Section archive - Trends in Jewish Education

Haviv Rettig Gur writes about how the latest community study of New York Jewry, by the UJA-Federation of New York has broken new ground in the complicated art of studying American Jews. By sampling an unprecedented 6,000 households, asking new kinds of questions about religious practice, and focusing on areas with low rates of affiliation alongside the more concentrated Jewish communities, the study has for the first time offered local Jewish organizations and community planners new tools for tackling questions of identity, engagement, poverty and education.

Joseph Reimer, associate editor of the JJE, opens this issue devoted to responses to Jonathan Woocher's article “Reinventing Jewish Education for the 21st Century” which appeared in the last issue of this Journal (summer, 2012). He formulates three central questions which arise from those responses.

Davenspot posted on their blog a Manifesto for Jewish Education, written by Aryeh Ben David of Ayeka: Center for Soulful Education, which was posted on Lookjed and has been generating some constructive conversation. Ben David asserts that our educational goal should be not only to preserve our voices of the past, but to enable and encourage our own authentic voices to be heard and to enable personal and spiritual growth.

The JDC writes about the bubbling activity taking place at Yesod Jewish Community Center, the first-rate, central hub of Jewish life in the cosmopolitan city of St. Petersburg, Russia. Masha Aryeva, 39, the director of Yesod JCC for the last two years, tells about the inclusive atmosphere at Yesod where anyone of any age, background, or socioeconomic level is completely welcome—and that there is always something for everyone going on.