In this article, the author talks about a forum for conversation about "Visions of Jewish Education," which is a very welcome opportunity for scholars and educational practitioners to engage with one another about a matter of great consequence that lies at the heart of their work. As someone who has spent many years as an educational leader in day…

If an institutional vision aims to inspire and enliven the reality of a school, it is not enough to craft its declaration once at the time of its establishment and then never again. In a dynamic institution, envisioning is the neverending project of clarifying purposes, looking at current practice, reflecting on what is seen, and aspiring to…

Jewish education needs a philosophy if its practitioners are to be considered part of a "real" profession and its professors are to be thought of as having mastered a legitimate academic discipline. A strong cadre of researchers who have produced a valid and reliable body of research also is required to earn a respected place in the academy. Until…

Jon Levisohn's perceptive study of the Fox, Scheffler, and Marom "Visions of Jewish Education" volume manages both to pay tribute to the book's enormous contribution and to raise a number of serious intellectual issues that call for further reflection and analysis. His clear writing and educational insight are to be applauded. By raising questions…

As part of their requirements, second-year rabbinical students at Hebrew Union College--Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati campus, must teach religious school or Hebrew school for a full year in one of the local congregations. At the same time, they take a course in the practices of Jewish education. The students must create a portfolio…

In this article, the author talks about Jon Levisohn's discussion of "Visions of Jewish Education," which includes at least four valuable contributions. First, Levisohn offers an illuminating account of what a reader of the important book will find. Second, Levisohn draws attention to the ways in which the book will significantly enrich discourse…

During the past decade, the author has conducted research about the learning journeys of contemporary Jewish adults enriched by insights of adult education scholars and practitioners. While the author has benefited from the perspectives of colleagues, it is the burgeoning population of adult students that has most profoundly influenced her…

In this article, the author talks about a vision of the congregants at Congregation Beth Am, which informs their educational decision making and allows for authentic educational evaluation and assessment. Creating this vision in partnership with lay leaders has been a wonderful experience for the professionals of the synagogue. Their current…

This article proposes to read events of the educational past not as history but as midrash. It juxtaposes an historical account of a watershed experiment in adult education (Franz Rosenzweig's Freie Judisches Lehrhaus) with an ethnographic account of a presently practicing elementary school teacher. These accounts are generically different and…

In this series of articles, I explore the history of "Jewish Education" magazine with particular emphasis on its intersection with the history of American Jewish education and American Jewish life more generally. I isolate major themes and issues that preoccupied the magazine's editors and writers, and analyze how their discourse sheds light on…

This articles extends the conversation begun by Levisohn in volume 71:1 of this journal, and continued by a number of respondents in volume 71:2. These articles identify two notable themes among the responses: The first is the issue of pluralism, and the tension between vision and exclusion. Despite the best of intentions, it seems unavoidable…

Anna G. Sherman (1897?-1980) taught Hebrew language at the various extension schools of the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in a career that began in 1923 and lasted for nearly forty years. Her name appears on the academic registers of the institution--with respites for residence in "Eretz Yisrael," childbirth, or illness--through 1960-1964,…

In this paper, the author begins with a brief classroom scene that illustrates a number of significant features of contemporary American Jewish life. The engagement of adult students with Jewish text study is an example and outgrowth of the flourishing of programs of adult Jewish learning over the past two decades. Thousands of similar Jewish…

This article examines the question of whether one ought to hold religious experience as a Jewish educational goal and, more fundamentally, to ask what this might mean. The objective is to begin to probe what an education toward (Jewish) religious experience would entail and what some of the theoretical, moral and practical obstacles might be. The…

In his article in the second volume of "Tradition Renewed: A History of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America," Jonathan Sarna argues that the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) has always had two incompatible visions of its role. On the one hand, there were (and are) those who see it as "a centre of Jewish 'Wissenschaft' pure and simple",…