Section archive - Trends in Jewish Education

One ongoing lament among day school educators is the inability to successfully teach Hebrew language skills to the students in their schools. Ivrit be-Ivrit instruction, once commonplace in many day schools in North America and across the globe, is in use less and less frequently. Even schools that were once bastions of Hebrew language instruction are begun to despair about its effectiveness. This issue was revisited recently when the new chairman of the Jewish Agency called for Israel to devote resources to teach Hebrew to Jews around the world. This topic has been discussed on Lookjed a number of times.

The Consortium for Applied Studies in Jewish Education – recently launched a new project supported by the William Davidson Foundation and the Jim Joseph Foundation for comprehensive research on the pipeline and “career arc”of educators working in Jewish education. This is a welcome development for all who care about supporting Jewish educators and advancing the field in which they work. We started earlier this year in New York City, in the midst of a snowstorm that would bring 8 inches of snow by the end of the day. CASJE convened a small group of leaders in the field of Jewish educator preparation. They came together, supported by the William Davidson Foundation, to discuss challenges that the field faces and potential research topics that could address these challenges.

Now in its ninth year, the Hebrew Public network of 13 charter schools utilizes a blend of startup philanthropic funding and state funds to offer high-quality Hebrew language education to Jewish and non-Jewish students alike. Currently, these schools run in New York, New Jersey, California, Minnesota and Washington, D.C. New schools are scheduled to open soon in Philadelphia and Staten Island.

Britain’s chief rabbi published a guidebook for Orthodox Jewish schools to help them provide support for LGBT students in the Jewish community. The guide by Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis calls for a zero-tolerance approach to homophobic or transphobic bullying, despite a biblical prohibition against homosexual acts.