Davar Acher: On the Other Hand

2012-01-25T07:10:00.000-08:00

Thought you might be interested in seeing.... "Advice for Jewish Professionals: What Every Grad Should Know" --Alumni pearls of wisdom posted on HUC-JIR Alumni Blog of Continuing Jewish Learning--Tzeh Ulimad.

http://elearning.huc.edu/wordpress/continuinged/?cat=172

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Enjoy!

10 New Year's Resolutions for Jewish Ed

2012-01-11T21:26:00.000-08:00

"Arriving at onegoal is the starting point to another."

- John Dewey

In 2012 I will model authentic learning for my students by learningalongside them.
In 2012 I will do my best to treat the questions, ideas, and insights of mystudents with the respect they deserve.
In 2012 I will open my heart to receiving feedback from students, parents,colleagues, and supervisors.
In 2012 I will demand of myself that I go the extra step(s) helping mystudents and peers mature and grow.
In 2012 I will break down the walls of my classroom so that the outsideworld can infiltrate with the hopes that my classroom will then transform theoutside world.
In 2012 I will partner with students, parents, and fellow educators in acovenant of learning with the individual student at the center.
In 2012 I will champion the cause of Jewish education by demanding thatJewish studies be relevant, inspiring, nourishing, engaging, and joyful.
In 2012 I will sing, laugh, play, dance, and chill with my students.
In 2012 I will view the Jewish holidays through new eyes and with renewedenergy.
In 2012 I will bring the fullness of my humanity into my work as a Jewisheducator so that I might be more fully human (loving, caring, aware,thoughtful, passionate, intentional, reflective, kind) through my work as aJewish educator.

Published online by Rabbi Micah Lapidus

When Tweeting Depletes: How Social Media Can Disconnect Us

2011-11-14T10:26:00.001-08:00

The conversation continues courtesy of eJewishPhilanthropy (What? You still don;t subscribe? Shame!). Here I am, Mr. Digital Oleh, agreeing that digital is not the only solution. Maybe not even the best solution. Like a knife or a drill, it is a tool. We need to learn how to use it well and when to put it back in the virtual tool box and use other tools. Discuss...

When Tweeting Depletes:
How Social Media Can Disconnect Us

November 11, 2011

by Ami Hersh and Leor Shtull Leber

As people who barely remember a time before the Internet and who use Facebook (too) often to stay in touch with friends from around the world, we are not ignorant of the power of social media and technology in connecting people and ideas. However, we question the direction we are taking when we rely too heavily on technology and we fear the authenticity of our relationships when they are based on “@s” and “#s”

We admit we are guilty too. Once we were sitting around a table with friends, each of us on our own laptop. Somebody walked in and asked if he could join and do homework with us, and we awkwardly apologized that we were actually in a meeting – it just so happened that our meeting involved us all sitting in a circle in silence working collaboratively on the same Google doc.

Still, we use the word “guilty” because of the value of personal relationships with which we were raised. We both recently attended the JFNA General Assembly in Denver and were shocked to see the technology culture present and the (over)use of smartphones during sessions. We were encouraged to play with our phones instead of focusing on the speakers. People barely looked up – a great success according to the “Tweet! Tweet! Tweet!” message of the conference. What happened to turning off your phone for a lecture? Further, one of the winning innovative ideas at the Jewish Futures Conference called for the elimination of meetings: young people don’t want to waste their time meeting in person when smart phones can do the job.

Well, we are young people who have smart phones. We still cherish the face to face time of meetings in person – and look forward to disconnecting by turning off our phones during those meeting. Email and social media are important and effective tools, but we must be conscious of overuse and of replacing genuine in-person relationships, both when we are distant and even when we are together in the same room, by tweeting instead of talking.

As it says in Mishlei 27:19, “As water reflects face to face, so the heart of man to man.” The beauty of interpersonal relationships is the ability to look into the eyes of another human being and connect deeply with them through conversation and expression. As you stare into the eyes of another human being created b’tzelem Elohim, in the image of God, you are able to let their souls reflect and interact with your own. The whole world can open up before your eyes. Social media is spectacular, important, and quite useful when utilized in its proper time and place. Let us not however allow the over-presence of social media to dilute our in-person enduring relationships.

Ami Hersh is a senior rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary and the assistant director of Camp Ramah in Nyack. He can be reached at Ami@campramah.org

Leor Shtull Leber is a senior at Brown University concentrating in Cognitive Science and a Student Representative on the Brown RISD Hillel Board of Trustees. She can be reached at leor.shtull.leber@gmail.com

Connecting the Affiliated

2011-11-03T13:43:00.000-07:00

My friend and colleague Arnie Samlan posted about a conversation he had with Beth Finger, who is working on a project called Jewish Without Walls. They suggest we "Forget about Jewish Affiliation, Think about Jewish Connectedness:"

"During our conversation this morning, we both challenged the relevance of "Jewish affiliation", which has been used in every Jewish demographic study as a measure of community success in modern America. The problem is, and has always been, that the operational definition of "affiliation" is often "pays dues to a synagogue". Even those who expand the definition someone, rarely get beyond handing money to an organization (JCC, Federation, Hillel) as the operational definition."

He explores several problems with using affiliation as a metric, including leaving our serious Jews who are "not religious," those for whom membership is of little if any value, and that it does not include significant numbers of Jews who relate to their Jewishness independently, including growing numbers who use social media to express their Jewishness.

He (with a nod to Beth Finger) suggests changing the metric to "Jewish Connectedness." He would like Jewish sociologists to take into account the many ways of relating meaningfully to being Jewish. He wants to find a way to include serious Jewish paths that may not lead through a synagogue, federation or JCC. He includes summer camping and independent minyanim as well as those "who are doing Jewish in non-institutional spaces or in secular spaces, Jews connecting online in meaningful ways folks and who participate in Beth's Jewish Without Walls, in havurot and in other groupings that are not (yet) dues-based groups."

I think Arnie has the beginnings of an interesting framing of the conversation that we have all been having for a while. And while those who would overturn existing institutional frameworks might see this as invitation Occupy Organized Judaism, I see it as a refreshing way to begin talk about the apples and oranges in the same conversation. After all, Apple Jews and Orange Jews are still all Jews!

I would press the idea a bit further:

How can we in the synagogue world change the way we operate to increase the CI - Connectedness Index - for each member family and individual?While we in this world often do a lot to attract affiliation, we don't always (or even often) do a good enough job of connecting them to other adults in our congregations. We get them when they feel they need us (religious school, nursery school, Bar/Bat Mitzvah) but we don't always connect the adults in the family. So when the kids are ready to move on, the adults do as well.

Using the CI as a way to measure and improve what we do is as important as using it to find a meaningful category for non-Congregational connecting.I still like the word "affiliate" though. It makes me feel like we can use it to affirm that we obeying Hillel's dictum not to separate ourselves from the community.

Like Arnie, I am not the statistician to figure out how to count these things in the larger picture. I do know that in our synagogue and religious school, we have begun to focus on connecting parents. Our room parents now focus on getting parents together rather than doing the shopping or helping with the seder. (See article on page 6 Torah at the Center). I challenge you to share more ways of connecting the people who ARE affiliated! Because we need to raise the CI of all of our people!

Cross posted to Welcome to the Next Level

Gilad Shalit-A Teachable Moment

2011-10-25T10:23:00.000-07:00

For close followers of Israel, such people, concepts and events as Yonatan Netanyahu, the Law of Return, the Balfour Declaration—even Sbarro and Dolphinarium—are quite well known. For the majority of non Jews and even Jews, however, they are quite foreign.

Today marks the one week anniversary of the release of Gilad Shalit. His release provides Jewish educators with an opportunity to initiate important discussions with our students, their parents, friends and neighbors. Nearly everybody has an opinion about the “fairness” of swapping Shalit for more than 1,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails. And this complex is worth discussing.

Shalit’s release seems to have left many wondering who are the “good guys” and “bad guys.” Who are these people who returned home to a hero’s welcome? How was an Israeli soldier “kidnapped?” Why do Israelis go in to the army in the first place, and for how long? Such questions point to one important fact--many people don’t know basic history—of Judaism, Zionism, of the Arab/Israeli conflict

Helping teach these “basics” is a fitting tribute to Gilad Shalit. And let’s commit to educating a few of our friends—before November 2nd. This date is the 94th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration of 1917--the famous letter from Arthur James Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary, to Baron Rothschild, a leader of the Jewish community. It contains a famous line which is useful in our work with our students:

“His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”

In Praise of Rabbis and Cantors Who Are Willing To Think Out of the Box In Working With Children With Special Needs

2011-10-22T20:35:00.000-07:00

When I started teaching Max, it was unclear if he’d even set foot in the synagogue on his bar mitzvah day. As his parents explain in this beautiful, moving video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIZU_AsOh5I, Max loves “Blues Clues” and is motivated by French fries. Aliyah l’torah and d’var torah were not likely to be part of Max’s bar mitzvah--we did not know at first what a Max bar mitzvah might look like. Max is a young man with autism and limited expressive language.

After several sessions working with Max in his home—singing songs, clapping, reading stories and putting “Blues Clues” on such objects as challah, candle sticks and a kipah, we began taking Max to his synagogue, Town and Village Synagogue in Manhattan, to meet with Cantor Shayna Postman. The synagogue had never celebrated the bar mitzvah of a boy with autism, but they were open to working with Max and his family.

Shayna knew of Max’s love of music and began playing guitar for and with Max. Max enjoyed looking at Shayna’s mouth as she sang—and he had a special pick for strumming on her guitar. Together, they sang the Shema. And played drums for Halelu. Little by little, it seemed Max just might celebrate his bar mitzvah in the shul.

On the Sunday of Chol Ha Moed Sukkot, Max entered the synagogue—with his IPad and headphone. He didn’t agree to wear a tie or jacket, but he did wear nice khaki pants, a white shirt and a kipah. The cantor welcomed the guests, and his parents told Max it was time to put away the Ipad. His family presented Max with a tallis, which he wore proudly. He carried a small torah, shook a lulav and etrog (for his Sunday of Sukkot bar mitzvah), and stood at the torah offering one word answers to the cantor’s question about things he loved (“mommy, daddy, music, French fries, baby sitter Stacy…”).

While Max did not say the Torah blessings, read from the Torah or deliver a d’var torah, Max truly became bar mitzvah that day. The cantor’s love for Max was obvious to the fifty guests in attendance. She bothered to get to know Max and appreciated Max’s abilities while also understanding his limitations.

Cantor Postman delivered a beautiful mi sheberach prayer for Max. My hope and prayer is that more rabbis and cantors will continue to create caring communities where the Max’s of this world will have a Jewish home.

This is a crazy inexplicable country

2011-10-19T08:35:00.000-07:00

Photo of Gilad Shalit's helicopter
(he's in the one on the left)
taken by Lori Abramson
from her porch in Yokne'am

I thought about writing about Gilad Shalit's return yesterday, making this holiday a true Sukkat Shalom - if only for a moment. We had an amazing conversation in Confirmation class last night with our tenth graders. They were truly split on the issue of exchanging dangerous (potentially lethal) prisoners to bring one man home. They got how important it is for every parent to know that no price is too high to bring their children out of captivity. They also got how giving in to hostage takers may lead to more hostage taking and how releasing terrorists may lead to more deaths. They took sides. And they understood and were conflicted about the side they didn't take. They also understood that no matter their position, it was good that Gilad was finally home and alive.

