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120 West 97thStreet, New York, NY10025 RAVSAK 646-496-7162. Rottenstreich Marla Please contact [email protected] orby phoneat Advertising Information Stavisky, Dr. SaulP. Wachs. EveRabbi Rudin,Dr. Rebecca Shargel, Dr. AlexSinclair, Jeremy Rabbi Marom, Dr. DanielPekarsky, Leslie Pugach, Dr. JudithRosenbaum, Kardos, Dr. Levi, Ray Dr. JudahLevine, Dr. JonA.Levisohn, Dr. Daniel Diana Ganger, JillJacobs, EricGrossman, Rabbi Rabbi Dr. SusanM. StevenCharlotte Abramson,Rabbi M.Brown EdD, Howard Farber, Contributors Judith Wolfman, Dr. DeborahStarr, Paul Shaviv, Patricia Schwartz, Dr. Joyce Raynor, Dr. Levi, Ray Dr. Kay, Michael Nehemia Ichilov, Gayle Green, Tzivia Garfinkel, Nadine Breuer, Nora Anderson, Jason Ablin, Editorial Board Design: Adam Shaw-Vardi PhD Elliott Rabin, Editor: Executive Dr. Editor: BarbaraDavis Subscriptions are $36/year. without express written permissionofRAVSAK. Allrightsreserved. mayorganizations. bereproduced Noarticles ordistributed schools, associate members, andotherJewishgeneraleducation for distributionto ispublishedquarterly RAVSAK It Network. member is apublicationofRAVSAK: The JewishCommunity Day School HaYidion: The RAVSAK Journal Tanenbaum CHAT, Toronto, ON Amos andCelia HeilicherMinneapolisJewish Milken HighSchool, Community Los Angeles, CA David PosnackDavid School, HebrewPlantation,FL Day Brawerman School, Los Elementary Angeles, CA Westchester Fairfield Hebrew Academy, Greenwich, CT Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School,Bernard Chicago, Zell EmetDay Anshe IL Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School,Charles E. Rockville, MD SmithJewishDay Vancouver Talmud Torah, Vancouver, BC The King David School, Scottsdale, David AZ The King Solomon Schechter DaySchoolofEssex&Union,West Orange, NJ Akiva School, Nashville, TN Heritage Academy, Longmeadow, MA F
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Jewish Day Schools asIncubators of Kavannah t
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The Vision ofaJewish Educational Leader t
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Buber’sMartin SecularVision oftheEducated Jew t
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Vision,Bridging Curriculum, andStudent Learning t
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Should Jewish Schools AspiretoCreate Educated Jews? t
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Visions: Past, Present, Future RAVSAK Chair A Word from theEditor t
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Vision inDevelopment t
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How a School andBoard Create “A” Human Beings t
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Adult Jewish Learning: ModelingRiskand Growth t
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Building Character andLeadership inanIsraeli School t
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Importance ofVision inEarly ChildhoodEducation t
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Characteristics oftheIdealBarrack Graduate t
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Envision Ideals, NottheGraduate West Hills, CA,page45 Academy School Jewish Day Charles E. School SmithJewish Day Vision oftheGraduate inOurSchools t
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Praying Without theLake t
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Creating Jewish Citizens in values vision practice Saul P.Saul Wachs PekarskyDaniel Judah Levine Charlotte Abramson Jon A.Levisohn Susan Kardos Ray Levi Howard Farber Leslie Pugach Jeremy Stavisky Diana Ganger Steven M.Brown Eric Grossman Eve Rudin Rebecca Shargel Judith Rosenbaum Jill Jacobs
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, page16 Donna KleinJewish Donna , Page 26, Bookcase Charlotte , Page 66 , From the Editor ¿ by Barbara Davis s Jews, we have always had dreams, and as Jewish educa- the Jewish spirit may radiate and give to the Jews scattered throughout the world tors, we believe, as did Herzl, that ĐďĎČ đĒ ěĕČ đĢĤĦ ęČ— that inspiration which springs from the If you will it, it is no dream. Thus it is fitting that this memories of a great past and the hope of Shavuot issue of HaYidion—which will reach you a great future.” during commencement season—examines Dr. Barbara Davis the “Vision of the Graduate,” and asks the is the Secretary of RAVSAK, Ex- ecutive Editor of HaYidion and question, What does it mean to be an edu- Head of School at the Syracuse cated Jew? Hebrew Day School in Dewitt, NY. Barbara can be reached at [email protected]. But the articles in this issue appeared in my editorial inbox just as my school was celebrating Yom HaAtzmaut. This caused me to wonder what connec- tion, beyond Herzl, might exist between our journal’s theme and our Jewish home- Like the passionate and deeply felt words land. Googling “educated Jew,” I was surprised to discover a 1915 speech by Supreme of Brandeis, the articles in this issue will Court Justice Louis Brandeis entitled “A Call to the Educated Jew.” resonate with readers. The perspectives, as always, are varied, even contradictory, Addressing an audience of American Jews of German descent, Brandeis said: “Our but all have the underpinning of a deep intellectual capacity was developed by the almost continuous training of the mind commitment to Jewish learning, and ac- throughout twenty-fi ve centuries. The Torah led the ‘People of the Book’ to intellec- complishment, and a Jewish future based tual pursuits at times when most of the Aryan peoples were illiterate. Religion imposed on educational achievement. Strikingly, the use of the mind upon the Jews, indirectly as well as directly. It demanded of the when taken together, they form a mul- Jew not merely the love, but also the understanding of G-d. This necessarily involved ticultural model which, as Paula Hyman, a study of the Law.” professor of modern Jewish history at Yale, has noted, “is particularly appropri- What further interested me was the linkage that Brandeis then established between Jew- ate to the ambiguous position of Jews ish education and Zionism: “[T]hough the Jew make his individual life the loftiest, that in Diaspora, who create Jewish culture alone will not fulfi ll the obligations of his trust. We are bound not only to use worthily in the space between being a part of the our great inheritance, but to preserve, and if possible, augment it; and then transmit it larger society and apart from it.” I am to coming generations. …Jewish life cannot be preserved and developed, assimilation certain you will fi nd them fascinating cannot be averted, unless there be reestablished in the fatherland a center from which reading. ¿

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ěđĞĕďĕĐ the current board membersislookingtoinvolveRAVSAK board the current andlay professionals A keystrategicpriority, notsurprisingly, Eachof istheexpansionofboard. andEvaluationCommittee. Support Davis headinguptheExecutiveDirector nance Committee,LesleyZafranchairingdevelopmentandmarketing,Barbara of theCommitteeonTrustees, PaulLevitchactingasTreasurer andchairoftheFi- Powellaschair tohaveBruce fortunate We a leadershiprole. undertaken very are memberhas Eachboard prioritiesisthatofbuildingtheboard. One ofthepressing level. leadershiplevel,theorganizational level,andtheboard the professional Boca Raton.OurfocushasbeenonidentifyingthestrategicprioritiesofRAVSAK at hostedgraciouslybytheDonnaKleinJewishAcademyin foraone-dayretreat ered andalsogath- aspectoftheunfoldingresponsibilities, voted toadifferent vesting inthistimeofcounting.We haveweeklyphonemeetings,eachde- in- membersare I aminaweofthetimeandcommitmentnewboard forthenewRAVSAKopportunity tobenefi board rates thegivingofTorah. Thisperiodoftransitionhasalsobeenan over, whichcommemoratestheExodus,andShavuot,commemo- usofthelinkbetweenPass- counting oftheOmerisintendedtoremind andYomHazikaron countingtheOmeruntilShavuot.The HaAtzmautandare WeLeadership Conference. havecelebratedPurim,Pesach,Yom Hashoah,Yom RAVSAK Chair From the Desk of Arnee Winshall, It is hard to believe that more than three monthshavepassedsincethe thanthree tobelievethatmore It ishard hevra, comes withwanderingandinquiry, and,ulti- studyandlearning mately, afocusonpriorities. thewisdomthat t from Arnee Arnee B’shalom uvrachah an excitingJewishfuture. RAVSAKvibrant andstrong and,inturn, a we continuetoworktogetherensure welcome yourthoughtsandfeedbackas much sharing themwithyouandIvery to As ourprioritiesunfold,Ilookforward committee membercandidates. and board tinuing toattractwonderful con- many communityschools,weare inso connecting andmakingadifference KramerandRAVSAK’sMarc of history leaders inthecommitteework.Andwith reached at [email protected]. nity Day School. canbe Arnee JCDS, Boston'sJewishCommu- tors, andFounding Chairof of RAVSAK’s Board ofDirec- Winshall Arnee , is the Chair is ¿ SubsidiesGenerous Available!

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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Vision sively on practical solutions to the immediate and urgent problems on the ground. onthe ground. sively onpractical solutionstotheimmediate and urgent problems itsillsbyfocusingexclu- ten unsophisticated.Jewisheducation couldnotovercome sentimental, ripewithcontradictions,andof- was oftentepid,obsolete,superficial, community leadersandpractitioners indevisingandimplementingJewisheducation imageoftheeducated Jewthatguided Thevery symptoms ofadeeperproblem. themselves itslowpriorityonthecommunity’sagenda—thesewere and curricula, ofhigh-qualitypersonnel thedearth of Jewisheducation—i.e.thelackresources, ills Jewisheducatorofourgeneration. Foxbelievedthattheperennial the foremost SeymourFoxofblessedmemory,Professor who,asIandmanyothersseehim,was wasfounded andlaunchedbymyteachermentor, Project The Visions thelate address? project the What gaveto rise Visions project? the the fielddid What needsof mybasketball coach. Zimmerman, brey suchasmyfirstteacherinJewishphilosophy,areas, RabbiAbrahamFeder, andAu- diverse implementation. Icouldsaysimilarthingsaboutanumberof peoplefrom ofsophisticatedplanningand detailinhisclasswastheproduct every how virtually thegeniusofhisworkwithmeandshockedabout master ofeducationshared andtooknotessilently, Isatthere wouldsurpriseme.Iwaswrong. interview asthis decades atthattime,Ithoughtknewalotaboutteachingandnothinginthe in planningandimplementinghisteachingmethods.Havingbeenthefieldfor himabouttheworkthathedid“behindcurtains” tointerview door inorder ments intoaction.Years Icameknockingonhis project, later,ofaresearch aspart one. Hechallengedmetothinkindependentlyandtranslatemydeepestcommit- ifIeversaw teacher, pedagogicalvirtuoso ZaleGutzin—atrue applies tomyhistory Thesame program. ofmyteachercertificate aspart asherapprentice lege ofserving up.Years beyondthematerialisticworldinwhichIgrew were later, Ihadtheprivi- inawaythathelpedconnectmewithspiritualmatters—things Jewish literature school. AnexampleismyEnglishteacherMerleGould,whotaughtgeneraland myownteachersinearlyyearsatday firstandforemost modelswere My role the field? in out Who were yourrole modelsstarting the fieldsofJewishandIsraelieducationtomoveinthisdirection. toencourage the livesofothersinmuchsamewayandtotry andasaseeker,work, bothasalearner Iwantedtocontribute ideasandcompel- by educatorsandphilosopherswhoseprofound totakeonthisrole of JewishandIsraelieducation.Iwasinspired workofeducationalpracticeinlivesettings ideas andtheeveryday betweenthelarger worldof identityistobeabroker professional andamInotbasedatauniversity.stitutions, Idonotseemyselfasa“professor” My Though IhaveadoctorateinJewisheducationandteachcoursesacademicin- ¿ Interview with Visions: these two areas. Having benefitted from thequalityoftheir Havingbenefittedfrom these twoareas. asystematicintegrationbetween ling practicesemerged from Past, Present, Future Present, Past, ell us about yourself. usabout ell to becomeWhat inspired you a professor ofJewisheducation? Daniel Marom become required reading for people reading become required rhetoric inJewisheducation; ofthemainstream vision hasbecomepart thefield.Thecasefor impact allacross education worldwidehasledto itsinitial forleaders ofIsraeliandJewish programs tion—as wellasitsuseinvarioustraining edi- French and nowinitsforthcoming edition thology—including initsHebrew Education Center,cation Research University’sPhilosophy of Edu- Harvard of whowasthenthedirector Scheffler, Israel I editedtogetherwithProfessor wastheanthologythatFoxand effort ofthistenyear The ensuingproduct the project’sWhat hasbeen impact? conceptions oftheeducatedJew. in theJewishworldtodevisealternative work withleadingthinkersandeducators jor activityoverthenextdecadewasto ma- Project’s Foundation. TheVisions 1990s undertheauspicesofMandel inthelate Project tablished theVisions hees- to thisview. ofthiseffort, Aspart according education couldberedesigned uponwhichJewish ing theinfrastructure tobuild- he devotedmuchofhiscareer this claiminthelate1950s.Sincethen, critique ofthingsJewish.Foxfirstmade and estrangementfrom to thelearner’s Anything lesscouldactuallycontribute accordingly. ontheground the realities es ofJewisheducationandtoredesign purpos- thevery as wellinrearticulating It hadtoinvestitsenergies andresources [email protected]. ish Education of and isco-editor del Leadership InstituteinJerusalem Dr. DanielMarom . Thedisseminationofthatan- . Hecanbereached at teaches at the Man- Visions ofJew- Visions ofJewish Visions has making a career in the field; a number of cation as being less urgent than keeping principles that ought to guide efforts to significant field initiatives in developing institutions and programs afloat. Despite develop vision-guided Jewish education in vision guided Jewish and Israeli educa- these setbacks, and with the stabling of schools and other settings. These princi- tion have emerged and have been docu- the economy, the field continues to grow ples relate to decoding the implicit vision mented; and a whole series of books and in various circles through initiatives and in practice, creating readiness conditions articles have been published on the topic. research carried out by scholars and edu- for vision development, developing an ev- A great example is Daniel Pekarsky’s book cators. The Visions Project focused its en- eryday culture of practice that focuses on Vision at Work: The Theory and Practice of ergies on the crises of Israeli and Zionist articulating and achieving clearly defined Beit Rabban, which provides a vivid and education and developed a whole slew of purposes in light of a larger philosophical detailed portrait of a non-denominational field projects and new materials that both view of the educated person, and much American Jewish day school that is system- deepen and broaden the application of more. Since then, I continued this kind of atically guided by a profound set of ideas Fox’s ideas in Israel. The challenge now work in a wide variety of settings in Is- about being Jewish. As well, some people is for the field to help community lead- rael, ranging from a single kindergarten have now focused their careers on serving ers and practitioners in systems of Jewish class to a large-scale network of schools as “vision facilitators” for institutions in and Israeli education to go beyond being and colleges. I have also trained groups of the field. All in all, these amount to some- convinced by the case for vision and using Israeli and Jewish educators to undertake thing of an infrastructure for deeper and its rhetoric to investing in large scale long- the same kind of work in their institutions. broader impact, should communities and term initiatives in conscious re-articulation All of these efforts have been documented institutions want to invest their resources of their purposes and practices in terms of and summarized so as to produce further in this area. compelling and profound images of the resources—both methodological and educated Jew and the educated Israeli. philosophical—for the benefit of others in What has changed over the years the field. since the project was launched? What have you learned in schools you’ve worked closely with putting These experiences have taught me that the Fox’s sudden death in 2006 was a terrible vision into practice? five principles posited in the original chap- blow to the whole field that he launched. ter in Visions are very effective, but that it ěđĞĕďĕĐ That blow was compounded by the reces- My chapter in Visions summarizes my first is difficult for institutions and profession- sion in the world economy too, since in attempt to serve as an on-site vision facili- als to understand and use them. It is not that situation, funders saw areas such as tator in a community Jewish day school in something that happens just by reading r
)B:JEJPO the development of vision in Jewish edu- America. In that chapter, I suggested five [continued on page 8]

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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Vision plan for your businessororganization. meetingordeveloptown hall afive year a at the wayeducation you wouldmake adecision buyorplansubstantivecannot Jewish or plansubstantive Jewisheducationthe I seeit,that’scheating.You cannotbuy makeanimpact.As tion thatcantruly to generateJewisheduca- to theground eithertoohigh intheairortooclose are that some commonaspirationsinterms together forafewmeetingstoarticulate inwhichafewpeopleget ing process” is muchlessdemanding,likea“vision- signifiessomethingthat ple, thatterm “vision.”For manypeo- theterm from formyhavingsomewhatretracted reason tion overandaboveallelse.Thisisone forthesubstanceofJewisheduca- cerned theymustbecon- ontheirpart, foresight yond necessitatingleadership,courage, developing vision-guidedpractice.Be- to step ofcommittingtimeandresources act uponit,theymusttakethenext to by thecaseforvision,inorder convinced leadersare professional However muchcommunityand level. stitutional andprofessional sion-guided practicebothatthein- serious commitmenttodevelopingvi- necessitatesa Moving inthisdirection expertise. fieldof and togetherdevelopagrowing eachother from so thattheycanlearn doingthesame, whoare professionals maintain ongoingdiscoursewithother working ontheirfeet.Aswell,theymust while have studiedintheseminarroom howtoimplementallthatthey can learn inwhichthey guided fieldopportunities the educatedJew, leadersmustalsohave visionof Jewish educationonaprofound be capableofbasinglivinginstitutions Thatwouldbelike Project. the Visions byFox’sstudentsand those produced suchas two tostudybooksandarticles my chapter, orevenbytakingayear [continued frompage 7] This isonereasonThis for my having somewhat retracted from theterm “vision.” You training tobeasurgeon without actually doinganysurgery. To domain where the schoolcanplayacriticalrole.domain where visions ofJewishlife andeducation. Here isone based onavisionofJewishcommunity. Jewisheducation community toproduce and methodsofhelpinglocal a portrait, inlightofsuch the educationoflearners cated communityJew,” pedagogiesfor of“theedu- portrait velop aprofound people whosejobdescriptionitistode- works andorganizations. RAVSAK needs oflarger net- level ofthecentraloffices alsoneedtobeinvestedatthe sources means andmethodstoattainthem.Re- larger purposesanddevising articulating ity totakeonmanyofthechallenges havethecapac- that theydonotreally day, theweek,monthandyear the togetthrough sobusytrying are veloped onlyattheschoollevel.Schools all thisworkisthatvisioncannotbede- this from Another lessonthatmayresult for yourbusinessororganization. hall meetingordevelopafiveyearplan way youwouldmakeadecisionattown has beenfullyintegrated intothelarger rate andindependententityto onethat asepa- from Project the Visions formed The Foundationhasconsequently trans- rael andJewishcommunitiesworldwide. opment ofeducationalleadership forIs- the centralitemonitsagenda:devel- on Project focus theworkofVisions The MandelFoundationdecidedtore- today.project Tell uswhat’sthe goingonwith In order forthis role, parentsto play they themselves need to work through their own these products. Ittakesawhole these products. community schoolsworkwith at large. and Israelicontexts,butalsointheworld cational leadershipnotonlyintheJewish model ofexcellenceinthefieldedu- enable MLItoemerge asacenterand aspiration isthatthiskindofworkwill lations betweenJewsandnon-Jews.My speakingofre- this thecasewhenweare and livetogether. is Howmuchmore gettingtoknoweachother backgrounds to thecomplexitiesofJewsdifferent mon denominatorthanitistobeequal darity basedonanimaginedlowestcom- life. Itismucheasiertoemphasizesoli- meaningful aspectofJewishandIsraeli orbuilduponitasapositiveand reality that address sions ofeducationthattruly the world,neitherhavedevelopedvi- Israel andJewishcommunitiesaround in visions. Whilediversityisthereality ish andIsraelisocietytotheireducational challenges posedbythediversityofJew- the thefocusisonconfronting ond area, as vision-guidedpractitioners.Inthesec- leaders thatfocusontheirdevelopment one-on-one “tutorials”foreducational developing apedagogyoflong-term, Currently, isin workinthefirstarea lenge suchtraining. the JewishandIsraeliagendathatchal- education aswellintacklingtopicson and workwithvisionsofJewishorIsraeli training educationalleaderstodevelop and graduatesindevelopingmethodsof members,fellows with MLI’sotherstaff workcloselytogether Project the Visions salem. Inthiscapacity, of staff theformer the MandelLeadershipInstituteinJeru- leadershipandworkof infrastructure, tives andcollaborationsemerge almost and activity.much interest New initia- took initspriorframeworkhas generated under- Project The workthattheVisions Jewish education gofrom here? the fieldofvisionin Where can [continued on page 48] You can’t see ISRAEL from a tour bus. You’ve got to breathe it, eat it, hike it, dance it, sing it, live it, love it.

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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Vision Aspirations for Graduates Our The “Jewish” Jewish in Day Schools: and camps are the objects ofourgrant-making.the objects and campsare joy. schools Soprograms support that andorganizations for Jewishyouth whichareof Jewishlymeaningfulandfull through afocused investment ineducationalexperiences the futurehope for is this visionof attaining to scribe a research-based the belief that best are notsmallschoolthingsfor me butcentraltolifeandunderstanding. Itoldthe are thingsinmylife...Booksandwriting themostimportant I love,mymanuscriptsare on apage.Kohlwritesofthisincident,“Nexttothepeoplethat to himthanwords theboy.no longertrusts Kohltellshimthat,nexttohisfamily, nothing meansmore moves tocollectthepapers.Kohl forbidshimtotouchthepages,tellingthathe and toshout.The boyisshakenbyKohl’sresponse, Kohl isfurious,andhestarts intheoffice. likeasmalltornado Kohl’s latestmanuscript.Pagesflyeverywhere, He isangry. heswatsat Heslamshisbookshut,andwithasweepof longarm, Heisashamed. The boytries.Hestumbles.isfrustrated. toread. gling tolearn story. Heistutoringastudent,blackhighschoolbasketball player, whoisstrug- In hisbook Jewish future. ofa ofthosedreams the realization their schoolsandteachstudentstoward Westudents, eveniftheycan’tallbereached. writeincelebration ofthosewholead fortheir theirhopesanddreams teachers whoclearlyandunapologeticallyarticulate Weand theirparents. leadersandgreat theseideasincelebration ofgreat express day, work,every sion andwhodothehard thisvisionfortheirstudents torealize thisvi- these aspirationsincelebrationofschoolleadersandteacherswhoshare fortheJewishPeoplein21stcentury.America andourdreams We articulate ouraspirationsforJewishdayschoolstudentsinNorth toclearly articulate portunity seizingtheop- As weenterourfinaldecadeasagrant-makingfoundation,are 18,2010.] January can JewishDaySchoolLeadershipConference, Ameri- attheNorth ofEducation,”delivered ofIdentityintheProcess Formation ofUnderstanding tothe theFormation NoveltyandRoutineCollide:From “Where toLeeShulman’skeynoteaddress, isbasedontheauthor’sresponse [This article ¿ by s many tion isaprivate foundation whichhas, overthe years, Susan Kardos made tremendous investmentsmade inJew- ish dayschoolsandovernight summer camps. We invest inschoolsandcamps because we believe that avibrant that because webelieve Growing Minds:OnBecomingaTeacher Jewish future dependsonacommit- ment to Jewishliving, ment and learning HaYidion Jewish peoplehood, andwesub- readers know, AVIThe Founda- CHAI , Herbert Kohl tells a powerful Kohltellsapowerful , Herbert grandeur ofthe textsthathaveguided onthewisdomand education thatrelies lives intheDigitalAge.They needan totheirmodern substantive andrelevant ish. TheyneedaJewisheducation thatis again, inimitablyandmagnificently Jew- of theirdayandyearinawaythatis, enables themtolivethesimplerhythms fully Jewish.Theyneedaneducationthat G-d inawaythatisuniquelyandbeauti- about themselves,theirpeople,and education thatenablesthemtothink thatourstudentsneedaJewish agree, We submit,andweassumethatreaders education? ourselves: WhatistheanaloginJewish ers’ obligationstotheworld.We asked student andaboutteachers’learn- about aneducator’saspirationsforhis story powerful This isanextraordinarily that on. and theboydidnothaverighttopass sequence tofollow. Illiteracyispoverty, expected anythingofmeaningorcon- ifhe toread would simplyhavetolearn to doso.Itwasamoralimperative.He was theboy’sobligation.Hebound toread understanding andthatlearning iscentraltolifeand that: hesaidreading than sential skill.Buthemeantmore Yes, isanes- Kohlmeantthatreading that hedidn’thavearighttonotread.” ofpoverty. Thatitwasaform read. And boy thatitwasnojokenottobeable reached at [email protected]. AVIThe Foundation. CHAI Shecanbe Strategy andEducation Planningat Dr. SusanM. Kardos is the Director of the Director is our people through centuries, and they by educators and their students. t
That they take responsibility for need to be able to see these ancient texts transmitting their Jewish heritage to as guides for their own lives. They need The aspirations to consider are the follow- future generations, engaging in or an education that illuminates the glorious ing: leading the Jewish community. and difficult Jewish past as a way to light the way in our present and for our future. t
That Jewish day school graduates are t
That they bring a Jewish voice and They need an education that secures the knowledgeable about ancient and Jewish values into the discourse of continuity of our people so that we may modern Jewish history and conver- humankind. continue to create our story and tell it sant in modern Hebrew. to the world, and so that we can en- We believe that all of these aspirations rich the world through our partici- pation. They need an education Can school leaders, board chairs, and aimed at promoting the notion of klal Yisrael, where Jews around the teachers declare their aspirations loudly, world are connected to and care for each or must they remain secrets kept locked like other across geographical, generational, class, race, and ideological differences. precious jewels in our hearts?

But the hard question is, what does this t
That graduates appreciate the signifi- ought to be pursued in Jewish educational really look like in schools? What does it cance of the State of Israel and her contexts that include, quite explicitly, look like when time, attention, and re- centrality for Jews everywhere. joyful participation, physical enactment, sources are being allocated to the many, positive socialization, and leadership de- many worthy activities that our schools t
That graduates feel themselves part velopment. If the task is too great to ac- sponsor? What does it take to place a stake of a distinctive People who share a complish in the space of a school day or in the ground regarding Jewish literacy, common heritage, history, culture, school year, students ought to be encour- religious engagement, and Jewish People- religion, language and homeland. aged to participate in other programs hood, and the connection to the modern That these connections will create such as summer camp, youth group, Israel state of Israel? for them a unique bond to and in- trips, or synagogue life that will help them spire a sense of responsibility for Jews reach these aspirations. Can school leaders, board chairs, and around the world. teachers declare their aspirations loudly, We stress that these intensive and im- or must they remain secrets kept locked t
That Jewish day school graduates mersive educational experiences are as- like precious jewels in our hearts? continue a tradition of independent pirations for Jewish students of all types study of biblical and rabbinic texts, and ideologies—for community schools We’d like to suggest the following specific ideally in Hebrew. and schools of all denominational affili- and unapologetic aspirations for Jewish ations—so that a literate and committed day schools and the graduates t
That they appreciate the sacredness core can exist within all Jewish denomina- they produce. Much of this will of those texts and the texts’ role in tions and trans-denominationally.

