Section archive - Trends in Jewish Education

The Consortium for Applied Studies in Jewish Education (CASJE) recently collaborated with ReplyAll to host our first blogcast, “Beyond Jewish Identity: Rethinking the Purposes of Jewish Education.” The medium allowed us to create a panel, or “cast,” of contributors, who posted regularly over the course of one week. In line with CASJE’s mission, the cast included researchers, practitioners and funders. The topic of “Beyond Jewish Identity” was inspired by an important conference recently hosted by the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University. Conference chairs, Jon Levisohn and Ari Kelman, gathered some 40 researchers, practitioners, funders and thinkers for the conference, entitled “On Rethinking Jewish Identity and Jewish Education.”

With increasing text accessibility and information overload, the 21st century requires educators to radically shift the way they define and understand what texts are and how they and their students use and relate to those texts. We assert that critical thinking with critical literacy prepares students as 21st century glocal citizens by providing an avenue to examine the constant incoming information. Incorporating the lens of critical literacy in education is a transformative process that occurs over time. In this paper, we first define glocalization, then we define critical literacy and examine why it is important now. Finally, we present examples of how teachers can include critical literacy skills in the Jewish day school classroom.

The establishment of academic Jewish Studies positions and programs at a significant number of public and private North American institutions of higher education during the final third of the twentieth century is an interesting and complex phenomenon. In these remarks, the author provides a brief historical overview of academic Jewish Studies in North America and reflects on the present state of Jewish Studies programs in secular higher education settings and their ongoing challenges and future prospects. Her conclusions are neither comprehensive nor data-driven nor do they focus on the vibrant and excellent scholarship that characterizes Jewish Studies in 2013.

Earlier this month, the Israeli cabinet approved a new government initiative to invest some NIS 60 million ($17 million) in programs that connect Diaspora Jews with Israel. The new money isn’t much, but it’s only the beginning, intended as seed money for new programs that will be expanded if they prove successful. In 2016, the government has promised, the cabinet will hold a second vote, this time on a massive expansion of the funding by as much as NIS 400 million ($116 million) per year.