skills, the main purpose of the JFSJ training is to recruit new staff for their travel and service learning programs

"which provide opportunities for teams of college students, young adults, teens and families to participate in on-the-ground service in partnership with communities throughout the United States; to learn about relevant historical, social, and political issues through the lens of Jewish ethics and values; and to reflect on their own engagement in the world. Each program lasts between four and seven days, and is staffed by two or more Program Leaders.

". . . The training seminar to be held in the Gulf Coast, from Wednesday January 28-Sunday February 2, 2009. The seminar will comprise a hands-on service project, engagement with local community organizations, political education, social change education, textual engagement and personal leadership development. Program Leaders will staff at least two trips during the program leading year."

Detailed information , including instructions for how to apply, is available on their website (along with a number of other available positions and internships).

Immediate Opening-- Full-Time Jewish Studies Teacher

2008-10-02T17:56:00.005-04:00

For those who have not yet heard, the concept of "full-time teachers" has begun to expand beyond the walls of Central Synagogue in Manhattan. Here is a listing for such a position from Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn , New York.

Our growing and evolving Jewish education program needs a core teacher!

Congregation Beth Elohim, a dynamic Reform congregation in Park Slope, Brooklyn, seeks a full-time (Mon-Thurs and Shabbat morning) or 4-day a week (Mon, Tu, Thu, Shabbat morning) Jewish Studies teacher to join our supplementary and family Jewish Education program, called Yachad.

The core teacher is part of a creative team of Jewish educators who develop curriculum, teach elementary aged students Jewish studies, communicate with parents and families, and lead innovative Jewish holiday and Shabbat programs for our families, and have ample opportunities for professional development. To learn more about our program, go to http://yachad.congregationbethelohim.org.

Qualified applicants have an interest in being involved in a vibrant, progressive Jewish community and educational program, a BA and experience working with children and families in formal or informal (camp, youth group) Jewish settings.

Please submit cover letter and resume to cbeyachad@gmail.com.

Family Israel Trip Mix 2008

2008-10-01T11:08:00.003-04:00

I was forwarding this list to a friend, and thought, well, why not share it with everyone? Here's the tracks from the mix CD that was made for one congregation's family Israel trip. Most of these can be found on YouTube (although no guarantees that what you're watching is the actual video created by the band and not a "tribute" by an enthusiastic fan, as in the link for Idan Raichel's song below). Enjoy!

Brachot Leshana Chadasha (Blessings for the New Year)

The Idan Raichel Project

Kol Galgal (Voice of the Wheel)

Shotey HaNevu’a (The Fools of Prophecy)

Salaam (Peace)

Sheva (Seven)

Hebrew Man

Ehud Banai

Midabrim Al Shalom (Speaking about Peace)

Muki

Yihi’ye Tov (It Will be Good)

David Broza

Ein Ani (No “I”)

Shotey HaNevu’a (The Fools of Prophecy)

Lo Frayerim (We’re not Suckers)

HaDag Nahash (The Fish Snake)

Shuvi El Beiti (Return to My Home)

The Idan Raichel Project

Ahavtia (I Loved Her)

Shlomo Artzi

Hi Kol Kach Yafah (She’s So Pretty)

Kaveret (Beehive) – a/ka “Poogy”

Fanan (Awesome, Dude)

HaDag Nahash (The Fish Snake)

HaYom (Today)

Ehud Banai

LeHavin Et HaMayim (To Understand the Water)

Ivri Lider

Sigapo

Beit HaBubot (House of Dolls)

Esther

Ehud Banai

Tzlil Mehuvan (A Tuned Sound)

Tzlil Mehuvan

Yaldutenu (Childhood)

Kaveret (Beehive) – a/ka “Poogy”

Who will teach Religious School?

2008-10-01T08:45:00.008-04:00

Last Spring, I participated in a panel convened by JESNA to discuss its recently released study of Educators in Jewish Schools.

The report confirmed what we had all already suspected - that just as Religious Schools are finally being taken seriously by the Jewish world, and as we are starting to see increased investment in their success, we are facing a teacher shortage. This may not sound like new news: After all, since at least as far back as the 60s we have heard that there are not enough qualified teachers to go around. What has changed is that now its becoming harder to find people who even WANT to teach in a Religious School (or a Day School), qualified or otherwise. JESNA cited all the reasons you would expect - low salaries, a general lack of respect for the position, and so on. Another segment of the panel presentation is posted here, in which I express my concerns about competition between institutions for a shrinking number of qualified professionals and note the trend towards individuals working as "home tutors" rather than school teachers.

Here is my favorite section of the JESNA report:

Teen Labor. These are the 32% of Jews in Jewish work who first entered the sector through part time or summer jobs held during their high school and college years, and who have continued in Jewish sector work ever since. If we include those who left Jewish work for some period of time before returning, the majority (52%) of Jews working in our six Jewish communities started when they were in high school or college. Most of those who held jobs as teens were camp counselors (35% of all Jewish workers) and/or religious school teachers (27%) and/or youth group advisors (14%). Not many held internships (5%).

We regard this finding as especially significant. Camps, religious schools and youth groups are American Jewry’s primary gateway into Jewish sector work, providing Jewish communities with about half of their Jewish personnel. Although designed as educational venues to socialize children, these organizations have a substantial, perhaps unintended, consequence for American Jewish life through their role as employers of teenagers and young adults.

One idea that I'm increasingly hearing being floated is the creation of a Jewish "Teach For America," that would attract students just out of college to spend a year or two teaching in a Jewish school (Chabad, as usual, is ahead of the curve with their "roving rabbis" shlichut program, which places rabbinical students in various under served Jewish communities). While this idea is quite attractive, it would face a number of significant challenges (besides funding and organization) - most importantly, perhaps: Ensuring that the participants have not only a support network but also a peer network (teaching can be a lonely business, after all).

Have Yourself a Viral Rosh Hashana...

2008-09-26T19:34:00.001-04:00

My favorite quotes: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

2008-09-15T15:03:00.002-04:00

For the first day of Religious School:

"I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving. We must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it, but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor."

Thanks to Offer and Bonnie Reuben Nissenbaum!

A heuristic for explaining how we work

2008-07-29T11:33:00.001-04:00

Thanks to Sara Shapiro Plevin for forwarding this useful diagram, suitable for board meetings and conversations with funders.

My favorite quotes: Kahlil Gibran

2008-04-20T02:08:00.004-04:00

This is "On Children" from The Prophet, in honor of Jory:

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said,
"Speak to us of Children."

And he said:

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
and though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and he bends you with his might that his arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies,
so he loves also the bow that is stable.

Being a full-time teacher, from a teacher's perspective

2008-02-14T17:01:00.007-05:00

Amy Deutsch, one of the full-time teachers at Central Synagogue in NYC, writes:

"I have a picture that sits on my desk at work. It is of me and two of my coworkers wearing togas and talking animatedly about the Hasmonean revolt. You may wonder what I do for a living. I am a teacher.

"I work in an innovative educational program in New York City that employs religious school teachers on a full-time basis. Before I began my graduate studies, I was one of these teachers. When you are teaching full-time, you have the time to plan and use experiential educational techniques. In fact, we had the time to create a reenactment of the Hasmonean revolt—more often known as the story of Chanukah.

"The day began in the lobby, where we turned each fourth grader’s bedsheet into a toga. Then the “Greeks” attempted to convince the students of the superiority of Greek culture with an intricate slideshow pressuring them to assimilate. After the Greeks left the room, Judah Maccabee and his warriors arrived and helped the students fight assimilation. At the end of the day, Judah Maccabee and the Greek ruler got in a swordfight (somehow reminiscent of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader) and it seemed desperate, but ultimately Judah won, as he was strengthened by the students who started chanting the words of the Sh’ma.

"Though I was supposed to stay in character, I found myself incredulous at this moment. 120 fourth grade students were chanting the Sh’ma. Some of them had even added the hand motions we had taught them the year before. They were on their feet, filled with pride and passion for their Judaism. I realized then how blessed I was to help foster the development of Jewish identity in my students. It is a gift to be a teacher—and especially to be a teacher who gets to wear a toga."

Amy Deutsch is a current Wexner Fellow/Davidson Scholar. She is studying for a Master’s Degree in Jewish Education at the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary.

My favorite quotes: Parker J. Palmer

2008-02-11T17:33:00.001-05:00

This is, of course, from The Courage to Teach:

"We are now engaged in a crucial public conversation about educational reform, but a conversation is only as good as the questions it entertains . . .
The question we most commonly ask is the 'what' question - what subjects shall we teach?

When the conversation goes a bit deeper, we ask the 'how' question - what methods and techniques are required to teach well?

Occasionally, when it goes deeper still, we ask the 'why' question - for what purpose and to what ends do we teach?

But seldom, if ever, do we ask the 'who' question - who is the self that teaches? How does the quality of my selfhood form - or deform - the way I relate to my students, my subject, my colleague, my world? How can educational institutions sustain and deepen the selfhood from which good teaching comes?
"I have no quarrel with the what or how or why questions - except when they are posed as the only questions worth asking. All of them can yield important insights into teaching and learning. But none of them opens up the territory I want to explore . . . the inner landscape of the teaching self."

Many thanks to Jo Kay for reminding me of this quote.

I'd only add three points. First, that Larry Hoffman asks this "who" question differently: "What would make you true to your calling?"

Second, that institutional transformation is ultimately about the transformation of individuals and their relationships with one another. Or another way - we can only change the world by changing our own behaviors.

And finally, that all this is predicated on the notion that people are not, in fact, interchangeable. Individual people actually make a difference.

Job Posting: Kesher Director and/or Director of Jewish Life

2008-02-06T11:53:00.000-05:00

You have probably already heard that the Kesher model is being imported from Boston and Cambridge to NYC this coming year. Two institutions are giving it a try: The JCC of the Upper West Side and Jewish Community Project Downtown. Here's the job posting from JCP:

Jewish Community Project Downtown (JCP), a young, vibrant and rapidly growing organization in lower Manhattan, is looking for the right person to join our team as the Founding Director of our new after-school initiative and/or become our Director of Jewish Life. JCP is located in Lower Manhattan, NY.

Responsibilities of the Kesher Director (Part-time):
Hire, mentor and supervise teachers
Oversee and implement the PR and marketing for Kesher
Participate in leading and teaching classes and activities
Work in partnership with classroom teachers to adapt the Kesher curricula to JCP
Create lasting bonds with students and all families at JCP

Responsibilities of the Director of Jewish Life (Full-time):
In addition to running the Kesher program, the Director of Jewish Life will:
Set a vision for Jewish life for JCP and the larger Jewish community of Lower Manhattan
Organize all family holiday programs – Hannukah, Purim, Passover, High Holy Days
Represent JCP and its Kesher program with pride and articulate its mission in the larger Jewish community
Work in partnership with JCP’s administrator to shape and oversee the budget and fiscal records
Create, design, and implement family education program

Qualifications of an ideal candidate
A Jewish educator with a drive for excellence and comfort working in an informal, dynamic, team setting
Strong organizational skills and excellent interpersonal skills
Has vision, confidence and a desire to grow professionally
Conversational and/or fluent in Modern, spoken Hebrew
Advanced Judaic knowledge
Advanced degree in Jewish Education, Education, Early Childhood Education or strong related field experience, perhaps even a current student looking for a long-term job opportunity
Enthusiasm for working in a non-denominational setting that welcomes diverse families
Minimum 2-5 years in the field with strong references

Contact: Rabbi Erica Gerson: RabbiErica@jcpdowntown.org 212-334-3522

There is No "X" in Thanks

2008-02-02T13:38:00.000-05:00

Well, it's the beginning of hiring season for the 2008-09 academic year. Last year, based upon my own experiences in conducting a job search, I posted a "few words of advice for those applying for an entry level position."

Rachel Brumberg, in her former capacity as Associate Director of Professional Development and Advancement at JESNA, developed this list of helpful hints for those who are ready to take on the challenge of applying for a, shall we say, "real job."

When e-mailing a prospective employer, capitalize and use punctuation, at least to indicate that you know what proper grammar is.
If you're thinking of using a word that can be substituted for tushie or is tushie-related, DON'T.
Clearly identify the job for which you're applying, and be sure to read the job description fully.
Use an e-mail name that makes sense to other people (firstnamelastname@hotmail.com) rather than using your nickname, a pet's name, or any kind of indication of your hobbies or sex life.
Don't submit a multiple page resume if you're just graduating from college.
Remember to spell check and grammar check.
Please don't tell me you're a Friend of Jonny's (or Avraham's or Joy's or Howard's, or any Exec) if you're not.
If you're going to contact an employer for a second time, please don't chastise them for not getting back to you; no one likes a whiner or someone who yells at them.
Even if you're interviewing with a "casual" organization or company, maintain your own formality.
Spell out abbreviations.
Send only what the employer asks for - if they only want three references, please send only three. "The fatter your file, the slimmer your chance."
Visit your Career Center and get their help - they're there for a reason!
Research the organization and the position (if possible) before you interview.
If you’re given a choice of text color in your e-mail program, use black.

Job Posting: Director of Jewish Identity Development

2008-01-13T16:44:00.000-05:00

This just in from Congregation B’nai Yisrael of Armonk, New York:

"Nurturing Reform congregation in Armonk, New York seeks a Director of Jewish Identity Development to help us develop more collaborative, multi-generational and experientially based programs.

"In order to help our children and parents “see the world through Jewish eyes,” our Director will work with the rabbis, cantor and community to design and implement ongoing identity-building experiences. Our director should be an individual with vision, a sense of community, someone who is comfortable playing a leadership role, who has excellent organizational and communication skills. Our director will be responsible for developing and implementing our identity programs and Hebrew programs, planning and teaching our family shabbat experience, the hiring and supervising of faculty, as well as the planning and monitoring of the program budget.

"Summer camp experience is helpful, but not required. Knowledge of Judaism and a love of Jews is a must."

For more information, contact Rabbi Seth Limmer.

...next year in Jerusalem (if you're 18)?

2008-01-10T17:02:00.000-05:00

Following on the heels of the development of Kivunim and the expansion of the Year Course programs from Young Judea, The Alexander Muss Institute (best known for its High School program) has developed a new "gap year" program in Israel.

Called "SIACH" (Hebrew for "discussion," and also a mnemonic for study, Israel, academic, community, head and heart), it is an pluralist program based in Jerusalem (at Beit Shmuel) for high school graduates. On the agenda are weekly trips and outings, volunteering, professional internships, intensive Hebrew language study, interactions with Israel peers, and participation in Israeli cultural events. Here's how they distinguish themselves in their publicity:

"The gap year programs in Israel can, for the most part, be divided into 3 general categories: Jewish learning programs (i.e. yeshivas and seminaries), Israel experience programs, and university programs. SIACH is unique in that it combines the best of all three: Jewish learning on hot topics of interests to students, a multifaceted Israel experience by the experts in Israel education and the opportunity to earn nearly a year of college credit.

Furthermore, because SIACH is not affiliated with any particular movement students are not pushed to adopt a pre-determined ideology or life-style but rather to find their own path and chart their own course."