We believe that all of these aspirations Since schools are unique organizations with particular missions, cultures, and ought to be pursued in Jewish educational structures, and since schools are com- contexts that include, quite explicitly, joyful prised of unique students, teachers, lead- ers, and parents, it is both useful and fas- participation, physical enactment, positive cinating to formally explore your school’s socialization, and leadership development. specific and unapologetic aspirations for your graduates. Are these aspirations, as sound quite familiar to many of you, be- our People’s timeless grappling with Kohl said of reading, “not small school cause, in fact, it is what you aspire to ev- theological, spiritual, existential and things, but central to life and understand- eryday. School contexts and cultures are practical questions. ing”? What does a serious commitment different, so, in different schools, embrac- to these aspirations mean for leadership, ing these aspirations has varying impli- t
That graduates are guided by Jewish teaching, and curriculum? cations for school structures, schedules, values and mitzvot that are integrated ěđĞĕďĕĐ teaching practice, curriculum develop- into all aspects of their 21st century We invite you to join us in sharpening our ment, and leadership. And what does it lives, and that they become adults focus on the articulation and enactment look like to meet each of these aspirations? committed to lifelong Jewish intel- of these aspirations and to journey with us r
)B:JEJPO That, too, will have to be defined, on site, lectual and spiritual growth. into our glorious Jewish future. ¿

[11] [12] )B:JEJPO
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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Vision Should Jewish Day Schools Aspire to achieve? seemsasifweare asking,So it “Do wewantto achieve those people.educate JewishdayschoolseducateJews. and institutionsfor educatingpeople,to ourgoalis the questionissurely yes.to upsystems When weset to beprovocative.intended Inonesense,the answer ment means moving ahead in the material. Ahead towards what? Orthinkabout ment meansmoving aheadinthematerial.Ahead towards intoadults.Thinkaboutthecommonassumptionthatenrich- can makechildren Rousseau’s day;schoolingisoften implicitlydesignedasaracetoseehowfastwe ing yourpupilsbetter.” nowasitwasin thecritiqueisastrue Insomerespects, beingaman…Begin,then,by study- child withoutthinkingofwhat heisbefore alwaysseeking themanin “[People]are child? Rousseauwritesinhispreface, we focusingonthe“completeman”ratherthanahealthy, flourishing grounded, think ratherofacompletechild.”Whenweabout the educatedJew, are sometimes speakaboutacompleteman,”hewritesinBook 2of “People aspre-adults. againstthinkingaboutchildren whenhewarned theory educational Jean-Jacques Rousseausoundedoneofthekeynotesprogressive Inthemid-18thcentury, ofchildren. thereality reality—especially ing thepresent theriskofavoid- runs tofocusonthefuture First, wemightnoticethatanyeffort The Danger ofPlanning closerexamination. This assumption,however, deserves oftheidealgraduate. bypaintingapicture sions, wethenassume,oughttostart attention oftheirfaculty, To theirstudents,andsupporters. generatethesevi- energized bycompellingvisionsthatfocusthe practice; wewantinstitutionsthatare able todo,orperhaps,whatthatpersonvaluesandbelieves.We wantvision-guided Jew—what weimaginethatagraduateofanaspirationalinstitutionknowsandis whatwemeanbytheeducated vision ofJewisheducationwouldbetoarticulate a theoutsetthatwaytoconstruct assumedfrom theproject In otherwords, about theeducatedJew. in 2003.LedbySeymourFox, editedvolume, duced, amongotherthings,animportant andthatpro- ofJewishEducationProject that cametobeknownastheVisions oftheMandelFoundationinIsrael ated withaproject ish education,theideaof“educatedJew”isassoci- in generalphilosophyofeducation.InthefieldJew- person”—or, the“educatedman”—hasalonghistory closely.But let’slookmore Theideaofthe“educated ¿ by our goals?” Why elsewouldwedo to achieve whateverto weaspire whatever we decide to do,whatever wedecide ifnot JonA. Levisohn he aspire to createaspire educatedJews?—is obviously title of this article—should Jewishschools this article—should title of Create Educated Jews? Educated Create z”l, the project beganin1991byaskingquestions theproject Visions ofJewishEducation, Emile . “Letus ish Education of visioninJewishEducationthe in draws onideaspreviously publishedinadiscussion Center for StudiesinJewishEducation. article This the Mandel of academicdirector the assistant also ish education at Brandeis University, where heis Dr. JonA. Levisohn can bereached at [email protected]. ish DaySchools, JewishCommunities

us to the reality oftheJewishchild. us tothereality toachieveasadults—willblind children for weaspire cated Jew—everything theboldvisionofedu- not careful, anddeepexpectations.Ifweare broad if anyadultsinthebuildingmeetthose to know, outthatfew inwhichitturns whatstudentsought cises todetermine the all-too-commonoutcomeofexer- interactions. spontaneous and spacesforapparently times ofappropriate ness,” thecreation ofprepared- he calls“theemptyforms onwhat istorely only waytoproceed Instead,the by recipes. not produced certainly andtheyare to beproduced, and stir. notproducts Butpeopleare experience, addinonedoseofIsrael, summers ofatotalimmersiveJewish Jewishstudies,mixinseveral rigorous with12yearsof such aperson.Start toproduce slavishefforts from result that can easilyimaginethecaricatures concoction,andwe inrecipe an exercise may quicklydisintegrateintojustsuch todefinetheeducatedJew cipled effort followed.”Whatbeginsasaprin- are closelytherecipes ridiculous themore ofmen,thatbecomemore caricatures “produce hewarns, ning. “Allrecipes,” ing withoutorganization, withoutplan- in1920,hecallsforlearn- Learning” say “Towards aRenaissanceofJewish to. InFranzRosenzweig’sfamouses- dangerthatwecanpoint ond, related isasec- lose sightofthechild.There notjustthatwewill adultare future In fact,thedangersofplanningfor in2005, in asinanarticle aswell is an assistant professor isanassistant ofJew- Journal ofJew-Journal in2009. He Jew- Of course, simply setting up a time and self.” When we focus on the idea of the ucation includes four such rich and tex- a space for interaction is no way to run educated Jew, we ought to be aware of the tured visions—but none of them would an innovative new center for adult Jewish risk of turning education into a prepara- be appropriate for a pluralistic school. At learning, which is what Rosenzweig was tion for some future life. the same time, a vision has to offer ideas proposing in that essay. For that matter, that enable choices, ideas that guide de- it’s no way to run a Jewish day school Ideology is Overestimated cision-making in matters of educational either. The interactions that take place policy. As Devorah Steinmetz recently ar- in those settings are not spontaneous; at The Visions of Jewish Education Project gued in these pages, “I would not want their best, they are the result of the careful was committed, from the outset, to nur- pluralism … to end up being the criterion design of learning environments and the turing multiple visions rather than a single by which the program is measured or that thoughtful creation of learning materi- consensual vision. Fox and his colleagues shapes the direction of the school.” An- als. Just as Rousseau, for all his professed believed that they had a responsibility to swering “all of the above” to every choice commitment to an education through develop multiple articulations that would is no vision. spontaneous natural experiences, has clear enrich and renew Jewish educational dis- ideas about what he wants Emile to learn, course, articulations as diverse as the range But the problem is actually deeper than so too Rosenzweig, for all his commit- of compelling alternatives in modern Jew- that. In fact, we ought to question as- ment to “the empty forms of prepared- ish life. In other words, pluralism at the sumptions about the role of ideology in ness,” actually spent his days lining up level of ultimate questions of meaning and the development of educational vision. lecturers and seminar leaders to create a purpose would inevitably lead to pluralism This is not to suggest that ideology is distinctive set of educational experiences at the level of educational theories. altogether unimportant, but rather, to for the adults Jews of Frankfurt. challenge the implication that ideology For pluralistic Jewish day schools, this may determines pedagogy. We sometimes pre- So we can set aside some of the rhetorical seem attractive, and indeed, it is a virtue of tend that, once we figure out the biggest excess in both Rousseau and Rosenzweig. the project that it successfully resisted any ideas, the day-to-day decisions will flow But both of them, in different but related effort to achieve artificial and superficial from that process. As I have recently ar- ways, remind us that our attention to the consensus. But any intentionally pluralis- gued elsewhere in discussing the teaching idea of the educated Jew carries with it a tic institution faces a particular challenge of classical Jewish texts, we sometimes ěđĞĕďĕĐ danger that is associated with all planning, in articulating a vision, which must be ap- seem to assume that the most significant all preparation for the future. John Dewey propriately flexible and inclusive without pedagogical fault line lies between those famously argued that “Education is not giving up on a rich, textured, compelling who treat classical texts as sacred (in some r
)B:JEJPO a preparation for life; education is life it- articulation of goals. Visions of Jewish Ed- [continued on page 14]

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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Vision flattened a rich and nuanced text into meretext cliché. flattened arichandnuanced we wouldbejustifiablyconcerned, for shehas that “the Torahthe record is ofG-d’s revelation,” is idea thatoneisencounteringatext little pedagogicguidance.Likewise,the ofG-d(insomesense)provides the word thatoneisencountering The affirmation meaningful, maybepedagogicallyinert. abstract conception,whiletheologically sense) andthosewhodonot.Butsuchan [continued frompage 13] tention isnotto questiontheirappropri- bigideas, andmyin- certainly These are ofTorahits observance andmitzvot.” with G-d,whichisdefinedby relationship of theJewishpeopleisafunction ofits or“Thehistoricalfate of G-d’srevelation” include ideaslike“theTorah istherecord that enduringunderstandingsinTanakh imagining example thatIencountered, may wellendup,liketheauthorof ucated Jewoughttoembrace—thenyou about theideologicalstancesthated- educated Jew—ifyou’vebeenthinking immersedinconceptionsofthe If youare sential questionsinthesubjectofTanakh? enduringunderstandingsandes- propriate ap- those goals.Sowhatare that support activities tothelearning to planbackwards goalsandthen ticulate ambitiouslearning toar- oftheinstructor the responsibility developmentthatemphasizes curriculum Design, from borrowed are day schooleducatorsknow, thoseterms essential questionsinTanakh. Asmany enduring understandingsand to articulate anattempt encountered Irecently crete. con- Let memakethepointabitmore nothing ofthekind. doing wheninfactweare curriculum, vide guidanceforourteachersand avisionthatcanpro- constructing we are may deludeourselvesintothinkingthat on thebigideasofeducatedJew, we not the word ofG-disalsocompatible theword a popular and useful approach to apopularandusefulapproach If a teacher were to tell us that hergoalin that us tell to teacher were If a with a very widerangeofpeda- with avery teaching Exodusto promotethe idea 19is gogic practices.Whenwefocus Understanding by into thinkingthat wehaveaccomplished ofideology, the importance in promoting needforit. Butwemaybemisled, great muchvalueinthis,and issurely There stances onissuesofultimateimportance. aboutideological think, atleastinpart, idea oftheeducatedJewencouragesusto Another waytoputthepointisthis.The ofG-d’srevelation. the record thanasloganabouttheTorahrobust as oughttobemore candidates), theysurely willbemanycompelling of coursethere derstandings ofExodus19mightbe(and rich conceptions.Whateverenduringun- slogansinsteadofcontent- of promoting therisk that visiondiscoursealwaysruns by DanPekarskyandothers, articulated totheconcern, even gosofarastorefer outcomes.”Wematch yourdesired might sothatyourpedagogycan complish here, about what,specifically, youwanttoac- the teacherandsay, “Let’sthinkharder cliché.Weinto mere mightsitdownwith choreography, difficulties, andinterpretive text, fullofsoaringimagery, complicated for shehasflattenedarichandnuanced stead, wewouldbejustifiablyconcerned, wewouldnotbepleased.In- revelation,” idea that“theTorah ofG-d’s istherecord the the Sinaitictheophany)istopromote goal inteaching,say, Exodus19(about totellusthather ideas. Ifateacherwere those lesson oughttopromote particular toexplainhowany would behard-pressed nuances ofactualbiblicaltextsthatone the from sofarremoved buttheyare sure, ideasaboutTanakh,ties. Theyare tobe opportuni- sign ofcompellinglearning thede- orguideonetowards approaches others. Theydonotgenerateinstructional texts,ratherthan appropriate select certain Tanakh. Theydonotalloweducatorsto compellinglessonsin helpful forcreating not Buttheyare paramount importance. ing onone’spriorities,theymaywellbeof school.Depend- ateness foranyparticular ways, toavisionofJewisheducation. ideas shouldcontribute,infundamental munity, Jewishandgeneral.Allofthese subjects; andideasabouttheidealcom- ingful accomplishmentlookslikeinthose ticular subjectsofstudyandwhatmean- ideasaboutpar-teaching andlearning; and aboutkedushah;ideasgood human flourishing;ideasaboutthedivine and practice: ideasabouthumannature ofvision-guided ple contributingsources follow. Instead,itemphasizesthemulti- elsewillsmoothly assume thateverything the ideaofeducatedJew, anddoesnot That conceptionofvisionisnotlimitedto complicatedconception. vision, amore conceptionof ofaparticular importance least, theoutlineofanargument—for the sions. Instead,itisanargument—or at andcompellingvi- devoid ofpowerful perpetuate educationalpracticesthatare to others haveargued, wecannotafford ofvision.AsFox,Pekarskyand portance This isnotanargument againsttheim- like, andwhatitmeanstolearn. subject, andwhatgoodteachinglooks withinaparticular important answers are ceptions ofwhatkindsquestionsand finer-grained from stances, andmore con- ultimate guidance emerges lessfrom thanweactuallyhave.Pedagogic more to bemembersofcommunities, thatthey do notmeanonlythatindividuals ought communal?I of educationthatismore or theeducatedJew, overlooks a function What ifthefocusoneducated person, purposes ofeducationistoonarrow? But whatifthiswayofconsideringthe some oftheselinks.) chapter in above.(SeeIsraelScheffler’s I referred idea ofthe“educatedperson”towhich intothe tradition ofphilosophicalinquiry the ideaofeducatedJewbuildson unique ineducationaltheory. Afterall, of thecommunityorsociety, ishardly the singleeducatedJew, totheexclusion cated Jew. Thefocusontheindividual, abouttheideaofedu- final concern and ideal community—generatesthethird ofthought—aboutthe This lastsphere The IdealCommunity Visions ofJewishEducation [continued on page 50] for Schools-On-I-Net provides a paperless education system, complete with tools and services that help educators focus more on education and less on administration. Visit SOINK12.com to find out how to help your school save time, save money and features go green with Schools-On-I-Net (SOIN). עברית Why Schools-On-I-Net is the right Report Cards choice for your Jewish day school Transcripts Parent Teacher מחויבות Commitment Conferences שותפות Partnership Query Builder הצלחה Success SOIN Mail Commitment Schools-On-I-Net has been serving the Jewish Day School community for 8 years. The Communications members of the SOIN Team have been together since the product's inception 9 years Lunch Menus ago...that's how committed we are to the project, and how committed we are to your school's success with us. Calendars

Partnership Lesson Plans You gain a technology partner, not just a subscription to a product. We work with you, support you and your users, guide you on implementation and work with you to provide Attendance the features or reports you need. Plus your school doesn't need to have additional Grade Books resources dedicated to SOIN...in fact, some of our SOIN administrators include elementary school principals, computer teachers and office staff personnel, directors of Online Quizzes technology, a yearbook coordinator, and an executive director. Schools-On-I-Net is also a Google Apps Solutions Provider, is integrated with FACTS Tuition Management, and is Bus Rosters partnering with various organizations that will benefit our user community. Newsletters Success SOIN schools boast 100% teacher participation. Lesson Plans, Grade Books, Report Photo Gallery Cards, Attendance, Targeted Group Email and Class Photo Galleries are our most popular teacher modules. Because we have worked with Jewish Day School educators, we have provided software to meet the specific needs of yeshiva education, plus, Schools-On-I-Net because we are the development house, we can provide customizations and 240 Kinderkamack Rd enhancements that are shared among our network of day school communities. Oradell, NJ 07649

201.599.6473 Schools-On-I-Net supports dual curriculum academics, Hebrew text (including first and ěđĞĕďĕĐ [email protected] last names), and offers Google Apps for Education integrated services like Gmail,

Documents and Calendar. We invite you to tour our product to see why www.schoolsoninet.com r
)B:JEJPO Schools-On-I-Net is the right choice for your Jewish Day School. Contact us today! Official Google Apps for www.schoolsoninet.com EDU Solutions Provider

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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Vision Vision isCritical vision.about vi- corethat first beliefis The in2003.ment isrootedtwo core Project in The beliefs thirty-five schoolssinceitsestablish- than with more the Jewish cation of Seminary,Theological hasworked the MeltonResearchauspices of Center for JewishEdu- while recognized as immensely valuable and significant by members of the research research asimmensely valuableandsignificantbymembers ofthe while recognized ofJewishEducation Project, thattheVisions be argued thatoneofthereasons sections ofwebsites,clicked-on occasionallybutseldomputintopractice.Itmight visions endupindocumentsgathering dustonbookshelves,orinthe“aboutus” manifestation, withoutcurricular enacted, withoutbeingtranslated intocurriculum, being just vision. Without with vision,though,isthatitoftenremains The problem Vision AloneisInsufficient the studyofTanakh. ofandconnectionto mastery likelytohavegreater questions willthencebemore Studentsatschoolsthathaveclear andcompellinganswerstothose and parents. itsgoalsforteachingTanakhriculum where cur- andcoherent those questionswillbeinapositiontodevelopwellarticulated youstudyingthistext?Schoolsthathave clearandcompellinganswersto Why are teachers, asacommunity, toyour students? asaschool?Whyshoulditbeimportant should yourgraduatesknowandbeabletodo?WhyisTanakh toyou,as important your school’svision,andhowtheteachingofTanakh tothatvision.What isrelated isthinkabout intheProject Our firstchallengetoaschoolthatwishesparticipate notmade. between thetextandtheirlivesare meaningfulconnections where the studyofthesetextsasirrelevant them tospendsomuchtimestudyingthem.Too often,theysee studentsneedtofullyunderstandwhyweask school’s curriculum, totheir teaching ofBibleandotherancientJewishtextsiscore the has littlechanceofsucceeding.”AtJewishdayschools,where stand— neutralanddoesn’ttakeastrong essentially pareve—that’s statement (in byFox’s inspired ofvisionineducation,andare by theimportance Education about “vision”sincethepublicationin2003of The Jewisheducationalworldhasbeenenrichedbydiscourse ¿ by sion is critical and the second,sion iscriticaland visionalone is insufficient. Bridging Bridging Charlotte Abramson (Fox, Scheffler and Marom). andMarom). persuaded certainly (Fox,Scheffler We are he Project, fundedbyAVIthe under andrun CHAI JewishDaySchoolStandards andBenchmarks Vision attheHeart

and , 1997)that“educationis Vision, Curriculum,

and Student Learning Student

are transparent toteachers,students transparent are Alex Sinclair Alex Visions ofJewish dards are rooted in different visionsof indifferent rooted are dards tion, but,crucially, stan- thedifferent see thatnotonlydotheyfit this defini- you’ll edu/standardsbenchmarks.xml), be foundonlineathttp://www.jtsa. (seesidebar; benchmarkscan standards and do.IfyoulookatthelistofTanakh whatstudentswillbeabletoknow dards; outcomeswithinthestan- cific learning spe- more behaviors.” Benchmarksare a synthesisofknowledge,attitudes,and outcomeexhibiting learning overarching is“an definitionofastandard The formal Manifestation of Vision the Instructional Benchmarks are Standards and ect makes precisely thatmove. ect makesprecisely andBenchmarksProj- School Standards TheJewishDay embodied incurriculum. questionsofhowvisionbecomes crucial hoped, isbecauseitdidnotfocusonthe asmighthavebeen tion ontheground community, hasnotgainedasmuchtrac- [email protected]. cal Seminary. Shecanbereached at Educationthe Jewish at Theologi- Melton Research Center for Jewish the and Benchmarks of Project the JewishDay SchoolStandards Charlotte Abramson at [email protected]. Benchmarks Project. Hecanbereached Jewish Day SchoolStandards and Seminary, andaconsultant forthe Educationthe Jewish at Theological professor assistant adjunct ofJewish the JewishAgency, at Thinktank an for Makom,the Israel Engagement Dr. Alex Sinclair isLead Researcher is Director of isDirector the study of the Tanakh and its place in kedushah in its various contexts”; and Jewish identity and life. in high school, “Views the Tanakh as a source for developing and articulating a TaNaKH Standards Imagine, for example, a school whose vi- personal theology.” sion understands contemporary Jews as Standard 1: being modern-day links in a 3,000-year- The school’s vision informs its selection old interpretive chain. For such a school, of standards; conversely, discussion about Students will become independent and immersion in the interpretive act is the standards can help a school articulate its literarily astute readers of the biblical defining characteristic of Jewishness. With vision. By focusing a school’s Tanakh cur- text in Hebrew. apologies to iPhone fans: there’s a stan- riculum on its selected standards, and by Standard 2: dard for that! Standard 2, and the bench- having students explore biblical texts in marks within it, describe learning out- depth through the lens of those standards Students will be engaged in the learn- comes that learners might be expected to during the course of their careers at the ing of ancient, rabbinic, and modern achieve at different points in their school school, it is much more likely that deep modes of interpretation of the biblical career. In the early grades, students will learning and critical thinking will occur. text and will see themselves as a link in this ongoing chain of interpretation. demonstrate mastery of a benchmark such as “Understands that some questions have Standards and Standard 3: more than one answer.” Later on in this Benchmarks as the school’s curriculum, students will progress foundations for Students will appreciate TaNaKH as a to other benchmarks, which include “Ar- multi-vocal text with a complex history ticulates elements of Rashi’s commentary Curriculum-writing of development. on the Torah text.” And in high school, Standard 4: students will be able to “Analyze vari- Once teachers and school leaders have ous art media as biblical interpretation” made decisions about which standards Students will view the TaNaKH as or “Apply inner-biblical interpretation to and benchmarks to focus on, these the formative narrative of the Jewish texts.” These and other benchmarks are standards and benchmarks become the People--past, present, and future. the learning outcomes in which students foundations of curriculum design: the Standard 5: will be asked to demonstrate mas- development of assessments and learn- tery or excellence. ing activities that are also rooted in the Students will, through the study of TaNaKH, understand and value that the Land of Israel informs and shapes the The problem with vision, though, is that historical, theological, and sociological it often remains just vision. Without experiences of the Jewish People. being enacted, without being translated into Standard 6: curriculum, without curricular manifestation, Students will develop an appreciation for the sacredness of TaNaKH as the visions end up in documents gathering dust primary record of the meeting between on bookshelves, or in the “about us” sections of God and the people of Israel and as an essential text through which Jews websites, clicked-on occasionally but seldom continue to grapple with theological, put into practice. spiritual, and existential questions. Standard 7: Consider, on the other hand, a differ- school’s vision. This curriculum-writing ent school, which sees the study of Jew- process is the work that teachers do col- Students will understand, through the ish texts as presenting continual oppor- laboratively in order to ensure that there study of TaNaKH and its interpretations, tunities for existential and philosophical is alignment between the vision and what the role of mitzvot in the shaping of the ethical character and religious practices grappling with the ultimate questions of students are learning. Teachers develop of the individual and the Jewish People. human life. Again, there’s a standard for big ideas and enduring understand- that: Standard 6. A student at a school ings—aligned with the standards—that Standard 8: which takes its Jewish educational vision help students make meaningful connec- seriously and translates it into curricular tions between the study of Tanakh and Students will develop a love of Torah manifestation would be asked to dem- their own lives; standards-aligned essen- study for its own sake and embrace it as an inspiring resource, informing their ěđĞĕďĕĐ onstrate mastery of the following bench- tial questions that provide curiosity and values, moral commitments, and ways marks: in his or her early years, “Appreci- motivation for students to engage in of experiencing the world. ates that all people are created b’tzelem learning; and standards-aligned authen- r
)B:JEJPO Elohim”; in middle school, “Discusses [continued on page 65] Copyright © 2003 The AVI CHAI Foundation

