Search results for: Innovation

The analysis examines the genesis of the Lippman-Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah’s Prize in Applied Jewish Wisdom (AJW) that was first awarded in 2016. The foundation invented both the phrase AJW and the prize to highlight the qualities of Jewish content being employed by promising educators and activists in the “Jewish innovation ecosystem.”

The mid-20th century Jewish community center was built on the model of a brick-and-mortar, full-service, membership-based community center. This model is increasingly out of step with today’s reality. The purpose of the Innovating JCCs study was to seek out new ideas in the field and identify ways that JCCs might break through the old model to become successful 21st century agencies. Lessons from the research are relevant not only to JCCs, but also to synagogues and other legacy institutions in the Jewish community.

In this article, the authors describe and discuss applications of the Group-Level Assessment/Understanding (GLA/GLU) process, an innovative participatory action research methodology. The authors first describe the GLA/GLU application in the Mandel Teacher Educator Institute (MTEI) and the creation of an MTEI interpretive community to deeply analyze the collected data. The authors then describe adaptations of the process in their home communities to address community-identified dilemmas, tensions, and problems. The article concludes with reflections on common themes that emerged in the GLA/GLU applications–shared power, risk-taking, and methodological innovation.

Afterschool Jewish educators are on the front lines of Jewish learning for hundreds of thousands of children making Jewish life and learning meaningful and joyful every day. They support our kids and families to build positive Jewish identities. Yet too often they are undervalued and left out of larger conversations about Jewish learning after school.