Participants are able to earn college credit under the auspices of Baltimore Hebrew University. Now in the middle of its first year (of around 20 participants), they are now accepting applications for the 2008-09 academic year.

Visit Israel without leaving your chair!

2008-01-08T22:24:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Caren Levine, this press release is x-posted from jlearn2.0. You can read a little more about it, and see some photos, in the most recent issue of 2life magazine (December 2007 - The Hanukah Issue).

I'm having trouble keeping up with my first life, but perhaps you'll find me trying to find my way around as Think Witherspoon this Sunday in Second Life.

* * * * * * * *

This January, join us in Israel for an exceptional launch party.

SL Israel, the first complete virtual Israel, to launch January 13th in Second Life

In one of Second Life’s newest developments, its residents are now just a click away from being able to teleport into and experience the entire length and breadth of Israel.

This event in Second Life, an internet based 3-d virtual world with more than 11 million residents, marks the first time that a Second Life island will be dedicated in its entirety towards Israel.

To celebrate its inauguration SL Israel will have two parties on January 13th at 10 AM and at 7 PM PST [Note from Saul: That's this coming Sunday at 1 PM and 10 PM EST. Presumably we can expect more Israelis will be at the one in the afternoon].

Israel is a country that is at once very dynamic yet rooted in its history. SL Israel reflects these qualities as well. It features on the one hand the holy sites of all three major monotheistic religions, including the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and the Dome of the Rock.

At the same time, as a very modern and colorful country, SL Israel made sure to include such sites as the Tel Aviv promenade and Opera House, the Eilat underwater observatory, and the Machane Yehuda outdoor market.

The purpose of SL Israel is to present a complete and comprehensive Israel experience, both for the experienced sightseer and for the first time visitor. It aims to convey a variety of experiences about what Israel is all about, and to present the country in its complexity and diversity. SL has many residents who come from Israel, Jews from all over the world, and people from all over the globe who are interested or curious to learn more about Israel.

SL Israel offers them alike the opportunity to meet one another, to learn about each other’s heritage, and together to travel around a country that is both ancient and very modern.

For additional information:

Contact in SL; Hagibor Shepherd or Beth Odets

E- Mail: SLisrael8@gmail.com

Who we are: SL Israel is the initiative of Chaim Landau, assisted by Beth Brown.

Chaim (SL Israel founder) recently completed a Legacy Heritage Fellowship at the European Union of Jewish Students and currently studied at the Pardes Institute.

Beth (SL Israel Building/ Design manager), built the first Synagogue in SL, in 2006, which has grown into a full Jewish neighborhood in SL .

Why would a nice kid like yourself want to be a Jewish Educator?

2008-01-06T15:27:00.000-05:00

I'm not exactly breaking a news story when I share my concerns about the dearth of qualified Jewish educators, from heads of day schools to religious school teachers. Back in 2003, in a report on recruitment and retention for JESNA, Paul Flexner and Sandra Gold wrote:

"...There is a chronic shortage of Jewish educators at every level and in every setting. Schools, camps, and youth programs are constantly seeking staff, ranging from entry-level teachers, counselors, and advisors to the senior personnel necessary to administer institutions and programs. In an open society with few barriers for Jews, not enough young people are choosing to become Jewish educators, and not enough of those who make this choice stay with Jewish education as a lifelong career."

A positive spin on this situation could look as follows: Since there aren't enough qualified Jewish educators to go around, those who ARE qualified are going to be in greater demand. This will result in greater competition among institutions to hire those individuals. Increased competition will drive up salaries and benefit packages for Jewish educators, and those individuals will command greater respect from their colleagues in the clergy and from their lay leaders. As Jewish education becomes a more viable career path, some number of years from now we could expect to see people who otherwise would have gone into other careers instead becoming the new generation of Jewish educational leadership.

In their article in the Fall 2007 issue of Jewish Education News, Richard D. Solomon, Elaine C. Solomon, and Hana Bor observe that there are "many excellent programs designed to train candidates to become skilled Jewish teachers, administrators and leaders," and they list a dozen different academic programs around the country for this purpose. In their analysis, the challenge is to build a career ladder that will attract people into the field in the first place and provide them with step-by-step opportunities to advance in their careers (if you are a teen reading this, this is the real-world version of "leveling up"). They offer the following graphic organizer depicting "a seven stage ladder of career development for Jewish supplementary and day school teachers:"

As part of the Lookstein Center's ongoing series on "creative solutions to educational challenges," the Lookjed list recently posted Richard D. Solomon's expansion of this idea, in which he provides detailed suggestions for how each of the stages in the ladder might be organized. For example, Solomon distinguishes between the madrich/a "student aide" of stage 1, the "student teacher" of stage 2, and the "co-teacher" of stage 3 as follows:

"...The madrich or madricha is an 8th, 9th or 10th grader who is trained to serve as a paid teaching assistant and role model . . . During the 11th grade selected madrichim take course work in Judaics [and] pedagogy . . . These madrichim will be paid additionally to receive this instruction and can earn college credit for successfully completing the course requirements.

". . . At the end of the 11th grade, a select group of madrichim will be invited to become paid student teachers . . . [they] now be observing, reflecting and doing some small group teaching in the classroom of a trained mentor teacher [with the goal of acquiring such skills as lesson planning, managing student behavior, and communicating with parents].

". . . During the second semester of the 12th grade, if deemed successful, the student teacher will be invited to take on the role of a co-teacher . . . at the beginning of the second semester, the co-teacher and the mentor teacher will be engaged in co-planning. co-instructing and co- reflecting upon their learning activities. They may be engaged in team teaching where they alternate instructing the whole class, or they divide the class into small learning groups which each one directs. Upon successful completion of this stage, the co-teacher should receive a teaching certificate from the sponsoring institution . . . indicating that this teacher candidate has meet the requirements to teach specific courses at a supplemental school while attending college."

Clearly, Solomon is advocating here for the kind of systemic change that would require a partnership between schools, central agencies, academic institutions, and funders. Which is, of course, terrific, so kudos to him.

I'd suggest that we throw a few additional ideas into the mix:

allow for greater fluidity between religious schools, day schools, summer camps, and so on - each providing a valid route by which individuals - especially high school students - can learn the skills necessary to become Jewish educators.
build our youth programs to give greater leadership responsibility to the teens themselves, empowering them to take ownership for the success and failures of their events and activities.
look at these rungs as important stages for individuals entering the field at any age: Just because a teacher is a 2nd year rabbinical student doesn't necessarily mean that they are going to be a more competent teacher than an 11th grader. Let's look at this ladder as a potential guide for the training of any new faculty.
think about the additional roles, alongside teaching and mentoring, that could be played by individuals at the higher rungs of this ladder, so that they can hold full-time positions. These could include family education, running youth groups, teaching adult education classes, administrative work.
extend this ladder so that as people become mentor teachers, there are in turn being mentored to become school administrators. To this end, require our school leadership to provide such mentoring as one of their key job responsibilities.

As always, I welcome your feedback and thoughts about any of the ideas presented here.

More about the full-time teachers at Central Synagogue, NYC

2007-12-18T17:14:00.000-05:00

This is straight from the HUC-JIR New York School of Education Alumni e-Newsletter, Winter 2007:

Snapshot: Experiment in Educational Innovation, Yonni Wattenmaker (Central Synagogue, New York City)

New York City's Central Synagogue is actively engaged in an effort to provide compelling learning experiences that deepen our congregants' understanding of and commitment to Reform Judaism, and to guide them toward lifelong involvement in the Jewish community. It was from this determination that the full-time teacher initiative was established for the 2004-2005 school year. This cutting edge program sought to tackle the constraints of limited pre-class preparation time and conflicts with full-time employment by allowing qualified, dynamic young educators to devote their complete attention to the education of Central Synagogue's youth.

With the vision of Rabbi Rubinstein, the financial backing of generous donors, and the support of the Central Synagogue clergy and lay leadership, this educational initiative began in September 2004 with four full-time faculty members [actually, there were five - ed.]. Since its inception, the Synagogue community has not only witnessed a renewed energy among its children, but also an increase in enrollment and a heightened reputation among parents as being a program of true quality and engagement in a field too often lacking both.

As we embark on the 2007 school year, nine full-time teachers are in our employment. Each of them serves as the lead for a particular grade, third through ninth, or for youth group, and all work under my supervision, as the Director of Lifelong Learning. Textbooks are used only for Hebrew support, and each lesson is created by the lead teacher for that grade with input from myself and the rest of the full-time teaching staff. In addition to their roles in the classroom and at school tefillah, these teachers assist at all of Central Synagogue's family events, from creating and leading high holiday services and assisting at Shabbat and holiday programming to functioning as Mitzvah Day staff, working with adult education, and creating 123 Central, a brand new magazine publication for all of our Religious School families.

The Full-Time Teacher Mission Statement, created this summer, is as follows. Full-time teachers are an integral part of the Central Synagogue community. They advance learning through a vibrant and organic curriculum; build relationships with students and families; model Jewish commitment and positive identity; invite exploration of Jewish culture in a relevant and accessible way; and lead the community with a clear vision.

We are most fortunate to have found success with this initiative, and in March 2008, we plan to host a kallah where we can share our work with others who are interested in exploring this model for their own congregations. For more information, please feel free to contact me at ymw@censyn.org.

The soundtrack for every bar mitzvah for the rest of your life

2007-12-17T14:12:00.000-05:00

Jewschool reports that Ha'aretz reports that The Sun reports:

"British singer Lauren Rose has released a modern version of traditional Jewish song Hava Nagila, and gambling pundits have even given odds on the song to take the top spot in the U.K. Christmas pop charts.

"According the British newspaper The Sun, bookmaker William Hill has given 17-year-old Lauren Rose a 16-1 shot at having Britain’s best-selling song on December 25."

I couldn't find the original article on the website for The Sun, and am not convinced that Ha'aretz didn't pick up the story straight out of a Lauren Rose press release. In any case, you can follow the developments on Lauren Rose's myspace page or official website.

Oh, and why did she write this song? Here's a quote:

"I found out that the lyrics for the song were written 100 years ago so thought I would record an up to date version with English words as a Hanukkah present for my Grandfather."

Ah, he must be schepping some serious nachas.

Supplementary Jewish Education: The State of the Art

2007-12-05T08:37:00.002-05:00

The Autumn 2007 issue of Contact, the journal of the Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life just came out, and the topic is "Supplementary Jewish Education: What Can Be Done?"

Editor Eli Valley writes in his opening piece:

"... for the majority of American Jews, afternoon schools are and will continue to be the preferred venue of Jewish education. Instead of declaring the demise of Hebrew schools, the community should recommit itself to making afternoon schools work ... afternoon schools can take the initiative in creating innovative, dynamic and rewarding Jewish educational experiences ... that can help form the cornerstone of a revivified Jewish life."

Steinhardt's own contribution advocates for moving supplementary school out of synagogues and away from a curriculum oriented toward bar/bat mitzvah, in favor of home-based learning in small groups. The issue features several profiles of schools by their directors, including the Kesher after-school Hebrew programs in Cambridge and Newton, Tribeca Hebrew in New York City, and Prozdor High School in Boston. There are also more topical pieces on the role of community and vision in making Bar/Bat Mitzvah and family education meaningful.

Other articles include an overview by Nathan Laufer of the work being done by his organization, PELIE, to disseminate both the Kesher model and the model of the NESS program from Philadelphia's Auerbach agency, an explanation of the principles behind the Chai and Mitkadem curricula from the Reform Movement by Rabbis Jan Katzew and Daniel Freedlander, and one by yours truly on the full-time teacher model at Central Synagogue in New York. This is, to my knowledge, the first time that a description of this initiative has appeared on the web. I conclude:

"...It seems self-evident that having more qualified and better compensated teachers working longer hours with more responsibilities outside the classroom will improve a religious school program. The real value of such a shift, however, is the opportunity it provides to align the school’s curriculum, prayer experiences, and social justice activities with the vision and values of the synagogue as a whole. The integration of the religious school faculty into the daily life of the synagogue and the lives of its families provides new potential for building communities of learning and engaged Jewish living. True institutional transformation will come not only from improved pedagogy, but also from the creation of meaningful communal experiences outside the classroom."

The final word in the issue goes to Bill Robinson, who just two weeks ago became Chief Planning and Knowledge Officer for the BJE of NY. In a turn of phrase reminiscent of Douglas Rushkoff, he writes:

" ...in Authentic Jewish Education we will recognize and honor those who have wrestled with Judaism before us. We will also metaphorically kill Judaism every day by taking it apart, turning it upside down and pulling it inside out — constantly creating the new while remembering the past."

Of course, no issue could cover everything - for me, the conspicuous absence is anything relating to technology - but this issue certainly provides one of the most accessible overviews of new trends in supplementary education currently available. Enjoy!

Can Computer Games bring Peace to the Middle East?

2007-11-26T06:57:00.000-05:00

The Associated Press reports today that the Peres Center will distribute 100,000 copies of the game "Peacemaker" to Palestinians and Israelis on Tuesday, in tandem with the Annapolis summit.

According to the ImpactGames Peacemaker blog:

Approximately 75,000 copies will be sent to subscribers of the Israeli daily newspaper Ha’aretz on November 27, with 10,000 copies of the game distributed through the Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds. An additional 15,000 copies of PeaceMaker will be distributed to Palestinian and Israeli high school classrooms and taught by specially trained teachers in the coming months.

I've been meaning to write about this game for some time. The game allows you to play the role of either the Israeli Prime Minister or the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority. To win the game, you have to lead your people to a two-state solution, while coping with "Palestinian suicide bombers, Israeli attacks in the West Bank and Gaza, hawkish Israeli groups, Palestinian militants and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Palestinian refugee camps."

You can download a free demo that lets you play for ten turns -- and let me say, having played the demo several months ago, staying in power for even this long is a challenge! The full game is $19.95 for Mac and PC, and can be played in Arabic, English, and Hebrew.

Although it would seem like a no-brainer to use this one with our junior high or high school programs, I admit that I still haven't brought this one to Emanu-El (the interface is just slightly complex, and it requires quite a bit of time to play). If you've had any experiences using this with your students, please share them here!

Pluralism, Diversity, and Jewish Education

2007-11-25T18:02:00.000-05:00

I am pleased to report that my article "A New Kind of Diversity: Jewish Education in a Pluralistic Society" appears in the Fall 2007 issue of Jewish Education News.

The issue, on "The 21st Century Jewish Learner and the 21st Century Jewish Educator," features several excellent articles on the impact of technology on Jewish education and community, as well as pieces on Jewish professional networks, teacher training, early childhood and older adult learners, and so on. Enjoy!

No Jewish Education?

2007-11-22T05:00:00.000-05:00

Let me say right off the bat that I have busy indeed these past few months, and the backlog of things I would have liked to write about in this space has grown longer than I ever imagined it could. If you are curious about some of the things keeping me occupied on a professional basis, I would direct your attention to the website of Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York. If you'd like to know what's been happening on the home front, well, Liz has been doing a far superior job keeping that blog updated than I have here.