Then I read this piece by Robbie Gringras on the Makom site. As usual, he is more eloquent than I could ever be.

19/10/2011 | 12:21
Robbie Gringras

We were driving home from Amirim when we saw them. Silhouetted against a dusky sky, two helicopters were climbing their way over the hills with the Mediterranean behind them. Who would have thought the sight of two ugly military helicopters flying north could make us whoop with delight and almost swerve off the road?

Gilad was on his way home.

We stopped in the local supermarket to do some pre-holiday shopping, but found ourselves drawn to the electronics section. There was a wall of plasma screens, all tuned to Channel 2, volume on full. As the live coverage showed the Shalit family clamber out of the now-parked helicopter and make their way home in convoy past the cheering people, we found we weren’t alone. Over forty people were crowded round the TV screens, their trolleys half-full, staring at the images as a grandparent might stare at the video of a grandchild’s first steps.

We all shared snippets as we watched: how none of us had been able to get dressed in the morning, so fixated were we to the news; how frail yet indomitable Gilad had seemed in the Egyptian TV interview; how Iscar had continued paying Gilad’s father’s salary throughout his full-time campaign to free his son.

Then we saw the family reach their house, shuffle through the singing crowds and the flying white flowers, and close the door behind them. Everyone breathed a sigh of satisfaction, wiped away the tears that had gathered or overflowed, and wheeled off back to the shopping.

And as I wandered in a daze round the vegetables and preserves, I jumped from thought to thought:

This is a crazy inexplicable country. Strange wonderful things can happen here, though rarely because of strategy or logic. This place and this people is ruled by the heart, the spirit, and the soul. For good and for bad. It’s a ridiculous way to run a country, but we must work with what we have. Whenever we begin to talk about ‘logical solutions’ to conflicts in this region, or ‘mutual interests’, we must learn a lesson from this prisoner exchange. For sure politics and interests were involved, but the engine was more emotional and spiritual than rational.
How often in the past few decades has this country shed tears of happiness? I guess it is a rare thing for any country to elicit what is, generally speaking, a family kind of emotion. But tears of sadness, despair, and even rage flow in abundance here. Yesterday the tears were happy, and they were shed both by Israelis and by Palestinians.
We didn’t see much of the Palestinians’ celebrations. To see that you needed to switch to CNN or BBC, because Israeli TV wasn’t interested. I normally rail against this insularity, but not yesterday. The many families whose loved ones were blown to pieces by the same people hailed as released heroes in Gaza, did not need to have those images pushed in their faces. None of us did.
Which led me to wondering about this unique occurrence, a day when both Israelis and Palestinians are celebrating the same event. It doesn’t necessarily mean anything. If past experience is anything to go by, it probably will change little, but it’s worth noting nevertheless. Sometimes a light in the darkness is just a flash of a gun, but sometimes it can be a lighthouse, and sometimes it can signal the distant end of a tunnel.

Examining Your Educational Philosophy

2011-09-19T09:42:00.001-07:00

This blog is cross-posted from jewishgps.wordpress.com.

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 – written educational philosophies, some had not and some hadn’t looked at them in a while. Others shared that they review it every year as a way to reflect on the prior year and to set the tone for the year ahead. We also discussed the importance of helping their teen leaders frame their roles as board members through the lens of Jewish educator – and therefore the need for the teens to start articulating their personal educational philosophies. At the end of the conversation, I shared my own educational philosophy. Writing it is an iterative process, so the version I share with you today might change based on tomorrow’s experiences.

I am wondering – how many of my colleagues have written/articulated educational philosophies? how many of my colleagues have shared their educational philosophies with their staff/colleagues/lay people/community partners? how many of my colleagues are congruent in their actions and their written philosophy? I invite you to share your educational philosophy in the comments section – perhaps inspiring others and perhaps as way for others to hold each of us accountable.

I am committed to experience-based and experiential education techniques–leveraging the text Na’aseh v’Nishma to convey the context. With pre-teen, teen and adult learners I champion for educators to serve as mentors/facilitators guiding learners to make their own educated conclusions about practice and thought; allowing the learner to personalize and own their Judaism because they understand the “why.” I believe in educating Jews to personal choice and meaning-making.

As the home is the primary indicator of adult Jewish identity, I believe in the power of Jewish family education. My goal is to help all Jewish professionals assess the way their organization and their education offerings help educate the entire family.

I believe in creating education opportunities where I can nurture people’s passions and develop multiple entry points that get people entrenched in community. The critical role that community plays in the learning environment is an essential aspect of any learning plan. I am committed to explicitly creating community as goal of all curricula.

My goal is to create an education system which enables Jews to make a shift to a “brit of faith” from a “brit of fate.” Ultimately developing a Jewish community where all Jews are actively “choosing Judaism;” are inspired to Jewish curiosity; expressing their identity in attitudes, skills, behaviors and knowledge; and viewing every aspect of their lives through a Jewish lens.

"And You Shall Teach Them Diligently To Your Children ... And To Yourselves."

2011-09-15T08:03:00.000-07:00

This summer I met @Moosh2, an online friend. She was working at Crane Lake Camp while I was at Eisner Camp. Her name in RL is Marci Bellows the rabbi at Temple B'nai Torah in Wantagh, NY. She also writes a regular column inn the New York Jewish Week. We grew up in the same community and have a lot of friends in common, and yet we had never met!

When I saw this article, I thought it made some very important points in our ongoing discussion about what we should be doing in Jewish Education today. Let's discuss!

“When I was in junior high, and all my friends were having their Bar or Bat Mitzvahs (sic), I just enjoyed celebrating with them. It didn’t really occur to me that I wasn’t having one of my own. It wasn’t until college that I really began to regret it…”

With these words, Jessica Yanow, my best friend since we were eight years old, began reflecting on her own Jewish upbringing and education.Growing up in Skokie, Illinois, it was impossible not to feel, at the very least, culturally Jewish. There was a bagel store in every strip mall, and a synagogue every few blocks.

Jessica’s grandparents belonged to a Traditional synagogue, and they encouraged Jessica’s mother to enroll her in Sunday School there. Though the level of observance differed from what she was seeing at home, Jessica attended for a few years. When she was in second grade, her mother gave her a choice – she could keep attending Sunday School, or she could stop. Jessica explained, “At that age, I would guess that most children would choose not to go to any additional school. There was no discussion, as far as I can remember, with regards to later implications, like the fact that I wouldn’t have a Bat Mitzvah. So, of course, I said, ‘No, I don’t want to go to Sunday School.’”

I cannot express how much this one story has affected my rabbinate. I often hear young parents wrestling over whether or not to “force” their children to attend religious school. Likewise, I hear students bemoan the fact that they are “stuck” going to religious school every week. And, yet, I inevitably share Jessica’s story with them all, for this reason: Now that she is an adult, she deeply regrets not attending religious school, not building her Jewish identity from a younger age, and not celebrating Bat Mitzvah at 13.

Interestingly, and perhaps not consciously, Jessica found other ways of engaging in Judaism as a teen. Jessica was active in our local Kadima chapter in junior high, and then we were all board members of my temple’s Youth Group in high school. She took Hebrew as a foreign language at our public high school. She traveled to Israel during the summer before college, and then we both began our studies at Brandeis University (where feeling Jewish is unavoidable).

Surrounded by Jews of all stripes, Jessica was now confronted by her lack of Jewish knowledge and personal connection to her heritage. For the first time, she truly regretted her decision to halt her religious education. Thus, she continued studying Hebrew, added three semesters of Yiddish, and read as many Jewish books as she could.

Fast-forward to now, and she is living in Phoenix, married, and mother to an amazing four-year-old son (who calls me “Auntie Marci,” which makes me giggle ALL the time). She and her husband have chosen to send their son to a pre-school at a local Reform synagogue. She hopes that they will become more involved in thecoming years, and perhaps she will study towards Adult Bat Mitzvah. I asked her how she feels now that she is the parent.

She delights in spending every Friday morning at the preschool’s Tot Shabbat celebration. She loves learning more about the holidays alongside her son. She was pleasantly humbled when he came home one day, looked at the family’s dormant candlesticks, and asked, “Mommy, why don’t we light Shabbat candles on Friday nights?”

Jessica is but one case, but she exemplifies so many adults in today’s Reform congregations. For a variety of reasons, we have men and women who feel detached, alienated, or lacking in some way. Some of these adults will never set foot in the temple except to send their kids to religious school and then leave as soon as their youngest child turns thirteen.

However, others are longing for connection, and they wish desperately that someone would reach out to them. These folks may be intimidated by adult education offerings, fearful that their lack of learning will be a source of embarrassment. To all of these people, I say, you are welcome here! You belong here! You are a crucial part of the fabric of the Jewish community, and you needn’t be afraid!Jewish learning is possible throughout our entire lives, whether or not we started our learning when we were young.

As adults, it is our job to model the importance of a strong Jewish education – not just by sending our children to religious school, but by finding ways to continually enhance our own understanding of Judaism. Imagine how little we would understand about the world if we had stopped our secular studies at age 13! This month, the Union for Reform Judaism is highlighting various ways of approaching Lifelong Jewish Learning, and I encourage you to look for inspiring ideas and topics on their website: http://urj.org/learning/. I’m sure that, with a bit of searching, you will find something that works for you.

Oh, and, by the way, Jessica will not be giving her son a choice. He will go to religious school through Bar Mitzvah, at the very least. No doubt about it.

Cross-posted to Welcome to the Next Level.

Jewish Values at 41,000 Feet

2011-08-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

I am writing this article from 41,000 feet, as I make my way to Connecticut to visit my mother, who is recovering from bypass surgery. Despite the high stress of the past two weeks, this experience has provided me the opportunity to consider anew what may be the most challenging of all the Ten Commandments to keep, the obligation to honor one's parents. It has also reminded me that teaching our children about Judaism is all the more powerful when it happens outside of the classroom.

"Honor your father and your mother; that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God gives you," is the fifth of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:12) It sits between the first four commandments, which are about our relationship with God, and the last five commandments, which instruct us on our relationship with others. It has been suggested that the commandment to honor one's parents serves as the bridge between these two types of relationships that the Torah demands of us. It has also been suggested that the reason we are offered a direct reward for fulfilling this obligation (most commandments have no reward connected to them) is because it is so difficult to be mindful of this expectation, either because we are young and lack self-control, or because as we mature we are unable to adjust to a new relationship with parents we first met as youngsters. Our rabbinic tradition, recognizing this struggle, reminds us of the importance of this mitzvah in the Talmud by relating that "when a person honors his father and his mother, the Holy One Blessed be God says, 'I view them as though I had dwelt among them and they had honored Me'" (Kiddushin 30b).

When my daughter asked me why I was leaving for a week to take care of my mother, I had an important opportunity to remind her of the Fifth Commandment and that family stands at the core of Jewish life. "That's a Jewish way to live," I explained to her from the front seat of the car, "we do whatever we can to care for those who are sick, that's the mitzvah of bikkur holim, and when the visit is to your parents, you are also doing the mitzvah of respecting people who have given everything to make you who you are."

