Section archive - In-Service Training

In May of this year, with funding from the Foundation for Jewish Camps and AVI CHAI Foundation, we convened our pilot group near Yosemite National Park for the first-ever session of Jewish Outdoor Leadership Training for summer camp employees – aptly abbreviated to JOLT. For five intense days, these camp and wilderness leaders from nine summer camps (who together reached somewhere between 7000-8000 campers) found new connections to their Judaism and ways of teaching Judaism outdoors and on the camp trail.

Two days have passed since the summer meeting of the MOFET International Forum of Teachers of Hebrew as an Additional Language was held, and I am still excited about it. We met members from all over the world – people whom we usually only encounter 'virtually' via the Internet website. It was very interesting and enjoyable to meet them face to face. The session took place as a learning encounter that included two artistic interludes. At this meeting, the emphasis was placed on learning difficulties and ways of resolving them.

A first-of-a-kind symposium has opened today, July 8, 2015, focusing on tefilah in Jewish day schools. Aleinu Leshabe’ach, organized by the Pardes Center for Jewish Educators, has brought together 17 tefilah facilitators, across all grades, from Orthodox, Conservative and Community day schools, to spend six days exploring the challenges and new possibilities for tefilah education.

Over 50 Hillel professionals met the first week of June at Capital Camps for the first Hillel Educators Kallah. Attendees represented the gamut of Hillel roles, directors, engagement professionals, campus rabbis, and more. Regardless of title or job description, we consider ourselves Jewish educators. But we were stuck when asked if we really consider ourselves educators – what was our pedagogy? What was our method and practice? How could it be assessed, and indeed, are we even able to really demonstrate our successes? It became clear during our discussion that if Hillel staff, regardless of academic training, are going to consider ourselves Jewish educators, we need a method and practice that will merge the central elements, or commonplaces, of Judaism (God, Torah and Israel) with the central elements of education (subject, learner, educator and environment). What would be a curriculum that could be shared by Hillel movement? Even further, how would we measure the successful implementation of that content?