Nevertheless, the long pause since the last update to this blog shouldn't be seen as indication that nothing of note is happening in the world of Jewish education. Quite the contrary: these are interesting times indeed!

First, I suspect that 5768 will be remembered as the year that interest in Supplementary Jewish Education reached critical mass and hit the mainstream.

Following on the heels of Jack Wertheimer's Recent Trends in Supplementary Jewish Education last Spring, CAJE has announced that the Summer 2008 conference will largely focus on questions of synagogue education. An online discussion has already begun at the CAJE 33 wiki.

Mindy Schiller, writing for the not-exactly-alternative World Jewish Digest, authored a front-page article entitled "What's Wrong with Hebrew School?" for the October 2007 issue. Nothing is really said that wasn't written about in Sh'ma (and other places) as far back as March 2002, but hey, this article does quote me.

The Steinhardt Foundation's posting for a Program Officer included as a job responsibility "Developing a plan for rethinking supplementary Jewish education," and this will be the subject of the Fall 2007 issue of their journal, Contact. I expect that in the coming year we will increasingly see postings for congregational positions featuring phrases like "educational innovation" and "visionary leadership."

This past Fall also saw mainstream Internet sites becoming part of the general Jewish educational experience. We've got:

Rosh Hashanah videos on YouTube, like this one (which appears to be some kind of low-key birthrightisrael viral marketing campaign.

It certainly seems to be the case that every Jewish educator I've ever known is now on Facebook. Teens, run in terror!

And of course, 2Life magazine, celebrated the one year anniversary of Jewish life in Second Life, with its sixth issue featuring articles on the first virtual brit milah.

And of course, this Fall has seen the controversial opening of the first Hebrew-language public school, Ben Gamla Charter School, in Hollywood, Florida. Opinion is split as to whether this is a "genius" or "disingenuous" means to use public money to provide children with a Jewish, er, I mean "Hebrew" education. Nevertheless, expect to see others trying to replicate this model if Ben Gamla is deemed a success (and it survives any legal challenges that arise as it navigates the line between church and state).

All of this, and still so much more to say. Ladies and gentlemen, it is hard to believe it, but Jewish education is a growth industry. Who would've thought?

My favorite quotes: Rainer Maria Rilke

2007-07-20T15:52:00.000-04:00

As you may have noticed, the transition from Israel back to NYC and from Mandel Jerusalem Fellows to Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York has left me little time for blogging. But I did see this quote from Ranier Maria Rilke while riding the subway today (in an ad for the School of Visual Arts), and thought I'd share it with you:

"Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything.

"Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer."

Shabbat Shalom.

Facebook and MySpace may mirror social and class differences among teens

2007-06-28T03:59:00.000-04:00

Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing reported earlier this week on a working draft of a (non-academic) paper by danah boyd [yes, really in lowercase - very e. e. cummings], "Viewing American class divisions through Facebook and MySpace." This intriguing piece "posits that well-to-do, stable American teens with 'good prospects' end up on Facebook, while poor, queer, marginal and non-white teens end up on MySpace." He quotes the paper:

"The goodie two shoes, jocks, athletes, or other "good" kids are now going to Facebook. These kids tend to come from families who emphasize education and going to college. They are part of what we'd call hegemonic society. They are primarily white, but not exclusively. They are in honors classes, looking forward to the prom, and live in a world dictated by after school activities.

"MySpace is still home for Latino/Hispanic teens, immigrant teens, 'burnouts,' 'alternative kids,' 'art fags,' punks, emos, goths, gangstas, queer kids, and other kids who didn't play into the dominant high school popularity paradigm. These are kids whose parents didn't go to college, who are expected to get a job when they finish high school. Teens who are really into music or in a band are on MySpace. MySpace has most of the kids who are socially ostracized at school because they are geeks, freaks, or queers."

danah points to the aesthetic differences between the two sites and how they characterize the differences between their user bases:

"Most teens who exclusively use Facebook are familiar with and have an opinion about MySpace. These teens are very aware of MySpace and they often have a negative opinion about it. They see it as gaudy, immature, and 'so middle school.' They prefer the 'clean' look of Facebook, noting that it is more mature and that MySpace is 'so lame.'

"What hegemonic teens call gaudy can also be labeled as 'glitzy' or 'bling' or 'fly' (or what my generation would call 'phat') by subaltern teens. Terms like 'bling' come out of hip-hop culture where showy, sparkly, brash visual displays are acceptable and valued. The look and feel of MySpace resonates far better with subaltern communities than it does with the upwardly mobile hegemonic teens. This is even clear in the blogosphere where people talk about how gauche MySpace is while commending Facebook on its aesthetics.

"I'm sure that a visual analyst would be able to explain how classed aesthetics are, but aesthetics are more than simply the 'eye of the beholder' - they are culturally narrated and replicated. That 'clean' or 'modern' look of Facebook is akin to West Elm or Pottery Barn or any poshy Scandinavian design house (that I admit I'm drawn to) while the more flashy look of MySpace resembles the Las Vegas imagery that attracts millions every year. I suspect that lifestyles have aesthetic values and that these are being reproduced on MySpace and Facebook."

The full text of the essay is well worth the read and there is on-line discussion of the paper at her blog, apophenia -- which also provides an interesting and insightful look at how the media coverage (and in particular, web reporting) on this paper - only posted on-line on June 24th - has quickly spun out of control.

A piece entitled "Digital white flight”? Facebook, class and social networking" posted (on June 22nd) on nmrg, the "New Media Research Group Blog" arrived at parallel conclusions (even referencing similar aesthetic associations):

"...let’s try a hypothesis: as MySpace fills up with 'late adopters' (the older crowd, who may have learned about myspace from other media vectors; 'desperate singles'; anyone whose fingers are some distance from the pulse), and as house-trashing horror-stories circulate, younger, educated, linked in social networkers are gravitating towards the places where 'people like us' gather. As the teens head for Xanga or linger on MySpace, a well-heeled college crowd (and grads or even acas like me) head for the 'nice neighbourhood' that is Facebook, in a way that constitutes a kind of 'digital white flight' (which may or may not have much to do with race) from MySpace, now the mass market SNS.

"The aesthetics of Facebook help here. No gaudy personalisation (none of the “teenage bedroom walls” of many MySpace profiles), no noisy pop-ups or tracks, no intrusive ads. Facebook’s blues and whites and clean backgrounds are reminiscent of an OSX application, or even the Wordpress edit window I am now using. It’s IKEA minimalism - not avant-garde, just neat and functional..."

In a related story about teens and online social networking, CNet News reported yesterday on a Pew study that found that one third of all teens are victims of "cyberbullying:"

"The most common form of bullying reported by teens online involves another person publicizing a private e-mail, instant message or text message, according to a study released Wednesday from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Fifteen percent of teens surveyed said that they had experienced the embarrassment of having a private communication posted publicly online or forwarded to a third party.

"Other types of harassment include someone spreading a rumor or posting an embarrassing photo on the Web, as well as someone sending a threatening or aggressive e-mail, IM or text message, the report found...

"Pew also found that girls are more likely to be bullied online than boys. Thirty-eight percent of girls reported that they had been harassed online vs. 26 percent of boys. The number of incidents rose, however, among older girls and teens who regularly use social networks like Facebook or MySpace.com. Nearly 40 percent of teens on social networks say that they've been bullied."

NFTY (the youth movement of US Reform Judaism) has been promoting ethical on-line blogging through the OurSpace initiative. Further information about cyberbullying (and resources for dealing with it) can be found at cyberbullying (from which the above artwork was taken), www.cyberbullying.us, and probably dozens of other websites about which I am unaware (although if you know of one, please post a comment). Also, Wiredkids has an online quiz to help you determine if you have been the victim of cyberbullying.

My favorite quotes: Jerome Bruner

2007-06-19T03:33:00.000-04:00

This is from In Search of Mind: Essays in Autobiography (1983):

“If indeed it is the mark of our species that we create our own environments in very considerable measure, then surely education is one of the most crucial aspects of that creation. But I think the lesson of the curriculum reform movement is that you cannot accomplish the deeper ends of education by altering only the content and spirit of the courses you teach. Schools as now constituted are not so much the solution to the problem of education as they are part of the problem.

“If I had it all to do over again, and if I knew how, I would put my energies into reexamining how the schools express the agenda of the society and how that agenda is formulated, and how translated by the schools. That, it seems to me, would be the properly subversive way to proceed.”

For your Israeli music curriculum: New Lyrics to Hatikvah?

2007-06-18T04:19:00.000-04:00

[Note: Sing along to this blog posting with Al Jolson or Barbara Streisand!]

In Today's NY Times (June 18, 2007), Adam LeBor argues that the Israeli national anthem needs a facelift:

"As Israel prepares to celebrate its 60th birthday next year, it’s time to update its national anthem, 'Hatikvah' ('The Hope'). Only a single phrase needs to be changed: 'nefesh Yehudi,' which means a Jewish soul, should be replaced with 'nefesh Israeli,' an Israeli soul. Why tamper with a beautiful, stirring hymn? To solve what we might call the 'Hatikvah' contradiction.

"Israel strives to be both a Jewish state and a democracy, yet about a fifth of its population of 7.1 million people are not Jewish, but Arab Muslims, Christians and Druse...

"Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recently appointed Raleb Majadele as Israel’s first Muslim Arab cabinet minister, in charge of science, culture and sports. But the disconnect between the Jewish state and its Arab minority endures. Mr. Majadele caused outrage among the political right in March when he told the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth that he stands up for 'Hatikvah,' but will not sing it [see this March 17 article from Ynet].

"Yet why should he? He is Israeli, but he is not Jewish. And he is not alone. A growing number of Israelis of all faiths are calling for an inclusive national anthem...

"What Israel needs in the 21st century is an anthem that can be sung by all its citizens, of whatever faith..." [full text]

Of course, as Mr. LeBor rightly observes further on the article, this is hardly the only problematic lyric in Hatikvah. Jews from North Africa, Yemen, India, and other non-Ashkenazim might not find much that resonates in the image of a heart that looks "to the east." Non-Jewish Israelis certainly would dispute that a Jewish state in the Holy Land has been their "2000-year hope."

Actually, Hatikvah only "officially" became the national anthem in 2004 (although I that tidbit from Wikipedia, not exactly the most reliable source). You may also know that back in 1948, religious zionists preferred "Shir Ha-Ma'alot" (Psalm 126) for the anthem. Rav Kook was also critical of this text, and composed his own text ("Ha'Emunah," "the faith"). Back in April, the publisher of Ha'aretz, Amos Schocken, wrote in an editorial that "if by its 60th Independence Day Israel were to adopt a new national anthem, it will have taken an important symbolic step for the future of relations between Jews and Arabs in Israel."

More recently, Israeli professor Shlomo Avineri has written in support of maintaining the anthem, observing that:

"...a serious look at national anthems around the world . . . finds the large majority to be problematic. It is enough to cite as examples two strictly democratic countries - Britain and France.

"The British national anthem entreats the Lord to watch over the country's monarch, who is also the head of the Anglican Church. Millions of Catholics, non-Anglican Protestants, Muslims and Jews, among others, live in Britain today . . . The French national anthem, 'La Marseillaise,' is a revolutionary song full of violence and threats against those who oppose the Republic...

"For better or for worse, a national anthem symbolizes the dominant historical trend - which sometimes (as in France) was born of blood and fire. I understand the difficulty of Israeli Arabs, just like that of Jews or Muslims in Britain, or royalists or Muslims in France - but the latter are not suggesting their national anthems be changed. Citizens may decline to sing the anthem, but they should be expected to respect the symbols of the majority . . . In Israel, the Arab proposal to change 'Hatikva' stems not from the difficulty of singing the words of the anthem, but rather from the desire to question the State of Israel as the national state of the Jews..."

I hope it is not too much to assume that most Jewish schools around the world teach their students the Israeli national anthem. May I suggest that teaching the controversy surrounding the text might be a meaningful and interesting way to raise key issues about the nature of the State of Israel?

Young Judea's "Olami" Year Course track selling out!

2007-06-13T17:35:00.001-04:00

Perhaps inspired by Kivunim, Young Judea is offering two specialized versions of their Year Course program featuring international travel. Alongside their other "gap year" programs in Israel for recent High School grads, the two "Olami" tracks include visits with Jewish communities around the world. Olami 1 is already sold out; as of June 14, there are 14 spots left for Olami 2, "Lost Jewish Communities ,which includes visits to Portugal, Uganda, India and South Africa. According to the educational rationale (can you believe a website that actually posts an educational rationale? Go Young Judea!):

"The four communities of Jews that Olami Two will encounter in their worldwide travels represent four major groups of people that are currently not fully accepted as Jews. The Marranos [of Portugal] were Jewish their forced conversion and secret practice of Judaism led to their gradual assimilation. The Lemba [in South Africa] were also Jews but left Israel and normative Judaism so long ago that they forgot much of the tradition. The B’nai Menashe [India] did not descend from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin as did the mainstream Jewish community of today. However, the “lost” tribes of Israel were never truly lost but rather spread throughout the world slowly loosing contact with the remainder of the Jewish people and “normative” Judaism. Finally, the Abayudaya [Uganda, of course] represent third-world communities interested in Judaism as the moral-ethical paradigm by which they wish to lead their lives."

Spaces are also still available for the Year Course Athletic program, but another new track, Shevet, "for students who want to explore their Jewish beliefs in an open Orthodox framework" is already sold out.

Vision Driven Institutions: The Heschel Center

2007-06-13T09:18:00.000-04:00

I'd like to believe this will be a regular feature for New Jewish Education, but let's be honest: Once I start working full-time again in July, the frequency with which ANYTHING will be updated on this blog is an open question. So let me start this entry but putting out, once again, an open call to readers to join me on the writing staff.

In any case, let me tell you a little about one of my favorite Israeli organizations. The Heschel Center for Environmental Learning and Leadership promotes a vision of a sustainable society in Israel through leadership training, educational initiatives, and dissemination of information and resources.

The institution was founded in the 1990s and has undergone several key transformations during its lifespan. Impacted by developments in the environmental movement internationally, the growth of other environmental organizations in Israel, changes in its funding sources, and increasing clarity about its vision, the Heschel Center has shifted its focus from the development of curricular materials primarily for use with tourists to training and supporting “effective environmentalists” working in education, government, and industry in Israel.

The vision of the Heschel Center is based largely upon a critique of two mainstream paradigms of environmentalism in Israel. In the first, the Zionist ideology of a “return to the land” led to a model of appreciation of nature. However, this model largely benefits the upper and middle classes who can demand the preservation of natural spaces for primarily recreational purposes. A second paradigm examines the impact of human activity upon the environment, focusing largely on issues of public health (such as pollution) and prosperity (such as conservation of resources). The utilitarian approach of this model tends to benefit those with the political clout to demand governmental regulations protecting their interests.

The Heschel Center attempts to chart a “third model” for Israeli environmentalism, in which the question of how humans interact with the natural world reflects a values-driven vision of what it means to be human. This approach of “spiritual sustainability” demands that issues of economic development, social justice, and quality of life be an intrinsic part of the environmental agenda. Interestingly, in expounding this vision the staff of the Heschel Center discovered that the use of “Jewish” language and metaphors, which had infused their earlier work, was not well received by their Israeli audience. Secular Israelis ("chilonim") didn’t want to hear a “Jewish” message, and religiously observant didn’t want to hear it from them.

