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

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

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!

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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]