Section archive - Conferences & Events

The inaugural “Service Matters: A Summit on Jewish Service” will be held in New York September 15, 2016, bringing together a diverse group of professionals, social entrepreneurs, current and prospective funders, Jewish educators, and others working to engage people – especially Jewish millennials – in meaningful service through a Jewish lens. Speakers and sessions will explore innovations in service, how service relates to justice, how service relates to faith, the funding of service initiatives, and the overall state of the Jewish service field today. Presenters and session facilitators will include both Jewish and non-Jewish educators, nonprofit leaders, social entrepreneurs, politicians, actors, and others who are both committed to service and have successes and challenges to share. The Summit will be followed the next day with a day of Service opportunities.

8We are pleased to announce that the World Zionist Organization is holding another professional development seminar in Israel in the area of Israel Education for educators from abroad who wish to enhance their expertise in the field and deepen their personal understanding of contemporary Israel. The seminar will run from July 18-27, 2016 (9 nights) and is aimed at educators committed to the importance of Israel in the development of Jewish identity who are working with ages 13 and up in both formal and experiential settings. The itinerary will incorporate a rich variety of interactive field experiences around the country, engagement with colorful Israeli personalities, and practical workshops during which particpants will have the opportunity to conceptualize curricula and develop lesson plans taking advantage of the wealth of materials available at the Herzl Museum and Educational Center and other lsrael-based educational institutions.

Now is the time to seize the momentum of Jewish early engagement and provide consistent programming for Jewish families across the nation. Many of our young adults have benefited from national Jewish camping initiatives and the national Taglit Birthright program, and have started to solidify their Jewish identity. As our young adults marry and start to raise families, we must continue to help them using a national approach with the task of creating a Jewish home and raising Jewishly identifying children if we want to ensure the future of the American Jewish community. One possibility for the Jewish community today is to determine how best to share our locally successful strategies of Jewish early engagement to even out the field so that regions that are not as successful can benefit from localized success in early engagement. The Jewish Early Engagement Forum (JEEF) has been established by Rachel Raz of the Early Childhood Institute of Hebrew College. JEEF builds upon conversations spanning two years about how to enable the architecture of a nationally uniform early engagement strategy for the American Jewish Community.

The Shalom Hartman Institute’s 2016 Community Leadership Program Summer Retreat (CLP), which draws more than 100 Jewish community leaders from North America to the Institute's Jerusalem campus every summer, is scheduled to be held June 28 – July 5, 2016. The theme for 2016 will be ' What is a Jew: Dilemmas of Identity in the 21st Century.' Join us for an unforgettable journey of study and discovery as we grapple with the challenges and explore the opportunities of 21st century Jewish identity.