Search results for: Camps

A new subject, 'Jewish Culture and Heritage,' will be become part of the compulsory curriculum in the upcoming school year in Israel. Some 900 teachers will be trained to teach the subject in the fifth to eighth grades following a successful trial. The new subject was initiated by Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar with the aim of strengthening the Jewish, Zionist and democratic values among students, as part of the objectives he declared upon taking office. The Education Ministry has begun to train special teachers for the program who will receive a diploma expanding their teaching license upon the completion of their training.

Three exceptional educators from across the spectrum of Jewish life are 2011 recipients of the Covenant Award for committing to excellence in Jewish education and pursuing innovative approaches that inspire and empower students, colleagues and community. Rabbi Eve Ben-Ora, Jewish Educator at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco; Amy Skopp Cooper, Director of Ramah Day Camp in Nyack (New York) and Assistant Director of the National Ramah Commission; and Rabbi Shai Held, Dean, and Chair in Jewish Thought at Mechon Hadar in New York City are the 2011 recipients. The three recipients join 60 other Jewish educators honored with a Covenant Award since the Foundation established the citation in 1991. Each will receive $36,000, and each of their institutions will receive $5,000

This report follows up on the seminal study of Jewish camps, Limud by the Lake: Fulfilling the Potential of Jewish Summer Camps and the subsequent book, “How Goodly Are Thy Tents”: Summer Camps as Jewish Socializing Experiences. This report presents the results of a summer 2008 study of Jewish summer camps. It describes changes in the field over the previous eight years and presents new data on the families and staff that comprise the camp community. It concludes with a set of questions about the future of the field and five recommendations for expanding and deepening the Jewish summer camp experience.

In this article, Howard Blas, Director of the Tikvah Program at Camp Ramah in New England and a member of the inaugural cohort of the Jim Joseph Foundation Fellows – Leading Educators Online, describes the challenges, successes and benefits of an online Community of Practice for directors of eight Ramah overnight and day camps in the United States and Canada.