Even if my daughter didn't understand everything that two minute exchange on Braeswood Boulevard was intended to convey, she did kiss me goodbye at Hobby Airport the following Sunday, and saw Jewish values in action as I waved goodbye. The week will be hard for my family, but I believe that she will gain something very powerful from the experience. My daughter saw me living my Judaism in real-time, and making tough choices to balance my responsibilities as a parent and as a child to my parents. I hope the experience becomes part of what fashions her Jewish identity.

Although I hope she never has to make this type of trip for me, I do believe that seeing her father board the plane teaches her that our family's Jewish values are part of the very fabric of who we are and the choices we make each day.

Reflecting on the Past Two Years

2011-07-31T00:00:00.000-07:00

In just over a month the founding members of this blog will be completing their fellowship with the Lookstein Center at Bar Ilan University and the Jim Joseph Foundation to create online communities of practice (CoP) for Jewish educators.

We were part of the first cohort of this new initiative, and so high expectations for the programs success, coupled with the recognition that there would be a steep learning curve for the fellowship's implementation, went hand-in-hand over the past two years.

Without question, I have been transformed by this opportunity. The program asked me to consider both my leadership and management style. It forced me to think critically about many of the fundamental assumptions about how the Jewish community should work and how Jewish professionals need to prepare themselves for the digital age. It has pushed me to incorporate emerging technology into my professional work both in and outside the classroom. It has exposed me, with greater sensitivity, to the diversity of our Jewish community and its professionals. It has helped me to create a broader network of colleagues and introduced me to people, places, and ideas that were unfamiliar.

Over the course of the fellowship, I often became frustrated by the challenge of birthing my community of practice and encouraging other JCC colleagues to participate. Even now, participation is not what I envisioned and the CoP still has a far way to go to be the resource for the field I believe it can be.

As is typical of new ventures, the process is often more fulfilling than the first product. I can't show you what I would consider a successful CoP just yet but, give a few minutes, and I can share with you a powerful learning experience that is certain to change the way I serve the Jewish community forever.

I am indebted to both the program's creators Rabbi Shalom Berger and Esther Feldman, as well as the Jim Joseph Foundation, for their innovative thinking in developing this first-of-a-kind opportunity.

Thank You!

Access Israel

2011-07-27T07:01:00.000-07:00

A scene from "Not By Bread Alone,"
a play performed by deaf and blind actors at Na Laga'at

Marc Rosenstein has been blogging from Israel for the Reform Movement for years in a blog called "Galilee Diary." Rabbi Rosenstein made aliyah to Moshav Shorashim, a small community in the central Galilee, founded in the early 1980's by a group of young American immigrants. He is presently the director of the Israeli Rabbinic Program of HUC-JIR, as well as the director of the Makom ba-Galil, a seminar center at Shorashim that engages in programming to foster pluralism and coexistence. His blog arrives in my inbox every Wednesday as part of the Union for Reform Judaism's 10 Minutes of Torah.

The Jim Joseph Fellows visited Na Laga'at, which he discusses. If we have not been discussing the needs of learners who encounter the world in ways radically different from the majority, we are not doing our jobs. Discuss. This is cross-posted from the URJ Blog and to Welcome to the Next Level.

"You shall not insult the deaf, or place a stumbling block before the blind. You shall you’re your God: I am the Lord."

-Leviticus 19:14

For years we had a subscription to the theater series at the Karmiel auditorium, which brought plays from the various repertory companies around the country. But we got bored with the selection a few years ago and decided to go it alone, and create an a la carte cultural schedule for ourselves. But long days and frequent evening meetings make it hard to keep up the resolve. We have been seeing more movies. And we just made our Second Annual Excursion to the Opera in Tel Aviv. The Tel Aviv Opera House is elegant and impressive.

On our way to a matinee of La Traviatta we went strolling in Jaffa port, an old area in the process of gentrification. One of the attractions there is the Na Laga'at ("please touch") Center which produces a play in which all the performers are blind and deaf, and offers a dinner served by blind waiters in complete darkness.

We stopped for brunch at their Kafe Kapish, where all the waiters are hard of hearing. There's a white-board and marker on each table. It was pleasant (and delicious), and brought to mind the large number of such enterprises one encounters scattered around the country: For example, Nagish Kafe (a pun on "we will serve" and "accessible") here in the Galilee, that employs persons with mental handicaps and illnesses, and the cafeteria at HUC in Jerusalem which is run by a similar foundation.

Then there is Lilith, a high-end gourmet restaurant in Tel Aviv whose kitchen staff are trainees placed by Elem, an organization working with marginal youth. Also, in addition to Na Laga'at, the Holon Children's Museum has both a "blind experience" involving a tour through a complex of different spaces, including a snack bar, in total darkness with a blind guide; and a parallel "deaf experience." The blind experience is so popular that reservations must be made months in advance.

In Old Acco one can shop at "The Shop for Meaning," run by young people with physical and sensory handicaps, for craft items made by the handicapped as well as various imported fair-trade products. Kivunim, the foundation that runs the shop, also operates a pre-army preparatory program for handicapped youth; we partnered with them last fall to operate a circus project for visually impaired Arab and Jewish teenagers. Maghar, an Arab village east of us, has a disproportionate population of deaf, due to in-clan marriages.

The answer of the director of the local community center? to host an international festival of theater of the deaf. A few miles away in Karmiel one encounters Alut-teva, a vacation village for families of autistic children, where they can relax in a setting where they are relieved of the tension and awkwardness that often beset such families on vacation in more public places.

And a particularly impressive story is that of Adi Altschuler, who, eight years ago when she was 16, was moved by her relationship with a neighbor with cerebral palsy to try to organize a mixed youth group of handicapped and "normal" kids. The project succeeded beyond her wildest expectations and today "Marshmallow Wings" is a national youth movement with chapters all over the country.

It has always been a source of some frustration that Israel, with its history of wars, and the ingathering of refugees, was not more conscious of the need for accessibility, and in general of the requirement to accept and integrate the handicapped. Perhaps our sensitivity was dulled by the strand in Israeli culture in its formative years that glorified strength and self-reliance, and was ashamed of helplessness and victimhood.

We still have many challenges in this regard. On the other hand, consciousness has risen a great deal in recent decades, and the number of heroes, both volunteer and professional, out there fighting on this front is really impressive, as is the creativity of their projects.

Summer Camps and Technology Go Hand in Hand

2011-07-16T20:23:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, Jewish summer camp was a place for beautiful Shabbat and Havdalah services, s’mores around a campfire, Shabbat-o-grams, and letters from home. Camps nowadays are all of this and more! You will be hard-pressed to find a summer camp without at least one climbing tower, outdoor adventures which include rappelling and cave exploration, experts coming for several days to teach everything from a capella singing to basketball to pastry baking. At my camp, Camp Ramah in New England, campers even have the opportunity to learn from an artist experienced in duct tape art!

And all camps have found creative ways to incorporate technology in to their daily operation. I remember “purists” ten years ago objecting to our wiring the camp for the internet. Now, security enabled wifi access points allow our 40 Israeli delegation members, our 20 Eastern European kitchen workers, and the other 140 staff members to be in touch with family, friends and the outside world.

We successfully walk a fine line: we do not allow campers to bring IPhones and other electronic gadgets to camp, but we use technology to communicate with camp families and to simplify their lives. Families register online, they send emails to their children which get printed out and delivered daily to their bunks. The director sends out a weekly d’var torah and updates from camp—with a spotlight on several notable events of the week. Families daily check the photo gallery to see pictures of their children—nicely arranged by division, and parents are informed of daily highlights by going to the camp blog. Today alone features news of the Amitzim (special needs program) talent show, the Machon etgar (15 year olds hiking and canoeing trip), the camp wide Six Flags trip, and the 14 year olds production in Hebrew of Alice in Wonderland.

Yes, technology in a Jewish summer camp has its limitations: rain storms bring the internet down, families come to expect more communication than we can offer, and more transparency leads to the occasional comment about: why is my son not smiling? (and the follow up, “doesn’t’ he have any friends?) Why is my daughter not in the bunk photo? (she was in the bathroom) or Why is my son (in the special needs camping program) putting tefillin on his left arm?—he is a lefty!

I’d like to think that Jewish summer camps will continue to find creative ways to use technology. Perhaps we will build on the already wonderful use nowadays--posting photos and blog entries, to the provision of year round on-line learning, video chatting on Jewish topics, discussion boards for parents, and more! Technology is empowering and has the potential to play a important role—year round—in the lives of Jewish summer camps.

Making Meaning Together

2011-07-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

This will be in my synagogue's August bulletin. I submit it is an important lesson and invitation for all Jewish educational institutions.

Shabbas?!?

I had the very good fortune tojoin a group of fifty synagogue educators in the Leadership Institute in learning with Dr. Larry Hoffman, aprofessor at the Hebrew Union Collegein New York.His lesson was a titled Limits, Truth andthe Anxious Search for Meaning: The Changing Rhetoric of Leadership. Hedescribed different ways Judaism functioned through history, using theobservance of Shabbat as a lens.

He described the period frombiblical times through the middle ages as the age of limits. Essentially,Judaism was focused on rules. We observed Shabbat because it was required. Inthe book of Exodus (31:13-17) we learned that violating the Sabbath could leadto death or worse. Halakhah (Jewishlaw) consisted of rules that defined how we functioned as members of the Jewishcommunity. It worked for a long time.

The age of enlightenment at the beginningof the 19^th century brought something new. The freedom to be a partof the larger, non-Jewish world around us meant that the limits were notenough. We learned about how Jews in Salonikabegan hanging out in coffee houses onShabbat. And what’s worse, they were ordering and paying for the coffee!Rabbi Hoffman described this as a symptom of a larger issue – namely that thegame of limits was no longer working for a lot of Jews. Many Jews stoppedbelieving that God would punish them.

The new game used the languageof truth. We were in the age of Jeffersonian democracy, of liberty, equalityand fraternity and of science uncovering all of the truths of the universe. ReformJudaism arose and introduced the sermon – an opportunity for rabbis to teachtruth. We became the only Jews who rose for the Shema because it was thebiggest truth in the service – and became known as “the watchword of our faith.There is much more to these concepts, but the exciting part comes next.

Rabbi Hoffman says that we areliving in another revolutionary time right now. The game is changing from truthto one of meaning. Science has taught us that it cannot give us all of thetruths in the universe. It tells us that our merely observing the world changesit.

The game of meaning means thatwe are interpreters of our world. Our task is to make meaning of the world andour experiences in it. We are active partners with God in the ongoing creation.We go back to Genesis and read that God created the universe and saw that itwas good. God didn’t see limits or laws. God didn’t call it truth. God calledit good. Rabbi Hoffman suggests that our role is to make it good.

We need to make up our our ownlife and worlds. It can be an overwhelming and daunting task. But if we believethat we have the freedom to try and develop the confidence to do it, we cancreate a beautiful and awesome reality. We are not interested in limits. Truths,he says are a dime a dozen – you canfind all you want on Wikipedia. We need to know that life is worthwhile. Thatwe can make things better. That is what Judaism is all about.

The job of Jewish leaders(professionals and lay people – you) is to give our people real competence isareas of Judaism to use them to build their lives. So I want to invite you tostep up to this challenge. As a member of B’nai Israel, your family is a partof a vibrant community. Among us are searchers and builders, teachers andlearners, connectors and sticky people, those who like to pray, hang out orworld repairers. Come in and talk to us, call, text, e-mail or tweet.

