Category: Uncategorized

  • Being a Part of the “Organized Jewish Community”

    It’s the straw that broke the camel’s back … the tweet that pushed me right over the edge (or just to finally write this blog!): If you are wondering why @buberzionist would even ask this question (I’m making an assumption), and why I would even respond the way I did, it’s because so many of…

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  • Formal Learning at Informal Limmud

    This blog was originally posted on the BJELA website. Anything that happens at camp is informal education, right?  And everything that happens in a classroom is formal education?  Seems easy, but not so quick.  Over the past few years, this buzzword of informal education keeps popping up, but unfortunately is often misused (as is experiential…

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  • Each Moment is a Jewish Moment

    I have long stated that my goal as a Jewish educator is to help people live their lives – every day, every moment – through a Jewish lens.  I have been challenged by many on this concept, with doubt that non-Orthodox people can do this.  People have challenged me to be self-reflective:  “Do I live…

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  • Highlights of the URJ Biennial: A Call to Action by Many

    I  have attended many Jewish conferences, but the URJ Biennial this year was the largest – over 5,500 Jews of all ages.  I attended this particular conference as a consultant to the URJ.  I was engaged in March 2011 to help the URJ professionals and lay leadership in a variety of capacities related to the…

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  • The NOW Generation of Emerging Leaders at the GA

    There’s a different kind of marathon that I participate in – it’s not the 26.2 miles that my friends run in the ING NY Marathon, or the Disney Marathon.  It’s the 36+ awake-hour marathon I run at the GA each year.  And while the exhaustion is different than the toll a regular marathon takes, it…

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  • Examining Your Educational Philosophy

    Earlier today I facilitated a presentation for the national NFTY (North American Federation of Temple Youth), the youth affiliate of the Reform Movement.  I had been asked to help their staff think about how educational philosophy is an important part of youth education planning.   While many of their staff had – at one point…

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  • An Examination of the Impact of Critical Theory on Jewish Education

    Sitting at the Birthright NEXT #NEXTwork gathering in the SouthEast and the conversation about young Jewish adults feeling like they are “bad Jews” or “not Jewish enough” just emerged – prompting me to repost AGAIN. This was originally written as a paper for my EdD program for my course on Theoretical Foundations of Education Research &…

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  • The Death of Osama bin Laden

    The following is a Response Lesson that can be used with learners to better understand the Jewish response to the death of Osama bin Laden.  Ideally it would be used over a 2-hour time frame, but please feel free to modify it for your needs.   Additionally, due to the immediacy and time limit, the…

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  • Thinking About Critical Questions

    This blog post was originally published on Davar Acher. I am about halfway through coursework for an EdD in Jewish Education Leadership. About 75% of my coursework is actually in secular K-12 education. As such, I am often pausing in my readings and asking myself, “How does this apply to Jewish education?” The following are…

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  • What Unites Us

    This blog is was originally published for Challah Back – NextGenBlog. This past week, I had the complete honor to present multiple workshops at the JProSTL national professional development conference. JProStl is an association dedicated to supporting professionals working at Jewish organizations in St. Louis. (JProSTL’s website) Its mission is to provide training, resources, and…

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  • A Big Todah Rabah!

    In the world of Jewish education, the people who run our synagogue religious schools are often the most under-appreciated and under-recognized.   We often defer to the role our rabbis and cantors play when reflecting on the Jewish education of our children and certainly the role a child’s Hebrew tutor plays.  But behind the scenes running…

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  • At what age are we ready to CHOOSE Judaism?

    On Friday, I posted this tweet: If we call them “adult” at 13, then why not ordain him? Or maybe we shouldn’t call them “adult” at 13? http://tinyurl.com/tooyoungrav. The article is about a young man in Israel who would like to be a rabbi at age 14, but people are arguing that he is too…

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