Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education

How Jewish Communities Educate

May 4, 1-1:30 p.m.
Via Zoom

Most analyses of Jewish education, like most analyses of general education in Western, liberal society, emphasize the individual student. But some communities approach education very differently. Mijal Bitton discussed her research into how the Syrian Jewish community educates its members, formally and informally, to maintain bonds of commitment.

What Can We Learn From Jewish Education?

April 11, 1 - 1:30 p.m.
Via Zoom

The term "Jewish education" is used to refer to a broad array of practices, approaches, and institutions. Ari Kelman has written a new book, Jewish Education, forthcoming from Rutgers University Press in its Key Words in Jewish Studies series. The series includes books designed to "provide clear and judiciously illustrated accounts of terms currently in use and to chart histories of past usage." In this conversation, Kelman talked about a broad shift from what Jewish education has meant, in modernity, to what it might mean for Jewish life in the 21st century.

Accentuating the American Jewish Hebrew Speaker

This conversation focuses on Sharon Avni's recent work on how the everyday acts of speaking, learning, and engaging with Modern Hebrew inform our understanding of contemporary American Jewish life.

How the Study of Jewish History Informs the Arts

How does a Jewish theater company draw upon Jewish history to wrestle artistically with universal human questions? How do they weave new narratives through the work of interpretation? In recent work, Miriam Heller Stern has addressed these questions, and analyzed how the model of a creative company can be a powerful way of conceiving of adult Jewish learning. 

Learning at a Jewish Museum

What happens when young adults visit a Jewish museum? What do they learn about Jews and Judaism, and how are they changed by what they see, touch, hear and feel? In this talk, Laura Yares discussed findings from a pre-pandemic study of 30 young adult visitors to the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia, and describe the rich learning that can occur in episodic, leisure time Jewish educational settings.

How Camp Ramah Met the Challenges of the 1990s

The Jewish overnight camping industry was on the verge of major changes in the late 1980s, when Shelly Dorph became the head of the Ramah National Commission. Jonathan Krasner discussed the case of Ramah and how it reflects on the challenges and opportunities that Jewish non-profit summer camps faced in the 1990s and early 2000s, and what it means for Jewish camps today.