Section archive - Informal Education

The MOFET International Hebrew Writing Competition for 2019 has come to an exciting conclusion, with 165 entries that met the requirements of the competition. The entries were classified according to three age groups (preschoolers - preschool to grade 3, primary and middle schools, high schools, universities and adults). Each age group was divided into three levels of Hebrew, beginner level, intermediate level , and advanced level). The entries came from many countries: Austria, Ukraine, Argentina, USA, Denmark, Hong Kong, Japan, Israel, Mexico, France, South Korea, Canada and Russia.

Lost & Found is a game series, created at the Initiative for Religion, Culture, and Policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology MAGIC Center. The series teaches medieval religious legal systems. This article uses the first two games of the series as a case study to explore a particular set of processes to conceive, design, and develop games for learning. It includes the background leading to the author's work in games and teaching religion, and the specific context for the Lost & Found series. It discusses the rationale behind working to teach religious legal systems more broadly, then discuss the hermeneutics influencing the approach to understanding the legal systems being modeled and closes with a discussion of the kind of teaching and learning involved in the design of the games and early stage data on the public play of the games.

The purpose of this study was to identify interpretive strategies used by museums in connecting visitors to Holocaust survivors through testimony. As the Holocaust recedes further into the past and Holocaust survivors get older, Holocaust museums must find new ways to stay relevant and connect visitors to survivor testimony. Studies have indicated that meeting a survivor and hearing their testimony firsthand can be the most salient part of visiting a Holocaust museum, and therefore understanding how museums use survivor testimony now can help develop ways to continue to use it in the future.

The Tikvah Overseas Student Institute invites gap-year students studying in Israel to apply for a series of seminars sponsored by the Tikvah Fund. The educational programs that make up the institute supplement gap-year curricula by providing intimate settings for interdisciplinary study, dialogue, and camaraderie with other select students. By exposing our participants to great texts, intellectuals, and activists, the institute aims to inspire the next generation of thinkers who can lead the Jewish community, informed by Jewish values and ideas, as we confront the great questions of our times.