An Israeli awareness of the need for a values-driven environmental approach integrating economic development with spirituality can arise from the experience of parenting. Parents can become disenfranchised with the mainstream consumer culture as they come to the realization that it can conflict with their attempts to raise conscientious, healthy children (for example, in massive amount of advertising promoting junk food). Israelis may also develop an environmental consciousness while visiting other countries in which recycling, bicycling, and sustainable use are more commonplace than in Israel.

The approach of the Heschel Center attempts to pay particular attention to those who are normally disenfranchised by the rhetoric of environmental activism – which tends to mean Israeli and Palestinian Arabs and the urban poor. Inequality in access to and distribution of resources and the negative effects of environmental degradation tend to hit these groups the hardest. Further, the location of national parks and the desire for the preservation of natural spaces can come in conflict with the need for increased living space. The “third model” of the Heschel Center insists that issues of economic development be based upon both a social and an environmental accountability.

For more information: Eilon Schwartz, “Changing Paradigms in Israeli Environmental Education,” which used to be available on the Heschel Center website but seems to currently be unavailable as they update the site.

Reflections on the Hazon/Arava Ride, One Month Later

2007-06-12T10:03:00.000-04:00

It has been just over a month since I completed the Hazon/Arava Institute Bike Ride from Jerusalem to Eilat. I wanted to share with you a few impressions that have stayed with me and a few reflections.

First, thanks to the generous support of our donors, Team Liz raised $8,224, impressively exceeding our goal of $7500. Truthfully, we are even more proud of the fact that this amount represents 99 separate donations, from individuals and families, friends and colleagues, Jews and non-Jews, from high school students to grandparents. This diversity among our supporters mirrored the diversity of the ride itself; in particular, I was astonished and delighted by the number of parents riding with children – and not only teenagers with their adult dads, but also adults who came along with their mom or dad (or both!).

The ride was, as expected, the greatest physical challenge of my life: 350 miles over the course of five days of riding, from Jerusalem to Eilat. It is indeed as beautiful as it sounds.

The ascents ranged from difficult to nearly impossible, but I am proud to say that somehow I managed. One moment stands out in my memory: At the base of the Makhtesh Gadol (the “Big Crater” - which I learned on the ride is not technically a “crater,” as it is usually translated, but the image should still work for you), at the end of our 2nd day of riding – a day that consisted almost exclusively of riding uphill (we started at the Dead Sea) – my friend and future colleague Rabbi Leon Morris and I looked up to the heights, at the extreme limits of our energy, and did what any good rabbi (him) and Jewish educator (me) would do: Started singing psalms: “Esa einai el heharim, me-ayin yavo ezri?” “I lift my eyes to the mountains – where shall my help come from? My help shall come from God, who created heaven and earth, he will not let your legs fail!” We couldn’t remember exactly which psalm this was, but in any case – we both made it up to the top. Well, I walked most of the way – but I made it nonetheless. Here is a photo of Leon and me at morning services at the beginning of the fourth day of riding.

The downhills made all the climbing worthwhile and I can say without hesitation that over the five days of riding I experienced the most exhilarating bicycling of my life, screaming down the hills of the Negev and finally down through the mountains of Eilat. Incredible! You can actually view a video of this final downhill, shot by rider David Eisenberg, – it doesn’t get interesting until several minutes in, so you might want to skip forward. And, kudos to David for calling out while passing riders! There’s other videos, photos, and so on, for those interested, at the Hazon website.

On Friday night, I led the “alternative” worship service for 60 or 70 people, on guitar, accompanied by three drummers. The group included kids and adults, people who normally prayed at Reform congregations and Orthodox congregations and everything else you could imagine, and a smattering of people who’d never been to services before, some because they weren’t Jewish. We sang and prayed for peace and for unity and for strength, and I think we all walked away feeling hopeful.

Nevertheless, the most inspirational part of the ride was not the scenery, nor even the participants, but hearing from the primary beneficiaries of our fundraising at the Arava Institute at a panel on Shabbat afternoon. These 20somethings who come together from Israel, the Palestinian Territories, and Jordan to study environmental science shared stories of skeptical families and unsupportive friends, and detailed with great honesty the prejudices they had to overcome in order to share rooms, meals, and classes with students from “the other side.” That they succeed year after year in building real friendships and working towards a healthier ecology in the Middle East is a tremendous achievement.

And so, Liz and I express our deep and heartfelt thanks to all of you who sponsored us for the ride. And don’t worry about whether you’ll be hearing from us, you know we’ll be hitting you up again soon!

Some thoughts on Family Education

2007-06-11T15:46:00.000-04:00

In my opinion, family education is not simply about bringing the parents in to learn side-by-side with their children: It is about rethinking the relationship between the institution and the home.

For our learners, the home – not the school, synagogue, or summer camp – is the principal arena for the construction of personal meaning. In The Jew Within, Cohen and Eisen wrote that the immediate family exerts the greatest influence on Jewish observance, and parents are the primary agents of their children’s Jewish development. By the choices they make and the kinds of rituals that they incorporate into their homes, they model for their children what is meaningful and significant in Judaism.

Yet, this influence flows in both directions: Parents and children mutually reinforce each other’s Jewish observances and beliefs. In Linking the Silos: How to Accelerate the Momentum in Jewish Education Today, Historian Jack Wertheimer (the Joseph and Martha Mendelson Professor of American Jewish History at JTS) observed that parents can be “spurred on to further their own Jewish education and upgrade their own Jewish knowledge” and to introduce Jewish rituals into their lives as a result of their child’s Jewish involvement. For this reason, Jo Kay, Director of the New York School of Education of Hebrew Union College, suggests that we should look at the individual and the family as an inseparable unit: “Looking at the learner through the lens of the family impacts our perception of who we are teaching. The learner is no longer an individual without a context, but rather a member of a family and the family is ultimately the “student” we are trying to reach” (in her article “Family Education” in the Ultimate Jewish Teachers Handbook).

Our education programs, therefore, must be designed to have clear tie-ins to home observance and family life, providing resources that enable our participants to engage in the content they are learning. For example, giving them the opportunity to explore how they might make their own Passover seders more meaningful or relevant (or hold one in the first place), provides them with the chance to directly impact on their family’s practice.

By the same token, we must provide volunteer opportunities for parents not simply to hand out Chanukah candles and serve latkes, but to play a critical role in setting the agenda for our family education programs. For example, parents ought to be represented in decisions about whether a Religious School’s Hebrew curriculum will place greater emphasis on learning to speak contemporary Israeli Hebrew or on acquiring the skills to participate in a prayer service.

In this way, parents will be empowered to take responsibility for the Jewish upbringing of their own children, students will be empowered to take part in shaping the Jewish life of their families, and the educational program will be a partner in the process rather than the provider of Jewish identity.

Thank You, Mr. Mandel

2007-06-06T09:38:00.000-04:00

Yesterday evening, I had the honor of speaking on behalf of the Mandel Jerusalem Fellows at the graduation ceremony for the Mandel Leadership Institute:

"Mandel Jerusalem Fellows is a professional development program. Nevertheless, it has much in common with a Sabbatical, and I’d like to speak to that comparison. One doesn’t need to be a great Hebrew scholar – and I’m not – to notice that the word 'Sabbatical' is related to the word 'Sabbath' ('Shabbaton' and 'Shabbat'). Shabbat is, of course, a day of rest, and certainly one of the main characteristics of a Shabbaton is the opportunity to be rejuvenated.

"I’d like to suggest three ways in which this experience as Mandel Jerusalem Fellows has been comparable to Shabbat: As a remembrance of the work of creation (zecher l’ma’asei b’reishit), as a remembrance of the liberation from Egypt (zecher letziat mitzrayim), and as a taste of the world yet to come (m’ain olam haba)..."

With the permission of the Mandel Leadership Institute, here is the Hebrew text of the speech I gave (and here is the English translation). Three minutes long.

Mandel Jerusalem Fellows will be taking a one-year hiatus from 2007-08 to retool the program. If you are interested in learning more about the program and considering applying for the 2008 cohort, contact Daniel Barnett at the Mandel Leadership Institute.

Reclaiming the phrase "Tikkun Olam"

2007-06-05T01:15:00.000-04:00

Rabbi Jill Jacobs of Jewish FundS for Justice writes in the June 2007 issue of Zeek magazine:

"There may be no other term that is simultaneously as beloved and as reviled in Jewish progressive circles as the phrase 'tikkun olam.' For some people, this concept, generally translated as “repairing the world,” offers the motivation for involvement in social justice work; for others, the term has become so overused and so little understood as to be meaningless...

"...As the meaning of the term tikkun olam has expanded to apply to virtually any action or belief that the user thinks is beneficial to the world, some Jewish social justice activists and thinkers have moved away from using the term at all.

"...Rather than throw out the term tikkun olam altogether, or putting it on a twenty-year hiatus as others have suggested, I propose weaving together the four primary definitions of tikkun olam present in Jewish history: the anticipation of the divine kingdom in the Aleynu prayer; the midrashic call to preserve the physical world; the rabbinic desire to sustain the social order; and the Lurianic belief in our power to restore divine perfection. This definition will occupy a space between a limited definition of 'tikkun olam' as relating only to a specific theology or legal process and an expansive definition that equates 'tikkun olam' with any type of social action or social justice work."

Read her article, "The History of Tikkun Olam," for her complete program for rejuvinating the use of this overused phrase. The image to the right is from Temple Judea of Tarzana, California.

Job Posting: Director of Development, Beit Rabban (NYC)

2007-06-01T11:13:00.000-04:00

Beit Rabban is a day school that weaves together exemplary and creative practices of academic and Jewish education. The school's diverse learning community brings together families from across the Jewish denominational spectrum. The school is committed to intellectual openness regarding the diversity of belief and practice found within Judaism. In an environment that is progressive in orientation, yet serious about engaging children in the Jewish textual tradition, students learn in an open spirit and in a way that fosters a love of learning. Find out more about our unique vision-led school at: www.beitrabban.org.

Beit Rabban seeks a highly organized individual to serve as Director of Development. This new position is an exciting opportunity for a motivated professional to join a dynamic, stimulating work environment and play a crucial role in the strategic growth of the school. The Director of Development will plan and implement comprehensive fundraising strategies for both the annual and capital campaigns. Reporting to the Executive Director, s/he will:
Work effectively with lay leaders to cultivate volunteer teams and campaign organizers, and identify and cultivate prospective donors
Institute new strategies for moving donors along the continuum of giving
Plan and implement major donor recognition and cultivation events
Design and implement mail, phone, online campaigns and other income streams targeted to current and alumni parents, grandparents, alumni and community donors
Conceptualize and execute brochures and communications pieces related to development projects and events.
Oversee gift administration processes relating to annual giving, pledge reminders and reporting
Qualifications: The ideal candidate will have a minimum of five years experience as a development professional where s/he has demonstrated success in:
Designing and implementing major donor solicitation efforts, including capital campaigns
Team-building and stewardship
Appeals such as direct mail, dial-a-thons and e-philanthropy
Defining, articulating and writing the case for giving and other campaign materials
Special events and volunteer management and mobilization
The successful candidate will also have excellent interpersonal and managerial skills, as well as the ability to work well independently; capacity to assume leadership roles and take initiative in start-up enterprises; Bachelor’s degree required, Master’s is preferred.

To apply: Please send a resume and cover letter with salary requirements to: Lisa Sacks, Executive Director, Beit Rabban Day School, 8 W. 70th Street, New York, NY 10023; lisa@beitrabban.org. Candidates meeting some but not all of the qualifications are also encouraged to apply.

A few words of advice to those applying for an entry-level position

2007-05-29T18:03:00.001-04:00

Recently, I posted a job description for the position of Life-Long Learning Associate at Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York.

Of course, I respond to every application individually. Nevertheless, here are a few unsolicited words of advice to anyone who might be applying for a job for the first time:

If you have the word "beach," "kitten," or "toy" in your email address - you might want to consider opening a new gmail account for business correspondence.

Don't apply for every position that is being advertised at the congregation with exactly the same cover letter.

If I ask you about what you know about the congregation, don't cut and paste from it's website in your response.

Probably not best to address me as "Dear Sir/Madam" or "Hello ," - I mean, my name's on the friggin' job description.

If your email is three sentences long, every sentence shouldn't end in an exclamation point! Really! Honest!"

We are still collecting resumes for this position. If you need me to tell you to look under "job descriptions" (to the right), this is not the job for you.

Cory says, "Homework Sucks!"

2007-05-28T11:21:00.000-04:00

Today on Boing Boing: Cory Doctorow's review of The Case Against Homework by Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalish. He calls it "a fine and frightening explosion of the homework myth: that giving kids homework improves their educational outcome..."

"...all the credible research on homework suggests that for younger kids, homework has no connection with positive learning outcomes, and for older kids, the benefits of homework level off sharply after the first couple assignments...

"...Not that most teachers would know this -- homework theory and design isn't on the curriculum at most teachers' colleges, and most teachers surveyed report that they have never received any training on designing and assessing homework...

"...The stories go on and on, and just when you're ready to throw in the towel and send your kids into the woods to be raised by wolves, the authors supply several long chapters of strategies and sample dialogs for convincing your kids' teachers to ease off on homework, for changing the homework policies in your school district and for rallying other parents to their cause.

"They're not whistling Dixie, either: the authors have gone through this themselves, challenging and changing the homework policies in their kids' school districts. The last section of the book is an activist guide and a postmortem of the strategies they employed. One of the authors, Sara Bennett, is a celebrated civil rights lawyer; the other, Nancy Kalish, is a famous editor and writer of material for parents, especially mothers. One imagines that their school board didn't know what hit them" [full text of review].

More information can be found on StopHomework.com, co-author Sara Bennett's blog. She recommends taking action by signing the petition calling for the dismantling of the "No Child Left Behind" Act at The Educator Roundtable.

Sure Mark . . . why not? (Survey on "Family Purity")

2007-05-26T03:39:00.000-04:00

I received this email earlier today, which I am quoting in full:

"My name is Mark Guterman. I am a Clinical Psychology PhD student working with Orit Avishai of the University of California at Berkeley. We are doing an internet survey of Jews of all denominations. The survey is for both singles and married couples. The survey is online at: http://www.JewishSurveys.org.

"I was wondering if you could post a link on your site for our research? I ask you, because your blog draws readers of a type that we may not be able to reach through any other means. Please help us out. We are not making any money on this; we are simply trying to learn more about our community. Your cooperation in this would be greatly appreciated, and you would be doing a service to the Jewish community at large.

"More info on the survey: The study looks at issues regarding Negiah (premarital touching) and Niddah / Taharat HaMishpachah (family purity). Niddah and Negiah play an important role in the every day lives of Jewish men and women. The collection of handbooks on this topic grows from year to year, yet we know very little about how Jewish couples, men, and women experience and observe Niddah and Negiah. Anecdotal evidence and our previous research have led us to conclude that many couples and individuals are experiencing difficulties with this aspect of the Halachah.

