Mandel Center for
Studies in Jewish Education

Mandel Center > About the Center > Letter from the Director

Letter from the Director

Welcome to the website of the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education. I am pleased to share our research and accomplishments. We hope this website will enable educators and researchers to connect and engage with our work and each other.

Since the Mandel Center was established in 2002, we have offered rich programs of professional learning for Jewish educators at every career stage while pursuing a new scholarship on the teaching of Jewish studies. This work reflects our belief that transformative learning and teaching are at the heart of powerful Jewish education, engaging learners of all ages, no matter what the setting.

I am proud of the ways in which the Center’s work is beginning to influence the field. Educators participating in professional development programs offered by the Mandel Center are touching the lives of thousands of Jewish children and youth. Center researchers are highly visible in national forums like the PEJE Assembly and the Network for Research in Jewish Education. Our research agenda is also yielding first fruits as Center scholars generate new insights about the purposes, practices, conditions and impact of Jewish education and professional development.

The Mandel Center is growing as an institution as well. We have added new support staff, are hosting visiting scholars, and continue to benefit from the contributions of talented adjunct instructors, research associates and support staff. This year we welcomed a new visiting research fellow, Inbar Galili-Schachter. As the only academic center concerned with the practice of Jewish education at all levels, we regularly convene Judaic scholars, teachers, education professionals, researchers and community leaders for serious deliberations.

If you have not yet visited us in person, I warmly encourage you to be in touch.  We’d be happy to show you around, and share some of the energy and excitement of our work.

Sincerely,

Sharon Feiman-Nemser
Director, Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education
Mandel Professor of Jewish Education