Section archive - Trends in Jewish Education

In a recent blog post on the blog of the Office of High School Programs at Brandeis University, Dvora Goodman, director of Genesis at Brandeis University, issued a call to both Jewish educators and parents to work together to make it clear to Jewish youth that Jewish education is a number one priority.

A growing number of parents are opting for home-based Jewish learning as an attractive and convenient alternative to synagogue-based Hebrew schools. This article tries to explain why this trend is becoming popular. One reason is certainly the cost barrier, since many synagogues usually require a minimum of two to three years of enrollment and temple membership before allowing students to celebrate their bar/bat mitzvah. Another reason is that some parents simply had bad experiences themselves in Hebrew school and want to give their children something different. Other families feel that home-based programs enable them to obtain a more personalized education for their child in less time, with more flexibility and on a more convenient schedule than they would in a congregational program.

An intergenerational group of Jewish educators has issued a call to the grassroots membership of the Jewish educational community to re-establish the pluralistic network that was CAJE under the name NewCAJE – New Coalition for Alternatives in Jewish Education. The new organization will incorporate the core CAJE values of pluralism, shared teaching and learning, and immersion in Torah l’shema. Operationally, it will be volunteer-led and supported by its grassroots constituency. Money initially raised will go to buy the intellectual property of the former organization, to outreach to the next generation of Jewish educators, and to produce the next conference.

Over 150 Chabad pre-schools and day care centers are spread across the US. Although 25% of them are in New York State, others are located throughout the US in places such as Alabama, Arkansas, New Mexico, and Hawaii and Reno, Nevada. California has 26 Chabad preschools. Chabad, with the establishment of their preschools, is trying to reach out to parents of young children to expose parents and children to the warmth of Judaism, hoping to leave a lasting impression on them.