"We are inviting the Jewish community at large to participate in this important survey to shed light on these difficulties and explore some ways to address them. Given the intimate nature of these matters, this brief, online survey is totally anonymous, and no identifiable information is collected."

Follow this link to take the survey. You must be 18 years or older to participate, and all information is provided anonymously. I took the survey (it takes about 10 minutes): You may find that your responses do not easily correspond to the choices provided in the drop-down menus. However, I was amused to see that kashrut and shabbat observance is rated on a scale from "flexible" to "strict."

Job Posting: "Shabbat Leader," Society for the Advancement of Judaism

2007-05-25T04:06:00.000-04:00

The SAJ, a Reconstructionist and Conservative synagogue on the Upper West Side, is seeking a "Shabbat leader" to lead family services and to teach in our Hebrew School. Our family services are warm, inviting, and very musical. We use a mix of traditional prayer, storytelling, and interactive educational activities to create a service that is welcoming to all. At the Hebrew School we use an experiential learning approach to introduce children of all ages to the joys of Jewish life. We are looking for an educator who will bring educational engagement and a high level of ruach-oriented fun to our Hebrew school.

The Shabbat leader will:
Lead two Friday night family services a month, one geared towards younger children (ages 4-8) and their parents, and one geared towards tweens and their parents.
Lead one monthly Saturday morning service geared towards younger children.
Teach music in the Hebrew School twice a week, ideally on Sunday and Tuesday. There will be a particular focus on teaching songs from the family Shabbat services, to create a bridge between the Hebrew School and the family services.
Help plan and attend two havdalah events during the winter.
Work closely with and be supervised by the education director, meeting with the education director on a weekly basis.
Attend bimonthly meetings of a lay "Shabbat committee."
The schedule for the various services should allow for each service to occur on a different week of the month in order to accommodate all family groups.

The ideal candidate for this position will have at least four years experience in song-leading, have the ability to song-lead while playing either guitar or keyboard, and will also have experience creating and leading family education programs. He or she will be upbeat and outgoing, and will enjoy and relate well to children.

Compensation ranges from $15,000 up, commensurate with experience.

Please email resumes to education.saj@verizon.net or fax (212) 724-0293.

Now THIS is how a Wiki should be used!

2007-05-22T14:30:00.000-04:00

You may recall that about two months ago, in an entry about JESNA's Lippman Kanfer Institute Wiki, I lamented that "rather than being an interactive or collaborative experience, [this] Wiki is still currently functioning much like any other website." Well, I want to share with you a wiki that I think makes brilliant use of the potential of the technology: flatplanet, the Wikispaces "space of the month" for April 2007.

Flat Planet is:

"...an online collaborative project between students in two religious education classes in Catholic High Schools in Canada and the United Kingdom. The students were given the task of examining environmental issues affecting both Canada and the U.K. and to think about the ethical/moral responsibility of Roman Catholics with regard to the environment..."

So what makes the result so fantastic? Here's just a few of the creative ways the site takes advantage of the potential of the technology to twin classrooms in different parts of the world for collaborative learning:

clocks on the home page with the current times in Oakville, Canada and London, England)
students can post photos of themselves so their other group members can see who they are
project pages, on which the students post text, audio, photos, and videos
discussion pages, on which students discuss what they are posting and respond to one another's concerns (here is a sample, from the project on animal testing)
a resource page (actually, a blog) on which students can post articles and weblinks they think will be helpful to all the groups

Along with the technology, the site also demonstrates a number of pedagogical techniques that are simply good practice, including a clear rubric for grading the projects.

How far ahead of the crowd is this wiki? Well, for a quick comparison, pay a visit to the (relatively) new blog, "Web 2.0 in the classroom" and try clicking on any of the links (which have impressive names like "21st Century Education"). Despite their great intentions, not a single one has been updated since April (and most consist of a single entry). Presumably, these were created as part of some sort of technology-in-the-classroom training (on March 12th). But I'm just guessing.

So what are we waiting for? For inspiration, here is what Simon O'Carroll (in Canada) and Neil D'Aguiar (in London) - the teachers who set up Flat Planet - had to say about their experience:

"The thing that we like about Wikispaces is the ease of use. It was fairly simple to figure out how to use the Wikispaces editing tools. Within a few minutes we had set up our Flat Planet Wikispaces site and were laying the groundwork for our students to begin their collaboration. I especially like the ability to easily embed things such as video, audio, and other types of media into the wiki."

Want to learn more about Web 2.0 and other new technologies, and their educational applications? Browse through the articles and other resources at the Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies, join the community at Classroom 2.0, spend some time at Suzie Vesper's Educational Software and Web 2.0 Wiki, and of course don't miss Caren Levine's jlearn 2.0. Enjoy!

StorahLab Summer Institute at CAJE

2007-05-22T13:31:00.000-04:00

This comes via our friend (and Storahteller extraordinaire) Dr. Shira D. Epstein:

Are you a Jewish educator? Want to learn the art of Storahtelling and transform your classroom into a stage for The Greatest Story Ever Told?

Join us for StorahLab Summer Institute 2007!

StorahLab is an exclusive opportunity for supplementary school educators to learn from dynamic educators and Storahtellers. Participants delve deep into Storahtelling's innovative, educational methodology in an intimate setting and return to their communities with a fresh set of tools to enable students to find renewed relevance in our sacred texts. Learn the ins and outs of Storahtelling's Cool Tool for School, a comprehensive curriculum utilizing the Storahtelling methodology of dramatic translation and interpretation of Torah.

StorahLab will take place as an intensive learning track each morning of the 2007 CAJE conference, Sun. August 5th - Thurs. August 9th in St. Louis, MO.

For more information, contact the CAJE offices at cajeny@caje.org or Sarah Sololic at sarah@storahtelling.org or 212-695-0807.

Job Posting: Full-Time Teacher at Central Synagogue, NYC

2007-05-22T11:33:00.000-04:00

Central Synagogue, a Reform congregation of over 2000 households in mid-town Manhattan seeks to hire full-time educators for the fourth year of an innovative educational initiative for academic year 2007-8. Our full-time teachers work as a team to plan and implement formal and informal learning experiences for our 3rd-9th graders and their families, including Shabbat and holiday celebrations, enrichment activities, and social action projects.

Responsibilities include:

team-driven curriculum planning and assessment
classroom teaching
evaluation of student achievement
weekly communication with parents
family programming and parent education
home and internet based learning initiatives

This is a full time position with benefits.

Starting date: July 1, 2007

Salary: $38-49K based on experience

Applicants for this position should have previous experience in classroom teaching and curriculum development, excellent organizational and communication skills, and a strong work ethic. We seek reflective practitioners, committed to professional growth, who are able to work effectively as part of a team and to share a love for learning and of Judaism with all members of our synagogue community. This is a challenging position with tremendous opportunity for achievement. Our faculty creates cutting-edge learning experiences, incorporating the latest pedagogical theories, while receiving mentoring from experts in the field. In order to create a diverse educational team we are seeking candidates with special skills in one or more of the following areas: music, song leading, technology (web/video), dance, theater, visual arts, and Judaic studies.

The position requires evening and weekend work throughout the academic year. Hebrew proficiency and familiarity with Reform Judaism are essential. An advanced degree in Education and/or Judaic studies is preferred.

For more information or to apply for this position, please send cover letter and resume to:

Sara Blumstein
Director of Educational Administration
Central Synagogue
123 East 55th Street
New York, NY 10022
sara@censyn.org
212-838-5122 x254
212-486-1944 (Fax)

Third Annual Jewish and Israeli Blog Award winners announced

2007-05-21T06:00:00.001-04:00

It's been a big week for awards announcements, apparently. Despite concerns raised about right-wing bias and hacking attacks on its website, the winners in all categories for the JIB (Jewish and Israeli Blog) Awards have been posted.

The big winner is Yaakov Kirschen's Dry Bones blog, in which he presents a daily cartoon accompanied by his commentary on it - a methodology for which blogs are particularly suited.

Kudos also to our friends at JSpot, who picked up the award for best group blog, The Jew and the Carrot, who snagged the best new blog award (with an incredible 592 votes, nearly three times as many votes as any other blog received in ANY category), and Mah Rabu, who picked up a bronze for his Hilchot Pluralism series.

Other big winners include treppenwitz's musings on daily life in Israel (and whatever else comes to mind), Gil Student's ortho-haredi halachic commentary on Hirhurim, and the spiritual reflections of Lazer Brody at Lazer Beams - all of which are award winners from previous years.

Jewish Agency launches free pilot of their on-line Hebrew Ulpan

2007-05-21T05:04:00.000-04:00

The Jewish Agency of Israel is introducing a new on-line Hebrew Ulpan, which will be inaugurated with a free 4-week pilot. It is open to individuals age 15 and older, and knowledge of the alef-bet is a prerequisite. According to their literature, the pilot will include:

4 Lessons consisting of 1.5 interactive, live (real time) contact hours each, plus independent study (assignments, review)
Acquisition of the full range of language skills - Speaking, Reading,Writing, Listening and Visual Comprehension
All lessons contain Vocabulary, Language Structure and Grammar
Blended methods of study [ed: I had no idea what that meant, but Wikipedia did.]

The format will consist of four synchronous webconferences on Mondays (at 5:00 PM Israel time), starting July 2. To register, or for more information, contact Sandrine Balloffet.

Job Posting: Project Assistant, Lippman Kanfer Institute

2007-05-20T10:59:00.000-04:00

JESNA is a continental nonprofit organization that is focused on improving Jewish education through a cycle of learnings, dissemination, and application.

JESNA (www.jesna.org) is seeking a highly-motivated, self-directed individual for a part-time (10 hour per week) position as Project Assistant for its Lippman Kanfer Institute. The Lippman Kanfer Institute operates as a think tank within JESNA, focusing on the identification and diffusion of innovative ideas and practices that will keep Jewish education relevant and effective in the 21st century. The Project Assistant will work closely with the Director of the Institute (who is also JESNA’s Chief Ideas Officer) to manage its initiatives and day-to-day activities.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES
Assist the Director in planning the activities of the Lippman Kanfer Institute, including meetings and events, publications, presentations, and other activities.
Ensure that these activities are implemented effectively and in a timely fashion.
Manage the Institute’s ongoing communications with key partners and constituents, including members of the JESNA Board and staff, the Lippman Kanfer Family Foundation, individuals working with the Institute on projects, advisers and consultants, Jewish education funders, and other professional and lay leaders in the field of Jewish education.
Coordinate meetings, consultations, and other events organized by the Institute.
POSITION REQUIREMENTS:
B.A.
Experience in managing projects and activities in the for-profit or not-for-profit sectors.
Skills in using word processing, spreadsheet, presentation (Powerpoint) software; skills in using project management, graphics, and web software a plus.
Personally familiar with and knowledgeable about the Jewish community and Jewish education.
Ability to communicate clearly and effectively, both orally and in writing, with all levels of management and staff, volunteer leaders, partner organizations, and media.
Ability to juggle multiple tasks under deadlines.
Demonstrated resourcefulness, optimism, flexibility, and good humor in approach to project assignments and in working with colleagues and constituents.
Commitment to JESNA’s values, mission and goals.
START DATE: September 1, 2007; possible earlier start if candidate is available sooner

LOCATION: JESNA’s New York office

SALARY: $300 / 10 hr. week

APPLICATION PROCESS: Email resume and cover letter with position title in the subject line to Jonathan Woocher, Director of the Institute, at jwoocher@jesna.org.

More winners, and a blog as well!

2007-05-17T01:53:00.000-04:00

Yesterday (May 16, 2007) the AVI CHAI Foundation announced the fifteen awardees of their Educational Technology Experimentation Grants (out of around 180 submissions). They comprise "a diverse range of projects with the ultimate goal of learning about and identifying promising educational technology initiatives for Jewish education."

Winning initiatives make use of smartboards, websites, podcasts, and video to teach subjects ranging from Hebrew to Talmud to prayer. All the winners are from day schools - no summer camps, supplementary schools, or other programs are represented.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this project is AVI CHAI's use of a weblog by which to follow each grantee’s progress along the experimentation route.

Although it is hard to guess from the terse descriptions presented which of these projects will be the most innovative - and of course, the most creative might not be the most successful - one in particular stood out to me: A project by Rabbi Judd Kruger Levingston at the Saligman Middle School of the Perelman Jewish Day School in Melrose Park, PA:

"Rabbi Levingston will be exerimenting with on-line tefilla; electronic siddurim; podcasts and other new media expressions of prayer by and for the middle school students."

Best of luck to Judd and to the other winners, and let's stay tuned to see how these projects develop!

In poor taste but...the Hitler or Falwell game

2007-05-17T00:23:00.000-04:00

With thanks, sort of, to Boing Boing for the tip-off, it's Hitler or Falwell! According the inventor, it's a "simple game of Godwinism, in which I present a quote and YOU guess who said it!" For example,

4. I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!

5. Universal education is the most corroding and disintegrating poison that liberalism has ever invented for its own destruction.

Find the answers, and play the game, via this link.

We have a winner!

2007-05-16T08:19:00.000-04:00

Remember back in December, when BabagaNewz announced its "Capture the Dream" contest? If you've forgotten, participants designed an original logo for a plane carrying passengers making aliyah to Israel. Well, a winner has been announced: Alexis D., a fifth-grader in the religious school of Har Zion Congregation in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Alexis' design will be on a Nefesh B'Nefesh plane to Israel and she will accompany her illustration aboard the plane on a free trip to Israel this summer.

The designs by the three runners-up are posted at the BabagaNewz website.

Awards for Adult and Congregational Learning from the Reform Movement

2007-05-16T04:34:00.000-04:00

At some point, when I wasn't looking, the Union for Reform Judaism seems to have redesigned its home page, making it considerably easier to navigate the site (among the features that have been moved to the front is a link to their "Sacred Choices" curriculum for congregations and camps to teach sexual ethics to teens).

Anyway, the URJ is sponsoring two awards that may be of interest to readers of this blog:

Does your synagogue engage its adult members, from post-confirmation teens to senior citizens, in active learning experiences? If so, please consider applying for the Union for Reform Judaism Congregation of Learners Awards 2007, honoring congregations of all sizes that provide varied and comprehensive learning opportunities for their members.

Winning congregations will be recognized at the San Diego Biennial, receive free URJ Press books, videos and CDs and will be featured in a Best Practices book available to all Reform congregations.

NEW THIS YEAR! The Nachshon Awards, recognizing congregations in the process of transformation, on their way to becoming Congregation of Learners. These awards will be given to congregations for one new and innovative program or project that demonstrates a congregational commitment to adult Jewish learning.

Application deadline is June 1, 2007.

You can download the application form directly from the internet. For more information, contact Brooke Montgomery at bmontgomery@urj.org or 212.650.4110.

