Almost no literature in the academic field of Jewish education exists that studies congregational rabbis as teachers of adults. This article seeks to contribute to filling the gap in the extant literature base. Using portraiture, the study describes and analyzes the aims of rabbinic teaching of adults in a synagogue setting. The findings suggest…

This case study describes and analyzes a Jewish high school program that sought to integrate Judaic and general studies. The research focused on the question of how educators at the "Keshet" School understood curricular integration. Administrators and teachers ascribed a range of meanings to this topic. Administrators articulated a vision of…

This article examines the ways that, in Holocaust education in Jewish schools in Melbourne and New York at the beginning of the 21st century, knowledge of the Holocaust is transferred to students in chronological form. It begins by asking: What work do chronological narratives do within the Holocaust historical narratives offered within Jewish…

Given that all schools solicit parent participation, an important question is whether and how this varies by school. I draw on observation and interviews with parents, teachers, and administrators at a Jewish day school and Catholic school to identify forms and patterns of participation. I found that communicating and volunteering were similar at…

This article takes up categories from literature on political and civic engagement to help make sense of data collected from interviews with 40 American Jewish day high school students about what they think and feel about Israel. Viewed through a set of lenses that distinguish between the manifestations and motivations of political and civic…

How do Jewish residential summer camps provide campers and staff with opportunities to learn and grow as Jews? Sales and Saxe (2004) have viewed this growth through the lens of their socialization theory. This article asks: Can there be more to the camp experience than being socialized into the norms and values of a well-aligned Jewish…

We are sometimes told that practitioners have a hard time with theory. But those who are committed to nurturing a certain kind of intellectual capacity among Jewish educational practitioners--the capacity to identify and critically engage with vision in Jewish education, a capacity that we can call a "philosophical disposition"--must accept the…

This article presents a pedagogical framework for interpreting and discussing texts with others, ""havruta" inspired pedagogy." The framework is comprised of three overlapping domains: structures, stance and practices. We illustrate each domain through teachers' words and classroom practices, depicting how teachers in one context work within these…

Following the political assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, in 1998 Israel's national theater Habimah produced the play "Civil War." The play addressed the religious/hawkish-secular/dovish rift in Israel through a critical reading of events from Jewish history and raises the potential of civil war and political violence in Israel over…

A century ago a group of educators led an effort to transform American Jewish education to enable it to operate successfully in the 20th century. Today, with American Jews living under very different conditions, a similar effort is needed to reinvent Jewish education for the 21st century. Changes and new initiatives already taking place on the…

Woocher's vision for Reinventing Jewish Education for the 21st Century is clear, compelling, and convincing. The author agrees with Woocher's overarching analysis and deeply believes that profound change is necessary. At the same time, he wants to call for a note of caution related to Woocher's emphasis on the learner at the center. Within the…

Jonathan Woocher's "Reinventing Jewish Education for the 21st Century" presents a vision for a reimagined system of Jewish education. The educational landscape is changing, Woocher says, both because of a myriad of contextual factors (economic, geopolitical, technological, sociological) and because of the very need for Jewish educational decision…

Jonathan Woocher opens his clarion call for a new paradigm in Jewish education with a nod to Samson Benderly, founding executive of the Bureau of Jewish Education in New York (BJENY), who at the beginning of the 20th century set out to design a communal system built upon the twin pillars of progressive educational theory and practice and cultural…

Dr. Woocher's essay, states Mirvis, is seminal in the field of Jewish education. It proposes a new paradigm for Jewish education in North America. This proposed paradigm is supported by a comprehensive multi-disciplinary research drawing on literature from education, philosophy, history, sociology, psychology, and economics. The essay reflects a…

This author states his belief that Jon Woocher's essay is the latest in a long line of jeremiads bemoaning the state of Jewish education. Kelman believes that, though a bit more sanguine than the other "withering portraits" he cites, Woocher's essay falls very much in their tradition of critique and corrective; "Here's what's wrong," argues each…