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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Vision Buber’sMartin Secular Vision one generation tothe next. the community andlinkedto boundone that the beliefsand aknowledgeof andpractices to abiding dedication Torah study asavalue, canon, onhisown,to study it someability an was educatedifhehadafamiliaritythe with of thepastat expenseofone’sautonomy andspiritualcreativity. Onthe other andcelebratedritualsubmissiontothe authority was atoddswithmodernity As ayoungman,Buberbeheld, ononeside,traditionalJudaismthat,inhisopinion, thestudenttobealife-longstudent. andprepare inspire education musttherefore ofhisor herlife,independentofbeliefsandpractices.Heheldthat Jewish fixture thestudyofJewishtexts,anenduring tomakeJewishlearning, tools anddesire essentially, however, hedefinedtheeducatedsecularized Jewassomeonewiththe basictoJewish educationandcontinuity.contributions toJewishculture—as Most above—knowledge ofthetradition,socialcohesionand abilitytomakenew losopher, Jewishidentity, thequestion ofmodern inaddressing allthe recognized anti-traditionalist Jewishphi- Buber(1878-1965),theeminentandstrongly Martin Positivesocialexperienceswithother Jews? culture? message ofJudaism,itsethicsanddistinctvalues?Themeansto contributetoJewish and themajortextsofJewishcanon?Knowledge“essential” teachingsor FamiliaritywiththeBible AsenseofJewish history? Jewish educationtoprovide? What, then,willconstituteandsustainJudaisminasecularage?Whatissecularized lessforthcoming. secularized Jewtotheabovequestionistherefore response ofthe ofinfluenceontheiridentityandlives.The tradition forsomesort as anultimateauthorityonbeliefsandpractices,butnonethelessstilllooktothe Torah asthe secular, notentirely are but totheirJewishheritageandtradition,they even be ittenuous,relationship certain, Paul Mendes-Flohr’sdistinction—inthattheystillexistincognizanceofanda on whattheyconsiderknowledgeandacceptasvalues.Yet—to borrow itsmyriadanddiverseinfluences worldinwhichtheylive,andrecognize the broad of opentoandconsiderthemselvespart secularinthattheyare ularized. Theyare sec- Jews,are Jews,includingmanyobservant Most contemporary ¿ by tradition ofitsinterpretation. Assuch, one Judah Levine re-modern of knowledgeandvalues:the Torahthe rabbinic and ic” Jewishcommunity recognized onlyonesource the question:to responseident mean doesit What to be an educated Jew? Most basically,to beaneducatedJew?Most the “organ- exclusive realm ofknowledgeandvalues,maynotviewtheTorah realm Jews had at their disposalafairly Jews self-ev- hadat secularized Talmud Torah Keneged Kulam: of the Educated Jew . Thus, secularized Jews do not recognize the . Thus,secularizedJewsdonotrecognize new creativity andcommunity.new creativity Hesoon innate Jewishspirittobethe basisfor mystical faithinthepowerofeach Jew’s At first hepositedanearly ish religion. lations ofgenerationsorganized Jew- bytheaccumu- ituality “unencumbered” of“primal”Jewishspir-sought arenewal of spirituality. Onthecontrary, Buber mean atheism,agnosticismorthedenial sensibilities. Secularizationthusdidnot evensecular,one’s undeniablemodern, to Judaismthatwouldnotcompromise tual vitality, andasubstantiveconnection Jew:community,of themodern spiri- the needs thatwouldaddress religion) (thoughnotasaninstitutional ing reality toJudaism asaliv- Buber soughtareturn rabbior scholar.expert the Torah atall.Thatwasthetaskof did notstudy ism intextbooksandtranslationbut one whostudied(minimally) at all.AneducatedacculturatedJewwas Jew, meanwhile,didnotengagethetext Theacculturated inthepresent. norms ity oftheTorah todictatebeliefsand to thetext,pastandauthor- texts: thetraditionalistlookedexclusively toJewish relationships their respective in of thesetypesJudaismwasreflected ofboth Thefailure spiritually superficial. toJewishnessofsubstanceand different Jews ignorantoftheirownheritage,in- acculturated side, hefoundmodernized, reached at [email protected]. He livesinModi’in, Israel. Hecanbe the Renewal of Text-centered Judaism Jewish Thought: Buberand Martin entitled recently completed hisdissertation (UniversityofChicago),thought ish Judah Levine, PhD Talmud Torah inModern as a Jew, study ordirectly in modern Jew- inmodern about Juda- . realized, though, that without a connec- The specifics of Buber’s new Jewish learn- falter.” (Herut, 155) Studying canonical tion to the existing tradition this type of ing comprise his own philosophy of Jew- texts is not aimed at submission to the effort would be but one more example of ish education and address directly what viewpoint of the tradition, but at the con- secular, humanistic spiritual renewal. It it means to be an educated modern Jew. tribution of the student to the age-old dis- would be Jewish only by the descent of its This philosophy speaks to the tensions be- cussion. Through familiarity and contact membership, while, from the perspective tween particularism and universalism, reli- with the text, the student is to discover a of Jewish religious continuity, it would be gion and reason, traditionalism and secu- vocabulary—the words, images and sym- merely arbitrary. larism, and between traditional authority bols—with which to express the contours and modern autonomy that are still famil- of his or her own personal experience. Thus, he proposed that to be unapolo- iar to Jewish educators. A brief sketch of getically modern, unapologetically Jewish, these specifics must precede our consider- This renewal is, in fact, a Jewish tradition. free, creative and spiritually dynamic, the ation of some of his theory’s ramifications In Judaism, it is impossible “to draw a line modern Jew, irrespective and independent for contemporary day school education between preserving and producing…Ev- of belief or practice, must be in contact and beyond. eryone is convinced that he is doing no and dialogue with the texts of tradition. more than further advancing that which Jewish learning is the key to both one’s Building on the rabbinic notion of the has advanced him to this point, and he relationship to the tradition as a secular Torah’s endless meaning, on the tradition may, nonetheless, be the originator of a person, and to one’s relationship to the of creative interpretation, and the value of new movement” (“Teaching and Deed,” secular world as a Jew. The ability to live Torah study as a spiritual process and ex- in Israel and the World: Essays in a Time of in reference to and conversation with the perience, Buber formulated a new model Crisis, 139). The diversity within the can- text will then guarantee the authentic of Jewish learning: study of the text pro- on, e.g., the rabbinic revision of aspects of Jewishness of whatever form secularized vides the student the context and vocabu- biblical ethics, the inclusion of kabbalists Jewish life may take. If Jewish learning lary to explore and articulate his or her and philosophers alongside mainstream becomes central to our lives then “no own spiritual journey. Here “mankind’s Judaism, attests to the tradition of innova- matter how far removed from all tradition wordless dialogue with God is condensed tion as long as that innovation is in ref- we may seem to an insensible glance, we for him into the language of the soul…to erence to the text. Furthermore, Buber’s will have committed ourselves to the great which he himself can add new expressions, notion of the text as providing context for course of Judaism” (“Herut: On Youth as yet unspoken. Without this language, each new perspective means that noth- and Religion,” in On Judaism, 174). he could do no more than stammer and [continued on page 20] ěđĞĕďĕĐ

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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Vision dom andpersonal responsibility.” in theconditionsoffree- tual resistance must be“philosophicaltraining forspiri- the World (“On NationalEducation,”in sage ithasfortheirhourand work” with thatpower—theymayhearthemes- that—listening tothevoice[oftext] the powertomakeoriginalchoice, manner bywhichstudents“mayacquire ina this endeavorandmustbepresented gues thatJewishtextsmustbecentralto toJudaism.Buberar-her relationship forhisor to takepersonalresponsibility hisorherown the studenttoward cilitate andinfl buttofa- not looktodictateorinterfere, Buber’s pedagogy. teacher does Thetrue iscentralto The notionofresponsibility innovation andrenewal. becomes themeansfor content ofthatstudy Jewish study, whilethe of dedicatingoneselfto the Jewish through One becomesspiritually valid onlybecauseofit.” tence assuchandbecome to thetraditionofexis- areand form subordinate gap. Transmitted the spark leapsacross meet,“the holy truly er andstudentofTorah of thetext.Whenteach- student’s owndiscovery the “activated” through Rather, Jewishspiritis will. simply through ther innatenorrenewed Now, Jewishspiritisnei- ularly Jewishdiscussion. velopment ofthepartic- thede- and appreciate which tounderstand an additionaltoolwith and viewedcriticismas academic scholarship, to thecontributionsof thatwasopen learning ber envisionedJewish study.nied through Bu- istobede- modernness ing ofoneselforone’s [continued frompage 19] , 162-3).Educationviathetext uence. Theteacherguides content process Israel and choice secularized, post-traditional andperhaps wise surprisingtobasetheeducation of the textandnot“essences.” It islike- and continuedcontactwith with broad study,ishness around tobeconcerned Judaism tocenterone’sJew- or lawfrom Jewwhoisnotseekingdogma modern It issurprisingperhapstoexpectthe of wouldleadtoasecularizedform learning Jew.of themodern Thus,Buberbelieved intellectual “livingspace( it:thetextbecomes nas articulated cess andworldview. AsEmmanuelLevi- the textwillplayinone’sthoughtpro- Jewish becauseoftheinevitableplace values anddeedswillbecomedistinctly ofaffi or anyotherform theHalakhah despite one’sdistancefrom that heargues, assures A lifeoflearning, midrash u-ma’aseh. liation, one’slife, Lebensraum) ” and experience; betweenanopennessto emphasis onstudyasaspiritual process oftextual skillsandmaterial,an tery betweenmas- mands abalancebestruck one’s ownvoice.Assuch,Buber de- which onemightfi canon through sity, ofthe andrelevance dynamicnature thatconveysthediver-an environment in thattheseskillsbeacquired requires This isnosmalltask.ButBuberfurther domain. tion afamiliarandcomfortable tradi- texts thatwillmaketheliterary tothe skills andthecontinuedexposure development oflanguageskills,textual which inchildhoodmustbeginwiththe the cultivationofindependentlearners, with thetexts.Theultimategoal,then,is ing, openexplorationofandrelationship anongo- for thesecularizedJewthrough in Judaismthatwillonlybelegitimate added existentialandspiritualinvestment in thiswaywouldby he orshewouldhave Jewish life.Moreover, cated andsubstantive default belivingadedi- larized Jeweducated the tools to create new the toolstocreate believed thatthesecu- secularism withoutthe modes ofbelief,prac- text-study. ButBuber ish youthprimarilyon Jew- non-observant tice or self-perception tice orself-perception both directions. both directions. The emphasesoftext sion forcommunity and traditional,in study, studentem- Jew can provide avi- Jew canprovide between thesecular to bridgethegap powerment andin- powerment day schools.Hear- an educated modern an educatedmodern tellectual andspiri- what itmeanstobe Buber’s notionof socentralto are that tual creativity gues thatsocial,his- of assimilationand not endure thepull not endure ties toJudaismwill torical andcultural nd scholarship and criticism, and the message objective, critical studies and Jewish dedi- Promoting life-long Jewish learning as that the Torah is the unique record of the cation to the texts. As such, Buber would a value must start by dispelling the at- Jewish spiritual discussion; and between support an integrated curriculum in which titude that the text is irrelevant to con- the demands of formal education and the one studied about the ancient Near East temporary Jewish life that does not ac- desire for students to remain autonomous alongside the Bible, and about Hellenistic cept dogma or far-reaching Jewish law. and ultimately choose responsibility for and Persian culture alongside the Talmud. Most basically, the realization of this vi- the perpetuation and renewal of Judaism. However, in both skill development and sion of the educated secular Jew begins historical studies, Buber would demand by convincing youth that they are enti- How can this balance be achieved? First- that the text nonetheless be conveyed as tled to “see for themselves” what Juda- ly, the basic foundational texts through transcending the context of each: biblical ism comprises, and that this can only be which skills are developed should be sup- Hebrew is not studied for the same rea- done through encountering the text for plemented with other texts that reflect the sons one might elect to study any other themselves. Finally, Jewish education of diverse and even competing opinions and language, and historical studies do not ex- this sort must inspire students to choose viewpoints that comprise the canon in its haust the meaning and reach of traditional responsibility for the perpetuation of Ju- different eras so that even in the techni- texts. In each realm, the students should daism by appealing both to their spirit cal realm, the message of diversity and be reminded that through these tools and and intellect. As such educators must interpretation is already being conveyed. this knowledge they can be empowered to seek to strike a balance between present- Further, the curriculum should include shape their own understanding of Juda- ing an authoritative approach to the text courses aimed at exploring this diversity ism and its place in their lives. Exposure and serving as a guide to students’ own through surveys of the varied biblical, rab- to the far-flung descriptions of the power explorations. In that community day binic, philosophic, kabbalistic and other and creativity of study in rabbinic litera- schools do not seek to promote specific approaches to the same basic elements of ture, for example, could serve as a model agendas, they are an optimal setting for the Jewish narrative (e.g., topics in ethics, to consider Jewish studies as a separate this type of pedagogy. Education of this theology, different interpretations of bib- realm from general studies. As such, sort that integrates this message from lical texts and concepts etc.). though benchmarks for achievement and early education on can produce young standard forms of evaluation cannot be adults with the skills and perspective to Buber’s vision promotes the notion that discarded, perhaps Jewish studies should set Jewish learning apart and view it as sacred texts must also be understood with- also encourage and value demonstrations an indispensable tool to one’s self-un- in their historical and cultural context, that of independent efforts to grapple with the derstanding and connection to Judaism there is no contradiction between secular, ideas encountered in the texts. in a largely secular world. ¿ ěđĞĕďĕĐ

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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Vision the complementary set of ideas that Iamproposing. that the complementary ofideas set engageseriouslywith stitutions. ourfieldwill that Ihope to cultivate seeks nity asit leadersfor oureducatingin- investigatethe Jewishcommu- to dominate come might cation, the outlookIwill that my is more immediateworry ofgeneralmythe challenges concern encompasses edu- the cultivationship and ofleadersfor education. Though ofleader-complementarythe challenges on perspective to offer, ofideas, analternative set not a but cial insomefundamental ways. Iwouldlike issuperfi- that understanding ofleadership Moving ontoanothermatter, theauthorsconclude: tion, andtheiranalysisleadsthemtoconcludethat country, 2,424courseweeksofinstruc- represent includingthemostprestigious, the around in56programs ofthesyllabifeatured Theirsurvey to drivedirections.” ability, andusedata expected todemonstratebottom-lineresults leadersare where in“aneweraofaccount- thestate ofleadershippreparation survey Kelly carefully Gets Taught P. M.HessandAndrew Frederick Program”), inPrincipal-Preparation toLead:What (“Learning article Inarecent I beginbyexemplifyingtheproblem. symptoms of the problem Some currentemphasesinleadership-education: ¿ that successineducationdependson high that by cent of all course weeks focused upon norms and values. In the norms-and-values andvalues. Inthenorms-and-values cent ofallcourse weeksfocuseduponnorms ideological.Infact,just12per thateducationschools are “Critics oftenassert mentioned teacherdismissaland ninementionedteachercompensation.” Of360courseweeksdevotedtopersonnelmanagement,just12 research. viadata,technology, onmanagingschoolimprovement instruction orempirical include andlessthan5percent of schoolmanagementorimprovement, accountabilityinthecontext of2,424courseweeksaddressed “just 2percent quality leadership,troubled because but Daniel Pekarsky cause Istronglythe idea identify with ecent both pleased and very troubled.both pleasedandvery Iampleasedbe- order to improveorder Americaneducationhave left me the way in to strengthentional leadershipand it the directions emphasized in the ma- emphasizedthe directions in terials Ihave come an across exhibit discussions about the importance ofeduca- the importance discussionsabout The Vision of a Jewish Educational Leader Educational passage: thismatterinthefollowing approach theydo based ontheirlimitedresearch, for practice recommendations strong While theauthorsstayclearofmaking worldofschooling.” the contemporary educational leadersiswell-matchedto of questions aboutwhetherpreparation thors concludethat“theevidenceraises Based ontheirvariousfindings,theau- and values.” timetonorms ofinstructional 10 percent than onlydevoteslightlymore programs emphasizing that“principal-preparation tone,byre- what seemslikeareassuring point ofview, theauthorsconclude,in ideological aparticular tend topromote programs that leadershippreparation indications cal orientationsworrisome ideologi- andconservative progressive Though theyfindtheimbalancebetween and“silencedvoices.” instruction” tered “race-based discrimination,”“child-cen- culturalism,” focusingonmatterslike ideas like“socialjustice”and“multi- emphasizes andappearstoadvocatefor tilt”which hasa“progressive they survey thors notethat65%ofthecoursecontent Elaborating onthislastpoint,theau- training in the use of data, research, training inthe useofdata,research, limited receive that principalscurrently tional contentispivotal;yet we find “Ultimately, thequestionofinstruc- scriptions andassignedreadings.” biasinthetopicde- dence ofnormative lessons, however, evi- wasstrong there [email protected]. Education. Hecanbereached at pekar- the MandelFoundationto onJewish Wisconsin-Madison andaconsultant cational Policy Studiesat Universityof Dr. DanielPekarsky isProfessor ofEdu- technology, the hiring or termination of (an observation that sounds designed integrally bound up with the domain of personnel, or evaluating person- to be reassuring to those troubled by norms and values. And what is true in this nel in a systematic way. The the liberal tilt in existing programs instance for general education is equally— reading lists suggest that aspir- that the authors identified). if not even more important—for the prac- tice of educational leadership in Jewish Although the authors and others recognize settings. Here I want to identify different that the effectiveness of educational dimensions of this domain that are not clearly distinguished from one another in leaders depends heavily on their capacity to the authors’ discussion. motivate and inspire the communities for which First, and most fundamentally, “norms and they are responsible, they fail to recognize that values” concerns the kind of person the ed- the ability to do so is integrally bound up with ucational leader is: is this a person of char- acter who can be counted on to approach the domain of norms and values. his/her professional life and encounters with youngsters, faculty, parents, and ing principals receive limited exposure 3. The authors’ recom- other constituencies and audiences with to important management scholarship mendations for integrity, honesty, respect, and gener- or sophisticated inquiry on educational improvement osity? While not sufficient productivity and governance. The vital basically as a condition of question is whether the lack of attention bypass the success, to certain schools of thought regarding realm of management may leave aspiring princi- norms pals prepared for the traditional world and val- of educational leadership but not for ues alto- the challenges they will face in the 21st gether. century. Principal-preparation programs that pay little attention to data, produc- Taken togeth- tivity, accountability, or working with er, these parents may leave their graduates unpre- pared for their responsibilities.” Analysis of the problem

Of the many things worthy of note in this discussion, I want to draw atten- tion to a single dimension of the issue at hand—to what the authors of the article describe as “norms and values.” Here’s what is striking:

1. “Norms and values” is understood as a relatively narrow domain and with an equally narrow (if not unimport- points suggest—both ant) set of concerns. The authors by what is and what isn’t said— seem principally to be concerned with a troubling outlook which views the the relative balance—or the tilt—in nature of norms and values in an unduly any given program among competing truncated way in relation to educational ideological orientations associated leadership and as at best of secondary im- with catchphrases like “progressiv- portance in the selection of leaders, assess- ism,” “conservatism,” “multicultur- ment, and training of educational leaders. core values would appear to be important alism,” “choice,” and “equality.” Although the authors and others recog- preconditions, contributing to effective- nize that the effectiveness of educational ness in numerous ways. Not the least of ěđĞĕďĕĐ 2. It was emphasized that in contem- leaders depends heavily on their capacity these contributions is that over time the porary leadership-development pro- to motivate and inspire the communities presence of these qualities is unlikely to

grams overall, only 12% of the cur- for which they are responsible, they fail go unrecognized and unappreciated and r
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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Vision they, likelytocommunicate more too,are leadership-development programs—since tothe selectionoffacultyfor relevant mightbe for thisconcern an appreciation decisions.Equallyimportant, with staffing faced seriously whentheyare concerns people withoutfail,aswelltotakethese kindsof tobecertain leaders’desires ports Itsup- important. sis maybeprofoundly impact onthesequalities,suchanempha- fact haveatendencytocorrosive educationalleadersmayin contemporary politically complicatedworldinhabitedby economicallytroubled, in thestressful, their work.Sincethedemandsofpractice qualitiesofcharacterin mising thesecore of possessing,exhibiting,andnotcompro- foremphasizingtheimportance curricula inleadershipdevelopment opportunities or itcouldmeannotingtheneedtooffer and/ leadership developmentprograms, at thepointofevaluatingcandidatesfor qualities is, ofsuch mean notingthatthepresence of thesequalities.Thiscould importance discussingthesemattersemphasizethe are velopment, those(liketheauthors)who leadership thatwillguidede- aconceptionofoptimal in articulating don’t havethem.Butitistosuggestthat vating thesequalitiesinindividualswho capableofculti- are leadership programs This isnottosuggestthateducational staff. cism, andalienationamongtheschool’s cyni- dysfunctional, featuringmistrust, of thesequalitiesinleadership,ontheoth- oftheschool.Theabsence overall culture the whether thesequalitieswillsuffuse of is perhapsamongthebestpredictors [continued frompage 23] these matters. of the importance to proceed attention without of leadershipandeducationcan discussions that isdeeplydisturbing and it to leadership,to beessential values out turns Far fromthe workof beingperipheralto leaders, and norms the presence ofheartfelt that the school’s culture willbe that theschool’sculture er hand,enhancesthelikelihood of course, tobeselectedfor work of leaders, the presence of heartfelt of heartfelt work ofleaders, thepresence beingperipheraltothe values.” Farfrom and to befoundintheworldof“norms ofachieving—are andworthy important” is fundamentallyabout—what’s “most what theenterpriseofeducating cerning so Iusedtothink)thatconvictionscon- generally,More itgoeswithoutsaying(or the leader’sgenuineconvictions. ifitdoesn’treflect to emerge orsurvive isunlikely And, overtime,thisperception ing inthisvision—100%committedtoit. andvisiblybeliev- asstrongly is perceived have muchtodowithwhetheritsleader motivation amongkeystakeholderswill pirations willelicitinspirationandfoster as- vision thatidentifiestheschool’score isthatwhetherornota to emphasizehere conditions ofdailylife.Thecriticalpoint highest levelofqualityundertheactual the school’seducationalchallengesat motivationtoachieve tinuing androbust ers, itwillbeincapableofelicitingcon- and ifitisn’t evaluation; cational planningandprogram ofguidingedu- role be abletofullitscore achieve. Ifthevisionisn’t shouldbestrivingto educational process a imperative thattheleaderisguidedby leadership activities.Putdifferently, itis dedicatedtoachievingintheir they are them,whateducationalagenda inspires personal stance thathavetodowithleaders’ concerns points—at leastitoughttopoint!—to andvalues” ership development,“norms Second, asappliedtoleadershipandlead- scholarly literature. to orreference exhortation than through the kindsofpeoplewhoembodythem valuesbybeing ofcore the importance clear andinspiring inspiring : whattheystandfor, what visionofwhatthe tokeystakehold- clear , itwon’t tion to the importance ofthesematters. tion totheimportance withoutatten- ship educationcanproceed that discussionsofleadershipandleader- to leadership,anditisdeeplydisturbing outtobeessential andvaluesturns norms nation ofthefollowing: leaders. Thiscouldinvolvesomecombi- ofeducational activities andpreparation the needforpersonalstance/visionin am suggestingwouldheavilyemphasize plications. But,ataminimum,theviewI suchim- neednotcarry I amproposing that exhibitthesecharacteristics,theview some— are perhapsthere programs—and aims. Thoughonecouldwellimagine whodon’tyetidentifywiththese program admittedtothe cause” thosewhoare tothe ing thechallengeof“converting identification withtheseaimsorembrac- ing candidatesbasedontheirpre-existing cation, viewingthemselvesaseitherselect- conceptionoftheaimsedu- particular a mustbeorganized around programs that educationalleadershipdevelopment immediately thatIamnotsuggesting Lest Ibemisunderstood,wanttoadd to becomingthe leaders oftomorrow. thatleads thejourney be selectedtoundertake badly!)will us loseperspectiveandbehavevery whenmostof values underthecircumstances human people whocanholdontoelementary character(e.g., but thatonlypeopleofstrong byeducation), valuesto be secured important Good (i.e.,his/herunderstandingofthemost inavisionofthe activities needtobegrounded public: thanPlatoin found innolessafigure for thisview, ofthewisdom itisalsoattheheart beingempiricalsupport 1 Inadditiontothere t
cally with an eye towards clarifyingit cally withaneyetowards primedtoinvestigateitcriti- and are have suchapersonalstance/vision to identifycandidateswhoalready mightalsoseek Selection-processes todevelopsuchaview.in theeffort toinvestthoughtandenergy pared pre- andwhoare we shouldaddress educational challenges important personal/stance vis-à-visthemost the needtodevelopasubstantive appreciate grams thosewhoalready for leadershipdevelopmentpro- amongcandidates Selecting from it’s notjustthatthephilosopher-king’s [continued onpage 48] The Re- 1 ěđĞĕďĕĐ

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ěđĞĕďĕĐ the sensitivities our Sages brought to past rulings.”to past the sensitivities ourSagesbrought how extremely relevant Jewish sourcestoday and are to delvestudentstradition deeply into our andshow guided torture of topic regardingthe permissibility preparationteam. byeach years, Like past this year’s brought. the culmination ofmonths eventThis of is enthusiasm andcamaraderiethe participants all and Iwas verythe level impressed ofscholarship, with the RAVSAK was This yearat my first Din Beit Moot Rabbi Greg Harris, judge, Din2010 Beit Moot The Moot Beit Din Shabbaton took place in Wash- nary passion for Jewish study. They issued a ington, DC, April 22nd – 25th. This year a record “psak Halachah,” a legal decision, on a com- twenty-one teams, comprising eighty students and plex case involving the question of a govern- twenty-one advisors, gathered for this celebration ment’s permissibility of using torture to stop of Talmud Torah in RAVSAK high schools. The terrorism. They heard a talk by Rabbi Saul students demonstrated great gifts and extraordi- Koss, a longtime Army chaplain who served in Vietnam, on the challenges and rewards of being an observant Jew RAVSAK congratulates the winners in the US military. They performed chesed by painting the walls of a of the 2010 Moot Beit Din: Boys and Girls Club in downtown group a Washington, after which they explored the monuments and exhibits of the US n First Place: Jewish Community High School capital. They davened, sang and danced of the Bay (San Francisco, CA) on Shabbat, sometimes all at once. o Second Place: Jack M. Barrack Hebrew They studied new texts and topics with Academy (Bryn Mawr, PA) the learned teachers at the Shabbaton. p Judges’ Choice: Tanenbaum CHAT Kimel And on Sunday morning, they present- Centre (Vaughan, ON) ed their cases with poise and Power- point, and responded to chal- group b lenging questions from the judges with thoughtfulness n First Place: The Weber School and aplomb. (Atlanta, GA) o Second Place: Kehillah Jewish High School (Palo Alto, CA) p Judges’ Choice: San Diego Jewish Academy (San Diego, CA)

Mazel tov to all the teams participating in this year’s competition.