Sesame Street returns to Israeli and Palestinian television

2007-05-15T06:47:00.001-04:00

Off the air (due to a lack of funding) since 1997, "Rehov Sumsum" returned to the Israeli children's cable television network "Hop!" this past Chanukah (2006). This week, Ma'an, an independent network of Palestinian television stations will begin broadcasting their version of the series. Ha'aretz reports:

"...Producers tailored the Middle Eastern casts and story lines to the fit the audiences. 'Rehov Sumsum,' the Israeli version of the show, for the first time includes a Muppet of Arab origin. Its Palestinian counterpart, 'Shara'a Simsim,' seeks to offer positive role models to boys in the West Bank and Gaza Strip." (April 30, 2007)

A little background:

"...After the shows ended in 1997, a joint Palestinian-Israeli production in the planning stages was shelved when the Palestinians launched the second intifada in 2000.

"Instead, a limited series called 'Sesame Stories' was produced in 2004 by independent Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian production teams. The animations and live-action episodes were dubbed and aired on each other's series.

'The Muppets couldn't speak each other's languages, but they connected over falafel and hummus, and a common dislike of onions,' Knell said.

"The new Israeli and Palestinian shows are produced independently, placing an emphasis on educating children about their own societies. Like any "Sesame Street," they also teach basic skills like numbers and letters, good manners and keeping the environment clean.

"'Rechov Sumsum' teaches tolerance by portraying a street inhabited by Israelis of varying backgrounds who live together peacefully: Jews and Arabs, religious and secular, veterans and immigrants. The neighbors are real-life children and adult characters, including a Jewish man named Tzahi, an Arab woman named Ibtisam, a Russian woman named Irina and an Ethiopian student named Malkamo." (JTA, May 14, 2007)

Sesame Workshop, in a press release from last December, described the initiative as part of their commitment "to creating and providing positive media content for children in the Middle East." Along with the new Israeli and Palestinian versions, this includes productions in Egypt ('Alam Simsim', now entering its 10th year) and Jordan (Hikayat Simsim). The new Palestinian series:

"...will be accompanied by an educational outreach campaign, will feature a new set that now includes a Fix-It shop run by Salim, a new male character in his early 20’s. Beloved Palestinian Muppet characters Haneen, a 5-year-old learning how to count and read, and Kareem, a 7-year-old rooster, who is organized, tidy, timely, and traditional, return to Shara’a Simsim. The new season responds directly to the needs of Palestinian children by focusing on boys’ empowerment and introducing the character of Salim, who will serve as a positive role model for young children."

All this is great news for Israelis (and the rest of us) who until now have had to turn to YouTube to hear "Barvazoni" ("Rubber Duckie" sung in Hebrew).

My favorite quotes: Hannah Arendt

2007-05-15T02:31:00.000-04:00

This is from The Crisis in Education (1954):

“Education is the point at which we decide whether we love the world enough to assume responsibility for it and by the same token save it from that ruin which, except for renewal, except for the coming of the new and young, would be inevitable.

“And education, too, is where we decide whether we love our children enough not to expel them from our world and leave them to their own devices, nor to strike from their hands their chance of undertaking something unforeseen by us, but to prepare them in advance for the task of renewing a common world.”

Experiential education at its worst

2007-05-14T11:00:00.000-04:00

Associated Press reports today (May 14, 2007) that staff members of a sixth grade class in Murfreesboro, Tennessee "staged a fictitious gun attack on students during a class trip, telling them it was not a drill as the children cried and hid under tables."

"The mock attack Thursday night was intended as a learning experience and lasted five minutes during the weeklong trip to a state park, said Scales Elementary School Assistant Principal Don Bartch, who led the trip...

"...Principal Catherine Stephens declined to say whether the staff members involved would face disciplinary action, but said the situation 'involved poor judgment.'" [full story at CNN.com].

Australian Jewish Punk Rock Cartoon

2007-05-09T03:28:00.000-04:00

Melbourne-based band Yidcore has released a bizarre and kinda wonderful cartoon-video for the title track from their new album, "They Tried to Kill Us. They Failed. Let's Eat!" I have to admit I can't entirely understand the lyrics, but then again, I'm pushing 40. In any case, the title of the song says it all.

Check out the Yidcore Myspace page for more song samples, including their speed-metal version of "Od Yavo Shalom." Their homepage features more punk-Jewish goodness, including their recipes for chulent and kugel.

Thanks to the blog "i tempi e le idee" for turning me on to this. Of course, that blog is in Italian, so I have no idea what is being said there, either.

King Herod's Tomb Discovered!

2007-05-08T15:37:00.000-04:00

The tomb of Herod the Great has been discovered, reports Mati Milstein at National Geographic News:

"Hebrew University professor Ehud Netzer and colleagues say they solved one of Israel's great archaeological mysteries by unearthing the remains of Herod's grave, sarcophagus, and mausoleum at the Herodium complex.

"Most scholars had assumed Herod, who ruled Judea between 37 and 4 B.C., was buried at the Herodium complex, but his final resting place had remained undiscovered until now. The site lies about 6 miles (15 kilometers) south of modern-day Jerusalem.

"King Herod is renowned for his monumental construction projects, including the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, the Caesarea complex, and the palace atop Masada. Herod constructed Herodium as a massive administrative, residential, memorial, and burial center.

"The site's unique character and other finds at the Herodium prove without a doubt that this is Herod's burial site, Netzer said at a press conference." [full article]

Amiram Barkat in today's edition of Ha'aretz (May 8, 2007) writes:

"Herod, whose father and grandfather converted to Judaism, was appointed governor of Galilee at the age of 25 and was made "King of the Jews" by the Roman senate in approximately 40 BCE. He remained king for around 34 years.

". . .At Herodium, Herod built one of the largest monarchical complexes in the Roman Empire, which served as a residential palace, a sanctuary, an administrative center and a mausoleum. Herod first built an artificial cone-shaped hill that could be seen from Jerusalem, on which he constructed a fortified palace surrounded by watchtowers that he used solely in wartime.

". . . With the outbreak of the Great Revolt, Herodium was seized by the rebels, but then handed over without resistance to the Romans following the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE.

"Fifty years later, Herodium was also used by the rebels during the Bar Kokhva revolt, but was abandoned thereafter.

". . . The first archeological dig at the site, between the years 1956 and 1962, was conducted by a Franciscan monk and revealed most of the currently-known remains. Israel began excavations at the site in 1972, several years after its capture during the Six-Day War." [full article]

Israeli Yom HaShoah Rap Video

2007-04-16T12:57:00.000-04:00

Yesterday (Sunday, April 15), in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Israeli artists Subliminal & Miri Ben-Ari came out with the rap song, "Adon Olam Ad Matei?" (God Almighty When Will It End?) which is available on YouTube as a video with English subtitles.

The song was distributed as a free CD single in Israeli high schools yesterday as a way to enable Israeli youth to encounter serious issues about the Holocaust. It is also available as a free download (MP3 format) (also available as ZIP file).

Thanks to Ruth Abusch-Magder for the tip-off!

UPDATE (April 16): Ynet published this article today with details about the song and video. An excerpt:

"Ben Ari and Subliminal do not regard the clip as a one-time project. As far as they're concerned, it is the tip of the iceberg; the long-term plan is to launch a movement "Gedenk" (The Yiddish word for "Memory") that using hip hop, the violin and Ben Ari's network of friends in the international music industry will teach teenagers worldwide about the Holocaust."

Spiritual and Practical: A New Approach to Teaching Prayer

2007-04-12T02:32:00.000-04:00

Despite its central role in most supplementary school curricula, guest blogger Lev Metz observes that most students never really develop a meaningful relationship with prayer or even learn the liturgy. He blames the widespread approach in which "some formal instruction is given on how to participate in specific prayers, but no concerted effort is made to acculturate the students to a community that prays with intention."

He suggests an alternative approach in which "the service itself can become the major vehicle for teaching about the service, with supplementary classroom components facilitated both before and after the service."

"The character and nature of the services themselves should be dynamic, changing regularly and intentionally focusing on a particular prayer or theme that parallels what is being taught in the classroom. These themes could be determined according to the community’s values (via the Religious School Committee or its equivalent), which will both challenge the community to articulate its values alongside the clergy as well as help to bring a widespread buy-in for the program among community members.

"Acculturating students to the tefillah [prayer] experience will require a dynamic balance between instruction on how Jews pray . . . and an exploration of why we do so. It is our responsibility to show our students the possibilities that tefillah can provide for them. Spiritually, tefillah can provide a ballast to balance out such pervasive American cultural norms as materialism and narcissism. Educationally, tefillah provides a lens and window through which we can connect to Jews around the world - past, present and future."

The complete article is available here as a Microsoft Word file.

Lev Metz is a graduate student at the Rhea Hirsch School of Education at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles.

A working definition for Peoplehood, perhaps?

2007-04-11T00:51:00.000-04:00

Just as "continuity" and "renaissance" have had their days in the sun as buzzwords around which to rally a Jewish educational agenda, the word of the day seems to be "peoplehood" (a phrase so contemporary that the dictionary in Microsoft Word doesn't even acknowledge it as a real word).

Like other buzzwords, "peoplehood" can be useful as a means for generating discussion - but equally, it can become a catch-all phrase that is hard to define.

Here's a definition of "Jewish philosophy" (from the article "Judaism" by Lenn. E. Goodman in the Blackwell Companion to the Philosophy of Religion - a tome I make no claims to have read and whose other chapter headings include such titles as "Theological realism and antirealism," "Eternity," and "Agapeistic ethics") that I think does a good job of explaining what we might mean by Peoplehood:

"What unites practitioners of Jewish philosophy is not some exotic logic that we can label chauvinistically or patronizingly as 'Talmudic,' nor a common store of doctrines, but a chain of discourse and problematics, an ongoing conversation that is jarred but not halted by shifts of language, external culture, or epistemic background. What makes the conversation distinctive is no unique flavor or accent, no values or concerns that are unshared by others, but a respect for prior Jewish efforts found worthy as points of reference or departure as the conversation continues.

"The unity and distinctiveness of Jewish philosophy, then, are both conceptual and historical. There is a historical continuity from one participant to the next - as there is in general philosophy. And there is a critical reappropriation and redefinition of the elements of tradition in each generation - as there must be in any religious or cultural transmission."

Why should Jews care about a bike ride?

2007-04-07T01:25:00.000-04:00

This May, I will join with 179 other riders in a 300-mile, 5-day ride from Jerusalem to Eilat.

I hope that everyone reading this needs no convincing that we are currently dealing with a wide variety of extremely serious environmental concerns that will have long-lasting impact upon the planet. For me, for religion to have any meaning at all, it must be able to provide guidance in responding to such pressing issues. I believe that the Jewish tradition indeed provides a starting point. Here are three such ideas:

1. Blessings (“Brachot”). We are taught to have a moment of reflection and appreciation before and after eating, connecting ourselves with the whole process by which we are nourished -- a process which involves many people across the world and responsible care for the planet that provides our food. We are also taught to say a blessing each time we hear thunder, see an ocean, smell fresh fruit . . . in fact, our days are filled with opportunities to make a connection with the natural world around us, with awe and gratitude.

Abraham Joshua Heschel taught that "prayer is meaningless unless it is subversive;" each time we say one of these blessings can be an opportunity to take our gratitude one step further by taking responsibility. These blessings can be a call to social justice and accountability.

2. The Stories of our People. Call them the Jewish identity-myths if God-talk makes you roll your eyes, but they still contain important truths that don't get trivialized in the retelling. To give just one example: Noah's ark. The whole 2 of every species thing asserts the importance of biodiversity; building the ark and bringing on the animals is a metaphor for our responsibility to be the caretakers of that biodiversity.

Certainly, not every Jewish story sounds like something written by Greenpeace, but there are enough to fill up a Sunday School curriculum. To me, I'd prefer it if my Jewish education taught me that for centuries upon centuries, at least some of my ancestors cared enough about the environment to pass along these stories.

3. Ethics. I don't think I am speaking out of turn when I say that for all of us who were in youth group together, tikkun olam (repairing the world) is central to our understanding of why be Jewish instead of nothing at all. We care about making the world a little bit better for ourselves and for others. There are a whole medley of Jewish concepts that cover environmental issues, and they weren't invented at the first Earth Day celebration in 1970.

For example, the concept of "bal tashchit" (not senselessly wasting) demands that we weigh our pressing human needs (for comfort, security, convenience) against a larger backdrop of their impact on others and upon the planet (resource depletion, destruction of beautiful places, creation of health hazards). It isn't a stretch to think about reduce/reuse/recycle" in this context. The beauty of it, to me, is that there isn't a prescriptive answer - just an obligation to take responsibility, to be conscious that the impact of our actions is often greater than we realize - and so to act carefully and with consideration.

Now, you may be thinking at this point, all that's great, but what does it have to do with a bike ride? Well, the bicycle is a terrific, non-polluting form of transportation. Part of it, I think, is just that a whole bunch of people doing a long bike ride attracts attention - and raising awareness about environmental issues is a key concern here in Israel. Part of it, for sure, is the whole "a-thon" philosophy (can he really do it? I'd pay money to see him get on a bike for that length of time!). And, also, it's just a gimmick to bring together people who care about the environment and care about Judaism.

The thing is, though, it’s a gimmick that works: Hazon has been incredibly successful at building community among Jews with an incredible range of political and religious sensibilities. For a great number of those people, Hazon is the only “Jewish” thing in their lives.

It seems self-evident to me that Judaism ought to be concerned with the quality of the air, water, and earth in the “Holy Land.” The Hazon Arava ride is more than a means for raising awareness – and funds – for Israeli environmental issues. Because the ride brings together Israeli Jews and Arabs as well as Jordanians, Palestinians, and people from other countries, it provides an opportunity for people who care about this land to come together on an issue of mutual concern. I believe that working together to build a livable natural environment in the Middle East and fighting for environmental justice provides a key opportunity to work towards resolving the political and social problems of the region.

I’m proud of the fundraising I have done for Hazon in the past and I hope you will consider making a tax-deductible donation to the ride.

"I'll take 'certain decisions' for $200, Alex"

2007-04-05T06:03:00.000-04:00

According to an article in today's New York Times (May 5, 2007),

"New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is planning a campaign to encourage men at high risk of AIDS to get circumcised in light of the World Health Organization’s endorsement of the procedure as an effective way to prevent the disease.

". . . In three recent clinical trials in Africa, circumcision was shown to lower a man’s risk of contracting the virus from heterosexual sex by about 60 percent. On March 28, the World Health Organization officially recommended that countries adopt the procedure as part of their AIDS prevention plans.

"Peter Staley, a longtime AIDS activist and co-founder of ACT-UP New York . . . said he was “intrigued” by the idea of offering circumcisions but . . . after reading many postings on gay Web sites about the Africa trials, he said he feared a backlash among black and Hispanic men to endorsements of circumcision from white public health officials or gay activists

". . . he said. 'It’s going to sound like white guys telling black and Hispanic guys to do something that would affect their manhood.'"

Scary paranoid aside in AMA article

2007-04-05T04:50:00.000-04:00

In Futurism: The Antidote to Chaos, Eric Garland writes:

"Yes, the world is changing quickly. With its promise of chaos and opportunity, it may seem overwhelming. But I have good news for you. Understanding the future, as it affects your decisions, can become an everyday part of the way you think...

