For years, many graduates of Jewish day schools around the world — and their parents — have expressed disappointment in their level of Hebrew proficiency despite years of Jewish education. To help solve that problem — and in the process afford Hebrew educators the same respect and status that tends to be given to other educators — Builders of Jewish Education (BJE) in Los Angeles has partnered with Hebrew at the Center (HATC), a Massachusetts-based nonprofit. Dedicated to professionalizing Hebrew language instruction, we launched a multi-year program for L.A. day schools known as the Hebrew Language Proficiency Project, which, since 2011, has had an impact on 2,000 students, 65 teachers, and 27 Hebrew coordinators and lead teachers.

I would like to share with you some wonderful online learning opportunities through the MOFET Institute. MOFET which is based in Israel offers online courses in English on the Educational Use of Information and Communication Technologies as well as enrichment courses in teaching Jewish Studies. Full disclosure, I teach a course in each of these programs on Using Web 2.0 Tools to Transform Teaching and Learning and on Using Technology to Teach Talmud and Torah She’Baal Peh. What I find to be most rewarding about these courses is the incredible diversity of the students. I have had students from 6 continents, Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe, North America, and South America and from various cultural and religious backgrounds. This diversity creates a rich discussion and fruitful sharing which would not be possible in a conventional course in a brick and mortar school. I welcome you to enroll in one of these courses. The Fall Semester begins on October 18, 2015 so there is still time to register.

AlHaTorah.org invites educators to utilize its new online Hebrew customizable Mikraot Gedolot. This edition contains a wide array of classical commentators, including newly published material from Rashbam and R. Yosef Kara, Rashi Leipzig and several other commentaries now digitized and incorporated in a Mikraot Gedolot for the first time (Dayyakot LeRashbam, R. Avraham b. HaRambam, Shadal first edition, Ibn Kaspi). The Online Mikraot Gedolot allows users to choose which commentators they want to appear on the screen, so that teachers can adapt it to their classroom's specific needs. Students will love the ease of navigation and clarity of the text. Those who want to delve deeper can turn on the notes setting and learn more about the text and its context.

Dr. Esther Kalnisky of Achva College and the MOFET Institute introduces the newly published book: Journeys of Hope: Ethiopian Jews in the Paths of Education, Academic Studies, and Success by Esther Kalnisky, Shosh Millet, and Nahum Cohen all of whom have been involved in teacher education for many years, particularly in the training of students who either immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia or were born in Israel to native Ethiopian parents. The book tells the moving story of the Ethiopian Jews' journey to Israel – a journey fraught with hardships – as well as their encounter with everyday life in the new land with its dual elements of spiritual elation and disappointment.

Recently, the Shanghai Evergreen School, an outstanding primary school in Shanghai, became the first primary school in Shanghai to offer Hebrew classes. It is a part of their efforts to boost students’ interests in minority languages.The teachers are from SISU (Shanghai International Studies University). These include Israeli teacher Miri Beck, who is a Professor of Hebrew at the university. Indeed SISU is one of the few Chinese universities which teach Hebrew.

Marking the 2nd anniversary of the release of the 2013 Pew Research Center’s Portrait of Jewish Americans, a highly diverse group of thought leaders from all around the United States has framed a “Statement on Jewish Vitality,” advocating strategic responses to respond to the challenges to the Jewish future. American Jewry now stands at a crossroads. Our choices are stark: we either accept as inevitable the declining numbers of engaged Jews, or we work to expand the community and improve the quality of Jewish life going forward. Despite the evidence of deeply disturbing population trends, the community is bereft of any sense of crisis.