This study analyzes the ways in which practitioner inquiry engages graduate student educators in understanding how to navigate the complexities and contingencies of teaching. By examining the challenges graduate student teachers faced while conducting practitioner inquiry, as well as the categories of teacher knowledge they developed in the process, this article demonstrates that the primary value of novice practitioner inquiry is in the cultivation of educators who can approach their practice with deeper analysis, self-awareness, and sophistication. By learning to adopt an inquiry stance and translate their research into action, they can elevate the quality of their own teaching. As they become more seasoned, and if a culture and scaffold can be created to advance and support their inquiry, teachers have the potential to enrich best practices in the field by sharing their research-generated perspectives with colleagues.

The aim of this research is to investigate the intergenerational changes that have occurred in Australian Jewish day schools and the challenges these pose for religious and Jewish education. Using a grounded theory approach according to the constant comparative method, data from three sources (interviews [296], observations [27], and documents) were analyzed, thus enabling triangulation.

This issue of HaYidion is devoted to teaching Jewish history. Our history is integral to who we are, yet ours is not a happy story. Thus, as many of the authors in this issue point out, it is unappealing to those whose focal point of Jewish identity, as revealed by the Pew Report, is a sense of humor. Within the pages of this issue of HaYidion are many suggestions for addressing this problem. Technology, creativity and an acknowledgement and awareness of the changing nature of the study of history provide the means by which we can make the teaching of Jewish history vibrant and meaningful.

The Jewish Funders Network has released the latest edition of its Greenbooks, a series of guides written for funders to maximize the impact of their giving. The second volume is devoted to Hitchadshut Yehudit, (Jewish Renewal) in Israel. Hitchadshut Yehudit (Jewish Renewal) refers to programs that offer Jewish Israelis opportunities for learning, cultural expression, identity exploration, spirituality and prayer, and social action. All are explicitly based on Jewish values, texts and traditions, and infused with pluralism and autonomy. This Greenbook highlights the multi-faceted nature of Hitchadshut Yehudit.

As a Jewish innovation enthusiast, and as a software engineer, it was with great excitement and surprise that I learned of the Jim Joseph Foundation awarding a $250,000 grant in support of the Sefaria project. Sefaria describes itself as “a living library of Jewish Texts and their interconnections, in Hebrew and in translation.” It offers a beautiful interface to open source Jewish texts, accompanied by parallel crowdsourced translations, and includes some works translated into English for the very first time.