RAVSAK's Moot Beit Din program offered me the opportunity to delve into relevant legal cases that reflect Judaism through Talmudic analysis. The Shabbaton enabled me to learn and network with Jewish teens and scholars from

across the country in an interactive, enriching ěđĞĕďĕĐ environment. Overall, the Moot Beit Din gave me

the experience of a lifetime.” r
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Emily Goldberg, student, David Posnack Hebrew Day School, Plantation, FL [27] [28] )B:JEJPO
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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Values meaning out of the words ofthe siddur meaning outof thewords Iyyun tefillahisoneoftwo methods employedbyteacherstohelppupilsmake themes oftheliturgy. togainunderstandingofthemajor theopportunity that theJewishschoolprovide activein thecommunityhavesomeconnectiontosynagogue,it is vital who are worship. SincethevastmajorityofthoseJews many pupilsseelittlepointinformal ofthesiddur past twentyyears.Lackinganintellectualconnectiontothe words topupilsofday schoolsoverthe administered questionnaires innumerous inforced re- orvaluable.Thispointhasbeen worshiptobeinteresting likely tofindformal muchless thoseinthemiddleanduppergradesare is lacking,pupils,particularly this forachieving kavannahintheprayerexperience.Where necessary preparation sen, intellectualengagementwiththetextsofprayerisanessential elementinthe cho- carefully were andbecause thesewords Jewish prayerissoconnectedtowords sungorspoken.Becausetraditional ofwords, synagogue isabouttheinterpretation Whathappensinthe The Jewishprayerexperienceisessentiallybuiltonwords. Kavannah in Worship: Challenge The ¿ Incubators of Kavannah Jewish Day Schools as worship. the val-tension between There isa Iyyun Tefillah new andunexpected. whichis movedthat moreto beemotionally likely by bombarded bychangeandchallenge. Young peopleare the comfortable,their lives are if constantly particularly well. Adultscanappreciatethe familiar revisiting and as the service beincludedin the Amidahwill Shema and Torah asareading aswell fromthe Prophets. portion The the weekly the synagogue,to hear ing in onecanexpect many ways predictable. morn- OnShabbat custom).hag (local is, Jewishservice The in mandated byHalakhah(Jewishlaw) orMin- ue ofpraying withkavannahthe value and by the context ofprayer, specifically, formal of Keva. Keva whichisfixed refersthat to Saul P. Wachs nah is often the subject ofintensivenah isoften discussionin the subject and in the context ofprayer,and in would it pose, devotion, meaning, significance. Kavan- avannah include all of the elements that are that the elements of include all can meanintention, attention, pur- . The othermethod isknownasbei’ur , of prayer. strategy forinvolvingtheminthestudy powerful isamore ofinquiry process the cluding personalmeaning)through pils inexploringpossiblemeanings(in- ofpu- me thattheactiveparticipation in bei’urtefillah,myexperienceteaches isvalue personal statement.Whilethere poetry,prayer asliterature, rhetoricand pupils jointlyseektounderstandthe Iyyun tefillah explains tefiillah. Inbei’urtefillah,theteacher t
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iyyun tefillah that Ihavefoundtobeusefulindoing someexamplesofquestions are Here [email protected]. at Gratz College. Hecanbereached at Doctoral Program inJewishEducation the of andDirector Department and Liturgy,the Education Chairof Feinstein Professor ofEducation Dr. Saul P. Wachs author ifyoucould? What questionswouldyouask the ten here? How doyoufeelaboutwhatis writ- Has thateverhappenedtoyou? author? What doyouthinkhappenedtothe forms? anystrikinggrammatical there Are thought orstructure? Can itbedividedintounitsof does itmean? What doestheprayersay? the meaning , the instructor andthe theinstructor : is the Rosaline is B. oftheprayer. In t
Who is the Bible might have wanted grades—the lack of the element of depth the need to transition into the mood of to say this prayer? into the prayer experience along with skill- prayer with kavannah. What happens be- learning. fore the service starts affects the quality t
Have you ever been in a situation of the service. I now see teachers applying where you might have wanted to say Omek-Depth 1: this principle in many different creative this prayer? Kedushah and Yofi ways: t
If you took the words of this prayer A Key element that is typically missing in 1. Silence seriously, at this moment in your life, school-based services, particularly those what difference would it make? conducted in classrooms and multi-pur- 2. Guided or unguided meditation pose rooms, is the creation of Some teachers prefer to have pupils work on these questions in writ- ing and then have them discussed The following pattern has been observed afterwards; others approach the iyyun as a discussion activity from over the years more times than I can the beginning. count. Young children seem to enjoy prayer Creating Experiences of in school. As they grow older, some children Kavannah-Infused Worship seem to begin to “shut down” and then “act out” during prayer services. How does one create the kind of prayer experience that is rooted in tradition yet moments of depth. Ideally, the prayer ex- 3. Walking meditation supportive of kavannah? perience should be the deepest time of the day. How can this be accomplished? First, 4. Singing This is a challenge to any Jewish school, by paying attention to the aesthetics of the but it is particularly challenging to a prayer space. I am convinced that there is 5. A personal statement school in which the concept of being a connection between kedushah and yofi metzuveh (commanded) is not an essen- (holiness and aesthetics).The Book of 6. A creative prayer tial part of the ethos of the institution. Exodus reveals the extent to which the Any school that stresses personal auton- construction of the Mishkan, the Taber- 7. Listening to restful, lovely music omy above traditional norms has to work nacle in the desert, was based upon a care- harder to “make the case” for liturgical ful attention to its aesthetic quality. We are 8. A poem prayer. moved by beauty and the visual environ- ment helps to shape our mood. Involving In these and other ways, teachers help pu- The Trap the pupils (and their parents) in planning pils enter into the spirit of prayer through and creating prayer spaces of beauty not respecting pupils’ need to make a transi- The following pattern has been ob- only affects the mood of prayer but also tion from their mood preceding the ser- served over the years more times than I helps to give the pupils a sense of owner- vice into a set of readiness to pray. can count. Young children seem to enjoy ship over the prayer experience. prayer in school. As they grow older, some Omek-Depth 3: children seem to begin to “shut down” Omek-Depth 2: Connecting Prayer to the and then “act out” during prayer services. Upon analysis, it becomes clear that the Set-Inductions Rest of the Day prayer experience is essentially an exercise in skills. Since skills do not automatically The Mishnah (Berakhot 4:1) tells us that A prayer service can serve the function reinforce themselves, there comes a point the great masters of prayer would pause of helping pupils and teachers prepare where for many pupils, there is little or no “for an hour” before reciting the Amidah. themselves for the school day and its joys point to formal prayer. Because, on the Leaving aside the question of the literal and stresses. It can be the time to make surface, the prayer experience seemed to meaning of “an hour,” it is clear that these pupils aware of important events in the be successful, the teachers of the younger pious individuals understood that one lives of pupils and teachers. It can be pupils are lulled into a false sense of ac- cannot just push a button and move from the setting for people to react to, vent, ěđĞĕďĕĐ complishment. The negative behaviors the ordinary (chol) to the holy (kodesh). celebrate, grieve as reactions to what is that make organized prayer experiences Many of them had the advantage of pray- happening around them. A prayer service problematic in the older grades are root- ing in close proximity to nature and also at the end of the day can serve the func- r
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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Values particularly powerful. particularly to Israel,ofcourse,thisexperience canbe schoolshavetrips of beingathome.Where visit thesynagogue,theyexperience asense not speakthenativelanguage; whenthey inwhichtheydo country travel toaforeign Another exampletakesplacewhenpeople comfort. the powerofritualtoprovide theyexperiencefi a prayerservice, in lossandparticipate ers whohavesuffered tofellowclassmatesorteach- support offer Whenpupilscometo home ofmourners. pupils andteachersintheshivahheldat by example ofthisisparticipation powerful prayer canenrichlife-cyclesituations.One todemonstratehow to seekopportunities life.Itisvaluable seem disconnectedfrom When prayerislimitedtotheschool,itcan Structures Plausibility Omek sense ofcommunitywithintheschool. the andstrengthen mutual support offer timeandplaceto isanappropriate service thattheprayer and acommonagreement clearlinesofcommunication are there likelytohappenwhen All ofthisismore t
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the following: of communitywithintheschoolinclude thesense questions thatmightstrengthen faculty andadministration.Examplesof interactionamongthepupils, informal and emerge inthegiveandtakeofformal thatinevitably tion ofhealingthebruises [continued frompage 29] day intheXgrade. happenedto- Something wonderful support. what youcandotooffer Askyourself some signsofsupport. now. canbenefi Theirchildren outofworkright Many peopleare have tothinkaboutwhatcanbedone. X happenedinourschooltoday;we the Amidah of her inyourprayerforhealing(part So andsoissick,pleaseincludehim/ withus? shared that happenedtodaycanbe Does anyonehavesomethinggood 4: ). rst-hand t from from t every generation. every ofvaluein cally raisequestionsthatare challenges andjoysofliving,theytypi- tothe writteninresponse prayers are together.”know; let’ssearch Because ate forteacherstosaypupils,“Idon’t with suchquestions,Itisnotinappropri- with.Whenfaced man beingsstruggle questionsthathu- answer” tothegreat notexpectedto“knowthe teachers are theideathat In mywork,Ihavestressed thetextofsiddur.beliefs thatinform a considerationoftheideas,valuesand depth ofdiscussionthatcanemerge from withthe impressed prayers togetherare tostudy giventheopportunity who are with prayer. Ihavefound thatteachers comfortable the schoolcommunitymore canhelptomaketheadultsin portunities developmentop- for thistohappen,staff theprismofkavannah.Inorder through to modelexperiencingtheprayersetting totry isforstaff ing. Whatisappropriate defi toooftenisthatofateacher encountered as ahumanbeing.Oneoftheblunders withit fessional untilonecomestoterms withsomethingasapro- come toterms I takeitasaxiomaticthatonecannot Staff Development pupils the skills of literary and rhetorical pupils theskills ofliterary Theycanalsoteach rhyme andacrostic. cal devicessuchasassonance, alliteration, andrhetori- literary pupils torecognize fi prayers,whichcan the writingofcreative amples. Englishteacherscanencourage fourex- are kavannah;here strengthen General studiesteacherscanalsoworkto Teachers A Role for General Studies nd a place in the service. Theycanteach ndaplaceintheservice. aspolic- ning his/hertaskatservice intention. —Talmud Berachot 31a prayerthat requires this welearn 1:13)—from “Now Hannahwas praying inherheart” (1Samuel . đčĘ ěĕđėĕĥĖĕĤĢĘĘĠĦĚĘěČėĚ-ĐčĘĘĞĦĤčďĚČĕĐĐĜēđ riculum. have aplaceinthegeneralstudiescur- prayer textsandothertopicsthatalready unitsthatcombine for inter-disciplinary isnolimittothepossibilities khah. There She taughtaseriesoflessonsonthebera- tude forthewonderofhumanbody. yatzar teacher, wasintriguedby School, trainedasaphysicaleducation JewishDay the branchesofPerelman phia, thenon-Jewishprincipalofone InPhiladel- new musicintotheservice. quality ofprayerspacesandintroduce theaesthetic ers canhelppupilsimprove and musicteach- etc.).Art and theEarth, a changeinthedistancebetweenSun oftheEarth, not impossible(norotation diffi make lifeasweknowitvery would with howsmallchangesinnature concept of“contingency,” whichdeals the analysis. Scienceteacherscanexplore What is the rationale for formal prayer? What istherationaleforformal isprayer— don’t understandlamah,there theyoften (if itisaschoolrequirement); isprayer The pupilsknowmaduathere (“Why didthishavetohappenme?”). a teleologicalquestion;itseeksmeaning science. Lamah is through be answered contingency) isamaduaquestion.Itcan does icefl things.Maduaseeksacause;“Why ferent translated as“why,” buttheymeandif- maduaandlamah,are course bothwords, prayer butdon’tunderstandlamah.Of prayer. is Theyunderstandmaduathere do notunderstand Finally, Iwouldsuggestthatmanypupils Prayer Lamah , a benediction that expresses grati- , abenedictionthatexpresses oat” (amagnifi : A Rationale for why [continued on page 51] theschoolhas cent example of Birkat asher cl if cult Seeking New High Schools for Project ROPE, RAVSAK’s Youth Philanthropy Program

RAVSAK is recruiting high topic, supporting rich Jewish Project ROPE has made a schools for Project ROPE, a learning. tremendous impact in the lives yearlong, prestigious program of a select group of students at fully designed and adminis- It gives us great pleasure at The Shoshana S. Cardin School. tered by RAVSAK for RAV- RAVSAK to bring you a free The Project ROPE committee is SAK high schools. Project program of extraordinary qual- a group comprised of students selected by ROPE: Roots of Philanthropy ity at a time when many schools faculty nomination who have fully embraced Education is the only youth are forced to make drastic cuts philanthropy program struc- in staffi ng and curricular of- the mission statement they wrote to “help tured to be run in Jewish high ferings. ROPE can be run as make a difference in Baltimore and Israel… schools. It is unprecedented in a club or within a class, allow- (by) financially supporting organizations that the scope of activities and the ing schools fl exibility in fi tting assist disadvantaged youth using the Jewish depth of education in both the program into existing cur- values of tzedakah, chesed and tikkun olam.” Jewish sources and social re- ricula. ROPE helps schools The committee learned Jewish texts with search. Students immerse take their existing programs different faculty members as well as visiting themselves in issues and orga- of chesed and tzedakah to a rabbis with the goal of learning the sources nizations in their local commu- higher level of responsibility, for our own roots of philanthropy. The nities and in Israel, thus deep- enabling students to become committee researched local organizations ening their knowledge of and knowledgeable about social that support disadvantaged youth and connection with the people issues and organizations that developed a priority list of criteria when of Israel. ROPE comes with a address them, and to become teacher’s manual, describing lifelong leaders driven by Jew- deciding whom to fund. Together, they the stages of the program in ish values. wrote an RFP (request for proposal) and detail and providing multiple developed group and individual fundraising options for implementation in Join other RAVSAK schools in projects and techniques. They invited your school. Participat- this venture in Jewish educa- local professional and lay fund raisers to ing schools also receive tion and interschool collabora- explain the “ask.” The students chose a local specially crafted sourcebooks tion! organization to support, became experts on on tzedakah and on the annual the organization and are currently meeting To apply, or receive with individual donors in order to solicit more information, con- funds. Project ROPE has provided a unique tact Dr. Elliott Rabin at opportunity for students at The Shoshana S. [email protected]. Cardin School to grow.

Barbie Prince, Head of School, Shoshana S. Cardin School (Baltimore, MD)

RAVSAK bids farewell to our program intern, Alex Tisman. Alex has been accepted to the New York City Teaching Fellows Program and will begin his intensive training this summer.

We hope your experiences at RAVSAK serve ěđĞĕďĕĐ you well in the future. r
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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Values 300 cansforthe localfood pantry. that the annualeighth grade that bake sale nity,the parkacrossthe street. andcleanup boast They soupkitchens,at anearbyretirement singat commu- daysinwhichstudents meals serve twice-a-year service in socialjustice. Facultythe andadministratorsto point very clearly from anumberofcommunityorganizations intheGulfCoastthatit clearlyfrom very atJewishFundsforJustice,Iheard programs learning tions. Indesigningtheservice onsmall organiza- specific timesandin ways oftenimposesanundueburden goodintentions.However,These questionsallstemfrom tovolunteerat ourdesire place todonatethem. telling methattheseventhgradehascollectedtoiletries,and nowislookingfora homesintheGulfCoast.Or middle schoolstudentsonaweekendtriptorebuild hoursonaTuesdayunteer forthree of Oraskinghowtobringagroup afternoon. fifteenstudentscanvol- educatorswondering where I oftengetphonecallsfrom that will best serve the community. 1. We chooseprojects that areconvenient forus, rather than ones thesemistakes. tion, andsuggestsomewaystoremedy Below, Ioutlinesevencommonmistakesmadeinthenameof socialjusticeeduca- and tointegrateallofthisworkholisticallyintotheirJewishidentitypractice. theseissues, tofindusefulwaysaddress oftheseproblems, understand theroots intheworld,to helpingstudentstoidentifyproblems Achieving thisgoalrequires intheworld. toinequalityandsuffering toareduction work shouldalsoleaddirectly oftheirJewishlives.This totheworldisacentralandintegratedpart responsibility individualsandinstitutionsforwhom Jewish socialjusticeeducationshouldcreate good. than harm and,attimes,evendoesmore justice educationmisseskeyopportunities oftenthannot,oursocial intothelifeofstudents.Butmore learning and service oftheseschoolstointegratesocialjusticeeducation the years.Icommendefforts the dozensofteachers,principals,andschoolrabbiswithwhomIhavespokenover from of GJCDSisactuallyacompositedescriptionsthatIhaveheard This portrait jobs. whentheirstudentsaskwhythesoupkitchenclientsdon’thave and unprepared Manyfeeluncomfortable ofthecurriculum. andtherest the socialjusticeprogram seemstobelittleconnectionbetween few teachersnotethatthere A kun OlamClubtendstodwindleastheschoolyearprogresses. toskipschool.MembershipintheTik- vice daysasopportunities Somestudentsviewtheser- worries. But theeducatorsalsoexpress ¿ by raisedthan $3000for more disasterrelief, and that the that and Tikkun OlamClubcollected Jill Jacobs Jill prides itselfoninvolving students andfaculty he “Goldberg JewishCommunity DaySchool” Creating Jewish Citizens lief, or a social service center inIsrael,I lief, orasocial service advocacy,dollars forDarfur hungerre- the schoolhasraisedseveral thousand When studentsorteacherstell methat community. widely ordeeply felt in the school important to somepeople, but not 2. We chooseissues that are constraints. ing withthestudents’abilitiesandtime the community, whilealsocorrespond- needsof totheexpressed should respond (such asfood,toiletries,orclothing) andcollectionsofspecificitems projects Thevolunteer possible andappropriate. work, butshouldinvolvestudentswhen ofthis schools, teachersmaydomore ofthecommunity.sources Inelementary re- abouttheneedsand elected officials advocacyorganizations and ing groups, organiz- providers, ing tosocialservice and shoulddomostoftheworkspeak- us.Inhighschools,studentscan around ing abouttheneedsofcommunity Thismeansfirstask- and notaburden. the hoursthatwecangivewillbeagift, forwhich challenge istofindprojects ofcourse.Our real, Time constraintsare workfortinyorganizations. more ence cannotcomeatthepriceofcreating days ofschool.Butthestudents’experi- ing thatstudentscannotmisssomany and synagoguesoftenpushback,argu- work daysplusShabbat.Dayschools commit toatleastfive-daytrips—four to groups imposed apolicythatrequires thanfourfulldays.Itherefore for more unabletowork young volunteerswhoare theirtimetotrainunskilled is notworth [email protected]. is available. Shecanbereached at Tradition Social Justice Through JewishLaw and of Justice, Rabbi-in-Residence for JewishFunds for There Shall BeNoNeedy:There Shall Pursuing Rabbi Jill Jacobs Rabbi Jill , forteachers’ whicha guide is the author is congratulate the school on this success, learn more about these issues from a Jew- 5. We fail to integrate the social and then ask, “How did you choose that ish and general perspective (more on this justice/service work into the life issue?” In general, the answers include: below). of the school. “This has been on the news a lot lately.” “A parent in the school works for a relat- 4. Jewish texts and history get lip Too often, students absorb the message ed organization.” “One student was very service, not real exploration. that social justice and service are optional passionate about this cause.” Instead, we extras. Service projects take place during might open up a school-wide conversa- We often throw a token text at students as one-day fi eld trips. After-school clubs coor- tion about what issues students care about proof that Judaism supports a particular dinate tzedakah and can drives. Instead, we and why. In the course of these conversa- action or position. This approach sells our might integrate conversations about public tions, we will learn a lot about students’ tradition short, and also fails to persuade policy into social studies class, while also fears, hopes, and passions—and they will students that Judaism adds meaning or looking at rabbinic perspectives on these learn a lot about themselves and their complexity to the discussion. Taking our issues in Talmud class. In tefi llot, students peers. From these conversations, we can texts and our history seriously means en- might compose their own prayers related begin to identify priorities for our social gaging in a dialogue between Jewish texts to the work in which they are engaged. justice work. and contemporary issues, in which we bring We might encourage teachers to talk about each to bear on our understanding of the their own passions, and about the volun- 3. We lack long-term commitment other. This means diving deeply into Jewish teer work they do outside of school. to issues or projects. civil law discussions about housing, poverty, worker-employer relations, and other issues, 6. We miss the chance to talk about Schools often pick a few organizations at and speaking about these texts in the context big issues and big solutions. which to volunteer during periodic service of what students have observed during their days, and other organizations to which to volunteer work; what they have learned in When I ask educators what issue they and send donations. This approach fails to pro- social studies or English class; and what they their students are trying to address, the duce a unifi ed story about the school’s con- have gathered from other media. In some answer I hear most often is “hunger.” tribution to the world. Once the student cases, real-life may challenge initial readings To address hunger, students volunteer at ěđĞĕďĕĐ body has gone through a process of identi- of text; in other cases, the opposite will be soup kitchens and collect cans and money fying one or two issues on which to focus, true. In all cases, students will emerge with for food pantries. But hunger in America we can look for ways to work on these is- a more nuanced understanding both of the stems from a range of much larger issues, r
)B:JEJPO sues through multiple venues, as well as to text and of the world around them. [continued on page 49]

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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Values ¿ Shema Bekolah The inclusion of modern texts also requires that students learn to docloseread- thatstudents learn textsalsorequires The inclusionof modern batei midrash inour enriches thelearning sources believe thatjuxtaposingclassical andmodern texts needbeplacedonthesame authoritativefootingasTorah andTalmud, Ido byGracePaley. story as Miriam’sCup,ashort WhileIamnotarguing thatthese anewfeministritualsuch workers’protest, onagarment Szold, anewspaperreport historical,andculturaltexts—aletterbyHenrietta includingmodern, of sources, ustoexpandourscopeincludeotherkinds Seeking outfemaleperspectivesforces fewwomen. wewillencounterthevoicesofvery to classicalandrabbinicsources, thinking ofwhatconstitutesaJewishtext.Ifwelimitthestudy ofJewishtextsonly are- Including thevoicesofwomenamongthosetaughttoyoung Jewsrequires Expanding the Definitionof “Jewish Text” educated Jewsforthe21stcentury. offeminismin Jewishlifecontributestoproducing and perspectivesoftherole ofwomen’shistory electives.Awareness notghettoizedinspecial-interest curricula, priority forJewisheducationtoday—asubjectthatshouldbeintegratedinto portant anim- Despite thesenotableadvances,thesubjectofwomenandgenderremains attention needbedevotedtowomenandgenderinJewishlife. the Jewishcommunityisover;thatfeminismhasachieveditsaimsandnofurther againstsexismin thatthestruggle has givensomepeoplethemistakenimpression life newvisibilityofwomenwithintheleadershipJewishreligious This relatively liberal Jewishsettings,therabbimayevenbeawoman. ofmenonly.cess totraditionalJewishtextsoncethoughtbethepurview Andin settings,Jewishwomenandgirlsnowhaveac- “she.” InallbutthemostOrthodox shiftintheimageofeducatedJewisthat“he”maynowbea One important PopularJewishculture? itincludeJewishhistory? counts as“Jewishlearning”—does alchemy?And whateven yieldstheperfect lar andJewishlearning ments abouthowtodefineaneducatedJew. Whatbalanceofsecu- yearshaveseenlivelyargu- “canon” itself),andthepasttwohundred thatstableJewishcanon(asitdidthenotionof disrupted Modernity by (Hebrew andAramaic). guages in which these texts were written these guages inwhich texts,and liturgical the lan- as aswell edge, includingbiblical, rabbinic, halakhic, JudithRosenbaum Jew was body ofknowl- male)hadmastered acertain and unchanging.the educated was He(it that agiven or centuries, ofaneducatedJewwasthe picture clear and helps young Jews find Jewish meaning in a wide range of sources. andhelpsyoungJewsfindJewish meaninginawiderangeofsources. Women and Gender in —Listen to Her Voice: Her to —Listen Jewish Education Jewish courses. separately inJewishandgeneralstudies andanalyticalskills these criticalreading commentary. toteach isnoreason There of Talmud, ablogpostaswellRashi apoemaswellpage and interpret mustknowhowtoread 21st century AneducatedJewinthe sources. literary historicaland butalsoofprimary sources ings notonlyofbiblicalandrabbinic Gratz, BellaAbzug, andRuthBader about peoplesuchasRebecca Learning bothgender-specificare anduniversal. ish women’slivesconveymessages that models.Jew- toadiversity ofrole sure expo- Both girlsandboysbenefitfrom models. aboutfemalerole by learning empowered Of course,notonlygirlsare their fullheritage. therichnessof understand andappreciate whose shoulderstheystand.Theyshould and on theycomefrom know where inspiration. EducatedJewstodayshould anddraw whichtolearn female—from models—maleand a widerangeofrole theymusthave and Americanculture, fullyinbothJewish ability toparticipate their Jewishnessandconfidencein in theworldtodaywithenthusiasmfor tomaketheirway If ourstudentsare Models Expanding JewishRole [email protected]. curriculum. Shecanbereached at the the Legacy”“Living socialjustice national Institutesfor Educators and educational initiatives including she develops major anddirects Women’s where Archive (jwa.org), of Publicthe Jewish at History Judith Rosenbaum PhD is Director PhDisDirector Ginsburg may help raise the expectations of social change. Only a few decades after students must also come to appreciate the girls have of themselves, but boys, too, American women brought feminism into relevance to their own lives of these sub- have much to learn from Gratz’s com- the Jewish community, Jonathan Sarna jects and skills. We need to be sure our mitment to community building, Abzug’s and other historians of American Juda- students acquire not only knowledge but chutzpah and persistence, and Ginsburg’s ism recognize the women’s movement as also tools for building rich Jewish iden- quiet yet forceful integrity. a central force in the renewal of Judaism in tities. They will be ill-equipped to do so the late 20th century. This is a story that without an awareness of women’s contri- Moreover, one of our most important emphasizes the power of individuals and butions and gender issues in the Jewish functions as Jewish educators is to convey of movements to effect change and to re- community. to our students that Judaism is relevant to vitalize Jewish life. An educated Jew must their lives and has wisdom and meaning know that s/he has the power—and the Pioneering Jewish feminist Letty Cottin to offer them. If we limit the role models responsibility—to see and act on the po- Pogrebin wrote in a recent article in the to which they have access, we risk losing tential for change in the world. We educate Forward (“The Ten Plagues—According students who will dismiss Judaism and the students, in part, to take on the task of rei- to Jewish Women”) that “The people of Jewish community because they do not magining, reinterpreting, reinventing, and the book have too many blank pages be- see themselves and their interests reflected renewing Judaism for their generation. cause women’s voices have been largely in what they are taught. unrecorded or silenced by the arbiters of Conclusion what and who gets into the text.” We ex- Understanding the Value pect our day school graduates not only to of Inclusion Educating Jews for the 21st century pres- know, love, and value our “book” but also ents an exciting but daunting challenge. to write the next chapters of the Jewish In addition to the content of traditional people. How can they do so if they are Teaching students about women and gen- and modern Jewish texts and the ana- missing pages—even entire chapters—in der accomplishes more than simply in- lytical skills required to understand them, between? ¿ troducing female voices and perspectives. Acknowledging women as valued con- tributors to Jewish life and giving atten- tion to gender issues also makes a case for inclusion more generally. When students A great Judaics teacher. learn to honor women, who have tradi- It's not virtually impossible. tionally been on the margins, they will be more attuned to the experiences of other It's virtually possible. marginalized groups. They will have been trained to notice not only those who are present in the traditional narratives but also those who are absent; they will have learned the value of diversity to Jewish (and American) culture. They will be pre- pared to carry on the work of expanding and enriching the Jewish community with The Lookstein Center Remote Teacher Program more voices and perspectives. in partnership with AVI CHAI Empowering Students to will find your school a Jewish Studies teacher Change the World who will teach your class from Israel via live interactive videoconference! Twelve North American schools Some educators are hesitant to teach about women and gender because they fear the have already proven the program's success. story of exclusion and sexism in Judaism For more details, write [email protected] and the Jewish community will alienate students. Indeed, it can be challenging to explain Jewish traditions of sex segregation to students who take for granted (at least ěđĞĕďĕĐ theoretically) that discrimination on the basis of sex is wrong. However, the story of Judaism and feminism is one with many r
)B:JEJPO empowering lessons about the possibility The Lookstein Center for Jewish Education Bar-Ilan University, Israel www.lookstein.org