"...Exploring the future is about finding a few trends that could change your world and keeping an eye on them on a regular basis. Futuring is about paying attention to both society and technology and asking yourself: 'Yes, but what will this mean in five years? What about ten years?'...

"...Governments use this kind of thinking in a variety of ways. This scary but potentially real scenario is an example of one such application. Terrorism, unfortunately, is on most people’s minds. National governments use futuring to predict the capabilities of the terrorists of tomorrow. They monitor developments in both society and technology to see where terrorists might gain an edge.

"Some forecasts show that the cost of biotechnology will fall far enough that smaller groups could afford to obtain the equipment needed to alter bacteria. Futurists working for the federal government envisioned a scenario in which terrorists might one day genetically engineer a bacterium or a virus that would target Ashkenazi Jews (originally from Eastern Europe) or Japanese people, but it could be any group with a distinct genetic makeup. For this reason, agencies constantly monitor the power of biotechnology as well as any terrorist networks that are showing an interest in science. The goal is to limit the terrorists’ weaponry to homemade bombs and razor blades instead of genetically engineered plagues. In this way, governments are designing policies for biotechnology that allow scientific progress as well as protection for their citizens."

Moving Ahead, a publication of the American Management Association (AMA), is "a monthly e-Newsletter providing management insights and best practices for all business professionals."

Wicked Good?

2007-04-03T06:08:00.000-04:00

What should we think of the wicked child, who challenges all of us gathered around the seder table at Passover with the question "What does this practice mean to you?"

First, you might not realize that the wicked child is quoting from the Bible - Exodus 12:26, to be precise. In its original context (at the very first Passover celebration on the eve of the Exodus from Egypt), the question is framed as the one that will be asked by future generations - and it receives a straightforward response, an explanation of the meaning of Passover.

The haggadah, however, sees the question in a less positive light (as is made obvious by labeling the child as "wicked"). It indicates that asking what Passover means to "you" signifies the wicked child's hostility to the community. We are instructed to set the child's "teeth on edge" and quote scripture back to the child: "It is because of what God did for ME when I went free from Egypt" (Exodus 13:8). Had you been there, wicked child, you would have been left behind in Egypt.

Two recent books use the wicked child's question as the jumping off point for treatises on the alienation many contemporary Jews experience from Jewish community.

David Mamet, in his 2006 book The Wicked Son: Anti-Semitism, Self-Hatred, and the Jews (part of the fabulous NextBook series), begins with the premise that "the world hates the Jews" and so every Jew must choose sides: "In or out" (7). He writes that the "wickedness of the wicked son" is that he "would not stand with those who would stand with him:"

"He feels free to enjoy his intellectual heritage, the Jewish love of learning, and reverence for accomplishment; he enjoys, aware or not, a heritage of millenia of Jewish Law and values; he enjoys his very life, which would have been denied him and his ancestors in the Europe they suffered to leave; he enjoys the right to protection from the community he disavows and, through it all, parrots, 'My parents were Jews, but I do not consider myself a Jew'" (128-9).

In his book, Mamet seeks to issue a wake-up call to such Jews, telling all wicked children to cease blaming Jewish community for its shortcomings and to take pride in their heritage as the descendants "of kings and queens, a holy nation and a kingdom of priests" (180).

A very different response is offered by Mitchell Silver in Respecting the Wicked Child: A Philosophy of Secular Jewish Identity and Education. He observes that the "sin" of the wicked child is "the expression of alienation from the tradition" while the other children "ask how to celebrate the seder properly or what it is all about." Noting that for liberal and secular Jews, not only is it a challenge "to find reasons to maintain a Jewish identity,"

"...it is also hard to overcome reasons against maintaining a Jewish identity. The most powerful arguments for assimilation stem from the liberal Enlightenment vision of a universal common humanity. On this view all that is significantly human is, or ought to be, universal . . ." (3)

Silver takes a more positive view of the wicked child than Mamet, writing that "among contemporary Jews there are many wicked children, and they merit answers that amount to more than the traditional scornful dismissal" (1).

Silver's fascinating book attempts to provide a philosophical basis for a Jewish identity that doesn't compromise liberal or secular values. His premise is that "the wicked child's question has a certain logical and moral priority" over that of the wise child, who wants to know all the details for observing the seder. Once the wicked child is satisfied with a more general understanding of "what it is all about, the desire for details will follow. The transition from wickedness to wisdom, from estrangement to communion, is a natural one" (189).

I'd like to chart a middle-path between Mamet's decrying, and Silver's celebrating, of the Wicked Child's question. On the one hand, I think that the question itself is a legitimate one. After all, at the seder we are instructed to invite all who are hungry to join us, and the wicked child might be a guest who is a stranger and - who knows - maybe not Jewish? At least the wicked child is paying attention enough to ask a question!

On the other hand, I want to take the haggadah seriously in calling the child "wicked." The haggadah's response only makes sense if we hear in the question not only the voice of an alienated Jew trying to find a place within the community, but also the voice of apathy, of hostility, of a challenge to the legitimacy of the Passover seder and to the community of all those present: Prove to me that this is worth doing, that I should consider myself one of you.

Yet - even though the wicked child's question is confrontational, I'd rather have the child at the table - sitting uncomfortably and annoyed, perhaps - than for the child not to be there at all. I want to thank the wicked child for joining us for the seder, despite having those feelings of alienation and anger.

I would suggest - and here, I think the haggadah agrees with me - that all four children ought to be present at the table. We should be glad when the wise child doesn't go off to hold a seder composed entirely of other wise children, but is willing to suffer through the questions of the simple child (probably with much eye-rolling). The simple child, too, must find the meticulous questions of the wise child tedious, waiting impatiently through even more details of the laws of the afikomen.

Let us not be quick to dismiss the wicked child, any more than we ignore the silent child or become frustrated with the endless questions of the wise and simple children. All four voices - even the silent voice - need to be heard. I'd rather have the seder be a place where the wicked child's question can be asked than leave it go unspoken, with the wicked child sullenly refusing to participate but not explaining why.

Don't forget to count the Homer!

2007-03-29T04:38:00.000-04:00

If you're like me, every year you try to count the Omer and don't quite succeed (one year we actually forgot to count at the second seder itself!). Although I have one friend who remembers to count by using post-its on the bathroom mirror, most experts recommend the use of an "Omer calendar" placed in a visible place.

A long-time favorite is Simon Jacobson's Spiritual Guide to Counting the Omer, which is now available on-line thanks to Chabad. It makes use of the kabbalistic sefirot as a guide to daily reflection on themes for personal growth. "Counting the Omer: A Personal Journey" by Rabbi Rami Shapiro is similarly themed, making use of beautiful quotes and thoughtful questions to spark reflection.

Two other powerful resources are Rabbi Jill Hammer's Omer Calendar of Biblical Women and Penticon Technology's free Palm software Omer Calendar for handheld organizers.

Of course, others prefer to use The Homer Calendar to guide them through this period.

UPDATE: April 12, 2007: BZ (of Mah Rabu) has posted an on-line guide of individuals who are "blogging the omer" - marking each day of the omer with teachings or other commentary.

Modern day slavery . . . in Israel?!?

2007-03-27T07:56:00.000-04:00

From the Israel-based Task Force on Human Trafficking (TFHT):

"Israel is a destination country for human trafficking. Women and children are brought into the country every year to be exploited as modern day slaves.

"Rates of human trafficking in Israel are alarmingly high though the exact extent is not known. Nearly all of the trafficking victims in Israel come from the former Soviet Union. Most victims enter the country through Israel 's border with Egypt. Once in Israel , victims are often sold and resold to pimps and brothel owners who force them to work in slave-like conditions. At every stage in the process, the victims are abused and exploited, often suffering severe beatings, rape and even starvation.

"Israel has made limited progress in the fight against human trafficking but more can and must be done. Significant resources must be dedicated to combating trafficking in Israel in the areas of prevention, protection, and prosecution."

Visit their website to learn more and to take action.

Five resources for Passover 5767

2007-03-26T05:49:00.000-04:00

Although by no means a comprehensive list (or even necessarily the best of what's out there), here are a few gems that I've discovered over the past few days while researching the previous posts (in no particular order):

Eliezer Segel's modern classic "Uncle Eli's Special-for-Kids Most Fun Ever Under-the-Table Passover Haggadah" is written in the style of Dr. Seuss and provides brief, straightforward explanations of all the seder rituals and Hebrew terms.

Dr. Barry Dov Lerner's jewishfreeware.org has a hosts a variety of downloadable Passover texts, including a variety of haggadas, a songbook, and a handy guide to creating your own "heirloom family haggadah."

The Jewish Agency for Israel hosts an astonishingly comprehensive variety of educational resources for Passover, and in five languages.

Rabbi Mark Zimmerman at SiddurAudio.com provides (Ashkenazi style) audio clips for most of the prayers and songs of the seder.

And finally, among the many Passover resources of the Distance Learning project of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America is Dr. Steve Brown's guide to leading a Passover seder based on his many years of experience leading model seders.

Happy Passover, everyone!

Seder Suggestion: An Empty Chair for Darfur

2007-03-26T03:55:00.000-04:00

Rabbi David Levin-Kruss offers this idea (which has generated some controversy on the Lookjed discussion group):

Like many, I watch the events unfolding in Darfur and wonder what I can do to help.

This year I have decided to use our Pesach seder as a way to further the cause and I suggest you do the same. Rather as in the days of the Soviet Jewry movement I propose that we leave a chair empty for those in Sudan and donate the cost of one meal to a charity working to alleviate and change the situation. We could also ask our guests to donate rather than to bring gifts.

In the Vehee She'amda prayer in the haggadah we read that in every generation others have stood against us to destroy us, but the blessed Holy One saved us. This is an appropriate point to say something along the following lines:

"In this prayer we read that we are and have been persecuted. Let's remember that we are not the only persecuted in the world and that others suffer too e.g. those in Darfur. Let us pledge today to act as G-d's mouth and hands by speaking truth to power and doing what we can (politically, militarily, financially, and personally) to bring about a better situation. Let us hope that next year we will not need to leave a chair open to mark those who do not share the freedom we have."

For more information about what is happening in Darfur and what you can do, check out these resources from Raising Awareness Destination: Darfur (RAD:D), founded by High School student Sarit Rosenstock and hosted by Areyvut. Organizations seeking funds for relief and advocacy efforts include American Jewish World Service (AJWS), the Jewish Coalition for Disaster Relief (JCDR), Jewish World Watch (JWW), and the Save Darfur Coalition.

This final organization makes it possible to take immediate action by sending an email to President Bush.

Pluralistic graduate program in Teacher Training in Israel

2007-03-20T02:12:00.000-04:00

This comes to us via Rabbi Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi:

The Shalom Hartman Institute is now accepting applications for the third cycle of Melamdim – The Russ Berrie School for Teacher Training. Bi-national and multi-denominational, Melamdim brings together graduate students of all denominations from across North America and Israel for an intensive two-year M.A. program in partnership with Tel Aviv University.

Along with a $10,000 annual fellowship, Melamdim students receive:
Grounding in the philosophical foundations of Judaism taught by leading scholars at the Institute
Graduate level studies in Jewish Thought at Tel Aviv University culminating in an M.A. degree
Hands-on weekly teaching experience at high schools of different denominations
Creative pedagogical workshops
Educational fieldtrips
Assistance in job placement in Israel or North America
On-the-job mentoring for two years
In addition, Melamdim has an optional "Rav Mehanech" track through which distinguished students who extend their studies for two more years become ordained as rabbinic educators for North American community schools.

For further information, please contact us by email at etty@shi.org.il or by phone at (972 2) 567-5350.

Classic Jewish humor

2007-03-14T08:14:00.000-04:00

A short cartoon of a classic Jewish joke by Nick Fox-Grieg.

"Although the details differ between versions, the scene remains the same: a priest challenges a rabbi to a debate on the spiritual condition of Jewish people. But neither speaks the other's language, and...well, I won't spoil the punch line."

Peace will come

2007-03-11T17:43:00.000-04:00

I haven't seen this posted anywhere on the web, so I thought I'd post it here: The words to Sheva's song "Salaam" (a/k/a "Od Yavo Shalom") in Arabic:

Se-oofa ya-ati al salaam aleina (3x)
Wa Ala a Kool

Shalom!
Aleina wa ala kool a-lalam
Shalom Shalom

[Peace will come for us, and for everyone. Peace - for us and for all the world]

What is "Service Learning?"

2007-03-10T01:23:00.000-05:00

Heard the buzzword, but not sure what it means? Having difficulty explaining how service learning is different from community service or volunteering?

Thanks to Lev Metz and Sulam: The Center for Jewish Service Learning, a project of the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Los Angeles, here are two links to help you out: A short video by the Corporation for National & Community Service, and a PowerPoint presentation courtesy of NSLC, the National Service Learning Clearinghouse.

Here is a one-sentence definition from this second organization (as part of a longer article):

" Service-learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities."

They offer this example:

"...if school students collect trash out of an urban streambed, they are providing a service to the community as volunteers; a service that is highly valued and important. When school students collect trash from an urban streambed, then analyze what they found and possible sources so they can share the results with residents of the neighborhood along with suggestions for reducing pollution, they are engaging in service-learning. In the service-learning example, the students are providing an important service to the community AND, at the same time, learning about water quality and laboratory analysis, developing an understanding of pollution issues, learning to interpret science issues to the public, and practicing communications skills by speaking to residents. They may also reflect on their personal and career interests in science, the environment, public policy or other related areas. Thus, we see that service-learning combines SERVICE with LEARNING in intentional ways."

Sulam (apparently an acronym for "Sherut la'Am," although I didn't actually see this said explicitly anywhere on the site), provides a searchable database of service opportunities in the greater LA area - you enter the type of volunteering in which you are interested and your availability and the website finds all appropriate matches. Based on the number of hours you complete and whether or not you write a reflective paper, you receive a Spotlight award from the BJE and are eligible for various sorts of public recognition. Perfect if you are looking to do a Bar/Bat Mitzvah "mitzvah project." Another organization, Areyvut, also provides a long list of project ideas, volunteer opportunities and a growing, searchable database of bnai mitzvah project ideas (largely in the NY area).

For those who'd like to get into the subject in a little more depth, a detailed and theoretically grounded approach to service learning (from which the above picture is taken) can be found at the Joint Educational Project of the University of Southern California.

Is "redesign" enough, or do we need more radical changes?

2007-03-08T10:59:00.000-05:00

Last fall, JESNA launched the Lippman Kanfer Institute Wiki with some pretty fabulous intentions: To map out "an agenda and strategy for ensuring that Jewish education is maximally effective and relevant in the new century." Predicated on the belief "that vigorous conversation about important issues in Jewish education is itself an important tool for change," the idea of the site is to use the technology of the internet to generate discussion.

The keystone of the site is Jonathan Woocher's article Redesigning Jewish Education, but to my mind the component that has the potential to be the most useful - and controversial - is the list of noteworthy programs. Although the website grants that most have not been "rigorously evaluated," it notes that "many show clear signs of success in terms of participation, longevity, and the positive responses of participants." Currently the site lists 27 such examples of best practices in the field, and encourages the viewer to add others.

