Source: Journal of Jewish Education, Volume 80, Issue 3, pages 160-192
This article documents the Journal of Jewish Education’s acquisition by the Network for Research in Jewish Education, in 2004, and evaluates the contribution of the re-launched Journal to the field of Jewish education. The author explores how the Journal contributed over the past decade in three discrete yet often overlapping areas, thereby realizing its editors’ vision.
First, the Journal of Jewish Education became the venue for conversations between researchers, practitioners and funders about the direction of Jewish education research and policy; second, it became an outlet for the sharing of research and other Jewish education scholarship; and third, it became a venue where scholars introduced research and theoretical constructs from the field of general education and sought to demonstrate their relevance to Jewish education. Finally, the author suggests some reasons why the editors had less success in realizing a fourth goal for the Journal; that is, making it a forum for new ideas and the charting of new directions in research and practice.
Ten years after the relaunching of the Journal, both the Network for Research in Jewish Education and the editorial team of the Journal can take pride in the Journal’s strides. As the oldest Jewish education periodical in continuous publication, the Journal of Jewish Education has secured a privileged place in the history of Jewish education. As its readership celebrates the Journal’s 80th volume, they can be confident of its continued relevance and vitality.