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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Values the two domains and to see their world more holistically.the twodomains andtoseetheirworldmore theaca- Ithelpsbroaden other. integrationisa way forstudentstobridgetheconnectionsbetween Curricular lessvaluablethan the lar andJudaicknowledgesothat theydon’tdeemonearea As educatedJews,ourgraduates shouldbeabletoforge connectionsbetweensecu- dialogue. tojointhe twoinfruitful opportunities more andfind would stopenvisioninggeneralandJudaicstudiesasadual curriculum Perhapswe shouldinfusethecurriculum. another, approach thenacross-curricular toone andwhocanmake meaning oftheirrelationship Jewish andsecularareas, committedtoeducating studentstobeconversantinboth If Jewishdayschoolsare ¿ the Jewish High School Cross-Curricular Learning in Dualism: Bridging material. to aricheranddeeperunderstanding of ing andleads ismore could interest-that facilitatenections learning the arts.in humanitiesand cross-curricularThese con- questions are posedinscienceandJudaicstudiesor areas.the same Students someof wouldrealizethat across cut disparatethat subject themes andpatterns their studiesbyseeingrecurring deeper meaningin more cross-curricular connections, students could find common questions. Ifhighschoolprograms facilitated to seehowdifferentto ask are and connected subjects asdiscrete subjects “islands” the opportunity they lose exclusively whenstudentsthis way envisionthat in is own schoolexperiences. problemThe withlearning this structure,to customed wastheir asit in dominant general studies). Moreover, parents are ac- in (especially their subjects support that textbooks they utilize specialistsand ject by content areas. accommo- structure This andin-depthknowledgeofspecific skills helpsstudents develop subjects tinct subjects.the dayinto Segmenting dis- English, History, Math, Science, Hebrew, andJudaic tomed to a schedule that separatesthe dayintothat to aschedule tomed dates teachers, textbooks, and parents. RebeccaShargel Teacherstrained assub- typically are n many ofourhighschools, students are accus- the school’s director ofgeneralstudies. the school’sdirector developed byLeslieSmithRosen, timore, SchoolinBal- at theShoshanaS.Cardin ful modelforathemeweekcan befound thanone discipline.Onesuccess- by more answered single topicwhosequestionsare theme weekthatfocusesonstudyofa connections isa tating cross-curricular wellatfacili- A modelthatworksvery lege admittancecommittees. tocol- or APexamsmightbeforeign since theydon’tappearoneithertheSAT their Judaicsubjectsaslessimportant, ofawhole,theysee studies astwoparts lege. InsteadofseeinggeneralandJudaic since theyfeelthat“count”forcol- energy intheirgeneralstudiessubjects timeand community schoolsinvestmore many Jewishhighschoolstudentsin pressures, cially withcollegepreparatory students devaluingJudaicstudies.Espe- of theproblem couldaddress learning forcross-curricular Seizing opportunities deliberation. clude curricular on conversationswithcolleaguesthatin- eachotherandmissout ten isolatedfrom of- This wouldbenefitteacherswhoare conversations. tates cross-departmental facili- learning planning cross-curricular ofdeliberately Theprocess problems. common and Judaicstudieshelpaddress so thatstudentscanseehowbothgeneral demic contextandwidentheexperience [email protected]. Institute andcanbereached at affiliatethe Baltimore Hebrew of University inMaryland. Sheisan Professor ofEducation at Towson Dr. Rebecca Shargel is Assistant isAssistant

Interim Week

Imagine a program where students study a topic and all teachers contribute to teaching and planning for this signature event that takes place over a week. Instead of their regular shuffle subjects such as English, Hebrew, History, Science, Jewish texts, etc., students focus on one topic that that raises important questions whose answers occur in more than one subject area. Teachers with different disciplinary perspectives contribute to instruct- ing students in different electives. Students learn in cross-grade groups to study with a variety of teachers with no pressure of tests. The week is in the spirit of Torah lishma (learning for its own sake).This week occurs each year between the second and third trimesters and is described by students as “a break from school,” meaning a change from the regular routine of classes and exams. As the week focuses on a theme, students enjoy a variety of school-wide programming that includes both formal and informal classes: electives, guest visitors, a school dance tied to the theme, dinners, and performances. This program is analogous to a sort of “stay-cation” for students who get to do something different from their usual school routine but con- tinue to learn mostly on campus.

Starting Points:

By observing the Interim Week at Cardin, I found some start- ing points for planning a theme week. Below are descriptions for three good starting points that include considering existen- tial questions, historical events, and scientific controversies. 1. Existential Questions

High school students are hungry to discuss life’s big questions with each other and their teachers. This week can provide an introduction to moral and spiritual questions that they will Creating something GREATER. grapple with for years to come. These kinds of questions lead to answers and further questions in Jewish subject areas as well as literature and science. Below are examples: a. How did the universe start? b. What is real or true in the world? Just as a child creates a brilliant masterpiece using a few household materials, FACTS offers your school the ability to create something greater c. What are Jewish and other religious approaches to life after by consolidating all your business functions under a single provider. death? By utilizing our complete line of business office solutions, you’ll receive d. How do I successfully sustain friendship and love over increased integration that multiple providers simply can’t match. many years? e. What is my purpose in life?

By crafting some good questions, teachers can find curricular areas where these questions are addressed. Ideally two or more ěđĞĕďĕĐ teachers would collaborate to team-teach so that different dis- ciplinary perspectives come into play during the same time slot.

For example, in addressing the first question, how did the uni- r
)B:JEJPO [continued on page 38] For more information on consolidating your business functions under one provider, contact us at 877.606.2587 or visit www.factsmgt.com.

[37] Enrollment Management | Tuition Management | Donor Management | Grant & Aid Assessment [38] )B:JEJPO
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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Values might befamiliar withtheconditionof them ortheirfamilies.Forexample, they closeto thatare tions andcontroversies todiscusshealthcondi- ready They are late totheirbodiesortheenvironment. physical matter—especiallythings thatre- in interested High schoolstudentsare 3. Science oryourtwincity inIsrael. yourregion from offamousJewsorAmericans birthdays Six DayWar. You mightwanttoconsider theeventsandsignificanceof around otheractivitiesthat circled were There them inbootcampeachmorning. ber theirIsraeliteacherorganizing Studentsremem- andculture. tory connected totheWar, Israelihis- of theSixDayWar withactivities commemorated the40thanniversary Origins ofSpecies ofthepublicationhis 150th anniversary aswellthe 200thbirthday was Darwin’s that itensued.Thecalendricalinspiration legacyandthecontroversy brated Darwin’s cele- ample, inthespringof2009,Cardin anniversaries ofpeopleorevents.Forex- to selecthistoricaleventsisconsider point.Oneway isanotherstarting History Controversial Topics 2. Historical Events /Current texts raisecommonquestionsandtheories. andscientifictextshowthose religious with eachotherabouthowtoteachboth ence andtextteacherengagingindialogue Imaginethesci- the universeandonearth. its commentaries,aswelltheBigBang text studyoffirstchaptersGenesisand origins oftheuniverse verse begin,thiscouldleadtoastudyof [continued frompage 37] committees. beforeignor might admittance to college the SATthey don’t appearoneither orAPexams Manytheir Jewishhighschoolstudents see Judaic subjects aslessimportant,Judaic subjects since ries aboutthebeginningsoflifein andotherscientifictheo- theory . Anotheryearstudents thatwouldinclude will also see the conflicts and the contradictions. and the conflicts alsosee will betweensecular andJewishideas,similarities they ourgraduates and the harmonies only will see integrated lives asJews inAmericansociety. Not general bemore readyto live learning,they will how to prepare together inteams. how toprepare guidanceasto Faculty wouldappreciate over intotheologyandhistory. question beganwithscience but spilled should betaughtinpublicschools. This ligion andscienceeventuallycame Students sawthetensionsbetweenre- itwasoutlawed. statewhere a Southern teacher wassuedforteachingevolutionin the ScopesMonkeyTrial, apublic where herit theWind gan theirstudiesbyviewingthefilm studentsbe- weekatCardin the Darwin gin itwithcontroversy. Forexample,in inatopicistobe- A waytosparkinterest life. evant tocontemporary orirrel- seeitasarchaic might otherwise meaningfultostudentswho ism more JewishpracticecanmakeJuda- everyday for sciencetoconnect lowing aforum ingeneral.Al- aswellkashrut products ofdairy therealms tangents alsoentered the phenomenon.Moreover, discussion cess ofgeneticmutationsthatexplained inthepro- interested very dition were familiarwiththiscon- Students whowere the phenomenonoflactoseintolerance. a classcalled“GotMilk”thatdescribed onescienceteachertaught week atCardin lactose intolerance.DuringtheDarwin If our children understand the strongIf ourchildrenunderstand underlying questions that bridgeJewishand that underlying questions not evolution and creationism not evolutionandcreationism todebatewhetheror prepared that chronicles the story of thestory thatchronicles In- Interim Week be nextyear?” well astheiraskingeachyear:“Whatwill pages dedicatedtoitintheyearbookas the weekasevidencedbymultiple component.Thestudentsvalue learning anexperiential positive memoriesaround of Theme weekgivesstudentsarepository from multipleperspectives allowsstudents approach pluralism;this new wayofapproaching denominational endeavor, a I’velearned people thinkaboutpluralismasamulti- ates isdedicatedtopluralism.Whilemost likemanyoftheRAVSAKCardin affili- teachers thinkaboutoverlapping. larly likethe integration.Iparticu- model forcurricular modelsisRobinFogarty’s cross-curricular A usefulguidetohelpteachersform Conclusion Jewish living. spiritual andmoralimpulsesthat underlie ciples behindJewishpractice—the deep lives, theywillbeabletoexplain theprin- their makes senseforthem.Throughout a worldviewthat will forge aheadtocreate this clarity, ourstudentsaseducatedJews With the conflictsandcontradictions. secular andJewishideas,theywillalsosee andsimilaritiesbetween the harmonies principles. Notonlywillourgraduatessee ish practiceandconnectthemtobroader the spiritualandmoralmeaningsofJew- can society. Theywillbeabletodistill to liveintegratedlivesasJewsinAmeri- ready theywillbemore general learning, derlying questionsthatbridgeJewishand un- understandthestrong If ourchildren inboth Jewishandsecularrealms. fortable We forourgraduatestofeelcom- aspire integrated model . to seeanissue where four where ¿ Interview with Paul Levitch, Member of RAVSAK’s Board of Directors

Why do you believe that lege fair. My experience has involved all Jewish day school education is the major aspects of board work, such important? as strategic planning, fundraising, and evaluating grant proposals. Additional- I believe that there are many reasons ly, having started and run my own busi- why Jewish day schools are important: ness gave me the savvy to understand because they teach history and cultivate how organizations can be sustainable Jewish identity; because they incubate and well run. critical thinking and cultivate respect for and knowledge of law, both Jewish My main strength lies in taking com- and American; because Judaism is the plex situations and simplifying them by foundation of Western civilization, es- asking focused questions. The answers pecially in the development of our mor- that the Board comes up with give di- al and ethical awareness; because learn- rection to the Board’s work. ing Hebrew develops all the benefits that accrue to knowing a foreign lan- Do you have a favorite Jewish guage. Jewish education can connect teaching? children to their past and allow them to participate in conversations that have One of my favorite poems, Emma Laza- been going on for thousands of years. rus’s famous “The New Colossus,” In turn and really most importantly, engraved on the pedestal beneath the it gives young people the opportunity Statue of Liberty, summarizes the mis- to pass along to their children the ob- sion of Jewish education in America: jectives, duties, and moral principles that his second fledgling, and asked the same have provided a purposefulness to our question. Upon receiving the same an- Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame / lives and that can show them the ways to swer, he drowned the second child with With conquering limbs astride from land be an integral part of this assigned task in the cry, “You too are a liar!” Finally, he to land; / Here at our sea-washed, sun- perpetuity. set out with the third fledgling. When set gates shall stand / A mighty woman he asked the same question, the third and with a torch, whose flame / Is the impris- The following story pungently illustrates last fledgling replied, “My dear father, it is oned lightning, and her name / Mother the virtues of integrity, honesty, and gen- true you are struggling mightily and risk- of Exiles. From her beacon-hand / Glows erational trust that Jewish education can ing your life in my behalf, and I shall be world-wide welcome; her mild eyes com- transmit: wrong not to repay you when you are old, mand / The air-bridged harbor that twin but I cannot bind myself. This, though, cities frame. / “Keep, ancient lands, your A bird once set out to cross a windy sea I can promise: when I am grown up and storied pomp!” cries she / With silent with its three fledglings. The sea was so have children of my own, I shall do as lips. ”Give me your tired, your poor, / wide and the wind so strong that the fa- much for them as you have done for me.” Your huddled masses yearning to breathe ther bird was forced to carry his young, Whereupon the father bird said, “Well free, / The wretched refuse of your teem- one by one, in his strong claws. When spoken, my child, and wisely. Your life I ing shore. / Send these, the homeless, he was halfway across with the first fledg- will spare and I will carry you to shore in tempest-tossed to me, / I lift my lamp ling, the wind turned to a gale, and he safety.” beside the golden door!” said, “My child, look how I am strug- gling and risking my life in your behalf. What strengths do you bring to the As American Jews, our missions as Ameri- When you are grown up, will you do as RAVSAK board? cans and as Jews go hand-in-hand and much for me and provide for my old age?” fully complement each other. The values The fledgling replied, “Only bring me to I have sat on the boards of nonprofits at of our tradition inspire us in all the work safety, and when you are old, I shall do the national and local level. I have worked we do both within the Jewish community everything you ask of me.” Whereat the in the educational field for the past 14 and beyond, to our fellow countrymen. ěđĞĕďĕĐ father bird dropped his child in the sea years, including being a board member of Jewish day schools give our students the and it drowned. He said, “So shall it be Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Educa- grounding in Jewish knowledge that they done to such a liar as you.” Then the fa- tion (IECE) in Kentucky and founding will take with them wherever they go, r
)B:JEJPO ther bird returned to shore, set forth with the University of Louisville’s annual col- whatever they do. ¿

[39] [40] )B:JEJPO
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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Values room and the camper cabin. Camp is where one not only learns aboutShabbatand one notonlylearns andthecampercabin.Camp iswhere room field, thedining aspectofcamp:the sports Jewish educationintoevery terweave hours aday, tointentionallyin- sevendaysaweek. Campshavetheopportunity offunctioning twenty-four itsdedication tofun,camppossessestheluxury from lationships tobringJudaismfully tolife.Whileinitiallyderivingits“magicalpower” time,spaceandre- For many, thesettingtointerweave Jewishsummercamp offers study ofTorah canindeed lead tothemall. talmudTorah time,space,andrelationships, kenegedkulam—the ly interweaving as welladeepcommitmenttoengagementinJewishcommunal life.Byintricate- contexts availabletousachieveJewspossessingbothserious Jewishknowledge afullyeducatedJewtoday,create inallgatewaysand youngpeople musttakepart to thetechnologicalcivilization ofspace,itisclearthatinorder be separatedfrom intimeto While AbrahamJoshuaHeschelcontendsthattheSabbathis asanctuary her heart a Jewwho thataneducatedJewisnotsimply ing upthenextgenerationofengagedJewsagree given.”Surely,one constantlygoesbeyondtheinformation allthoseinvestedinrais- one,isthat theeventsofworldaround and beyondthefactthatoneapprehends Bruner, “Themostcharacteristicthingaboutmentallife,over toJerome According Jewish withone’s backtotheschoolsettinghelpconnectone’sJewishlearning brought thecamp“lake”thatcanbe somethingmagicalthatoccursaround iscertainly there want youngpeopletobemotivatedsolelybytheemotionalexperienceof“lake,” tohear, thatwedonot nolake!”Thiscanbefrustrating andwhileweagree there’s theirexasperation:“Ican’tprayhere… ten, Jewishcamperscomehomeandexpress students mayattimesfeelthatcampdoesnotdeliverenoughcontent,andtooof- school not connectthedotsbetweenthosewhoattendcampanddayschool. Day yet.Too “there” While muchworkhasbeendone,weclearlyaren’t oftenwedo ¿ ferenttheir educationalgoals.”to accomplish methods such ascampsandIsrael experiencesemploymany dif- andcontextsto formal instruction educational work field hasevolvedthat so “schoolstheir nolongerlimit havedistinctions the beenquestionedand emotional “fluff.”simplistic Thankfully,these for Jewishsocialization andpigeonholedas group andIsrael experienceswere reserved by formal” experiencessuchascamp, youth ing” andonlycontent-driven, while “in- for andstereotyped as instruction “bor- supplemental education were reserved Praying Without the Lake EveRudin doing. to never meet. “Formal” modesofdayschooland ucation—“formal” and “informal”—were destined or knows knows too long, the two polarextremestoo long, ofJewished- the

Jewish a great deal of information, butrathergoesbeyondandinhisor dealofinformation, agreat , values Jewish and acts Jewish. such as day schools—seek to infuse more such asdayschools—seek toinfusemore day, settings— formal sotoocanmore able Moments”intoallaspects ofacamp camps nowseektoinfuse“Jewish Teach- andeducated Jew.rounded Just asmany thefully toproduce inorder ish heart withtheirJew- person’s Jewishlearning in bothsettingstohelpbridgeayoung havebeenmanyefforts models), there an ongoingbasis,theuseofyoungrole batot spenttogether, livingtogetheron summercampsetting(i.e.2+Shab- term bythelong provided the opportunities I believenothingcanbeasubstitutefor While Jewish educationtogethermore. andexperiential how tomerge formal Jewish summercamp,Iamoftenasked summer camps.Becauseofthispower attendedJewish day school,two-thirds 40% ofyoungJewishleadersattended leaders (ages22-40).Whileanimpressive AVI CHAIFoundationonyoungJewish commissionedbythe report findings ofa preliminary released heimer recently This pastApril,sociologistJackWert- Jewish setting. ors asthemainguidesinthisimmersive modeling,withcollege-agecounsel- role ful atcampisalsotheintentionaluseof connection withG-d.Especiallysuccess- camp, deepeningone’sspirituallifeand setting andambianceofJewishsummer come aliveinthephysical particularly everyday. Musicandone’sprayerlifecan experimented withandideallypracticed notsimplyaconceptatcamp,but are eretz space.Thewaysofderech in real timeand change inJewishpacereal butexperiencesthe Shabbat preparation, [email protected]. Kutz Camp. Shecanbereached at the URJ of asDirector to serve used Foundation for JewishCamp and Excellence andAdvancementthe at Rabbi Eve Rudin is Director ofCamp isDirector

“Jewish Experiential Moments” into their ues throughout the school year centered ture the environment so that the sponta- scaffolding and architecture. around Israel education? These are just a neous can occur. few ideas, but the core principles are the Infusing “Jewish Experiential Moments” same; real Jewish experiences based upon Consider then, your overall approach to into your school can take place in many real Jewish relationships in real Jewish an area such as tefillah. Remember the spaces, times and ways. While there are time and space. camper that returns home and says that many low-hanging fruit opportunities she cannot pray without the lake? The available throughout the Jewish calendar Dr. Barry Chazan challenges us to keep in root of her frustration is that prayer at the to bring Jewish learning to life by doing mind these key points when seeking to in- lake was powerful, moving and memo- Jewish, such as delivering shalach manot corporate more experiential methods into rable and that prayer at home seems dull packages to elderly shut-ins, shabbatonim Jewish education: and lifeless in comparison. How can we and retreat programs, and traveling to Is- bring the best of the camp lake into a rael instead of only studying about Israel, Experiential Jewish education should be school’s approach to tefillah to bring Ju- think also about our goals and approach- considered an approach to Jewish educa- daism more to life? es for building Jewish identity, commu- tion rather than being identified by any nity and commitment. Ask yourself what particular settings or methods. The first benefit of the camp lake is the are some of the ways to foster real Jewish young people themselves. For those day communal experiences and real relation- The basic dichotomy of feeling and think- schools with camp alumni, challenge ships within your school? Is it a student- ing, fun and learning should be dissolved; yourselves to truly utilize those camp run bikkur cholim group that not only there are ample opportunities in “infor- alumni for tefillah leading. Camp alumni sends homework home with notes and mal” settings for cognition and for fun to can be your best asset in terms of capti- tips from class, but calls those who are take place in “formal” settings. vating younger and less engaged students sick in the middle of the day to check in an exciting Jewish worship communi- in? Is it a commitment to ongoing men- Experiential education should not be mis- ty—all you need to do is ask. Ask them to ěđĞĕďĕĐ torship and fun between older students taken as spontaneous or taking advantage lead prayer and song. Task them with pro- and younger students through a Jewish of “Jewish Teachable Moments” only; ducing divrei Torah. And then take more theater program? Is it a recurring “friend- much of the work of experiential educa- steps to utilize them outside of the tefillah r
)B:JEJPO ly” Maccabiah competition that contin- tors involves serious preparation to struc- [continued on page 56]

[41] or some schools, this document is the indispensible DNA that informs every board decision, every lesson plan, every laptop and volleyball. Other schools reject this document altogether, and some are simply unaware of its existence. Below are examples of the Vision of the Graduate from four RAVSAK schools. What is immediately striking is how different they are, in length, format, emphasis, language. Yet beneath the surface, all of them clearly bear the RAVSAK stamp, attempting to meld together our common values as Jewish day schools while expressing them in the voice of a particular community. The next section contains articles from RAVSAK leaders reflecting upon the Vision document and discussing the functions it serves in different schools.

Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School ¿ Rockville, Maryland

I am Tolerant I respect the views I am Confident and beliefs of others I speak my mind clearly and articulately I am Well-Rounded I participate in and enjoy a wide range of activities I am Ethical I make choices based on deeply held values

I am Responsible for my behavior, and act as a role model for others PreparedI am to succeed in college and beyond

I am Compassionate I am I give of myself to ěđĞĕďĕĐ Proud benefit others to be Jewish, and passionate about my heritage )B:JEJPO
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[42] Do your students really know their Jewish Homeland? No one knows Israel Charlotte Jewish better than JNF. Day School JNF has 108 years of experience building the land of Israel Charlotte, North Carolina and protecting its environment. But there is more. JNF’s Israel ¿ Advocacy & Education department engages, educates, and energizes Jews all over the world with cutting-edge educational programs to insure our Jewish future and create an abiding Mission Statement For Charlotte Jewish connection with Israel. Day School:

We have a vision that the children of Charlotte Jewish Day School will ….

‡ know that being Jewish is the essence of who they are ‡ be accomplished, educated students who are motivated, lifelong learners ‡ care about others even when it is GLIÀFXOW ‡ understand that it is more important to do their best than to be the best ‡ have the courage to stand up after they have stumbled Our programs include: · Engaging, formal and informal, educational materials for all ‡ see the Torah as a blueprint for their students (Pre-K and up), enabling you to teach a lasting bond lives and love for Israel. · Helping your students raise funds for a trip to Israel by asking ‡ develop a relationship with G-d that is family and friends to plant trees in Israel. always present · Empowering your students to improve and protect their environment at home and connecting to Israel’s environmental ‡ be proud of their strengths and issues that are so vital to its survival. acknowledge their weaknesses · Enrolling your students in the accredited Alexander Muss High School in Israel, where they can study and travel for 8 weeks ‡ recognize the value of all people and live on a beautiful and secure campus in Hod HaSharon. ‡ realize the importance of unity among JNF knows Israel and we’re proud to partner with you on any issue regarding Israel education. We’ll definitely have something all Jews that will match the needs of your school.

‡ feel an unconditional love for and For more information, please contact 212-879-9305 ěđĞĕďĕĐ connection to Israel and its people ext. 263; [email protected]; or visit www.jnf.org/iae. r
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[43] Donna Klein Jewish Academy ¿ Boca Raton, Florida

Ideal Student Profile t
Explores both intellectually and Academics and Intellect emotionally his or her relationship to A graduating senior of the High School at spirituality, G-d, and Jewish religious The ideal graduating senior at DKJA . . . Donna Klein Jewish Academy is a knowl- practices. edgeable and responsible citizen of the t
Has developed intellectual integrity world, committed to Jewish values and t
Understands that Jewish identity is and curiosity, creativity and imagina- lifelong learning. found in many kinds of religious, cul- tion, independence of thought, and a tural, and/or behavioral expressions. lifelong love of learning. Identity and Character t
Is actively engaged in tzedakah (char- t
Fulfi lls his or her own intellectual, The ideal graduating senior at DKJA . . . ity) and tikkun olam (making the artistic, social, and physical potential. world a better place) and has taken t
Strongly identifi es as a member of the advantage of opportunities to trans- t
Has acquired the knowledge and Jewish people, as an American and as late these timeless values into socially skills, consistent work ethic, confi - a responsible citizen of the world. signifi cant action. dence, maturity, and independence necessary to succeed in a challenging t
Has cultivated a depth of character; t
Values the diversity of the larger com- collegiate environment. developed empathy, imagination, and munity and respects and appreciates moral courage; acts ethically, displays differences. t
Thinks critically and refl ects thought- integrity, and has a sense of humility. fully. Makes academic and intellectual t
Has developed a capacity for leader- connections and perceives the world t
Has a connection to the State of Is- ship. as multidimensional. rael based on knowledge and experi- ence. t
Exhibits healthy and constructive de- t
Is passionate about his or her inter- cision making in his or her own life ests; deeply and personally involved t
Assumes responsibility for his or her and in his or her personal relation- in his or her work; feels not only ac- own actions. ships. countable but engaged.

t
Has developed an integrated sense of self, with deep appreciation of how the Torah is central to modern life.

t
Combines intellectual and moral de- velopment so that choices are guided by the mind and the heart.

t
Takes academic risks and accepts challenges.

t
Communicates effectively and re- sponsibly.

t
Demonstrates an awareness and con- cern for global issues.

t
Exhibits fl uency in the use of Hebrew,

ěđĞĕďĕĐ the language of the Jewish people.

