Programs
MCSJE has developed programs that engage and inspire established and emerging researchers and practitioners with the goal of driving impact in the field of Jewish education scholarship.
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Research
MCSJE’s faculty and community of affiliated scholars conduct research that promotes a deeper understanding of learners and learning in Jewish education.
Conferences and Events
MCSJE offers a robust schedule of events throughout the year. Many events are open to the public, while others are tailored to audiences of scholars or educational leaders.
The Leading Research Center for Jewish Educational Scholarship
The Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education (MCSJE) is dedicated to advancing the field of Jewish educational scholarship through expansive research on teaching and learning and by convening and catalyzing other scholars and practitioners in the field through important programs, events and conferences.
Spotlight Session on Mahloket
February 28, 1 PM - 2:15 PM
Mahloket—that is, dispute or principled debate—has long been celebrated as a Jewish ideal, not only within Jewish texts (where sages debate laws, interpretations and principles) but within the practice of engagement with those texts as well (where, for example, students might engage in debate about laws, interpretations or about principles). This Spotlight Session will feature a discussion of this practice with Abi Dauber Sterne (For the Sake of Argument), Aaron Dorfman (A More Perfect Union: The Jewish Partnership for Democracy), Robbie Gringas (educator, performer and writer/For the Sake of Argument), Orit Kent (Pedagogy of Partnership), and Mike Uram (Jewish Federations of North America), moderated by Jon Levisohn.
Learning About Learning: A Conversation with Ilana Horwitz
March 15, 1 PM - 1:30 PM
What Girls Learn in Jewish Families | In the past, Jewish families, like many others, offered girls fewer educational opportunities than boys. But that has not been the case for some time now. In her recent scholarship, Ilana Horwitz has demonstrated the ways that girls raised by Jewish parents complete more years of college and attend more selective schools than girls from comparable socioeconomic backgrounds raised by non-Jewish parents, and argues that this is based on a distinctive “religious subculture” in the home.
Learning About Learning: A Conversation with Jon Levisohn
May 3, 1 PM - 1:30 PM
What We Can Learn from Seymour Fox and the Visions of Jewish Education Project | In the 1990s and the early 2000s, Jewish educators and educational institutions started talking about “vision” in a new way, prompted by the efforts of the Mandel Foundation and especially its influential leader Seymour Fox. For many, the publication of Visions of Jewish Education (2003) was a landmark event in the field. In this discussion, Jon A. Levisohn will discuss a forthcoming article in which he analyzes how Fox’s ideas about ‘vision’ in Jewish education developed over time, some of the challenges that he encountered, and what we can still learn from them.