Effective school-based induction for new teachers involves much more than mentoring; it requires a comprehensive array of supports buttressed by a collaborative professional culture. Yet few schools are able to offer such a nourishing environment to their new hires. What would it take to bridge the gap between the real and the ideal? In 2005, a team of researchers and practitioners launched a three-year project with two goals: a) to help the leaders of four Jewish day schools create comprehensive systems of induction for their new teachers and b) to carefully document the process. This paper presents the theory behind their work, their strategies for effecting change and lessons learned along the way.

With the opening of the 2009-10 school year, 5 more elementary schools around the FSU will begin to implement the TaL Am curriculum of Hebrew language and Jewish heritage, bringing to 700 the number of FSU elementary school students studying in the TaL Am program. During the 2007 and 2008 school years, the Heftziba program - a joint project of Israel’s Ministry if Education and the Jewish Agency - and the administration of the Ohr Avner Foundation, have been implementing a pilot project of the TaL Am program in ten elementary schools. The positive results of the pilot project have brought the addition of the new schools.

This article focuses on the ways hevruta learning can contribute to teachers' capacity to be present to self, other, subject matter and the cultural context in which the learning occurred. Hevruta learning, when conceptualized for the purposes of teachers' professional development, brings to the fore both the interpretive and relational aspects of the learning process. The theoretical frameworks of philosophical hermeneutics and relational psychology infuse our design of hevruta learning as well as our analysis of teachers' unfolding awareness of presence.

Some 40,000 Jews are estimated to reside in Mexico City, most of them European and Syrian immigrants, and they have constructed an impressive network comprising more than a dozen schools, nearly twice as many synagogues and a huge gleaming sports center. In recent years, Mexican Jews have made a noticeable effort to reach beyond the walls and develop closer ties with their non-Jewish countrymen.

The primary mission of the Judaica Sound Archives at Florida Atlantic Universities Libraries is to collect, preserve, and digitize Judaica sound recordings; to provide educational programming to highlight the contents of this rich cultural legacy; and to promote the use of this unique scholarly resource for students, scholars and the general public. The JSA maintains a website with over 7700 recordings in eight categories for the use of students, scholars and the general public. The online collection is searchable by performers, albums, track names and categories.