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Appreciates the value of education in general ¿ )B:JEJPO
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[44] New Community Jewish High School ¿ West Hills, California

Students engage in thoughtful acts of Tikkun Tikkun Olam; and Tikkun creates an atmo- fi dence, of joy and a passion for life, based Olam (world repair), and act with integrity, sphere of Godliness in our world. upon a deep understanding of Jewish tradi- honesty, and wisdom. tion and knowledge of how that tradition Was lifelong learning a priority? Was it a creates personal meaning and inner peace. Students understand that learning is a life- regular part of one’s life? Did you fi x a They support the State of Israel and appreci- long enterprise, and recognize the vital inter- regular time to study? ate Israel’s centrality in Jewish life and Jewish action of knowledge and Jewish values. history. Our graduates possess deep and integrated Students appreciate their obligation to partic- knowledge of Jewish tradition, values, and Did you use wise judgment? Did you ar- ipate in and strengthen all facets of commu- world civilization; recognize the relationship gue details with wisdom? Did you know nity life, and to respect the religious practices among all facets of human knowledge and ap- when to let go of the unimportant? Did and ideals of others. preciate the interaction between the greatest you separate the argument from the indi- minds of Jewish and general thought. vidual? Did you make a contribution of The school engenders in its students a sense wisdom to the greater academic and world of hope, joy, self-confi dence, personal mean- Our graduates love to learn and have mas- communities? ing, and passion for life based upon their un- tered the reading, comprehension and ana- derstanding of Jewish tradition. lytical skills to enable the pursuit of lifelong Our graduates know and apply critical think- learning activities. Our graduates will strive ing skills needed for analytic and synthetic Students achieve critical, synthetic, and evalu- for excellence in intellectual pursuits, person- thought. These include inductive and deduc- ative thinking skills and strive for wisdom in al health, artistic development, and in matters tive reasoning; fi nding similarities and analo- their judgments and choices in life. of values and high standards of character and gies; synthesizing information; assessing the behavior. costs and benefi ts of ideas; predicting short Students strive to search for the deeper mean- and long-term consequences; achieving in- ing in life and determine that which is truly Did you engage yourself in the raising of sight- the awareness of self in relation to oth- important. children? This means not just in the sense ers, to moral problems, and to world issues; of procreation, but were you part of the and the ability to analyze one’s own thinking Ideal New Community Jewish High “village” that raised all of the communi- process, to identify strengths and weaknesses, School Graduates ty’s children? Did you become a part of all and to adopt strategies for productive action In Talmud, in the section called Masechet of the communities of all of our children? based on the highest principles of moral and Shabbat, Rava points out that there are six ethical thinking. sets of questions a person is asked in the hour Our graduates consider themselves “trans- he or she is to be judged. The school’s vi- Jews” or those who possess a full range of Our graduates gain admission to fi ne colleges sion of the ideal graduate grows directly from Jewish knowledge and skills, so as to be com- and universities not only to enhance his or her these Talmudic queries. fortable in any Jewish community anywhere own education and opportunities, but also as in the world. When asked to lead a prayer a means to enhance his or her ability to make Did you conduct your worldly affairs in minyan, our graduates can lead; or when a signifi cant contribution to our local and na- a righteous manner? Did you take unfair asked to explain Jewish holidays, texts, his- tional communities. advantage? Were you honest in business? tory, and philosophy, our graduates can ex- plain. In essence, our graduates appreciate Did you understand and search for the Our graduates engage in thoughtful acts of and respect all facets of Jewish life and can deeper meaning and hidden meaning of Tikkun Olam (world repair); understand that easily “transit” within the complex Jewish life? Did you understand a word within a they are part of a larger plan, yet are essential world. word or the thing within a thing? to the completion of that plan through indi- vidual acts of loving kindness; and know that Were you an optimist? Did you try to make Our graduates value their special gifts, and ěđĞĕďĕĐ justice is created in the world by donations of things better by participating in acts of understand their responsibility to use those personal time and material resources. Tikkun Olam? Did you have faith in God gifts to uplift humanity. They maintain bal-

and the goodness of the world? Did you ance and perspective in life, thereby being r
)B:JEJPO Our graduates understand that knowledge work for peace in Israel and the world? able to determine that which is truly im- is for the sake of achieving wisdom; wisdom portant and meaningful, and that which will leads to peace; peace engenders a context for Our graduates achieve a sense of self-con- make a difference for future generations. ¿ [45] [46] )B:JEJPO
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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Practice judged inadequate. Instead of exhorting ourstudentstoexcel intheirownpathand judged inadequate. Insteadofexhorting matrixbywhichtheywillbe of theGraduatewesetupyetanotherexternal a Vision theirteachers,andthemselves. Bypresenting theyfear failingtheirparents, Already themwithourowninstitutional expectations. wepresent dents’ mindsevenbefore uponourstu- expectations press obligations.Theseunrealistic of communityservice activities,athletics, andfulfillment lege admission,supplemented by extracurricular onceastatisticalrarity, card, straight Areport has nowbecomethebaselineforcol- bad enoughthatstudentsfeelweexpectthemtobeacademically exemplary. The outtheiridentity.teenagers astheynavigatetheirplaceintheworldandcarve Itis We suchadocument hasuponour thepsychologicaleffect mustconsiderforemost desirable. oftheIdealGraduate isnothealthy,I believethataVision andnot notrealistic, “ideal”isnot employedexplicitly,pectations. Eveniftheterm implied. itiscertainly inevenoneofthesecategorieshasnotmet ourex- that an18yearoldwhofallsshort educational parlancelabelsthiselusiveindividualtheIdealGraduate, asiftosuggest ing embodimentoftheprinciplesandvaluesourinstitution.Worse still,common for theschooloutsideofhours,onweekends,andduringsummer, aliv- modelandambassador asarole olam, volunteerfortheyoungandoldserve involvedintikkun ber ofhersynagoguecommunityandaleaderinyouthgroup, sionate, andorganized. Shemustbewelllikedbypeersandfaculty, anactivemem- activist, astudentleader, pas- left-brained,right-brained,creative, clubpresident, involved,asocial religiously athletic,artistic, tious, hard-working, oftheGraduate.Weour Visions averthatsheshouldbeconscien- whatwedoaseducatorswhenpresent And yetthatisprecisely ¿ Not the Graduate Ideals, Envision upgrades, andwhistles. bells bile, listingstandard andspecialfeatures, human beingaswewouldfor anautomo- of anidealspouse, asifwecould shopfor a the qualifications to hearsomeoneoutline their anachronism.taining onlyin Howoffensive felt it skills. datingexercisesThe Iwould witnesswere enter- by EricGrossman trousseau, and andmyriad otherattributes ne the marriage candidate:the marriage education, pedigree, thing in Jerusalem wasthing inJerusalem sittinginhotellobbies ofmy darkertwenty-some- pleasures asa prepared inventory hedesired from ofwhat watching my fellow yeshiva students endure man with a pad of paper going throughman withapadofpapergoing a the awkwardness ofshidduchdates. The courting ritual customarily involved ritualcustomarily courting ayoung are prepared eventonameavaledicto- prepared are our climateofliberaleducation fewofus withourvision?In upon theircongruity at commencementandratethem based tolineupourgraduates of usprepared any that schoolaslessthanideal. Are ba’al chesedshouldneverbelabeledby studentyetagreat ate whoisamediocre gemilut chasadimasideals,butagradu- choose tohaveacademicexcellenceand for havingidealstudents.Aschoolmay But havingidealsmustnotbemistaken must motivatewithvisionandideals. mission mission-driven, andapowerful included asanideal?Schoolsshouldbe ize pluralismorsectarianism?IsZionism choice ofideals:doesthemissionideal- eachotherbytheir themselves from diversity. Schoolsmustalsodistinguish commitment oracademicexcellence We maychoose toidealizereligious students mustbeencouragedtostrive. which idealstoward should alsosetforth andtheJewishpeople.Schools future, inspiring visionofJudaism,theJewish an as educationalleaderstoarticulate both visionandideals.Itisourcharge have ish dayschoolsinparticular—must ideals forourstudents.Schools—Jew- does notmeanthatweshouldhave vision, andnothavinganIdealStudent not meanthataschoolshouldhave oftheGraduatedoes Not havingaVision expect themtofit. moldintowhichwe them withanarrow outtheirowndestinywepresent carve [email protected]. Michigan. Hecanbereached at American schoolin West Bloomfield, Academy, anopen, Halakhic, Zionist, the Frankelof Schoolat Jewish Grossman Rabbi Eric isHead rian. Could any of us pass this test? the decision not to have a Vision of a munication. All of our students are part of Graduate. When I speak publicly of our the school community and are therefore Instead of speaking of an Ideal Graduate school’s mission I always emphasize that part of our vision. we should speak of ideals that we en- we do not have an Ideal Gradu- courage our graduates to adopt. If ate. In publications and publicity Rav Kook taught that the 613 command- a graduate embraces one ideal over another he should be celebrated Are any of us prepared to line up our for exemplifying one particular graduates at commencement and rate them aspect of the school’s mission. To brand as failures students who diverge based upon their congruity with our vision? from an element or two of our vision is not only hurtful, but fails to recognize we make a point of not featuring pictures ments were given to the entire Jewish the very nature of the human condition. exclusively of students who are idyllic ex- people because the mitzvot can only be Children come to us with a unique set of emplars of our mission. Of course all day fulfilled by an entire nation. No one in- predilections, likes, dislikes, propensities, school leaders feature such students in dividual can observe both the command- beliefs, and habits. One need not be an their brochures: visibly high achieving, ments of men and women, not to men- ideological pluralist to recognize the di- Jewishly committed, attractive, etc. But tion priest and Israelite, king and subject. versity of personality and practice that ex- constantly highlighting such students to Only as a whole community are we able ists among individuals in an open society. the exclusion of others sends the mes- to fulfill our Divine mission. Come com- To pretend that we can perfectly shape sage that these are the students we really mencement, as you look at your graduates our students in our image or in the im- want at our schools. Instead, our school arrayed in identical caps and gowns, take age set forth in a Vision of a Graduate is showcases a representative variety of our heed to remember and honor the unique- not only offensive, it is also unrealistic. No student body in our marketing and com- ness of the individuals beneath. ¿ school is a factory. The humanity of our students prevents us from forging them on the anvil of our mission.

Our students will also grow and evolve as they age and will value different parts of our mission in different proportions at dif- ferent times. The Vision of the Graduate is too much of a snapshot in time and fails to look at the effect of an education upon a person over a lifetime. We must also ex- pect that at some point in their develop- ment a certain percentage of our students will not accept, or will outright repudiate, our mission and vision. We should take this as an indication that our mission has substance, and that our institution stands on clear and distinct principles that can be accepted or rejected.

By the same token, we hope that each year we produce a core of graduates who embrace our mission fully. Here again we must avoid designating these as our ideal graduates. Rather, because these students embrace the fullness of the mission, they will possess the unique charge of carry- ing on the ideals of the school to the next generation. These students will become our schools’ visionaries and leaders of the ěđĞĕďĕĐ future.

At the school that I lead, the Frankel Jew- r
)B:JEJPO ish Academy, I have consciously made

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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Practice I thinkthatJewish schoolsneedtowork and improve overthe next decade? to growWhere shouldschools look underpinnings ofJudaism. anemphasisonthetheological through to deepentheimpactofJewisheducation Diaspora. Aswell,Iamworkingonhow Zionist education,bothinIsraelandthe personally engagedwiththechallengesof vision guidededucationalleadership,Iam del LeadershipInstituteonthetrainingof above andbeyondmyfocusattheMan- thisfield, Within each other’sexpertise. each other’sexperienceandcontributeto from ing frameworksinwhichwecanlearn dissemination oftheirworkandbycreat- thepublicationand fieldthrough growing totheneedsof this agendacanrespond leaders whohavebecomecommittedto day.every Myhopeisthatthevarious [continued frompage 8] Visions: Past, Present, Future t
t
[continued frompage 24] Vision ofaJewishEducational Leader stance. velop anddeepenone’sownpersonal tode- withtheeffort ties tostruggle guiding vision,aswellopportuni- leadership thatembodyacompelling of offorms educational importance the toappreciate cant opportunities ate educatinginstitutions)signifi- site-visitstoappropri- as through andmovies,aswell native literature, imagi- the examinationofresearch, sothatitincludes(through program Designing aleadership-development ment, and program evaluation. ment, andprogram gogy, thedesignofsocialenviron- peda- to suchmattersascurriculum, practice ofeducation,withattention a guidingeducationalvisionandthe between understand therelationship tobetter Significant opportunities lematics. cational implicationsand/orprob- itsedu- fullyappreciating and more “inreach” than on “outreach,” sobeit. thanon“outreach,” “inreach” emphasison of thisorientationisgreater this issueinasystematicway. Iftheprice todo so,itmustfocuson but inorder theschool canplayacriticalrole, where isonedomain ish lifeandeducation.Here theirownvisionsofJew- to workthrough theythemselvesneed ents toplaythisrole, for par- Butinorder with theirchildren. effectively the schooltodoitsworkmore tothem,thiswillenable thing important Jew. Jewishlifeassome- treat Ifparents asthecommitmentofaverage strong of thecommunityatlarge willonlybeas andthevitality The Jewishlivesoflearners providers. asservice schools tobetreated but theirintentionhasnotbeenforday cal contributionstoJewisheducation, families andfoundationshavemadecriti- ish communityatlarge. Philanthropic andinthelifeofJew- their children intheJewisheducationof part greater inenablingthemtotakea with parents the worldofvisionandchallenges between (who canmediateeffectively andAaron visionary) Moses (theinspired one thattheirbiblicalcounterparts—of effective bination—and perhapsamore cational leadersweneedmustbeacom- “Moses,”theedu- Ha’am inhisarticle laidoutbyAhad Put intheJewishterms the road. the road. down sional developmentopportunities profes- and incontinuing(“in-service”) developmentprogram, actual professional forleadershipeducation,inthe process intheselection concerns different very how tobalanceoutandintegratethese challengetodecide will beanimportant it ofresponsibilities, and theirportfolio constraints, thedemandsthatleadersface, both kindsofemphases.Givenresource the pointistomakeameaningfulspacefor agement andinstitution-building.Rather, quiring skillsassociatedwithgoodman- out educationalagendasthatfocusonac- tion isnotthatattentiontovisiondrown tonotethatmysugges- It isalsoimportant opment institutions. onleadership-devel- pressed fads thatare the multitudeofcompetingdemandsand its meaningfulinclusion,especiallygiven developandtosustain lenge tofurther achal- body itinpractice.Butremains such anagendaandhavebeguntoem- theneedfor ing havecometoappreciate nominational institutionsofhigherlearn- significant denominationalandnon-de- in number ofJewisheducationprograms da. We cancountourselvesluckythata leadershipeducationagen- worthy more not toemulatethembutexemplifya with thisagenda,thenwemustbecareful purposes atcross in generaleducationare ofleaders inthepreparation the trends essential.If tively guidetheirworkare dedicated toinspiringvisionsthateffec- serious way, educationalleaderswhoare ina cation istocontributethiseffort ling visionsofJewishlife.Ifedu- compel- communities organized around thriving maintaining and/orcreating butabout life isnotjustaboutsurviving, world).TheenterpriseofJewish the real ate outwards. ate outwards. itwillnotbeabletoradi- is strengthened, oftheJewishcommunity Unless thecore ties? ofpossibili- outofasmorgasbord from her identityhoweverheorshe chooses hisor eral individualwhocanconstruct altogether—isn’t itenoughto bealib- ofacommunity bepart must alearner Why andprovincial? narrow that are than aspects stronger a Jewcomesacross that theworldlinessanddepthofbeing studyso andinformal offormal program and staff, ourschoolculture, we reorient Howcanand contentofourprograms? tothesubstanceon challengesthatrelate intaking members tobecomepartners andboard How canwegetourtrustees time thinking about? day schoolleaderswouldspendmore What questionsdoyouwishJewish ¿ ¿ Creating Jewish Citizens

[continued from page 33] an outside facilitator. Local grassroots organi- munity. Jewish Funds for Justice (www.jew- principally the low wages paid by the service zations are good sources of information about ishjustice.org), American Jewish World Ser- industry, the high cost of health insurance, who in your community is doing this work. vice (www.ajws.org) and Repair the World the dearth of good jobs, and the absence of (www.werepair.org) all offer helpful on-line healthy food options in low-income neigh- The challenge of educating for social jus- resources. The Corporation for National and borhoods. Ending hunger will require policy tice is a difficult one. To succeed, one needs Community Service website (www.nation- changes on the local, state, and national lev- deep grounding in Jewish text, an under- alservice.gov) includes hundreds of links to el. It is important to involve students in pro- standing of contemporary policy issues, and secular service learning materials, as well as to viding emergency food assistance, but also relationships with local organizations. We volunteer opportunities. Social studies teach- essential that students understand the causes can no more expect Jewish educators to be ers, leaders of local community organiza- of hunger, as well as the possible solutions. sufficiently prepared for this task than we tions, and parents who work in related fields can expect a history major to be able to may all be able to help students put their ser- 7. We perpetuate prejudice. teach calculus, or a science teacher to in- vice work into a larger context. Community tegrate Talmud text into her lesson plans. rabbis and Judaic studies teachers can pro- Two years ago, at a seminar co-coordinated by vide the Jewish background for the work. RAVSAK and Jewish Funds for Justice, I led a In the long-term, we need to create train- session on teaching race and class. I began by ing programs to help educators and teams of The task may be difficult, but the reward is asking the assembled teachers—all of whom educators to gain the skills necessary to teach immense: through social justice education, were engaged in social justice education— Jewish social justice in an integrated, effec- our students will become involved and knowl- whether they ever spoke about race and class tive, and responsible way. In the short term, edgeable Jews and active citizens of the world. with their students. The answer was an almost we can make use of prepared curricula, and And, for these students, these two endeavors universal no. The teachers expressed concern ask for help from others in our own com- will feel like a single, unified mission. ¿ that talking about race equaled racism.

But power dynamics, including race, class and gender, are present in virtually every human interaction, and certainly in every service interaction. Students will not fail to notice if most of the clients of a soup kitchen come from a minority group, or have a dif- ferent class background than the students themselves. If we do not discuss these dy- namics, we cannot know what conclusions students draw from these observations.

We should first break down the paradigm in which wealthier and predominantly white communities “help” low-income commu- nities of color. By providing opportunities to learn from leaders of grassroots commu- nity organizations, we encourage students to view low-income communities as part- ners and sources of wisdom, and not only as victims and recipients.

Second, we need to talk about the institutions, cultural norms, and individual prejudices that perpetuate racism, classism, and sexism. These issues are not easy. Any conversation about race, class, or gender can easily turn sour if participants feel threatened or judged. In ěđĞĕďĕĐ some cases, educators within our own schools may have the necessary experience to discuss these issues in an age-appropriate way. In most r
)B:JEJPO cases, it may be more appropriate to engage

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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Practice (the individual)isprimary. (the community)isderivative; thelatter individual humanflourishing. The former aconceptionof in theend,derivedfrom saying thatthevalueofcommunities is, implicitly ties, butwhenwedoso,are that individualsneedhealthycommuni- theidea that needsit.Sowecanaffirm ofthething sential, isstillintheservice orevenes- need, whilepossiblyimportant the focusonindividual.Afterall,a thatvision,wehavenotescaped articulate vibrant communities.Butevenwhenwe by theindividualembeddedinhealthyand good lifeis(amongotherthings)aled vision ofhumanflourishinginwhichthe Charles Taylor, a whohelpusarticulate theorists, peoplelikeMichaelSandeland communitarianpolitical from to borrow my workonthisquestion,Ifirstsought almostinevitably.individualistic terms In of educationalaimsseemtocollapseinto intothisquestion;discussions an inquiry tosustain out,itisquitehard As itturns an idealJewishcommunity? what isaneducatedJewbutalso education, weseektoestablishnotonly ofvisionsJewish in ourconstruction as endsinthemselves?Whathappensif, cations ofthinkingaboutcommunities ishing. end ofindividualfulfillmentandflour- rather than(oraswellas)meanstothe endsinthemselves valuable, thattheyare butalsointrinsically only instrumentally not the possibilitythatcommunitiesare However, istoconsider mypointhere interacts. by theschool,orwithwhichschool communities intheschools,orcreated generated byhavinggoodandhealthy are human flourishing.Allthesebenefits of meaningthatcontributetoindividual loci institutional goals,becauseitcreates to ofresistance because itlowersbarriers ment (bothemotionalandfinancial), becauseitfacilitatesengage- of reasons: instrumentally cation, buildingschoolcommunitiesis being inassociationwithothers.Inedu- benefitsfrom and thattheyderivecertain toothers, responsibilities have certain [continued frompage 14] to CreateShould DaySchoolsAspire Educated Jews?

What are theeducationalimpli- What are

valuable foranynumber justice andorder). judicial system,embodyingthevaluesof (as inthecaseofestablishmenta deeplyheldvalues ofcertain expression orsuggestthecommunal ers derivefrom communal rituals).Andoth- of certain but asacorporateentity(asinthecase asacollectionofindividuals not merely corporation, inthelegalsense,acting a conceptionofcommunityaskind orsuggest Othersderivefrom children). loco parentis a conceptionofcommunityasacting orsuggest nal obligationsderivefrom taxonomy.a three-part Somecommu- munal obligations,andothers,suggests community. Ananalysisofthesecom- theobligationfallsto their children, unabletoeducate are tion: whenparents individual. Anotherexampleiseduca- obligation ofthecommunity, notofthe the public worshipritualsare certain munity isobligatedtodoso.Likewise, lish ajudicialsystem;instead,thecom- The individualisnotobligatedtoestab- not. Butsomeare honor one’sparents. give charity, toliftalulavonSukkot, of course.Theindividualisobligatedto incumbentonindividuals, mitzvot are value.Most ofaparticular expression is, atonce,atechnicalobligationandthe ofmitzvot terms itsvaluesin the traditionrepresents concept oftheidealcommunity?Well, the just might.Howcanwearticulate called the“Jewishpoliticaltradition”— dition—what DanielElazarfamously weneedtogo,theJewishtra- where doesnotgetus But ifpoliticaltheory our ideasabout theeducatedJew, we Jewish education,thenperhaps alongside avision for constructing values. Ifweare deeply held certain bodies orexpresses most interestingly, thecommunityem- purposes.Finally,agent forcertain and als cannot.Thecommunityisacorporate individu- The communitystepsinwhere ways. as anendinitselfthesethree human flourishing.Butitisalsovaluable individual ameanstowards is certainly someguidance.Community may provide educational endinitself,thistaxonomy about thepursuitofcommunityasan If wethenaskoureducationalquestion, (as inthecaseofeducating , obligations; amitzvah in holy communities. ofthose day schoolstobemicrocosms Perhaps, hesuggests,wemightcreate community-wide orindeedglobalscale. ofourdeeplyheldidealsonthe pression community” isanendinitself,asex- ing suchpeople.Instead,a“holisticholy the benefit of avisionforJewishdayschoolsabout isnothinginthisbriefexpression There munity asanendratherthanameans. the world.” for holy communitywhichisourdream a worldwhichcanembodytheholistic tocreate gives educatorstheopportunity dernity,” 2006)that“thedayschool titled“JudaismandMo- in anaddress (about Jewishdayschoolsinparticular, Recently, haswritten Greenberg Yitz ideal Jewishcommunity. theseideasaboutour ought toarticulate purpose educated Jew. isnothingaboutthe There our schools. thosecommunitiesin and thencreating communities thatwewantto create— a specific,positivevisionofthe kindsof ance thatindividualismbyarticulating significantly,But evenmore wecanbal- of ourconceptionstheeducatedJew. ofcommunityaspart the importance adeepunderstandingof by promoting Jew. We canbalancethatindividualism implicit inthefocusoneducated totheindividualism ought tobealert Frequently, we theydonot.Andthird, cal stancesguidepedagogicalpractice. about whetherandhowthoseideologi- should,weoughttobewary we certainly as weighty mattersofultimateconcern, ideologicalengagementwith promote ofus.Second,evenaswe dent infront attendingtothestu- out sufficiently with- abilities ofplanningforthefuture usaboutthelimitationsandli- warning RousseauandRosenzweig, remember notesinmind.First,weoughtto ary caution- tion—we oughttokeepthree ticulating ourvisionsofJewisheduca- workofar-means—as wedothehard should. Butaswethinkaboutwhatthat educatedJews?Ofcoursethey create to So shouldJewishdayschoolsaspire

of holycommunitiesincreat-

of holismfortheindividual

Notice hisfocusoncom- ¿ Jewish Day Schools as Incubators of Kavannah

[continued from page 30] mons recommends daily exercises to help if I am practicing scales. But any seri- Gratitude, Appreciation, people do just that even when they are not ous musician will tell you that without in the mood to do so. practice, one rarely if ever produces Celebration and Jewish great music. Sometimes, I achieve deep Prayer For me, one of the great virtues of daily kavannah. Sometimes, I start out with prayer is that it provides a structure for me low expectations and suddenly a word Robert A. Emmons, Professor at the Uni- to celebrate what is good in my life and or a phrase leaps out of the page because versity of California, Davis has devoted think about how I can share it with others of what is happening in my life, and I his life to studying the role of gratitude in less fortunate. Taking things for granted make a strong connection with the text. building a healthy life. His research dem- is a dangerous weakness to which we are Over the years, I have heard from for- onstrates that people who regularly get in all prone. Since so much of Jewish prayer mer pupils who say, “When I am pray- touch with what they have just do better in is about thanksgiving, appreciation and ing, I sometimes remember our study of every way. They transcend tragedy. They gratitude, I would suggest that it is not the prayers and it helps me to connect.” get along better with others. They are such a big jump to go from cultivating the Preparation is an essential component physically, mentally and spiritually health- habit of daily appreciation through prayer of our personal and professional lives. ier. The bulk of Jewish prayer is about and transferring that habit to the people Preparation for prayer (cognitive and ex- thanksgiving, appreciation, gratitude. in our lives who enrich us each day. periential) can make a difference in the One doesn’t need the siddur to get in quality of the prayer experience. Lim- touch with what one has lost or the trou- Closing Comment iting ourselves to the practice of skills bles in one’s life. I do not need the siddur (important as they are) is not the way to be reminded of my daughter Aviva who It is doubtful that many people (includ- to nurture kavannah in prayer. Knowing died in her thirties. But how many people ing me) can honestly say that he or she how and knowing why are both impor- awake each day and spontaneously get in is able to pray with kavannah every time. tant; both deserve to affect curriculum touch with what they have? Professor Em- To use an analogy, sometimes, I feel as decision-making in our schools. ¿ ěđĞĕďĕĐ

