At the beginning of the school year I asked the students who are enrolled in my senior Maayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls Honors Tanakh class, to ponder the question “If you could learn anything in Tanakh, what would you choose?” I asked this question as the kick-off of our Google 80/20 project, a year-long, in-school independent research project which culminates in a real-world product and a public exhibition.

If the Jewish world is a large circle with Jews of all nationalities and cultures are standing on its perimeter, then Jerusalem is the center of that circle. Jerusalem is the capital city of the Jewish people for more than 3000 years, it unites us all and gives us our common identity. Now more than ever, it is vital that Jewish communities worldwide understand and celebrate the central role that Jerusalem plays in connecting us all to each other. In this FREE Jewish educators resource guide, we will give you a basis for a Jerusalem Scavenger Hunt activity and we will give you a list of our favorite Jerusalem/Israel resources. This guide can be used by formal and informal Jewish education settings alike.

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.

The nonprofit G-dcast, which makes videos and apps for those looking to learn more about Judaism is about to release “Shaboom!” a 10-part online series of short cartoons for young children that teach Jewish values. The series premieres April 6, 2016. A few weeks before the debut of the first video, G-dcast rebranded itself with a new website and name, “BimBam,” a reference to the popular children’s Shabbat song. The name change and release of “Shaboom!” represents a major shift for the award-winning nonprofit, both in terms of the audience it is trying to reach and the vehicle through which it is trying to reach them. BimBam’s change in focus reflects a shift that has been happening increasingly over the past decade throughout the Jewish educational world.

Jewish educators and Jewish educational policy makers often use the language of transformation when describing the effects of programs. We aim for more than just cognitive achievement; we want our programs to make a meaningful, lasting difference in the lives of the participants. But the language of transformation needs to be explored more critically. What do we really mean, when we talk about transformative Jewish education? How do we think that transformation occurs? What does it look like when it happens? There are many pockets of excellence across the Jewish educational landscape – but for the most part, those examples remain isolated and hidden. The best and most creative educational work is neither visible nor documented, so no one outside these programs is learning from them. This conference was a step towards improving that situation by bringing together some of those programs, and creating an opportunity for leading educators to study them systematically.

The RAVSAK Head of School Professional Excellence Project (HoSPEP) embraces the idea that rising educational leaders greatly benefit from mentorship and coaching by more experienced peers. RAVSAK carefully select PEP Fellows, talented and motivated new heads of school, and pair them with experienced Deans, who offer one-on-one advice and encouragement over the course of a year. Through this partnership, Fellows gain access to experienced, supportive leaders who understand what is needed to succeed and are prepared to guide them to lead their schools into a vibrant Jewish future.