Search results for: Congregational education

Along with the development of programs for social and emotional growth, many congregational learning teams are refocusing their efforts more broadly to include the socio-affective domain. Jewish educators are asking how they may help their students develop social relationships that are embedded with Jewish values. They are seeking to create Jewish learning that nurtures the soul, honors spiritual curiosity, and is relevant to their lives. Jewish educators working in the part-time space are experimenting with a number of models that foster choice and emphasize the value of group work.

In a bid to encourage and equip as many congregations as possible to innovate and transform their approach to Jewish learning, the Experiment in Congregational Education (ECE) is launching The Toolbox: Resources to Experiment in Congregational Education. The Toolbox makes available to you and your team a vast collection of resources from 24 years of the ECE’s work in the field of education-based synagogue transformation. These resources will make easier the challenging task of changing an educational approach, applying the tools and methods of those who have gone before.

Gleanings is the ejournal of the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education of The Jewish Theological Seminary. Ever since the 1992 National Jewish Population Study, many of us—educators, clergy, philanthropists—have been engaged in heroic efforts to revitalize congregational education. While we have had made notable progress for which we should be rightly proud, this field has remained stubbornly resistant to deep transformation. This past October, The Davidson School of JTS brought together a group of scholars, rabbis, educators, and change practitioners from across denominations and North America to learn together and begin to design an innovative path forward. Out of this gathering came a renewed sense of hope, a desire for collaboration among diverse institutions, and a revitalized sense of transformative purpose. In this issue of Gleanings, we present a selection of the papers that participants wrote for our deliberation which stimulated rich dialogue. Included first in this issue is a nascent, overarching vision of education toward covenantal community, which emerged during the gathering.

Rabbi Jim Rogozen, Chief Learning Officer at United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, suggests a few ideas that might bridge the gap between mission/vision and curriculum in an attempt to revitalize Conservative congregations and their educational programs.