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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Practice to involvethe entire faculty inameaningfulway. discipline. Wethis process discussedhow unfold might chairs,department andrepresentatives ofeachfaculty ademic AdvisoryCouncil, madeupofdivisiondirectors, the processgan byconferring withmy Ac- Barrack Hebrew Academy graduate. Ibe- the idealJackM.to createercise avisionof took ourfacultyI andstaffthrough anex- be shared withourcommunity andheld could that tangible something muchmore translateto ourlofty weneeded that schoolmissioninto many seminarwasthe notion ideasIgleanedfromthat the rolethe headofschoolinfundraising. of the Among sibilities of self-expression; ability to read liturgy aswell asothertextualitemsin ability toread sibilities ofself-expression; isunafraidoftheendless pos- world andtheconceptofglobal interconnectedness; ofthenatural possessesan appreciation oflearning; tion asakeytotheprocess toliving;valuesopen-mindedquestioningandcontempla- spect asanapproach valuespluralism,toleranceandre- impactonthepresent; the pasthasimportant ofdivergent opinionsandviewpoints;understandshow him orherandisrespectful of diversity;strivestounderstandtheworldaround andawareness self-awareness leadership skills; andaffective effective asamemberofteam/group; effectively sake;menschlichkeit:moralandethicalcaring;participates forlearning’s learning and apassionate,lifelongloveoflearning; self-esteem, independenceinlearning, workethic;positive Some samplesofsuggestedspecificoutcomesincluded:astrong inourgraduates. to produce andthegeneralJewish andhumanqualitiesthatwewish about boththeskillareas departments across amount ofcongruency debate andexcitement,aremarkable wasmuchpassionate thanadozencharacteristicsoftheidealgraduate. There more theselonginventoriestolistsofno workofreducing invited themtodothehard dayheldinJanuary. Wean in-service disciplinesand facultymembersacross grouped duplicationandsubmittedtothefacultyat then collatedbyadministratorstoreduce theschool’smissionasawhole.Theselistswere while atthesametimereflecting discipline, and bodythatitfeltoughttobetheoutcomeofitsparticular mind, heart, worked formanyweekstomakelistsofskills,attitudes,competencies,habits then ideal graduatebothwithinitsowndisciplineandingeneral.Eachdepartment We todevelopitsownlistofcharacteristicsthe beganbyasking eachdepartment ¿ Graduate: Barrack Characteristics of the Ideal by up as a model of what our school is try- ourschoolis up asamodelofwhat ing to produce.ing fall past This andwinter StevenM. Brown with Independent School Management (ISM)on SchoolManagement with Independent his past summer I took anenergizingseminar summerI past A Work Progress in making; research skills; appreciation of skills; appreciation making; research written, andtechnical);ethical decision- leadership, communicationskills (oral, solving,writingskills, ing andproblem cluded thefollowingitems:critical think- thatin- byorbitingcircles is surrounded graduate.”Thatcircle “the idealBarrack is al modelforus:inthecenterofacircle developedavisu- The sciencedepartment tistic choices,etc. ar- tosupport and historicalinformation evaluateandsynthesizecultural research, both oneandtwodimensional;abilityto materials manipulate awidevarietyofart ing andediting;abilitytotechnically includingproofread- writing processes poetry, plays,fiction,nonfiction;applies Shakespeare, understands howtoread and of theJewishpeople;appreciates as thehistoricalandnationalhomeland thecentralityofIsrael people; appreciates asawindowintotheJewish ate Hebrew andappreci- able tofunctioninHebrew geography oftheTaNaKH andSiddur; ish philosophicaltexts;understandsthe theories;knowledgeofJew- and propose analysis) totestandevaluatehypotheses quiry, discovery, evidence,collectionand plying validmeta-cognitivepractices(in- byap- ogy; theabilitytosolveproblems the frameworkofscientificmethodol- development ofcriticalthinkingwithin skills; plied totheworld;criticalreading beauty ofmathematicsandhowitisap- ofthepowerand appreciation Hebrew; at [email protected]. Jewish education at JTS. Hecanbereached the MeltonResearch of Director Center for Graduate SchoolofJewishEducation and the he was Deanof DavidsonWilliam Mawr,in Bryn Pennsylvania. Previously, Barrack Hebrew Academy (formerly Akiba) the JackM.year asHeadofSchool Rabbi Steven M. EdD Brown isinhissecond the natural world; appreciation of the arts. Health and citizenship: 21st century learning environment. Good This wonderful diagram gave us a vision schools are never done becoming better, of how we would finally orchestrate the t
Participates in the community as a and excellent schools are never finished final product in a rich, interactive way as knowledgeable citizen anchored by a striving for higher levels of performance. we work through the final stages of this healthy mind, body and sense of self The next step in this process will be to de- process. We will create a new area on our as well as an appreciation for diverse velop an inventory of characteristics of pro- website which will use a graphic similar to forms of religious and aesthetic ex- fessional excellence in our school to evalu- the one just described and it will include pression. ate and create learning environments in our the five areas which we have now collated classrooms and institution as a whole that as our central ideas of the ideal Jack M. Skills: lead students to the achievement of our Barrack Hebrew Academy graduate. Each desired outcomes. In this way we hope to one of these areas will be interactive and t
Has strong, practical skills in oral, concretize our mission statement and make the viewer can click on them and see more written, visual and technological ex- it clear to students and families who are in detailed skill and conceptual outcomes by pression with the ability to discover, the school and may come to the school in department or discipline. evaluate, and apply resources that will the future what we are trying to do. The current iteration of our mission statement At this writing, while we have not yet pro- which underwent review and was just ap- cessed the final version with the faculty Critical proved by our Board of Directors is: for its approval, our current iteration Thinking / of the ideal Jack M. Barrack He- Problem Solving Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Acad- brew Academy graduate is one emy is a pluralistic Jewish day Appreciation who embodies: Writing Skills school for students in grades of the Arts six through twelve from Jewish identity: a broad variety of back- grounds. The school in- t
Sees himself or tegrates a comprehensive herself as an active and rigorous college link between the Appreciation Ideal preparatory curriculum Jewish communi- of the Natural Barrack Leadership with the teaching of es- ties of the past and World sential Jewish values and the future, under- Graduate texts. Barrack graduates standing the cen- value diversity, celebrate trality of kehillah, the richness of Judaism’s Israel and the He- language, culture, and brew language in the Communication history, and have a strong Skills (Oral, history and culture of Research Skills connection to Israel. Barrack the Jewish people. Written, & prepares future leaders of the Technical) American, Jewish, and global Ethical Decision communities who work for a bet- Lifelong learning: Making ter world through acts of justice and t
Approaches learning as an indepen- compassion. dent, curious and articulate thinker, with a strong work ethic, who values Approved by Board of Directors, March open-minded questioning, who re- improve the community. 24, 2010 / 9 Nisan, 5770 spects differences and has the capac- ity and confidence for critical analysis Leadership: We received permission to borrow some and deep contemplation when learn- phrasing from RAVSAK’s new mission ing and working in our ever-changing t
Demonstrates a willingness to assume statement, as we thought it was highly society. a position of leadership or to work appropriate. Perhaps, if other RAVSAK collaboratively to solve problems in schools adopt a similar methodology of Moral outlook: creative ways. using key phrases from the association’s mission statement, we will unite our t
Moves through one’s life as a mensch, These outcomes will guide us in the deci- schools and allow families who move from ěđĞĕďĕĐ guided by a firm moral compass and a sions we make as a school regarding cur- community to community to understand sense of responsibility; embodies com- riculum, programs, co-curricular activities, that there is this powerful network of

mitments to derekh eretz, tzedakah, faculty hires and institutional advancement community Jewish day schools who share r
)B:JEJPO hesed, Torah lishma, and tikkun olam. in continuously improving ourselves as a much in common. ¿

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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Practice The Importance of Vision Early in community in the classroom: how theythink,hypothesize,wonder,community inthe classroom: andexperiment. learning totheirchildren’s documentationpertaining engage byseeingandreading further inavarietyofways. Parents andschoolenvironment into theclassroom invited knownandare are of expertise andareas interests tion. Theirbackgrounds, intheirchild’s educa- encouragedtoparticipate inthese modelschoolsare Parents and dialoguewithoneanother.community—a placeofcontinuousreflection mustbecommunication, collaboration,andamodellearning child’s potentialthere andunderstands thattomaximizea withparents and images.Theschoolpartners sharingdocumentation through learning uponthechildren’s take timetoreflect Theyknowthatteachers with theschoolandotherparents. andtorelate to learn toengagewiththe dailylifeoftheschool.Theycommit ents aswellinvitesparents withpar- tolistenandcommunicates regularly withaleadershipthatcares partner engagedinanumberofways.Theyknowhowto excellentschoolsare from Parents context. alsoaskedto get toknowthefamilyanditsunique ing thefirstvisitquestionsare asdur- isopenandhonest,evenreciprocal spend timeatschool.Everything tovisitand questionsandinvitationsforparents that calls,withanswerstopertinent afamily greets response tothefamilies.Awarm bio, anempowerment and ashort photographs madeknownthrough withthestaff Further, theplaceistransparent The overalltoneoftheschoolisjoyful. available,andqualitybooksinvitereading. and exploration.Naturalmaterialsare invitingcuriosity theclassrooms it.Jewishobjectsadorn vision ofthosewhoshare thinking. This ofdocumentationcommunicatesthevaluesschooland process work and andimagesofthechildren’s displayphotographs,words tell astory—they voicesthatdominate.Theschoolwalls themanditisthechildren’s people greet thebuilding,theyseeandhearvisioninaction: When familieswalkaround welcomeandacrafted environment. outwithawarm immediatelycarried values are thevisionandphilosophyofschool.Thestated that welcomethemanddeclares of theschool.Themomentfamiliesenterschool,theyseewritingandimages momentsinthedailylife tional abouttheirvisionandhowittranslatestoordinary inten- earlychildhoodJewisheducationistobefoundinschoolsthatare Exemplary ¿ Childhood Jewish Education left to sprout throughout alifetime.to sproutleft by these areas leave withenhancedfocus, a a child. excel Graduatesthat in ofschools growsthe moralthat play development of and dialogue, andacontext ofinvestigationthrough parental engagement, areflective culture ofinquiry xcellent seeded withJewishideasandmemories Families,the graduates, as aswell are collaborative stanceand self-reliance. DianaGanger schoolshave aclearshared vision, strong ers listen to the children and create a and create ers listentothe children Teach- environment. laborative, warm Teachers interested. are model acol- for aslongthechildren the children with ers, askquestions,andjourney ingful play. Teachers actasresearch- teacher isessentialinfacilitatingmean- ofthe what makesexcellence.Therole is howitisorchestrated expresses; thechilddevelopsand Play iswhere Jewish family. asa growth to thinkabouttheirfuture school willintentionallyengagefamilies The Jewish experiencesinthefuture. knowledge. Theywillcontinuetoseek overtheyearsgainingJewish have grown other families. The graduatingfamilywill tolarger Jewishexperienceswith formats dialogueandtext-based smallgroup from inavarietyofformats— invited tolearn are school deeplyconnected.Parents thriveastheyseetheirhomeand dren Chil- develop meaningfulrelationships. whoseekto eager listenersandlearners seetheteachersas Parents information. municating goeswellbeyondsharing asthiswayofcom- fostered are learning of ongoingdialogue.True dialogueand asthesource invitedoftenandserve are schools. Theiropinionsandthoughts isasenseofbelonginginthe and there Theydevelopfriendships be known.” expectedto“knowand are Parents ect work. proj- in deepexperiencesandlong-term involved are They seethattheirchildren [email protected].. consultant. Shecanbereached at and educational coach/ Diana Ganger isanorganizational negotiated curriculum. Through these Behind a successful play session is time. another. The intentional modeling of val- interactions, children learn to ask ques- Only in schools that realize the need for ues at all levels forms the foundation of an tions and reflect on their work and are time to engage in creating scripts with empathetically based morality. only satisfied after much editing. And it complex plots and a variety of characters is not the adult who puts an end will children flourish. Within these scenes, Beyond time, children are treated with to the work, but the children. children can investigate the world—using dignity and seen as competent. They are also given a great space from which to Exemplary early childhood Jewish operate. There are quality materials and a provocative environment that stimulates education is to be found in schools that the child’s curiosity. With these tools, play are intentional about their vision and how it becomes wondrous, joyful and satisfying; it becomes fertile soil for the formation of translates to ordinary moments in the daily a thinking, socially competent child. life of the school. The moment families enter To instill a Jewish foundation, the envi- the school, they see writing and images that ronment filled with Jewish imagery and welcome them and declares the vision and objects contains photos of Jewish diver- sity, both religious and ethnic. Israel is philosophy of the school. represented both with Hebrew language and other symbols. Jewish books steeped In turn, this leads to enhanced focus, props and their imaginations through the in Jewish values are chosen. All of this strung along by an investigator’s curios- high drama play can generate. In addition, creates the environment that the child ex- ity, and towards collaboration with peers both personal identities and interpersonal plores and slowly integrates as the norm. ěđĞĕďĕĐ [fellow students]. Children know they relationships are shaped through the vicis- Apart from environment, Sabbath expe- can think, translate ideas into creations situdes of interactions. The environment riences as well as other Jewish holidays that are recognized and honored by the becomes emotionally responsive; children and lifecycle events imprint the child and r
)B:JEJPO teachers. learn to self-regulate and take care of one [continued on page 56]

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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Practice desire tomakemeaningoftheworld.But desire toinitiatedrivenbytheir learn Children the family. backto stimulate aspilloverofinformation question howtheschoolisaplaceoflearn- etc. Allmembersofthecommunity to staff staff and child,schoolleadershipboard, family tofamily, schooltofamily, teachers ships iscontinuouslyanalyzedatalllevels- minimized.Thequalityofrelation- gaps are that day issetagainstthevisiontoassure oftheevery- Thereality does inallrealms. andbecomebetteratwhatit always grow pay attentiontothefactthatschoolcan acculturatedandleaders are ue. Newstaff isongoing.Itaval- dialogue andinquiry ofrefl experience, theprocess excellent Jewishearlychildhoodlearning refl from learn [continued frompage 55] in different settings, in different group- settings,indifferent in different way, withoneleader?Orcanit take place prayer canonlyoccurinoneplace, inone school. Doyouwanttoshow that Jewish tefi think aboutwhere ting. Useyourstudentleadership toreally ly takesadvantageofambianceandset- Mincha/Maariv atthecamplakeobvious- be contagious. Theirenergy will nity buildingprograms. Shabbatonim andotherschoolcommu- setting asleadersinsocialjusticeprojects, [continued from page 41] Lake the Praying Without journey through aJewishlens. journey orcontinuetheir life to start looks familythat the greater Jewishcommunity,within anda friendship, abuddingmorality, anidentity curiosity, emotionalself-regulation,thinking, inquisitiveness, creativity, arelational stance, In the end,In emergesisacomplete child what who embodiesmany Jewishfundamentals: John Deweyhasstated,“We do not learn from experience…we from not learn ecting onexperience.”Inan llah takesplaceat ecting through an ongoing basis. Children’s learning and learning an ongoingbasis.Children’s ofrefl the process and support ofthechildren the teacher’sobservations coming? Thesetypesofquestionsframe wel- Isthefurniture and overwhelming? abletofocus?Isitcluttered the children Are materials? Isthespaceprovocative? the materials?Whatisqualityofthese initiative andwonder?Howaccessibleare Cantheytake think inthisenvironment? theyinvitedto Howare the classroom? usingthespacein thechildren How are ask themselvesthefollowingquestions: and space andequipmentintheclassroom usethe howchildren chose toobserve time todoso.Forexample,teachersmay coaching andmentorshipwithprotected through for themselvesandstrivetogrow think abouttheirpractice.Theysetgoals communityand they developalearning Teachers together— taketimetolearn ent prayerleaders? manner, andwithdiffer- ings, adifferent is someonethatthestudentslook upto. ing together. Ithelpsifthatmusicleader communitysing- inan entire that results ability toteachmusicinawelcoming way an enthusiasticandskilledmusic leader’s butalsonecessitates a matterofrepertoire, Remember, thataddingmusicisnotonly deeply. toengagestudentsmore in order music lenge yourschooltobringinmore stone ofthesuccesscamplake.Chal- The intentionaluseofmusicisthecorner- ing andhowpeoplecollaborate. eto on ection being anddoing Jewish.Behatzlachah! Jewswholovelearning, as wellincreating tors canbeusedinyouroverall approach know and to achievesuchmagicsothat campers have beenintentionallyutilized inorder andrelationships time, role-modeling tal; manyfactorssuchastheuseofspace, acciden- aren’t that suchmagicandruach experiential methodsintoyourschool, whenbringinginmore tant toremember tagious ruach at Jewishcamphasexperiencedthecon- Anyone whohasevercelebratedShabbat journey through aJewishlens. through journey orcontinuetheirlife ily thatlookstostart Jewishcommunity,the greater andafam- ship, abuddingmorality, anidentitywithin thinking,friend- emotional self-regulation, creativity, stance,curiosity, arelational many Jewishfundamentals:inquisitiveness, emerges isacompletechildwhoembodies Intheend,what education opportunities. holidays andexperiencemanyotherJewish themwithoccasionstocelebrate presents Jewish experiencestogether. Theschool in thiscommonalityandpartake through Theybuildfriendships their lifejourneys. atornearthebeginningof nity ofparents commu- ofagreater part Also, theyare their developmentasafamily. timein families’ Jewishidentityatacrucial the stagefordevelopingandevolving closer totheirJewishfoundations.Thissets involved onadailybasis,theyalsogrow intimately along withthechild,astheyare Becausefamiliesgrow canwrestle. children corporate Jewishvisionswithwhichthe thatin- innovativeenvironments through Jewishidentitywillbesown Astrong ward. self-confi anda withaloveoflearning environment learning Theywillenteranyfuture learn. to learn At excellentschools,children in dialogue to deepen the learning. in dialoguetodeepenthelearning. andtoengage invitedtorespond nity are thecommu- Othermembers of produce. documentationteachers’ visible through ismade thinking withintheenvironment themfor-dence thatwillpropel do

Jewish. Manyofthesefac- that permeates. It’simpor-that permeates.

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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Practice to society. leadership andmake asingularcontribution We ourgraduatesto demonstrate expect trials ofcontemporaryvicissitudes and life. is supremely uplifting. is supremely the ofourschoolbefore melodies forselichotfillingthe corridors Yamim Nora’im TheeclecticmixofAshkenaziandSephardic richness whichsuchdiversityaffords. amonolithic studentbody,shepherd ofthe butthiswoulddepriveourchildren the complexities oftheirownpersonallives.Itmightbesimpler to to address forthem varied perspectives andultimatelydevelopthetoolsrequired preciate toap- learn quainted withafullerrangeofhumanityanditsdiversestruggles, essential tothegoaloffosteringcharacter. Insodoing,ouryouthbecomeac- Additionally, believethatencounters withthoseunlikeourselvesare westrongly been deniedone. have whoseparents thanbestowinganadvanced educationonchildren rewarding model citizensanddynamicmembersoftheircommunity. isnothingmore There duringtheirjuniorhighschoolyearslateremerge as those deemed“lessfortunate” not abandonotherstudentssoidentified.Indeed,itis strikinghowmanyof venues foracademicexcellencethatchallengegiftedandtalented youth,wemust diction tothefundamentalJewishvalueof of allmemberssociety. Religiouseducationwhichis“elitist”standsincontra- similarlyboundtoshowsensitivitytheneeds standpoint,weare areligious From quality educationforstudentsof a societyandcompelsustoprovide forthebroader ophy thatassumesresponsibility Thismissionisfullyconsistentwithourphilos- ideological andpedagogicalreasons. tracks). We imageofIsraelisociety, amirror committedtocreating are forboth (albeitindistinct weakercounterparts of thebrighteststudentsandtheirrelatively academically. ameltingpotthatplayshosttomélange Asapublicschool,weare melfarb isanintegratedinstitution,bothsocio-economicallyand twouniquecharacteristicstoourschool.Firstly, are There Him- ¿ Israeli Religious High School and Leadership an in Character for Educating by JeremyStavisky date to “fortify” the personalities of these ado- even greater significanceisourcriticalman- to us,lastic achievements are important of but area are educatedinitshalls. Obviously, scho- 650 young menfromthe greater Jerusalem est highschoolforest religious boys; present, at lescents and give themthetools to successfully contendthe to successfully with immelfarb all HighSchoolisJerusalem’s larg- backgrounds. backgrounds. chesed . While we must strive to offer . Whilewemuststrivetooffer the Genesis narrative of Creation. of Creation. the Genesisnarrative biologytogetherwith fuse evolutionary and freedom debate thelimitsofartistic engagesourstudentsto Our curriculum theJewish notionof from the democratictraditionderives directly toillustratehow conflict. Thus,wetry whenthetwocomeinto particularly Jews— values andprinciplesasOrthodox the sametime,continuingtoupholdour blessingsofliberalismwhile,at inherent have thecapacitytoacknowledge Westernmodern Butwemust culture. anddisparagingthemeritof “one truth” for advocatingthelesscomplexcourseof ism, educatorsmightalmostbeforgiven influenceoffundamental- the powerful Subjectedto inJerusalem. much harder synthesisisthat ing theircomfortable butes toco-existinUnitedStates,achiev- asitisforthesetwoattri- Asdifficult ern. is itsidentityas The secondcharacteristicofourschool cultivated. proudly the extentofdiversitythatwehave simplyastoundedby ing ourschoolwere Americanprincipalsvisit- ofNorth group households. fluent Jerusalem Years ago,a af- whileotherscomefrom on welfare, families Some ofourstudentscomefrom ofwhichisEthiopianorigin. percent andhalf-Ashkenazi,butalso5 Sephardic apopulationthatisnotonlyhalf- serve It isthusaprivilegeforHimmelfarbto [email protected]. Jerusalem. He can bereached at of Himmelfarb HighSchoolin Rabbi Jeremy Stavisky both Orthodox and mod- Orthodox isPrincipal tikkun olam . Being both Orthodox and modern, it thority as soldiers and officers in the IDF. portant. Undoubtedly, those with an also behooves us to create space for our informed understanding of both Jew- secular brothers and sisters, and even for Almost 1 percent of IDF infantry officers ish tradition and contemporary Western other communities of faith. Again, this is are Himmelfarb graduates. While I am culture are better equipped than those no small challenge in Israel, where people cautious never to tell my students how who lack such familiarity. Accordingly, have a tendency to perceive themselves or where to serve—after all, this a com- our students study the lessons of human under threat. At Himmelfarb, sopho- plex, personal decision—many volunteer history and evaluate its implications for mores are formally “introduced” to Islam as combat soldiers, giving expression to the Jewish people. But education cannot and Christianity, and often have occasion their profound belief that the existence of just be about knowledge; it must also to meet with their representatives. I viv- a Jewish state is nothing short of a Provi- build character. We endeavor to give idly recall the tension in the room when a dential gift. And as such, we are honor- our students the practical capability to prominent Israeli Arab addressed our stu- bound to sustain the Zionist enterprise survive the challenges that await them, dents on the complexity of living as both and accentuate its moral character. Our including a coherent belief system that an Arab and an Israeli. graduates understand that officers must will guide them through the complexi- not only prepare soldiers for battle, but ties of the modern world. We expect When I became principal at Himmelfarb, must also attend to their emotional and them, as believing Jews, to contribute I was forced to prioritize. Principals are physical wellbeing. Sometimes, this even to their communities and actively par- tasked to achieve an exhaustive array of means providing food for their poverty- ticipate in tikkun olam throughout their objectives, but ultimately, each of us has stricken families. lives. Above all, we insist that the world to decide what are genuinely the most should be a better place because they important among them. For me, this was Intellectual accomplishments are im- were here. ¿ a policy of “zero tolerance” for violence, physical or emotional, between students or for insolence (aka chutzpah) of stu- dents toward teachers. Although such conduct is regrettably prevalent in the Is- raeli school system, I determined that any Not all Judaic Studies acceptance of such behavior would effec- tively undermine our school’s moral jus- progams are tification. To my mind, if students and/ or faculty are either frightened or abused, created equal. our ability to educate is utterly destroyed. For that reason, Himmelfarb policy obli- gates all teachers to report any such in- Discover the non-denominational difference with a cidents to the administration, which gen- Judaic Studies program at Towson University Graduate School. erally results in a two-day suspension for the offending party. It has been gratifying At Towson University Graduate School, our non-denominational to see that students, teachers and parents Judaic Studies program offers students a different perspective to give all appreciate the seriousness of the mat- them a competitive edge in the job market. Taught from a historic and academic point of view, the Master of Arts in Jewish Communal ter and have united to make our school a Services, Jewish Education and Jewish Studies degrees can be combined virtual non-violence zone. with one of several dual-degree options, including an MBA. And with Towson’s diverse student body, and the campus’s proximity to I also resolved to define the core func- Baltimore and major Jewish communities, the Judaic Studies program tion of our religious curriculum, which, is a great place to start a career. I deeply believe, has to concentrate on making us better people. If a day school Judaic Studies programs formerly offered by Baltimore Hebrew University education does not produce a more mor- are now part of Towson University Graduate School. al person, it is of no value, even if our students remain observant. I could not have been happier than when our senior class raised $2,500 to cover the medical Learn more at TowsonJewishStudies.info, expenses of our non-Jewish custodian. In or contact Beth Steiner in the office of fact, it falls to us, as educators, to lead by Graduate Programs in Judaic Studies, at 410.704.4719 or [email protected] ěđĞĕďĕĐ example in teaching our students to show respect for those lower down on the proverbial totem pole. Only then can I TOWSON UNIVERSITY, 8000 YORK ROAD, TOWSON, MARYLAND 21252 r
)B:JEJPO expect my students to exercise moral au-