Come to services. Take a class.Join a committee. Meet someone new. Get together with someone you know well.Build a sukkah. Join a car pool. Let’smake some meaning together.

Cross posted to Welcome to the Next Level

In Israel, diggers unearth the Bible's bad guys - AP News

2011-07-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

In December of 2009, our team of Jim Joseph Foundation Fellows were in Israel for our 12-day seminar. Bar Ilan University's Lookstein Center is the sponsor of our program and we spent a bunch of time on the Bar Ilan campus during our visit. But the highlight of our campus visit (dare I say for all of us) was the trip to the archeology lab where our tour guide (aka amazing educator) Amit Dagan works and studies as a PhD student.

Amit, and his boss Aren, showed us some artifacts they had recently found.

Including this rock with the name "Goliath" engraved on it in ancient Hebrew.

They told as all about their work at Tel es Safi.

They showed us other artifacts they found:

and even let us hold some.

Today, July 9, 2011 ... this article came across my Yahoo home page (click here). Imagine my excitement at reading in the main stream news about the work of our friends - which we had witnessed first hand (and now you get to see up-close photos of!). The irony, I am sitting here in the t-shirt they gave me from the dig ... with the words "Tel es-Safi" right on my chest!

Great

memories brought to life!

8.2 Unsubstantiated Claims (and three questions) about the Meaning and Scope of "Integration" in Jewish and Non-denominational Educational Settings

2011-07-08T04:11:00.000-07:00

This post was originally written by Rabbi Micah Lapidus on his blog: http://rabbispen.blogspot.com/. Rabbi Lapidus is the head of Judaics and the rabbi-in-residence for the Davis Academy in Atlanta, GA and is a doctoral student at Northeastern University and Hebrew College in Jewish Education Leadership.

8.2 Unsubstantiated Claims (and three questions) about the Meaning and Scope of "Integration" in Jewish and Non-denominational Educational Settings

Welcome! If you've made it past the unfortunate title of this post, then there's something wrong with you: you care. Caring is SO 1990!! Caring means responding, it means engaging in dialogue. It means lovingly denying the premise of the argument. It means sharing your thoughts with me or someone you like more.

Which brings me to the premise (AKA unsubstantiated claim #1):

(1) "Integration" is NOT about making cross curricular references between otherwise discrete and alienated academic disciplines. If that's the essence/ big idea of integration then "lame" on us!

(2) Integration is a noun and not a verb. It's not content specific. It's actually a "process" (really a series of processes).

(3) Integration is a series of processes that reflects a deep and natural human yearning: to be whole. The precondition for integration-- the thing that makes integration a necessary process-- is the fact that our world is fragmented and broken. The fact that teachers who share walls don't share goals is but one dim reflection of the shattered world which we are blessed to inhabit. Sadly it's not our biggest problem.

(4) God has many names: Truth, Good, Beauty, Love, Endlessness, Dwelling... Another name for God is "One." God is Indivisible Unity. God is Perfect and Seamless Integration. God is Process.

(5) The Divine image that resides within every human being remembers the experience of Oneness that we once self-consciously enjoyed (and still CAN enjoy) but more often than not fail to affirm. Healthy individuals integrate all the time and even have moments of joyful affirmation. Spiritually unhealthy individuals need to be guided back to an understanding of how to integrate. Healthy and unhealthy aren't meant to be judgments. I'm sorry that they sound like judgments and would love better vocab.

(6) Children know how to integrate IN SPITE of adults. Maybe it's because they're closer to the initial experience of Oneness. Maybe it's because they're children (but that would be a "tot"-ology). If we think that children are unable to integrate then we need to evaluate the conditions that we've imposed upon them that undermine this natural human process. I'm arguing that these conditions are generally unconscious, deeply embedded, and invariably lamentable and arbitrary.

(7) Two critical areas where the process of integration radically transforms social and educational experience (and therefore makes the world more integrated, whole, and healthy):

Home/School-- There is nothing more powerful than the integration of these two institutions. Nothing should be easier. Happens all the time right? Go figure.
Learning/Living-- The places where we learn and the places where we live (i.e. act, interact, impact) need to integrate. The school bell should never actually ring. Learning should be learning, learning should be living, living should be learning, living should be living, and this sentence should stop.

(8) Integration undermines the rigidity of roles and strips away the illusions that perpetuate the compartmentalization, departmentalization, Procrustian Bed-itization, Not In My Back Yard-itization, of the human experience. Teachers are students, students are teachers. We're all in this together. Kumbaya.

Three Questions:
If you've made it this far then let's ask:

(1) What identity markers am I so tied to that I can't experience the transcendent/grounded fullness of being a radically integrating, processing, striving, embracing creature of God?

(2) Why aren't more hugs initiated and received on any given day?

(3) Why do I say hello to some people I pass on the street and not others?

Sincerely,

Micah

In G-d I Trust? Nope! and You Can't Make Me!

2011-06-26T17:59:00.001-07:00

This post is cross-posted to my personal blog. I feel that strongly about it.

I read an article today about a possible new license plate design for Georgia. Each design has some Peach element in it (shocker! not!) but what did shock me was that a few of the designs had "In God We Trust" at the bottom. I am outraged.

I am a purist when it comes to religion/state separation. I don't think we should have prayer before senate/congress sessions at any level of government, I don't think G-d should be mentioned in the Pledge of Allegiance and I don't think "In G-D We Trust" should be on our money. I am always angry when I hear of public schools holding graduation in churches (illegal by the way and I was part of a case that won this battle<- read about it here). So imagine my outrage at the thought that I will be required by law to declare on the bumper of my car something that I feel shouldn't be there (and if you have read my blog at all (or just this entry), you also know is an untrue statement - I don't trust G-d).

So here is the letter I wrote the Commissioner today. If you live in Georgia and agree with me, even slightly, please take the time to write him as well here:

Dear Commissioner,

My name is Robyn Faintich and I am a 5-year resident of Roswell, GA. For almost 16 years, I have been dedicated my career to being a full-time Jewish educator working with teens and their families to help them live their American lives through a Jewish lens. One topic we often engage in revolves around the issues of religion/state separation. Our families battle these issues daily in schools, public universities, town hall meetings, etc. We often engage the Anti-Defamation League to help us decipher where the law protects our rights and where it doesn't. I have not reached out to them yet on the issue for which I am writing you about, but am prepared to do so.

I just read about the new proposed license plate designs and was completely disheartened to see "In God We Trust" on several of the designs. My relationship with God, my belief or non-belief is MY personal choice. How can my state government require me to put the word "God" on my car? How can my state government require me to proclaim something from my bumper that I might not believe in?

If one of these designs is chosen, I will end up risking fines because I will NOT put this plate on my car unaltered. I would find it necessary to blacken out those words.

Please consider the serious personal religious rights violation these license plates will cause. I implore you to remove these designs from the possibilities.

Thank you in advance for your consideration. I hope to hear from you on this matter.

Robyn Faintich

Roswell, GA

Why we need to ask our students to name their “spark”

2011-06-15T17:40:00.000-07:00

My 17 year-old son sent me a link to a fascinating TED talk. (If TED talks are new to you please see the * below for brief explanation.) In his TED talk, Dr. Peter Benson, author and president of the Search Institute shares his compelling perspective about American culture, child development and social change.

Benson believes that as a society our vision for Americas kids focuses mostly on simply keeping children safe and out of trouble and that our tactics revolve around management and control. He cynically claims that our highest aspirations for our youth are acing ACTs and make America more competitive in marketplace.

Benson’s vision is different. His focus is on raising students that thrive which he defines as “kids who experience joy, feel connected and engaged, kids who are kind, happy and compassionate and generous and kids who fall in life with their life”. Sadly through his research Benson believes that 3/4 American kids are not on the path to thriving.

Using metaphors to make his point Benson believes that youth are not vessels to be filled but fires to be lit. He believes that deep inside each child is a spark that ought to be nurtured and fanned into fire. For Benson that spark represents joy, energy, hope, direction and purpose. Benson challenges us to ask kids to name their spark and to ask them what helps them nourish their spark. Kids say they know what a spark is and easily can point to the kids with and without spark. Through his interview with kids Benson has identified 220 spark categories that include service, leading, learning, the creative life. He is careful to point out that is not the same as the work you want to do but rather is it an orientation to life—one in which life is the fullest.

As educators and parents we need to ask ourselves about what we are doing to nurture the unique spark in each of our kids. To see Peter Bensons TED talk click on this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqzUHcW58Us&feature=player_embedded

*A Word about TED Talks (quoted from the TED website www.ted.com/pages/about)

The TED Mission: “Spreading ideas.   We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we're building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other.”

TED is a nonprofit devoted to “Ideas Worth Spreading”. TED started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual TED Conference in each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference each summer -- TED includes the TEDTalks video site, and TED Conversations, the TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize.

The Bittersweet Taste of Summer...

2011-06-12T06:22:00.000-07:00

This time of year is always so bittersweet.

Working in a day school, who’s calendar still remains built on an agrarian society, means that like many of my colleagues, and certainly the millions of students across the country, we look forward to the summers to unwind a little, catch our breathes, and recharge our proverbial batteries in preparation for the next academic year. We evaluate the year gone by, and we assess where and how we will make our necessary changes to ensure another successful, innovative, and “upgraded” experience for our students when they return to school in the fall.

However, even with the wonderful summers to enjoy the privileges of “two months off”, seeing the students leave for the summer is always a little sad… even if understandable and expected. That being said, this year, as I stood giving my charge to the graduates during their graduation ceremony, I noticed while looking out at those 36 young adult faces, that they too expressed a similar bittersweet sense of happiness and sadness.

Upon asking these graduates about their bittersweet expressions I was (very pleasantly) surprised to hear their appreciation and acknowledgment of their recognition of having been provided a Jewish day school education. These students understood that they were moving on from an environment that had prepared them for a high school experience with a perspective and an outlook on life that their contemporaries had simply not been offered.

In today’s increasingly high stakes educational environment, I meet children all the time who describe their education as being “force-fed knowledge” like it was disappearing or becoming ever extinct. Ironically, as information becomes more easily accessible it seems as though the common American education system is perpetuating an outdated model attempting to deal with unprecedented access to unlimited information using the same old model of education built on limited access to information. This persistent need to focus more on our children’s ability to regurgitate information in order to demonstrate “knowledge” rather than gaining “wisdom” to evaluate and synthesize the knowledge must be addressed beyond the day school’s walls.

I specifically differentiate between “knowledge” and “wisdom” because as a Headmaster of a Jewish day school I have come to understand, and even appreciate and embrace the fact, that knowledge is knowing the information, whereas wisdom is knowing what to do with the information!

Our Jewish heritage and traditions never called our great texts “knowledge literature” rather it has always been recalled as our “wisdom literature”. At the Seder we never identify the child who is knowledgeable or similarly the ones who lack the knowledge, rather we mention the wise one, the wicked one, the simple one, and the one who does not know how to ask. Interestingly, the way our Haggadah describes each of these is in direct reference to their ability to ask questions; never is it described as what knowledge or information these proverbial sons possess or are able to potentially regurgitate back to the adults at the table.

And what about common culture? If one does a quick Google search for the term “wise owl” or “wise old owl” one gets 1,100,000 and 341,000 results in 0.12 and 0.21 seconds respectively. However, try “knowledgeable owl” and “knowledgeable old owl” and you get 666 and 2 in 0.16 and 0.04 seconds respectively! Not that this is scientific by any stretch of the imagination, but it certainly demonstrates how the masses use/identify these terms!