The site also hosts an article by Dr. David Ariel on Consumer Choice and Jewish education. He suggests that

"...Jewish education could embrace the TIVO model ... becoming a subscription service that allows consumer choice within a limited range while also pushing new content to consumers based on the pattern of their preferences. What is true in the consumer arena is true in Jewish education: While people know what they want, the successful Jewish educational service will provide what people don’t yet know they want..."

(The final article currently on the site is my own, on Synagogue Schools and Congregational Agendas. Aw, shucks!)

No surprise that I find the idea of generating dialogue around this content exciting -- after all, that's the agenda of this blog as well. But the idea of using a Wiki to host these articles is, I think, a truly innovative way to push for a real negotiation of ideas. Imagine a website that functions like the Wikipedia, in which articles are being written and rewritten by interested parties, who then debate the validity and relative merits of these changes on highly active "talk" pages.

Unfortunately, readers haven't taken the site quite that far. So, rather than being an interactive or collaborative experience, the Wiki is still currently functioning much like any other website.

The real problem, though, is that conversation happens on separate "dialogue" pages, in which all one can view are the topic headers for individual threads. So, in order to encounter gabebabe's critique of Woocher's article, you would first have to pick the correct one of the five separate pages in which there is space to comment, and then click on a subject header that reads "Redesigning is a..." Only once you get to the actual page will you learn that the rest of the header is "...Rehashing of Ill Defined Concepts" [harsh, dude!] . gabebabe writes:

"...We have a working model of how to transform conventional schooling into experiential education that is being used in schools across the country. There are already dozens of schools around the country which have made the commitment to transform their schools into learning environments that challenge their students’ Jewish emotional, intellectual, physical, social and/or spiritual responses through approaches through the philosophy of experiential education. They are doing this in their classrooms in the heart of what we call formal education. What they have already accomplished demonstrates how outdated this article is."

What would make the Wiki a truly unique endeavor would be if gabebabe would add the programs he has in mind to the list of noteworthy programs -- and then explain how they accomplish what the other ones don't. While he's at it, he could critique some of the other interventions that are already listed.

With many others contributing through a wiki-fied give-and-take, including people personally involved in the programs being critiqued, perhaps we would collectively be able to arrive at meaningful criteria by which to evaluate Jewish educational reforms, standards for what we mean by "success," and ideas that can be implemented broadly. As an aside, Shulshopper (currently in beta) has the potential to offer a similar contribution to the world of prayer - if, for example, it were possible to search not only for the synagogues that receive the highest ratings, but also the ones that generate the most discussion (although that's not currently on the to-do list for the site).

I'd love to see the Lippman Kanfer Institute wiki embody one of the five strategic changes that Woocher proposes in his article: To become a "hothouse" for collaborative innovation. A fully utilized wiki could

"...draw considerable attention to the processes of innovation and diffusion ...encourage collaboration among key constituencies that need to work together for change to occur...promote the sharing of information among those involved in change in diverse settings...afford opportunities through collaborative inquiry to deepen and refine our understanding of both specific innovations and the process of implementing new approaches generally."

This would require a redesign of the website, which in truth isn't really set up right now to encourage people to edit the content (although I'd be delighted to see my own article reformatted for this purpose). It would truly be a transformation of its current use into something entirely different and far more risky. And, maybe this is a good analogy for what needs to happen in Jewish education writ large.

Job Posting: Executive Director for Limmud NY

2007-03-06T03:41:00.000-05:00

Limmud NY is a cutting-edge grassroots organization that works all year to create a festival of Jewish learning and culture for Jews of all ages and backgrounds from across the New York metropolitan area. The Executive Director will manage Limmud NY’s development and growth.

Now in its fourth year, Limmud NY is described by Lynn Schusterman as having a “level of creativity that many Jewish organizations spend years trying to build.” This event, or conference, is the Jewish expression of more than 90 volunteers and reflects the diversity of their ideas and thoughts. The multi-media formats of sessions throughout the weekend include music, text, film, lectures, and hands-on workshops, appealing to Jews of all ages and all backgrounds. With more than 800 people in attendance and over 300 sessions throughout Martin Luther King weekend in the Catskills, this event is a celebration of the vibrancy of Jewish life.

Job Description:
As Limmud NY moves from being a start-up organization to a more established one, the Executive Director will work closely with the Board of Directors, Advisory Board, 90+ volunteers, funders, and local Jewish organizations to build Limmud NY’s capacity and further solidify its long-term sustainability.

Specific responsibilities will include:
• Providing guidance and direction to a growing organization, in close partnership with the Limmud NY Board
• Managing a growing budget (currently around $700,000) and maintaining day-to-day financial oversight of Limmud NY
• Creating a long-term development plan, and raising the funds necessary to sustain and build Limmud NY. Currently Limmud NY raises about $375,000 mostly through foundation gifts. As the organization develops, we anticipate a greater focus on individual gifts and other new sources of funding
• Overseeing one staff person and one intern, and working with 90+ volunteers in the planning and implementation of Limmud NY’s annual conference
• Further developing and implementing a strategic plan
• Collaborating with a volunteer committee to plan and implement an annual fundraiser
• Maintaining and developing relationships with other Jewish communal organizations
• Providing consultation to new Limmuds around the country on an as-needed basis

Job Requirements:
• 5+ years experience in fundraising and program management
• Familiarity with the New York Jewish community
• Commitment to a broad understanding of Jewish life and learning
• Openness to working with a very active and involved Board
• Experience with and love of working with volunteers
• Ability to attend occasional evening and weekend meetings
• Self-motivated, energetic, flexible

Masters Degree preferred. Excellent writing, communication, and interpersonal skills. Proficient use of Excel. Knowledge of Donor Perfect Online a plus.

Start Date: June/July 2007
Salary: Commensurate with experience.

Submit resume to search@limmudny.org

Job Posting: Family Learning Coordinator at Congregation Emanu-El of NYC

2007-03-05T10:37:00.000-05:00

Please forward this posting to anyone you think might be interested:

Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York
FAMILY LEARNING COORDINATOR

Congregation Emanu-El, the first Reform congregation in New York City, seeks to hire a part-time (20 hours / week) Family Learning Coordinator. This is a new position that is being created as an outcome of a year-long process of re-envisioning congregational learning.

The Family Learning Coordinator will be responsible for the planning and execution of formal and informal learning experiences for Nursery and Religious School-aged students and their families during and outside of school hours. Key responsibilities will include developing, directing, and evaluating holiday and Shabbat programming, field trips, and social action projects, and teaching both in and out of the classroom. Although this will be a largely programmatic role, the Coordinator will manage certain financial and administrative tasks (such as bookkeeping, registration, and publicity).

The Family Learning Coordinator will:
• Broaden and cultivate the target base served by formal and informal family programs
• Assess the interests of this population, and develop new educational, social, cultural, and religious initiatives
• Support the creation and execution of parallel learning opportunities for parents and home-learning experiences, including content delivered via email and the synagogue website
• Staff all family activities and events, including retreats and planning meetings
• Hire and supervise additional staff, volunteers, and chaperones as needed
• Develop adult leadership and build family participation.
• Evaluate and assess family programs and student achievement.

The ideal candidate:
• Brings new ideas and the ability to implement them
• Has both formal and informal educational experience
• Builds a pluralistic and Reform Jewish environment
• Has a strong understanding of family dynamics and child development
• Is familiar with Hebrew language and Reform Jewish liturgy
• Is committed to professional growth
• Is a team player, working collaboratively with clergy, other teachers, and parents
• Has excellent communication and organizational skills
• Is passionate, fun, enthusiastic, creative, and energetic
• Thinks big picture: How family activities fit into congregational living and learning

Candidates with a background in songleading, drama, and/or ropes-course are especially encouraged to apply. This is a challenging position that brings with it tremendous opportunity for achievement. We seek reflective practitioners who are committed to professional growth, are effective team-members, and who are able to share a love for learning and of Judaism with all members of our synagogue community. An advanced degree in Education and/or Judaic Studies is preferred.

The position requires evening and weekend work throughout the academic year. The ideal starting date will be July 10, 2007. This is a half-time (20 hours / week) position and salary is $25-30K based on experience. The Family Learning Coordinator will be supervised by the Director of Life-Long Learning.

To apply, please send a cover letter and resume to Saul Kaiserman at saulkaiserman@gmail.com.

Playing with Dolls

2007-02-26T02:42:00.000-05:00

Jen Taylor Friedman's "Tefillin Barbie" broke out of the blogosphere to appear in Jewish Week this past week.

If you're bummed that yours is on back-order, or troubled by her wardrobe choices, check out the Gali Girls, "Jewish dolls for Jewish girls," three of which are paired with a supporting curriculum.

"The Gali Girls Jewish History Series is a fun and informative way to teach students about the cultures, traditions, and beliefs that the Jewish people have held in their respective countries and communities across the globe and across the ages.

"We offer a FREE SAMPLE CURRICULUM with your purchase of any Gali Girls Jewish History Series book. Gali Girl dolls are also available to add depth and character to each story, and they also make a fun addition to your classroom's Shabbat celebration!"

Either way, I think both would make a great companion for those mini-Torahs that you get on Simchat Torah every year.

To tie this all together, here is a list of ideas for playing with your mini-Torah, originally created for a family education program at Central Synagogue in NYC.

Older readers, on the other hand might, be best served by the Sigmund Freud hand puppet, which comes, of course, with a couch.

Top 5 Reasons Hebrew School Sucked

2007-02-24T02:48:00.001-05:00

According to the current issue (Winter 2007) of New Voices Magazine:

5. All they teach you is that other people suffered and died, and that is why you should eat your grandmother's brisket

4. School from 4-6 o'clock = missing TGIF re-runs circa 1989

3. School on Sundays means you can't sleep in and you miss football

2. Hebrew school teachers seem to want to be there even less than their students

1. Hebrew school challah is the absolute worst

Published since 1991 by the independent, non-profit, student-run Jewish Student Press Service, New Voices is America's only national magazine written by and for Jewish college students.

Remembering Florence Melton

2007-02-11T02:06:00.000-05:00

The great champion of Jewish education, Florence Z. Melton, passed away last week at the age of 95.

She was best known for her work with adult education through the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School, a pioneering program that has impacted on close to 30,000 adults. Based around an intense two-year curriculum and taught by outstanding educators, the Melton Mini-Schools paved the way for other serious adult learning programs (such as Me'ah). The Melton Mini-Schools comprise the largest pluralistic adult Jewish education network in the world, with over 60 sites located throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. More recently, they adapted the curriculum for the "Parent Education Program," whose goal is to show how concepts learned in class are relevant and applicable to the students' lives as Jewish parents.

Alongside her work in adult education, she also was, in the words of Rabbi Steven M. Brown (Dean of the Davidson School of Jewish Education), "a fierce advocate for the synagogue school. She saw it as one of the most important vehicles for Jewish education even in the face of a growing day school movement."

Ms. Melton was not only an entrepreneur, an inventor, and a philanthropist, but also a yoga teacher. In 1994, at the age of 82, she became Bat Mitzvah at Congregation Tifereth Israel in Columbus, Ohio. That same year, she wrote:

I’ve reached the age of eighty-two
And still look for a great tomorrow
But – don’t forget the here and now
For tomorrow is only borrowed.

May her memory be a blessing, and an inspiration, for us all.

New Jewish Education

The World's Largest Menorah is NOT in NYC?!?

How to help your daughter's teachers re-think gender

Job Posting: Director, Jewish Journey Project

Should Religious School be Cancelled on Halloween?

Jewish Education Is About Living Jewish Values

Best. Chanukah. Video. Ever.

Hebrew Teachers -- Take Heart!

Emanu-El | Weekly Torah Commentary: Balak

Saul Kaiserman,Director ofLifelong Learning

My favorite quotes: Ravi Shankar

An Ironic, Post-Modern Passover Anecdote

Good Teachers Make a Difference. No, Really?

The more things stay the same . . .

Why my Students were Texting in Class

My Favorite Quotes: Steve Lorch

Neuroscience research shows that Big Bird was right: Praise effort, not ability

Dawn of the Chimpanzee! (Relax, folks, they're just a metaphor)

Staff Appreciation: The Value of Informal Recognition

Best Practices: Holocaust Memorials

Telling Jokes in Auschwitz

It's spring, and funding is in the air

How Spiritual are America's Jews?

Hurray for Jim Joseph!

There is still some funding left for innovation in Jewish Education...

Are we teaching "Hebrew" or "Israeli?"

Get Paid to be Jewish? Part 2

Job Posting: Executive Director of the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center

The High Cost of Jewish Life is on Everyone's Mind this Yom Kippur

Get trained to save the world

Immediate Opening-- Full-Time Jewish Studies Teacher

Family Israel Trip Mix 2008

Who will teach Religious School?

Have Yourself a Viral Rosh Hashana...

My favorite quotes: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

A heuristic for explaining how we work

My favorite quotes: Kahlil Gibran

Being a full-time teacher, from a teacher's perspective

My favorite quotes: Parker J. Palmer

Job Posting: Kesher Director and/or Director of Jewish Life

There is No "X" in Thanks

Job Posting: Director of Jewish Identity Development

...next year in Jerusalem (if you're 18)?

Visit Israel without leaving your chair!

Why would a nice kid like yourself want to be a Jewish Educator?

More about the full-time teachers at Central Synagogue, NYC

The soundtrack for every bar mitzvah for the rest of your life

Supplementary Jewish Education: The State of the Art

Can Computer Games bring Peace to the Middle East?

Pluralism, Diversity, and Jewish Education

No Jewish Education?

My favorite quotes: Rainer Maria Rilke

Facebook and MySpace may mirror social and class differences among teens

My favorite quotes: Jerome Bruner

For your Israeli music curriculum: New Lyrics to Hatikvah?

Young Judea's "Olami" Year Course track selling out!

Vision Driven Institutions: The Heschel Center

Reflections on the Hazon/Arava Ride, One Month Later

Some thoughts on Family Education

Thank You, Mr. Mandel

Reclaiming the phrase "Tikkun Olam"

Job Posting: Director of Development, Beit Rabban (NYC)

A few words of advice to those applying for an entry-level position

Cory says, "Homework Sucks!"

Sure Mark . . . why not? (Survey on "Family Purity")

Job Posting: "Shabbat Leader," Society for the Advancement of Judaism

Now THIS is how a Wiki should be used!

StorahLab Summer Institute at CAJE

Job Posting: Full-Time Teacher at Central Synagogue, NYC

Third Annual Jewish and Israeli Blog Award winners announced

Jewish Agency launches free pilot of their on-line Hebrew Ulpan

Job Posting: Project Assistant, Lippman Kanfer Institute

More winners, and a blog as well!

In poor taste but...the Hitler or Falwell game

We have a winner!

Awards for Adult and Congregational Learning from the Reform Movement

Sesame Street returns to Israeli and Palestinian television

My favorite quotes: Hannah Arendt

Experiential education at its worst

Australian Jewish Punk Rock Cartoon

Saul Kaiserman,
Director of
Lifelong Learning