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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Practice When I joined the faculty of Akiba Hebrew AcademyinSeptember 1981,myex- When Ijoined the facultyofAkibaHebrew ingrainedinmylife. chesed andtikkunolamwere anearlyage; ancestors, Iwasinvolvedincommunityorganizations from maternal loud, spiritedandmeaningfultoanadolescentJewishfemale.Like my wondrous, Shabbatexperienceswere camp,where yearsatJewishovernight in shul,butfrom organized services withShabbattefillahcamenotfrom My familiarityandcomfort inametal hand-grinderthatIusetothisday.we keptinthebathtubandground from fishthat forgefiltefishmade grandmother’s elbowandtheunwrittenrecipe hamentaschendoughatmy ofrolling thesecrets Holidays, Purim,Pesach.Ilearned family gatherings—Shabbat,theHigh and understandingwasgainedthrough education religious most ofmyformal ther synagoguetowhichwebelonged), atei- wasoffered bat mitzvahceremony untilIwastwelve (no services religious and HighHoliday/occasionalShabbat school noon/Sunday Hebrew toattendafter-I wasforced synagogueand Conservative Although webelongedtoa and learned. lively, movements. Dinnertableconversationswere constructionist political,Zionist Re- andgrowing Kaplan, wellknownrabbisandotherleadersoftheConservative visitingPhiladelphia—Mordechai centralforJewishleaderswhowere was ground oftennotgiventhatopportunity.when girlswere OnShabbat,theirkosherhome welleducated,bothJewishlyandsecularly,mother wasextremely evenatatime thatmy madecertain grandparents Mymaternal Philadelphia area. activeinthesecularaspectsofJewishlifegreater extremely up inanextendedfamily, onmymother’sside,thatwas particularly generationAmerican,Igrew Asafourth First, somebackground. ¿ Modeling Risk and Growth Adult Jewish Learning: my participation inSuLaM’smy participation III. Cohort of Igainedasaresult that personal growth by Torah. my husbandandIvis- that time the first is It Iresearched,that time first wrote anddelivered aDvar to study Hebrew Ibegan and that year Torah.the is It as ourdaughter becameaJewishwife. the first is It year asamother-in-law, standingunderachuppah ited Israel. these firstsIattribute of Most to the self-confidence,to knowledge, and Leslie Pugach Leslie Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy. ismy first It his is my first year as Upper School Director at at yearasUpperSchoolDirector ismy first nightmare andeven more sofor anadult. ofamiddleschoolstudent’slast!) are part worst the exceptionthe these (with of of memory—all too ignorantterm anddifficulty withshort Fear offailure, avoidance of embarrassment,to appear adesire not cation. fieldofJewishedu- leaders inthebroad considered already cating adultswhoare has takenonthedauntingtaskofedu- missing. ThenalongcameSuLaMwhich Fellow, itwasclearthatsomething asaFeinstein American JewishHistory in HolocaustEducationatCAJEand committees. WhileIgainedexpertise ies facultyorinmyworkwithBoard sion andevaluationofourJewishStud- development, aswellinthesupervi- ofourschool’scurriculum Judaic areas enough formetofeelconfidentinthe not were mer sessionclassesinHebrew theMishnah,afewnight/sum- from a Tanakh aTalmud, from theMidrash in myself-confidence.WhileIcouldtell aswell Jewishlearning in myformal majorgaps were clear tomethatthere itwas to expandbeyondtheclassroom, ened. AsmyinvolvementinAkibabegan toacademicJewishlifebroad- posure ful adulteducation? What makesSuLaMamodelfor success- e-mail address [email protected]. e-mail in education for over forty years. Her Akiba), hasbeeninvolved(formerly at JackM. Barrack Hebrew Academy Leslie Pugach , UpperSchoolDirector First, SuLaM realizes that adult learners, al leaders and as individuals, adult par- shanah haba’ah birushalayim! to end our particularly those who are educators, are ticipants have institutional demands and seder, I not only could read Hebrew and not unlike the children that we teach. goals to achieve as well as personal ones. understand the grammatical context, but Fear of failure, avoidance of embarrass- The Individual Action Plans, as well as the words took on new meaning. Now ment, a desire not to appear too ignorant the monthly mentoring beyond the class- the “firsts” of 5770 will become “next and difficulty with short term memory— room, not only make each SuLaM-ite’s as- times”—in Israel, where I hope to be able all of these (with the exception of the pirations achievable and relevant, to speak some Hebrew with Israelis in a last!) are part of a middle school stu- but also follow the best practices meaningful way; when I excitedly look dent’s worst nightmare and even more so for an adult. SuLaM’s By learning in a non-judgmental instructors respected those per- sonal and emotional elements, as environment, we realized that there were does my current Hebrew teacher who no foolish questions or comments. effusively praised us when we completed reading and translating a story from the Mishnah! Even adults need stars on the of successful professional development. forward to the mental gymnastics re- tops of their papers. Adult learners, just like the students in quired to prepare my next Dvar Torah for our schools, need validation, redirection, our faculty or our SuLaM Cohort; when Second, as in any group of students, knowledgeable guidance and praise. I help to create more integrative curricula there are some who come to class with for our school; and most of all, when I a wealth of prior information, an affin- So this past Pesach, when our gastro- struggle to apply new meaning in my Jew- ity for a particular type of subject matter, nomically satisfied family shouted out La- ish identity. ¿ or a base of knowledge in related areas, while others enter the group with no ex- perience at all. As with our own students, adults are hesitant to ask a question that will betray their lack of background, fearing that asking an uninformed ques- Open Doors with DeLeT tion or making a seemingly unrelated comment will stigmatize the speaker. The DeLeT programs at Brandeis University (Greater Boston) However, by the second or third day of and Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion SuLaM, the members of our cohort were (Los Angeles/San Francisco) congratulate our 2010 graduates: comfortable enough with one another to discover that we shared a common, se- Miriam Benowitz Heather Kantrowitz cret fear: “I’ll be the dumbest one in the class.” By learning in a non-judgmental Sonia D. Chernotsky $GDP:.LQJ environment, we realized that there were /LEE\&OHDUÀHOG Michael N. Kobrin no foolish questions or comments. *DYULHO,(ONLQG Dalia Mitchell Robyn Esar Jessica Perlman Next, the SuLaM program understands Natalie M. Fisher Jenna N. Pinkham that each participant brings years of ex- Ezra E. Flom Laura Ruth Rheinheimer periences, pre-conceived notions, preju- Laliv Gal $GLQD5RVHQWKDO dices, values, time-tested ways of learning Arielle S. Gereboff Sara Smith and nuances of knowledge to this pro- Anne Glanz Anton J. Souza gram. SuLaM uses these valuable charac- Sarah N. Hartung /HD:LQNOHU teristics, largely by creating a community of learners—a place where no one person, including the instructor, has all the an- swers and where every opinion is given DeLeT prepares day school teachers through a thoughtful, balanced consideration. In a short period of time, through SuLaM’s year-long program that combines professional quiet nurturing, our cohort has become studies with an extended internship. an interdependent family that celebrates ěđĞĕďĕĐ our successes and empathizes with the va- garies of our academic lives.

For more information: r
)B:JEJPO Finally, SuLaM realizes that as education- ZZZEUDQGHLVHGXPDQGHOGHOHW‡ www.huc.edu/delet

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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Practice ed School-wide Learning Results or ESLRs (pronounced S-lers) are asetofguide- S-lers)are ResultsorESLRs(pronounced ed School-wide Learning NewJew’sExpect- constantly usedtoguideourdecisionmakingprocess. which are values hasasolidfoundationofcore successfulbecauseeveryone to,weare ferred Today, atNewCommunityJewishHighSchool,or“New Jew”asitislovinglyre- while actingasambassadorsfor theschool. would alsousethem oftrustees and studentswouldfollowthem,butourboard could follow. Itwasourintentionthatnotonlyheadofschool,thefaculty, staff, baseduponJewishvaluesthateveryone valueswhichwere had tohaveasetofcore to besuccessful,ournewinstitution needed toestablishafoundation.Ifwewere our headofschool,Dr. fordoingsowasbecausewe Powell.Themainreason Bruce high school,thefirstthingwedid,twoyearspriortoopening ourdoors,wastohire why,This isalsothereason thatwhenitcametime tocontemplatebuildingaJewish generationnowused tofollowintheirfootsteps. foundation thatweasthethird established bymygrandfather, the andpasseddown tomyfatheranduncle,were values and teachingsofitsfounders.AndwhenIjoinedthefamilybusiness, thecore fraternity, toleadbaseduponthe values thatIhadtheresponsibility andrealized ofmy and focused.Ithoughtbacktomyuniversitydays,whenbecamepresident myschoolyearstheyhelpedtokeepmegrounded stages ofmylife.Throughout thatthissolidfoundationofvalueshelpedguidemeduringthedifferent I realized andvalues. thefoundationofourJewishlearning school andCampRamahwastruly based uponJewishvalues.IthoughtabouthowtheirdecisiontosendusHebrew foundation,ahome mewithastrong provided beginningmyparents thevery From to besuccessful. foundationinorder thatIhaveeverbeeninvolvedinhasneededastrong erything thatev- life.Irealized myentire spoke backthenseemedtoguidemethroughout I strangefeelingthatthewords read myspeech,Ihadavery roof. AsI finally the tobuildahouse,firstthefoundation,nextwallsand necessary steps some 40yearsagocamebacktome.Ispokeaboutthethree ofwhatIhadsaid thespeech,memory Once Ibeganreading ¿ Create “A” Human Beings How aSchool and its Board my first attempt at publicspeaking. at attempt my first the congregation to at Ihadsaid read what by Howard Farber a moment and sat down to down andsat a moment were still legible,were still took soI faded somewhat,the words speech. the cards had the inkon While bima whenIdelivered my BarMitzvah flashcards that I brought up to the to Ibrought up that flashcards weeks ago, Icameacrossthe 3x5 es ofoldstuff afew inmy closet hile looking through looking somebox- Trustees of our ESLRs, in order tokeep Trustees ofourESLRs, inorder of students andmembersofthe Board Dr. thefaculty, Powellreminds staff, forthe Studentsstrivetosearch 6. Studentsachievecritical,synthetic, 5. Theschoolengendersinitsstudents 4. theirobligation Studentsappreciate 3. is Studentsunderstandthatlearning 2. Studentsengageinthoughtfulacts 1. asfollows: ESLRs weusetoguideusare ‘A’says, “create humanbeings.”Thesix designedto,asDr.lines thatare Powell [email protected]. in West Hills, CA. Hecanbereached at of NewCommunity JewishHigh School president board andacurrent member Howard Farber mine that which is truly important. mine thatwhichistruly deeper meaninginlifeanddeter- and choicesinlife. strive forwisdomintheirjudgments and evaluativethinkingskills of Jewishtradition. life basedupontheirunderstanding personal meaning,andpassionfor a senseofhope,joy, self-confidence, als ofothers. practicesandide- spect thereligious facets ofcommunitylife,andtore- all inandstrengthen to participate and Jewishvalues. the vitalinteractionofknowledge a life-longenterprise,andrecognize dom. act withintegrity, honesty, andwis- and of TikkunOlam(worldrepair), is the founding is board everyone focused on the type of value- clearly evident to them that our children turned away due to need” policy is also based education which we desire for our both truly respected and embraced the backed by the Board when a child needs children. ESLRs.” fi nancial assistance to go to Israel on one of the school’s two programs. The Board The ESLRs are used by the faculty in the Finally, the Board of Trustees uses the follows ESLR number 1, and acts with classrooms when teaching students, ESLRs not only when policy integrity and honesty when other fi nan- regardless of the subject matter. issues need to be decided, but cial decisions are made. For example, The teachers also use them outside the classrooms with their students If we were to be successful, our new and with each other, thus creating a campus-wide system of mutual institution had to have a set of core values respect. which were based upon Jewish values that

The administrative staff uses the ESLRs everyone could follow. It was our intention that when communicating to students, and not only our head of school, the faculty, staff, parents alike. Everyone who comes into the administrative offi ce fi nds it to be a and students would follow them, but our board very hospitable place and the entire staff of trustees would also use them while acting as polite and accommodating. ambassadors for the school. The students use the ESLRs in their search for, as Dr. Powell says, “understanding a throughout our board meetings when when deciding faculty salaries and bene- big thing from a little thing.” Recently crucial decisions affecting the school or fi ts, we budget for our Head of School to when a group from an outside accredita- an individual are required. In the past, be able to fairly compensate and provide tion committee came to the school, they they have been used when additional everyone with benefi ts without compro- did not truly buy into the whole ESLR tuition assistance funds were needed to mising the academic excellence our par- thing. When they actually engaged stu- make “New Jew” available to every Jew- ents and students require. The ESLRs dents in conversation, chosen at random, ish student wanting a Jewish values base are even used by each sub-committee they found out that our students not only education, and an affi rmative vote of the of the board when they are developing “walk the walk, they talk the talk.” It was Board was required. This “no child is [continued on page 65]

AVSAK welcomes the fi rst cohort t
N.E. Miles Jewish sors from the Univer- selected for JCAT: Jewish Court of Day School (Bir- sity of Michigan and All Time, our prestigious, interac- mingham, AL) University of Cincin- tive, online program in Jewish his- nati will guide the tory for middle school students. t
Paul Penna teachers through cur- Downtown Jew- ricular development, Mazel tov to the participating schools! ish Day School technology use, and (Toronto, ON) professional develop- t
Abraham Joshua Heschel Day ment in JCAT. The School (Northridge, CA) t
Rockwern Acad- program and training emy (Cincinnati, are fully funded thanks t
B’nai Shalom Day School (Greens- OH) to a three-year Signature boro, NC) Grant from the Covenant t
Seattle Jewish Commu- Foundation. ěđĞĕďĕĐ t
David Posnack Hebrew Day School nity School (Seattle, WA) (Plantation, FL) If you would like more information about

Teachers from these schools will take part the program or want to know how your r
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El Paso Jewish Academy (El Paso, in a training seminar for the program on school can participate, contact Dr. Elliott TX) June 6th-7th in Ann Arbor, MI. Profes- Rabin at [email protected].

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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Practice Vision in Development in Vision t
Our CaseStatementbeginswiththisvision: opment CommitteeChair, andme. President, Board tancies allowedustousetimeefficiently, witheditingworkoverseen byourDevel- asChalkWalks protocols number ofpeople,ourusesuchstructured andConsul- and Team involvedquitea Chairs. Thoughtheprocess LeadersandDepartment we engagedourEducationalLeadershipandAdministrative Teams, ourfullBoard, aconcise statement, Relentlessly pushedbyourDevelopmentCommitteetooffer crafted. distinctiveunlessawellstatedvisionofourgraduates couldbe not beparticularly would manyschools,theseareas the attentiontoJudaismmightdistinguishusfrom tance. Ultimately, foci:Judaism,Academics,andCommunity wechosethree believeshouldbeofimpor- doingwellandwhatparents mation aboutwhatweare ofourPeerYardstick bytheresults Survey,informed Parent infor- whichprovided thisquestion.Ourdiscussionswere ExecutiveCommitteeconsidered our Board’s it wedobest?OurEducationalLeadershipandAdministrativeTeams aswell Initially, JimCollins’s( weexplored be directed. tobuilddonorconfidenceinHMJDSandunderstandingofhowgiftswould order Fund campaignandsoughtadefinitionofwhatwedobest—andouraspirations—in dialogue.TheCommitteewasbuildingaCaseStatementforourAnnual recent ourmost ourDevelopmentCommitteethathasinspired from But itwasarequest ¿ dren’s achievement. teaching faculty facilitatesof a that chil- dents, andinterestingly,the characteristics ourstu- describing add avisionstatement viewed ourmissionstatement,to electing ditional way whenourBoard of Trustees re- we wrestled with this question in the tra-the this questionin we wrestled with by ask. MinneapolisJewishDaySchool,the Heilicher At the idealgraduatesvision of ofyour school?” hewould reminded me, sufficient. missionis not isyour“What define ourniche. But, Fox asSeymour frequently z”l the practiceto ofJudaismprovide anopportunity arange ofapproachesto teach andsupport to sion entrantsthe educationalscene. onto Ouruniquemis- and theStateofIsrael. forourlocalJewishcommunity,meaningful andengagingfuture worldJewry, toempowerHMJDSgraduatesbeambassadorsinshaping a ency necessary Judaism: ewish Ray Levi Offer the textual knowledge base, ritual experience and Hebrew flu- thetextualknowledgebase,ritual experienceandHebrew Offer community dayschoolsare relatively new Good toGreat) “hedgehog concept.”Whatis . While munications withourcommunity. allcom- given clarityoffocustovirtually Ithas anddevelop newprograms. refine tantly, aswe foroureducationalstaff in HMJDS,andperhapsmost impor- tion forourfamilies,thoseinterested applica- vision statementhasfargreater this planning, Ihopeyouwouldagree, Beyond thevalueinourdevelopment strategic planningforourfuture. to projects headed,linkingcurrent we’re tiatives helppotentialdonorsseewhere ties, descriptionsoflarger, ini- long-term as wethinkaboutendowmentpossibili- plans.And listingsofshort-term through tions willimmediatelyimpactourvision dors describewaysinwhichcontribu- Ambassa- identifiedareas. of thethree have describedaccomplishmentsineach document totelltheHMJDSstory. We on thisvision,usingtheCaseStatement Our AnnualFundambassadorshavebuilt t
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at [email protected]. Jewish Day School. Hecanbereached Amos andCelia Minneapolis Heilicher Dr. Ray Levi tools to care forothers. tools tocare sity andhavethecommitment championsofcommunitydiver-are sothat HMJDSgraduates support nity thatmodelsvaluesofmutual sive andaccessibleschoolcommu- Community: century. solversintothe21st ative problem students tobecomeleadersandcre- nication skillsthatallowHMJDS andcommu- analytical, research rience thatdevelopsthenecessary Academics: is Head of School at the isHeadofSchoolat Provide a learning expe- alearning Provide Build a strong, inclu- Build astrong,

¿ How a School and its Board Create “A” Human Beings

[continued from page 63] when our Board admitted a student to our All of us associated with New Community programs or working on fundraising op- school who was asked, for whatever rea- Jewish High School are guided by our set portunities. son, to leave another school. We did so of core values, or ESLRs. It is our belief because of our school motto of “building that if we all strive to follow these guide- A prime examples of how our Board fol- community, one mind at a time.” We did lines, then together as a community, we lows ESLR number 3, building communi- so because of ESLR number 1, engaging will create not only an educational institu- ty, is our policy that encourages our head in thoughtful acts of Tikkun Olam. What tion that will turn out “A” human beings, of school to go out into the community, better way could we begin repairing the but we will have created a system of suc- to other schools, and provide pro-bono world then to save a child, who had a ter- cession planning based upon Jewish val- workshops on everything from Board rible lapse in judgment. Today, this child ues. Generation after generation of “New governance, fundraising, and even helping is a graduate of New Jew and attends a Jew” alumni will constantly engage them- to create mission and vision statements. major university, and as a Board, we are selves in thoughtful acts of Tikkun Olam, very proud to have been able to help and on that day, our vision and mission One of the most gratifying moments was along the way. will have been accomplished. ¿

Bridging Vision, Curriculum, and Student Learning [continued from page 17] using protocols to tune and aid each oth- Jewish day schools. What would it mean tic performance assessments that require er’s work; observing each other’s teach- to create standards for a rabbinics cur- students to synthesize skills learned and ing; studyingTanakh together; and engag- riculum, or a Jewish history curriculum? knowledge attained. ing in professional learning- all hallmarks How would we translate a school’s vision of effective professional development. of Jewish education into instructional Standards and benchmarks are, then, criti- Through their work together, teachers manifestations in the learning of Talmud cal bridges between a school’s vision and develop common language about their and Midrash, or modern Israeli history its actual curriculum. Without standards, shared vision and professional practice. and sociology? Or, thinking more holisti- vision talk and curriculum planning are Ongoing collaboration provides teaches cally, how might a school’s Jewish vision two separate enterprises. Standards help with an opportunity to learn from one an- infuse the learning outcomes we seek in teachers align the lofty statements of other while increasing individual teachers’ social studies or language arts? Once you educational vision with the daily work of instructional skills. Faculties participating start thinking in the language of standards what goes on in the Tanakh classroom. in the Standards and Benchmarks Project and benchmarks, previously fanciful state- Standards and Benchmarks are Visions of soon become “professional learning com- ments such as these become within cur- Jewish Education meets Understanding munities” which Michael Fullan has veri- ricular reach. by Design. It’s a powerful combination of fi ed improves student learning. educational theory and practice. Standards and benchmarks are not a Standards and panacea for education in our schools. But Standards and Benchmarks Develop Col- Benchmarks beyond our experience with schools which have laborative Faculty Culture Tanakh gone through the Project over the last few years does indicate that it can be an By developing a shared vision for the extraordinary way to enhance instruction teaching and learning of Tanakh, and com- While the Jewish Day School Standards and improve student learning in Tanakh. mitting to working together to embody and Benchmarks Project has thus far Ultimately, what it has taught us is that this vision in practice, teachers and Judaic concentrated on the teaching of Tanakh, vision and curriculum can and must be studies leaders suddenly fi nd themselves it has implications for the way we teach bridged. ¿ planning curriculum together in teams; other Judaic and secular subjects in our

RAVSAK strengthens and sustains the life, leadership and learning of Jewish community day schools, ensuring a vibrant Jewish future. ěđĞĕďĕĐ

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Online: www.ravsak.org | By mail: RAVSAK, 120 West 97th Street, New York, NY 10025 [65] [66] )B:JEJPO
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ěđĞĕďĕĐ Rinaldi, Carlina. to Standards Reeves, DouglasB. andPracticeof BeitRabban Theory Pekarsky, Daniel. gence BelieforUnbelief Noddings, N. sation: TheIdealoftheEducatedWoman JaneRoland. Martin, coming aTeacher Kohl, Herbert. andPractice. ing theBibleinTheory Holtz, Barry. Change Ibid. of Change Fullan, Michael. Daniel, eds. Fox, Seymour, Israel,andMarom, Scheffler, Educational Institutions Ramah onthePowerofIdeasinShaping LessonsfromCamp sion attheHeart: Novak. Fox, SeymourwithWilliam Fogarty, R. You Happier New ScienceofGratitudeCanMake A. Emmons, Robert to Learn Darling-Hammond, Linda. ture ofBelonging Block, Peter. Books /Studies Bookcase Peoplehood: CanWe BeOne? Erica. Brown, The NewMeaningofEducational . . issue of and peoplefromthe RAVSAK the current theme of network,the to pertaining his . How toIntegratetheCurricula . Visions ofJewishEducation . Textual Knowledge:Teach- column features books, andwebsites, articles recommended byourauthors Community: TheStruc- Growing Minds:OnBe- Educating forIntelli- . . In Dialoguewith Reg- Leading inaCulture The CaseforJewish Vision atWork: The The Leader’sGuide Reclaiming aConver- HaYidion Thanks: Howthe . . The Right . for readers whowanttopic ingreaterto investigate depth. the Vi- . . . ucation andthe Development ofReason ed Man,”inR.F. etal.,eds., Dearden Peters, R.S.”Educationandthe Educat- ofEducation American Journal ments, Counter-arguments, Rejoinders,” andEducation:Argu- Ibid. “Vision nal ofJewishEducation in JewishEducationalReform,” Pekarsky, Daniel.“ThePlaceofVision ofJewishEducation Journal ofJewishEducation," sation onVisions Jewish Education:InitiatingaConver- Levisohn, JonA.“IdeasandIdealsof Social Reality.” ington: RabbinicText, UrbanPolicy, and PumbeditatoWash-Jacobs, Jill.“From White, eds., andPatricia Practices,” inRobinBarrow Hirst, Paul.“Education,Knowledge,and education.htm. maljewisheducation/informal_jewish_ http://www.infed.org/infor-from JewishEducation,”retrieved Informal Chazan, Barry. “ThePhilosophyof Character,” in Buber, “TheEducationof Martin. /Periodicals Articles derstanding byDesign Grant,&McTighe,Jay.Wiggins, New Science Wheatley, Margaret. That Are Meaningful Practice forConductingPrayerServices Wachs, SaulP. Rosenak, Michael. Learning gio Emilia:Listening,Researchng and . . Beyond LiberalEducation Between Manand Shofar Towards of aTheory Roads tothePalace Leadership andthe . . , Summer2008. 63. 71. 113. Jour- Un- Ed- . . . . 1999 and Issues,” in theUnitedStates:RecentTrends Wertheimer, Jack. “JewishEducation Jewish Studies,BrandeisUniversity. October 2002,CenterforModern Potential ofJewishSummerCamps,” by theLake:FulfillingEducational “Limud Sales, AmyandSaxe,Leonard. Deitcher.Howard Communities, Schools,” in AmericanDayHigh cation inNorth S. “ShabbatonimasExperientialEdu- Reimer, Jeffrey JosephB.andKress, Flexner, andL.D.Bloomberg. Practice Education: PerspectivesonResearch for in vid. “ExperientialJewishEducation,” Da- Reimer, JosephB.andBryfman, Werepair.org http://www.touchstones.org/ Touchstones DiscussionProject: Servicelearning.org Nationalservice.gov gramsEn/Visions Mli.org.il/MandelCMS/English/Pro- tion/curriculum_intro.htm http://www.lookstein.org/integra- xml www.jtsa.edu/standardsbenchmarks. Jewish Women’s Jwa.org Archive: Jewishjustice.org American JewishWorld Ajws.org Service: Online Resources What We NowKnowAboutJewish , ed.DavidSinger. , eds.R.L.Goodman,P. A. American JewishYearbook, Jewish DaySchools, eds. AlexPomsonand One of the objectives of Jewish schools is to stimulate the child’s curiosity about his heritage, his roots and his Jewish lifestyle. Otzar HaHochma is an innovative tool for learning and researching any and every Jewish topic. The digital Judaic library includes over 42,000 Judaic books that have been scanned, page by page, in their original format. The sophisticated search engine enables one to find a specific book and page, reference sources and any other information in a matter of seconds. The user can glean comprehensive knowledge on every topic, such as: Torah commentaries, Jewish Law and customs, Jewish holidays, Torah sages and leaders, genealogy, and much more.

NEW! School Edition This edition contains over 13.000 books and includes all basic works in all Torah and Judaic fields, from Chazal to modern day sources, commentaries to the Bible, Mishnah and Talmud, works in Jewish philosophy and mussar; in addition to books on Jewish history and Jewish communities, Hebrew language and grammar, encyclopedia's and more. The school version is tailored to the specific needs and educational scope of both educators and students and serves as a useful aid in preparing lessons, source sheets, projects and assignments in all Judaic fields. [email protected] ěđĞĕďĕĐ

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