One of the most significant things that make Jewish day schools so unique is the ability for a child to graduate the day school experience and see the world through a “Jewish lens”. This ability to see things that others see, but from a perspective that generates questions and continued curiosity and learning is unique to how we today should be quantifying and even qualifying “successful education”. For a child to ask questions and think critically about what they see, and to not always take what they see for granted or even as the only option, is what has helped the Jews survive when other mightier, wealthier, larger, and even nobler sovereignties, dynasties, commonwealths and empires have fallen.

Unfortunately however, common knowledge tells us that the Jewish community is less connected, less involved, less affiliated, and less Jewishly educated than it has ever been historically. Yet, ask most Jewish educators and our collective wisdom will tell you that we just have to question whether what we are offering as a Jewish community is meaningful, useful, beneficial, and worthy of “becoming connected” by the marginally affiliated?

For my students, and in my microcosm of the world, I am proud to say “yes”. Yes, our students are unquestionably connected, and graduating with wisdom beyond their years. But as a Jewish educator, committed to ensuring an active, vibrant, and sustainable Jewish community for future generations, here I am disappointingly less confident!

“The Wheels of the CoP Go Round and Round…”

2011-05-28T22:03:00.000-07:00

Five days on a bike, riding with 40 riders through the Golan Heights and the Galilee to raise more than $200,000 for Camp Ramah special needs camping programs, gave me new perspective on my Ramah Special Needs Program Directors CoP (read “Nurturing an Online Community of Practice: http://www.lookstein.org/online_journal.php?id=333).

In the past few weeks, I have been wondering if our small, “closed,” directors CoP has reached an impasse and is in need of some “new life.” Perhaps the recent fall off in participation is seasonal. As the camp season approaches, camp directors are very busy--maybe even too busy to actively participate in monthly CoP video conferences and google group discussions. . When participation wanes, I sometimes wonder if we have reached an impasse and need to breathe new life.

Now I think we simply need to measure success differently. While in Israel, there were two wonderful developments very much connected to (and more likely an outgrowth of) the CoP. In fact, both developments occurred precisely because the Ramah special needs directors are in regular contact.

The CoP has demonstrated to the National Ramah director and the National Ramah Commission that there is great benefit in having all Ramah special needs programs working more closely together. The seven programs—spread out across the United States and Canada—are part of a larger whole, and we special needs program directors have a lot to share with each other.

The first successful outgrowth of our CoP was the Ramah Galil Bike ride itself! http://www.ramahbikeride.org/ Riders connected to all seven Ramah camps came out in support of the various Ramah special needs programs. Two special Shabbat panel discussion with Tikvah Program founders, Herb and Barbara Greenberg, and me, taught the riders about the 41 year history of the Tikvah Program at Camp Ramah in New England--Ramah’s first program for campers with special needs. They also learned about challenges, successes and the many Ramah overnight and family camp programs for campers and their families. The riders became more aware and therefore more connected to the cause.

Second, while the riders were enjoying Israel, raising money, and learning about the Ramah special needs programs, a special group of experienced Ramah counselors—from the various special needs programs across the US and Canada—were meeting together (at Camp Ramah in New England) for the first ever joint training program—and it was underwritten from the proceeds of the ride. The riders enjoyed the phone call on our last evening with the dozen or so star counselors—they took a break from their learning and sharing to thank us.

I was smiling for an additional reason. They didn’t know it yet, but their desire to stay in contact, share programs, offer support and start a google group, was leading them to…the formation of a Ramah special needs counselors CoP!! The wheels on the CoP truly go round and round!

Goodbye, Oprah; Hello, James Frey

2011-05-25T09:19:00.000-07:00

I know I’m risking my man card when I say this, but here goes:

I’m really going to miss Oprah.

(And football, too, if the lockout cancels the season. Just feel the need to mention that for balance.)

I’m not obsessed. I don’t shriek with glee when Tom Cruise walks out on stage. But I can’t deny that I have enjoyed her show. It’s the most polished show on TV, in my opinion. But it’s more than that.

My wife is a huge Oprah fan, and has been forever. She Tivo’s it and watches it at night, so for years I have often seen parts or even full episodes with her. Everyone who knows us knows she’s a big Oprah fan. I have advised certain friends of mine—and they know who they are—not to badmouth Oprah if they come to our house for a Shabbat meal. (In one instance, it came close to me walking my friend to the door before dessert.)

It’s more than that, too.

Oprah has managed to stay real by allowing her viewers to see her struggles: Her abused childhood. Her weight. Her early struggle to gain the confidence to succeed in TV. Her messages are generally universal in nature and empowering—find your inner spirit, forgiveness is empowering, believe in the power of redemption, and so forth.

But it’s more than that, too.

As I was watching the celebrity-filled United Center send-off—yes, the celebrity shows are fluffy, but you have to admit it’s cool to see the range of celebrities who came out for her farewell—it occurred to me: there is no other show which has her capacity for social impact.

As they showed people—mostly women and children, but definitely men as well—from around the globe who have been touched by this show, it became clear to me what her departure from the stage will mean.

What other show has the capacity to put someone on screen, and almost instantly raise awareness of an issue to that degree? What other host has the leverage to get major corporations to donate hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, to her specific causes? Who else can effect change so quickly and dramatically?

I know there are those who can’t stand Oprah, who see her as an egomaniac. Yes, it seems silly to me that she needs to be on the cover of her magazine each month. But here’s why that doesn’t really bother me: she puts her money—and her show—where her mouth is.

When Hurricane Katrina happened, she gave $10 million of her own money toward the relief efforts. No other celebrity gave anything close to that, to my knowledge; Rosie O’Donnell even bemoaned on TV how depressing it was to be turned town by ultra-wealthy celebrities when she made calls asking for $1 million donations for Katrina relief. Oprah's Angel Network has raised tens of millions more, and galvanized millions of people to participate in the process.

And that, I think, is the legacy of her show—the profound social impact. More than the celebrities, or the screaming women receiving free gifts, is the commitment to use her platform to improve the world. To speak out against abuse. To fight hunger, spread literacy, and provide a voice to others who felt they had none. To recognize so clearly that there were viewers at home who would identify with those on stage, who struggled with the same issue, and who might just use that particular episode as a lifeline to keep them afloat.

I don’t see any other show on TV with that kind of social impact. And I’m going to miss that.

And I have no idea what my wife is going to watch now.

~ ~ ~ ~

As Oprah’s show has wound down, one specific episode really struck me.

When I heard that James Frey, the now infamous author of A Million Little Pieces, was going to be on her show again in the final weeks, I couldn’t believe it. How could she give that guy who lied in his book, and then presumably profited even more from the controversy, more publicity? I hate when people profit from bad behavior—see the financial collapse of 2008—and was upset that Oprah would give him this platform again.

(If you were absent from Earth and missed the James Frey controversy a few years ago, click here for a summary, or click here for the transcript of the January 2006 interview in which Oprah scorched Frey.)

But I watched the latest James Frey interview.

And it was riveting.

For starters, Oprah was much more low-key than she was when Frey came back to her show during the heat of the controversy in 2006. Back then, she tore into him for embarrassing her and deceiving her readers; now, sitting in a quiet hotel meeting space, with no studio guests, both Oprah and Frey were reflective on what happened. They both reflected about that famous day on her show, how the whole situation came to be, about all of it.

Interestingly enough, neither watched the show after it was first broadcast; Frey still hasn’t. (I wouldn’t, either; if there’s only pain and negativity in the rear-view mirror, take the lessons you need to get out of it and just look forward.)

He acknowledged, when asked, that he was not aware of the lion’s den he was about to walk into that day, that the producers had not told him the details in advance. Oprah then asked him essentially the same question in different ways at multiple points throughout the interview: Did he feel ambushed by the questions she asked him that day? Did he feel it was unfair? Was he upset afterward?

Every time she asked, his response always came back to this:

“Whatever happened that day, I brought on myself.”

He said it not in a diplomatic-but-quietly-I’m-upset kind of way, but in a way that suggested he really meant it. He did not communicate any feelings of anger over what happened, never once expressed displeasure with her producers for not preparing him.

So why did he come back that day, even when his attorneys advised him not to, telling him that he would expose himself to lawsuits and more?

“I came because I think I owed it to you to come,” he told Oprah. “When this was all happening, I kept saying to myself, ‘How did you arrive at this? How did you do this?’… I knew that what happened was my fault. I created that mess, I created that situation. And that if I had to come bear the responsibility of what I had done, that I should do it.”

Wow. I was stunned as I watched that. (Click here to see a clip of the interview.)

We live in an age where we teach our children, and teens in particular, to make good decisions, to take responsibility for their actions. Yet all around us we see the opposite. We see athletes who get caught cheating yet continue to lie. Politicians who get caught yet continue to deny. People who simply refuse to say, “I made a mistake,” or more importantly, “I’m sorry.”

Frey did none of that. Over and over, he simply said it was entirely his fault. He explained that shifting the book’s genre to memoir would make the story more inspiring and thus increase sales. Once the book took off and was chosen for Oprah’s book club, things had spun out of control and there was no turning back. But all of that, he said, was on him.

Oprah, for her part, also expressed regret. She acknowledged the criticism she received after that show, that people said she judged him too harshly. Now, looking back, she said what people saw that day was a lack of compassion, for which she apologized to Frey. Also impressive.

I love stories of redemption. But more than that, I love stories where people take responsibility for their behavior and try to make things right, especially if it leads to the repair of a relationship. It’s so simple, so obvious, yet so rare.

So when the show was over, I really liked James Frey. Who knows, I might even pick up a copy of A Million Little Pieces.

Ah, who am I kidding? I’d rather watch football.

Cross-Posted at http://www.cfje.org/threeminuterecord_oprah_james_frye/

Mojo, Maslow and Jewish Education

2011-05-16T19:19:00.000-07:00

I am reading “Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow” by Chip Conley with my friends, colleagues and teachers in my CoP—the Rhea Hirsch School of Education Alumni Virtual Book Group.

In this engaging book, hotelier Chip Conley, shares how he uses Abraham Maslow’s iconic concepts of the “hierarchy of needs” and theories of human motivations to create a dynamic and thriving culture for his employees in his boutique hotel business. We in turn, talk together about apply these concepts and Conley’s insights to our world of Jewish education.

In addition to theory and pearls of wisdom, Conley provides examples by sharing some of the “backstory” about culture, attitudes and practices from companies such as Google, Southwest Airlines, Zappos and other from the “100 Best Companies to Work For" list. While this might sound contrary to our image of the ‘profit-driven amoral business world’, we in Jewish education have much to learn about culture that supports community, personal growth, integrity from innovative businesses who pay careful attention to the needs of employees and customers.

Conley’s principles can be easily translated to how we work with our students, their families, our faculty staff and colleagues. In his book he talks about how to create lasting impressions, loyalty, peak experiences, trust, challenge and empathy. While the setting and roles of the examples Conley shares come from the world of business, it is easy to substitute synagogue, board member, teacher, learner or parents into the principle.

Given the time that we (the Fellows) spent at Google in Tel Aviv last December, I especially enjoyed reading Conley’s description of Google’s commitment to supporting their employees need to feel that they are making a difference in the world by encouraging employees to spend 20 percent of their time on projects they feel can make a difference in the world.

Conley’s book is a good reminder that people’s once basic needs are met, in a supportive culture, people (learners, teachers, colleagues, parents, staff, board members etc) are motivated by the human drive to find meaning and to make a difference.

Jewish Holidays Explained

2011-05-09T05:00:00.000-07:00

As the summer approaches and, with the exception of Shabbat, only a few holidays remain before we start again in the Fall (whew!), let’s take a moment to consider the cycle of Jewish holidays as a whole.

The calendar of Jewish holidays is diverse. We have holidays that last as few as one and as many as eight days. We have holidays that ask us to change our daily routine, such as Shabbat and Yom Kippur; holidays where daily celebration is basically the same as usual, such as Hanukkah; and holidays that overturn our entire lives, such as Passover and Sukkot. One reason why Jewish holidays have a distinctive lack of uniformity is that each is based on different sources that commemorate or celebrate different historical events in the history of our people. Despite this diversity, our holidays can be divided into three primary categories.

The first category of Jewish holidays is those that are discussed in the Torah. These are the holidays that G-d gave the Jewish people through Moses. Traditionally, these holidays, including Shabbat, have restrictions on the type of activities one can perform and can be identified by how we mark their beginning, with the lighting of two candles and the reciting of Kiddush, a prayer of sanctification, over a glass of wine. Although all the specific ritual acts of these holidays are not provided in the Torah, our rabbinic tradition establishes practices for these holidays based on an explanatory reading of the Torah.

The second category of Jewish holidays is those which were established by the Sages of the rabbinic period and codified in the Talmud. Most of these holidays have their origin in the Bible but were not given by G-d to the Jewish people and do not have the same level of sanctity as those discussed in the Torah. Purim is the most common example of this class of holidays, although others include Tisha B’Av and the minor fasts to commemorate the other tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people in the First and Second Temple periods and beyond. Hanukkah, also a holiday in this category, is distinctive from the rest in that it is established by the Rabbis but not Biblical in origin. Actually, it was the Rabbis themselves (for reasons that would require another article) who decided not to include the books of First and Second Maccabees, that tell the Hanukkah story, in what was to become the Jewish Bible. Nevertheless, the Rabbis instituted the holiday to commemorate this moment of Jewish triumph. The practices of these holidays are less restrictive because they are not instituted directly by G-d but by the recognized guardians of the Jewish tradition.

The final category of Jewish holidays is those created in the modern period. These holidays commemorate or celebrate events of that are connected to the modern Jewish experience, the Holocaust or the establishment of the State of Israel. Since these holidays were created in modernity, they are not marked by most of the ritual and prayer that is central to the celebration of Torah-based or Rabbinic holidays. In addition, these holidays have the fewest number of restrictions.

Interestingly, most of us have holidays that we appreciate over others because their message or practices are personally compelling. In addition, you might find that one category of Jewish holidays seems to have greater magnetism than another because the rituals or restrictions of the day fundamentally shape the nature of its observance.

We should also help those we teach to give more serious thought to the Jewish holidays. Explore with them how they could expand their connection to sacred Jewish time. What is telling about the fact that they prefer Yom Ha'Atzmaut to Rosh HaShanah or Purim to Shavuot? Have they been adequately exposed to the ideas, rituals, or prayers that could make the observance of the holidays more meaningful? Teaching about the holidays should not be something that ends at Bar Mitzvah age, but something explored at all times in a learner's Jewish journey. That way, we are constantly renewed in our Jewish living each year.

What is the proper blessing on hearing of the violent death of an Amalekite?

2011-05-02T14:14:00.000-07:00

Anyone in the U.S. watching network television last night around 10:45 EDT (we might have had a minyan watching network TV) learned about the killing of Osama bin Laden. (People on Twitter learned a little earlier!) It has been an interesting weekend for news. A royal wedding on Friday, a beatification and an assault on public enemy on Sunday. Thank God for Shabbat. We were so busy celebrating a B'nai Mitzvah that we didn't pay attention to the outside world. BTW, both Divrei Torah were fabulous!

This morning I was struck by the sounds and images of the rejoicing in Washington D.C. and at Ground Zero over the death of bin Laden (may his name be blotted from memory). While I am as happy as anyone that he is no longer at large, and relieved he is not going to be around to stand trial, I am struck by the rejoicing over someone’s death and the singing of God Bless America.

Tonight we have class for our Kitah Zayin and Chet students (7th & 8th grade) and tomorrow we have Daled - Vav (4th - 6th). What should we say - if anything?

I am leaning toward telling the Midrash from Masechet Megillot of the angels rejoicing at the sea juxtaposed with the rejoicing of the Israelites (as retold by Pinchas Peli):

"It was indeed part of the miracle which occurred at the crossing of the sea, that the Israelites looked at what they saw and were moved to faith. It was this spontaneous faith which erupted in the exalted immortal Song of the Sea. Song and praise has remained ever since the most genuine language of faith. Most of Jewish prayer does not consist of petition and supplication, but of hymns and praises. The Song of the Sea sung by Moses and the Israelites is to this day part of the daily Jewish liturgy.

Singing to God is not without limitations, just as not singing may have fateful repercussions.... Rabbi Yohanan comments that when the ministering angels wanted to sing hymns during the crossing of the sea, God silenced them saying: 'The work of my hand is being drowned in the sea, and you chant songs?' (Babylonian Talmud Megilla 10a).

This comment of Rabbi Yohanan was often quoted to show the humaneness of the Jewish attitude even towards the worst enemies. Even as the Egyptians were chasing the Israelites to push them into the sea and God wrought the miracle making the wheels of their chariots swerve, sweeping them into the water which soon covered chariots and horsemen, even then no wrathful vendetta, but consideration for the casualties of the enemy was the order of the day." - Pinchas Peli, Torah Today, p.67-68

It shows that rejoicing is a very human response, but when we think deeper we have to remember that a human life has been ended. Juxtaposed with spilling the ten drops of wine for the ten plagues, it leads to a more thoughtful response. In an e-mail forwarded to me by Rabbi Jim Prosnit, Arthur Waskow points out that the angels are rebuked, but the humans are not. The celebration is a natural response, but when we hold ourselves to a higher standard (which we teach our students to do), we have to remember that four people were killed.

I agree with the president that justice was served. I am not unhappy that bin Laden is gone - even with the likelihood that his followers will retaliate. But I am uncomfortable serving that dish with lots of relish. I am generally opposed to death penalty. Like the State of Israel, I am willing to make an exception for proven or avowed mass murderers like Eichmann or bin Laden. But I am not certain the lesson I want to teach is that we dance when they are killed. The images were eerily reminiscent of the dancing in Gaza and Ramallah and Tehran on September 11, 2001. America and Judaism both teach us to be better than that.

An apocryphal story: Before the outbreak of the War of Independence in 1948, it is said that Golda Meir met secretly with King Abdullah of Jordan (the current king's grandfather) to urge him to sit out the conflict. It is said that he refused because the political fallout of not joining the war was unacceptable, and possibly fatal to him. The story goes that he apologized to Golda in advance of the attacks. She is said to have replied: "I can forgive you for killing our sons. I cannot forgive you for forcing my children to become killers of yours."

Maybe it is just too soon, but I know that we need to help contextualize this for our students and ourselves. I would truly like to hear your ideas. What is the lesson we need to teach here? What is the blessing? Do we bless the true judge, or do we praise God for wondrous deeds?

Cross-posted to Welcome to the Next Level

Answers to Open the Door

2011-04-21T08:57:00.000-07:00

Peter Eckstein is one of my favorite colleagues. Not only is he a professional and a deep thinker, but he likes the Grateful Dead so much that Terrapin is part of his e-mail address! He called me recently to talk over some ideas about using technology in our work - it was one of several calls he had with a bunch of colleagues. Hopefully you received an invitation to the survey from JESNA or some other source, but if not, click here. This is the beginning of a conversation. For all of our sakes, I hope you will join in! Here is his post about this from his blog, The Fifth Child. (His blog is definitely worth following!)

Pesach is a time for questions.

So, in the spirit of the season, I would like to ask you some. I’ll start with one: How do Jewish educators learn to use 21st century educational technology in the Jewish classroom? This will lead to a few more. What follows is a survey with 15 questions (an auspicious number for Pesach). The goal of this short (5-8 minutes) questionnaire is to find some answers to the question of how and what we learn.

My friend and colleague Barry Gruber recently posted a piece about the smorgasbord of opportunities to learn what the ‘net provides. He’s right – it truly is a blessing. I wonder if this cornucopia is so bountiful that there will be many who, like the 4th child, will be so intimidated by all the resources available that they will be daunted by the act of beginning to learn. They won’t know where to start. They won’t know what to ask. If this is the case, what should we do about it?

Ergo the survey. This is an independent project to explore the nature of on-line Jewish professional development related to the utilization of educational technology. It’s focus is to find out how we Jewish educators learn about these new tools, where we learn from, and if we need to make these learning opportunities more accessible. I'm hoping that this information will help shape the way Jewish educators can easily learn more about the use of digital tools in their classrooms.

Teaching is leading. We educators create an environment for our students to construct their knowledge base. The tools that are being developed today and tomorrow empower us to achieve this goal. The complicated part is that we need to learn how to use them. There’s the rub. What’s the best way for the educators, who can’t go to conferences or don’t have local resources provided by central agencies, to learn how to take the next step into the world of digital Jewish learning?

Questions. There are many. And the answers may lead us to an understanding of what we can do to build a solid base of Jewish educators who can comfortably engage their students, speaking a common language. This is why I’m asking you all to take part in this adventure.

I must thank Jonathan Woocher and Rebecca Leshin of the Lippman Kanfer Institute for supporting this project and providing the platform to make it possible. I also want to acknowledge the many educators in the Jewish cloud who have contributed ideas to help create this survey. There are too many to mention by name, but I do want to thank you all for you assistance.

So please click here to access this professional development survey. Answers can be signposts leading us in the direction of creating Jewish futures for our students. We just need to start with the questions. Together let’s find the answers.

Thinking About Critical Questions

2011-04-17T20:16:00.000-07:00

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 ideas or questions I have recently come across in my K-12 learning that gave me pause to consider their implication in Jewish education. I am curious as to how YOU would answer these questions as they relate to Jewish education:

What can we do to facilitate learning in other 85% of time, when kids are out of school? [Note: this figure is in public school, what about the 99% of time kids are out of supplemental school?]
How can we expand the number of adults who are connecting to students?
Can we reinvent the basic organization of schools in a 24/7 digital environment?
What are the core competencies teachers should be responsible for?
How much of education is "right answers" and how much is a personal answer?
What is the nature of the process by which organizations, institutions, and societies transform themselves?
What are the characteristics of effective learning systems?
How is technology altering the very nature of pedagogy?
Can you honestly say that your school's curriculum and the program you use are preparing your students for 2015 or 2020? Are you even preparing them for today?
What is a literate, aware & prepared citizen? (of Jewish community)?
What are 21st century assessments for learning?

The final question was actually posed ... What choices for topics, issues, problems, themes, and case studies are timely and necessary for our learners within disciplines? (i.e. What are scientists studying? What are engineers trying to build? What are the historians uncovering? What forms are writers generating? What are artists saying in their work?) (Jacobs, 2009, pg. 34). So based on this question, I ask: What are adult Jews doing in their Jewish lives? Perhaps the answer to that question should guide our Jewish education curriculum!

Bryk, A.S. (2008) The Future of Education Research

Jacobs, H.H. (2009) Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World

Schon, D. (1987) Educating the Reflective Practitioner

Smith, M.K. (2001) Donald Schon: Learning, Reflection and Change. Retrieved

from: http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-schon.htm:

If you ask what a teacher makes, be prepared for the answer

2011-04-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

My friend and colleague, Arnie Rotenberg, posted a link to this video on Facebook this morning. He said "If you ask what a teacher makes, be prepared for the answer." Enjoy the video. Let's talk about it!

Crossposted to Welcome to the Next Level

Satisfying The Hunger

2011-03-21T06:45:00.000-07:00

For as long as I can remember, I have loved to feed people. I enjoy coming up with a menu, cooking, and the satisfied murmurs of people who can’t put another thing in their mouths and stomachs! And my guests are obviously getting pleasure out of it as well. It’s an even greater experience for both my guests and me when everyone is actually hungry.

Right now, it appears that there is a great hunger out there among Jewish educators. The hunger is not for food however, of which, thank G-d, we have enough (sometimes, as one might guess from looking at my rather large belly, we even have too much). The hunger I refer to is for knowledge and understanding about the transformative impact of technology on Jewish education. For those of us educators who are digital immigrants, we want knowledge and information about the technologies that are out there, ready to be used and embraced. We want to learn how to use them, and we want to figure out how they can be applied to Jewish education – both in the classroom and in our own professional development and responsibilities. And all of us educators, including the growing number of digital natives, want to understand the potential that technology has for transforming how Jewish education is delivered/acquired. After all, we’re the ones that can and should be in the forefront of envisioning the future and leading the charge.

The good news is that there are many resources through which people can gain knowledge and understanding, as well as join in discussions about what it all means and where it’s all leading. Just 2 months ago, both JEA and NATE devoted their annual conferences to this theme, and it was a major piece of the recent RAVSAK conference as well. While I am not certain about the NATE figures, the JEA conference drew its largest attendance in several decades. Prior to these two conferences, both PEJE and JESNA had conferences dealing with these same issues. There are several groups and websites dealing with some of these issues as well, such as the Jewish Education Change Network, and my good friends at Darim Online (who even run a technology “boot camp.”

And now, thanks to the Jim Joseph Foundation Fellowship and the Lookstein Center, there are online Communities of Practice (CoP) dealing specifically with technology and Jewish education. My friend and colleague Eliezer Jones from Yeshiva University began a CoP called YU 2.0 only several months ago, and it already has over 200 members and very active and engaging discussions and opportunities to learn.

My own CoP, which for the near future will be limited to JEA members, was launched only 2 weeks ago. Through only one announcement on our listserve, we already have over 35 members and are growing every day. With the help of my very talented and knowledgeable design team (Deborah Nagler, Sara Shapiro-Plevan, and Peter Eckstein), we have decided on our approach. First, we want to concentrate on teaching about tools that not only have classroom applications, but appeal to potential CoP members self-interest (after all, there has to be something in it for people if they are going to invest time and energy into being an active member of a CoP). So we are starting with the overall subject of “Collaborative Tools.” As our first topic, we have chosen “wikis,” as we now have a JEA Wiki for posting program ideas, templates, etc… We have posted 6 or 7 articles and videos on our CoP website about wikis, and have asked our members to read and/or watch them. I am posting a discussion question every few days. So far, we have had an amazing discussion, involving quite a few of our members, over the concept of “Darwikinism” – that is, in relation to the ability for anyone with permission to edit a wiki, the concept of “survival of the fittest.” In several weeks time, we will be running a webinar for the CoP members who are interested in hands on instruction on how to use wikis.

So, there you have it. If you’re hungry for knowledge about many different aspects of integrating technology into Jewish education, there are lots of different “restaurants” opening up. Go out and try some of them!!

Reflections on our Jewish Digital Future

2011-03-11T10:00:00.000-08:00

This is a comment on a cross-post of cross-post. It is appropriate in light of the content. eJewishPhilanthropy posted an abridgement of a posting on the Project InCite blog by Lily Lozovsky.The image at right will make sense further down!

Reflections on our Jewish Digital Future Right now, we are living through a fundamental shift in the structure of our society. Digital media and portable connective devices are transforming our world by eliminating the transaction costs that once acted as barriers to offline activism.

… Our digital tools are stretching the limits of human potential, expanding the capacity of the individual and the collective to affect scalable, rapid change in our communities.

… Jewish institutions cannot afford to carry out their missions on the ground without simultaneously engaging with thought leaders and activists in “cyber space”. If we are doing a phenomenal job, our success will be reinforced and extended by the community online. If we are not, well, there is cause to worry.

Online, the authenticity of an organization’s impact and relationships is king. We have entered what I like to think of as the ultimate audit – of individuals, businesses and institutions. We are no longer simply what we say we are. Rather, we are the sum of our searchable reputation; ratings, followers and reviews that tell others the truth about what we have to offer. This is both powerful and frightening.

The critical mass of people trafficking across the web creates a filter beyond anything that a lone editor or institution could guarantee. If we are ineffective or irrelevant, if we are not part of the conversation, or fail to deliver on the claim that we are making – people in our networks will know. They will talk. They will tweet. The internet has empowered people with a voice.

And they are speaking up whether institutions give them the microphone or not.

The organizations that we care about cannot continue addressing the internet as another place to post their brochures. It is time to change our metaphors. We need to see social media as a networking event or a Kiddush luncheon, one that we cannot afford to miss, even if we arrive on Jewish time.

I am the guy who keeps talking about not tossing the synagogue baby out with the analog bathwater. (Wow. That is a hideously stretched metaphor. You know what I mean, yes?) Some would expect me to refute Lily or in some way try to lessen the impact of what she has said.

Not going to happen.

She nailed it in one. Nothing she says suggests shuttering the shul or closing the JCC or making the community all virtual all the time. She talks about how essential it is that our institutions learn to occupy the space in 2.0 rather than a 1.0 manner.

I look at my synagogue web site and see that it is web 1.0 - the read only web. We are not interactive. It is a fine place for members to catch up. It serves as a great way for prospective members to begin to get to know us. Many people have told us how helpful it was in their decision to join. But it does little to bring our members together other than telling them when to meet in real time. Most synagogue pages are the same. We are working on this. I hope everyone else is too.

We have had some success in building community online using resources other than the web page. Facebook has really begin to be useful. One of our rabbis invited me to work with her in establishing a temple Facebook group. We have 243 members of the group and we have reached the point where members are doing most of the posting and they are having conversations about lots of things. Not just about events at the temple, but about getting together to do things with one another or with their children. One of our teachers, who grew up in our synagogue noticed something interesting on a library book Date Due card:

"Today at Sunday school one of my kindergarteners took this book out. I started filling out the information and I read up the list to find Mallory Gibson who was 7 years old (back in 2000) when she took the book out. I was a Madrakah in her class when I was in high school and she was in kindergarten, I taught her when she was in Kitha Chet (8th grade), and now she's graduating high school. Makes me feel old! Also, Todd Markley, who is a Rabbi now, from the temple, and is well known across the east coast also took this very same book out. He took it out in 1983! History in our own temple! :-p"

She snapped the picture at the top of this posting and posted it to the Facebook Group. The conversation at right then ensued. Heidi is a parent in our school and came to our community somewhat recently. Claire is long-term member who has adult children and grandchildren. She has served on our board and is part of a team of volunteers that makes our library work for our members.

So the technology has allowed us to bridge generations and bring people together. A similar conversation about a family making Shabbat on vacation and another member who posted daily pictures and commentary from the congregational trip to Israel last month.

So I agree with Lily. We (Jewish institutions) need to get MUCH better at embracing and using the available means to bring our people together, both digitally and in analog. It is both/and, not either/or. Lot's more work. But let's face it, no one went into Jewish education to avoid work.

Let's build something together!

Cross-posted to Welcome to the Next Level

"Don't know much 'bout history" - Anatomy of an educational program

2011-03-10T02:39:00.000-08:00

Do American Jews care about the Civil War? In a recent article in The Forward Jonathan Sarna says that they do not, and that they should. In the mid-19^th century they certainly cared. The New York Times reports that Rabbinic leaders came out with public pronouncements about slavery, and their interpretation of the Torah's view on that subject.

But what does an educator do if he wants to teach this material to his students?

When Shlomo Horwitz, director of Jewish Crossroads, wanted to develop a program on this topic, he turned to his virtual colleagues on the Lookjed list, asking them for sources on Civil War era slavery as well as how Judaism perceives the institution of slavery in the Messianic era.

Answers came in quickly. From Bar-Ilan University, Adam Ferziger, associate director of the Graduate Program in Contemporary Jewry suggested Marc Saperstein's work, which led to an off-list email correspondence with Professor Saperstein (who both recommended his own Jewish Preaching in Times of War, 1800-2001 and offered links to various sermons, like this one).

Regarding slavery in Messianic times, Shalom Carmy recommended reading Rav Kook's letters on the subject and Elli Fischer pointed to a series of Virtual Bet Midrash lectures that focused on these letters.

Ultimately, Shlomo Horwitz put these - and other - suggested resources together to create an educational program. He also developed a short podcast where he shared some of this material.

Enjoy!

Jewish Journeys on the Internet

2011-03-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

Here are some examples of the intersection between Jewish values, Jewish education, and the Digital Age.

Our tradition teaches us that there are shivim panim laTorah, seventy faces (facets) to the Torah, expressing the idea that there are multiple ways to interpret our most sacred text (BaMidbar Rabbah 13:15). This idea has found a virtual world in the website www.psookim.com. With the Bible in English and Hebrew, this site gives anyone the opportunity to comment on any verse. These comments can be text, pictures, videos, or other up-loadable content. Mixed in with the contemporary interpretations, are the writings of traditional commentators. Still in its infancy, this project has the potential to create a modern cross-cultural Jewish conversation available to anyone with an internet connection.

In Pirkei Avot 2:5, Hillel teaches us al tifrosh min hatzibur, “do not separate yourself from the community” and the internet has the potential to change our understanding of community. Focused on creating a virtual community, www.metroimma.com is a social network for Jewish mothers. Although the site is centered on the New York City Jewish scene, it has postings on raising children, cooking, travel, health and wellness, starting a business, and all things connected to being a Jewish mom wherever you find yourself. The site has regular contributors as well as guest postings, and members can post their thoughts freely. This site is just one example of a way to get connected to a larger Jewish community, tailored to a specific audience, without leaving your couch.

Deuteronomy 6:7, recited each day at as part of the Shema, reminds us that parents are responsible for teaching Judaism to their children. The internet can assist with websites such as www.babaganewz.com. This interactive site gives kids the chance to watch videos, read articles, or play interactive games on many Jewish topics. The site also includes a section for teachers with sample lesson plans on many subjects.

Ever since the revelation at Mount Sinai the Jewish people have had a special connection to the written word. Our books may have started on stone tablets, but now you can explore them digitally by pointing your web browser to www.jbooks.com. This is an online community for exploring Jewish books and their authors. It has separate sections for fiction, non-fiction, and children’s books, as well as sample first chapters of newer books to see if they should go on your reading list.

Long ago are the days when you needed a guide to help you jump into exploring Jewish life. Here are just four examples of virtual roads leading to an armchair Jewish journey. You just need an internet connection and a little time to surf the Web.

Under One Roof

2011-02-27T19:44:00.000-08:00

I have to admit to feeling a little envious of some friends during my college years. At Columbia University in New York City, for example, there were enough Jewish students on campus to support OJC, CJC and PJC (Orthodox Jews at Columbia, Conservative Jews at Columbia and Progressive Jews at Columbia)—strong, often separate, Jewish communities. At Washington University in St. Louis, in contrast, we all came together at our Hillel House on Friday nights—under one roof--to pray (in one of three minyanim), followed by Shabbat dinner and one program—for all.

Yes, the members of the Orthodox minyan at Wash U. had to pray with the sounds of guitar playing coming from the Reform minyan. And sometimes a male from the Conservative minyan was “borrowed” for the Orthodox minyan. And we had to figure out just “who” could make kiddush and lead birkat hamazon for the community. But we all learned an important lesson in Jewish communal living. We learned to work together and to respect each other—in our similarities and in our differences.

While “those college days’ were more than twenty years ago, I often wonder where, in the Jewish World of 2011, do Jews continue to coexist, under one roof? Where do Jews collaborate, respect each other, and comfortably come together “as one,”?

Here are a few examples which come to mind. I invite you to add my list. You may also challenge my list.

1. JCCs (often in smaller Jewish communities). Large campuses often house the JCC, the Jewish Federation, Jewish Foundation and Board of Jewish Education. New Haven and Memphis are two examples which come to mind.
2. The Jewish special needs world—there are NO denominational differences when it comes to special needs. Jews work together to access services for their children.
3. College campuses with small Jewish populations
4. Jewish communal commemorations and celebrations (examples: Yom HaShoah, Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel Parades)—though, increasingly, differing political and religious views make for a less than “communal” feel.
5. Support of Israel in times of crisis (again, this is sadly less and less the case)
6. Model youth programs, like the Bronfman Youth Fellowship, designed to attract high school juniors, from across the Jewish landscape, on a life-changing Israel summer experience.
7. Our own Jim Joseph Foundation Fellowship (JJFF)—bringing together fourteen educators--with various backgrounds and styles of observance—and working in such diverse settings as community day schools, camps, JCCs, synagogue-based early childhood programs, religious schools, YU, HUC, and more.

The fellows are actively involved in a number of projects with amazing potential to create additional places where Jews can come together under one “virtual” roof. We are all designing and running online communities of practice. Stay tuned to Davar Acher for news of how these CoPs are growing and changing the landscape of the Jewish World!

In the meantime, please add to the list!

True Grit in Jewish Education

2011-02-24T11:04:00.000-08:00

In a simultaneous post, I shared an article by Chip and Dan Heath in which they looked the remake of the film True Grit as a metaphor for achievement. They focused on public health campaigns and a resource site for teachers as examples of "endurance in pursuit of long-term goals and an ability to persist in the face of adversity." They refer to new psychological research that suggests that "grit" in this sense is a key factor in making people successful.

Like many people I have a pension plan. Like most people with such plans, I opened my quarterly statement (a mistake) about a year and a half ago to learn that the nest egg I had been building since 1991 had lost more money in a quarter than I made in a year in salary. I freaked. Of course this is not news. Many people freaked that year. I was lucky. My retirement was years, perhaps decades away. My wife, who has an MBA reminded me (or did I remind her? It was a traumatic time for many of us!) that we were in the pension for the long haul. If we had planned on retiring that year we would be in dire straights, but we had time. We needed to be patient. She (I?) was right. In the most recent statement, the fund had fully recovered to pre-recession levels. Staying the course worked in this case.

How Disruptive Must Innovation Be?
Some of the people I respect the most in Jewish education today have been shouting that our Beit Midrash is on fire: "Religious School is dead, we just don't know it yet." "Synagogues are history. Independent minyanim are the way of the future." "All Jewish learning must be online all the time." "Technology means that Kids and Parents are different than they have been and they will never go back." "We need more engagement." "We need more disruptive innovation." "We need mobile apps."

Contrary to my teenage sons perceptions, I am too young to be a curmudgeon. And, as I said, I respect a lot of the people who are calling for change and disruptive innovation in Jewish life. I am incredibly excited about the work of people like Russell Neiss and Charlie Schwartz (MediaMidrash is only their first act-they rocked the NATE conference with a digital/real world scavenger hunt in Seattle. Click here to read their manifesto on open source Jewish Education which helped them win the competition to go to the GA in New Orleans last year. Brilliant!)

I am wowed by the work of PresenTense, ProjectIncite, The Jim Joseph Foundation Fellows and Leadership Institute (both of which I am a part), ROI Community, the iCenter, the Foundation for Jewish Camp, and Keshet. And these are just the new initiatives that jump into my head at the moment. There are dozens more. I have had the honor of being a reader for grants given by two foundations and the ingenuity of the proposals they were considering was incredible. I can only hope that they all find funding somehow.

We are in the midst of a wide ranging surge of innovation in Jewish learning and living, and it is due in some large part to the encouragement of foundations like Jim Joseph, Lynn and Charles Schusterman, Covenant and many others. It is being heralded by some of the gedolim of Jewish education - I will avoid names lest I leave someone out. And it is being carried out by educators ranging in age from 18 - 68 (an arbitrary number that sounds good to me).

Let me clear. I celebrate all of these developments.

Let me be clear. We have seen all of this before. The hand wringing and worry that is followed or joined by innovation and excitement, which is then followed by the declaration that the old way of doing things is defunct, long live the new way.

It happened in the early days of the internet with the development of wonderful sites like Jewish Family and Life and MyJewishLearning.com - a precursor to the current situation.

It happened in the early 70's and gave us the Jewish Catalogs, Chavurot, Shema is for Real and Debbie Friedman (and the musical rebirth that followed).

It happened after the Six Day War when American Jews found their Zionist t-shirts and synagogues advertised all-Israeli Hebrew faculties and switched to modern Hebrew instruction.

It probably happened when Karo and then Isserles finished the Shulchan Aruch, when Rashi's commentaries were first published, when Rambam wrote the Mishneh Torah. We know it happened in Mishanic times when according to Rabba, Joshua ben Gamla invented formal Jewish education outside the home (Bava Batra 20b - 21a).

All of these innovations changed the universe for the teacher and the learner. So let's not be frightened. If being a student of Jewish history has taught me anything, it is that the Jewish people have remained a viable culture because of our ability to adapt to the changing world around us, no matter how disruptive innovations may be (even if you think of exile, inquisition and holocaust as disruptions - although they were much more than that, of course).

Plus ca change, Plus ca la meme GRIT.
It's not really true. The more things change, they do not stay the same. Things do change. I embrace change. But change does not mean throw out everything but the basics and bring in everything new. That would mean that core values are no longer valid. I just sat with a young women preparing her D'var Torah for Parshat Kedoshim. She is working off of the first verse - "You shall be Holy, for I the Eternal, am holy." I asked her what she meant by that.

She answered: "Always do the right thing." And when I asked her to elaborate, she pointed out that verse 16 talks about treating the blind and deaf appropriately. Rather than going into issues of caring for the differently abled, she said, "You know, they can't hear or see if you do the right thing. So I think being holy means doing the right thing, even if no one is looking."

Hmmm. No mobile app. I checked. No tweeting or crowd sourcing. All Torah. Cool.

I think the lesson I want us all to take away from True Grit and the Heath's article is simple. We are in the throws of intense, exciting and wonderful innovations in Jewish living and learning. I pray that we learn the lessons we evaded after the 1990 and 2000 Jewish population studies and A Time to Act came out. We need to stop pointing at programs or institutions as a category and saying "this one is worthy" and "that one is not." We need to spend less time saying the Religious School/Synagogue/Day School/Nursery School/Federation/JCC/name your institution is dead as a concept.

We need to look at each individual institution and see where it is. Some may be beyond salvage, and we owe to ourselves to identify them and retask resources and find ways to re-engage their members in Jewish life if needed. Others may need a dose of innovation or reality or just some introspection to figure out the puzzle of connection Jews to Judaism and to one another.

We already have Torah and all of the textual richness of our heritage. And there is an app for most of them! And the app is great for the person on the go, stuck at the airport or on a train. I still maintain there is no app that can replace a camp counselor or faculty member and a bunch of kids, under a tree at camp talking about Torah and Jewish values. Google Earth is a cool tool on a SmartBoard (just used it last week), and the Skype conversation our fifth graders had with kids in Haifa and Beersheva two Sundays ago was awesome. Neither has value until they sat down with a teacher and talked about the experience. We still need to make meaning of all of the apps. Judaism is not designed for hermits.

We need a little True Grit to help us remember that the point of the exercise is Torah, God and Israel. Everything else is a tool.

So innovate like mad, but don't forget.

My favorite rabbi (because of his name), Ben Bag Bag said it best:

"Click it over and over, because everything is in it."

Cross Posted to Welcome to the Next Level

Learning Torah Online, With Special Young Adults

2011-02-11T13:39:00.000-08:00

Last night may have been my best night yet online! No, I did not watch a cool YouTube video or reconnect on Facebook with a friend from 2nd grade--i learned Torah with members of Camp Ramah in New England's Vocational Training Program. This group of young adults with a range of special needs meets every Thursday night at 8 pm, as part of our "Shabbos Is Calling" video conference. Following a few minutes "shmoozing"--about Ortal's upcoming Israel trip, Jason's volunteer work on Fridays playing chess with elderly adults, and David's delight that work at a local private school wasn't cancelled even once this week due to snow, we moved on to a discussion of the parsha, the weekly Torah portion.

I reminded the group that we had learned last week about the Mishkan, the portable tabernacle which the Israelites carried with them through the desert. "Why did they need a mishkan?" I asked. Jason had two answers. The first was the more conventional answer. "They need a more physical way to connect with God." Jason's second answer blew me away. "The mishkan is God's way of showing the people what is okay to build and what is not okay to build--the mishkan was okay to build; the Golden Calf was not!" No commentator I am familiar with has offered this interpretation. Thanks, Jason!

Then, we discussed this week's parsha of Tetzavah, about the special clothes of the Kohanim, the priests. I offered an explanation about the me'il, a special blue garment--with a high neckline, and special gold and cloth bells at the bottom. I explained how it was worn as a kaparah, an atonement for l'shon harah, derogatory speech. The alternating bells--the ones that ring and those which are silent--reminded us that there are times when a person should speak up and times when he shouldn't. Jeff said it best, "Sometimes, when you have a thought, you shouldn't say it!" I was so pleased that Jeff was taking a Torah lesson, and connecting it to a lesson we learn in our job training program--sometimes, on a job site, and in life, it is best to censor a thought. Jeff is telling us that it is okay to think something, but we need to screen and think carefully before we speak.

We wished each other Shabbat Shalom and signed off--excited to meet again next week. I am still smiling--thinking about how online communication has amazing potential to teach torah and to connect all Jews--even those who sometimes feel disconnected from the Jewish world. I will truly have a Shabbat shel Shalom--a peaceful shabbat.

Hard to Believe? What does it mean?

2011-02-08T11:19:00.000-08:00

This is a true story—really!

On January 1^st I stumbled upon this display at the entry to the shopping area in departures at Ben Gurion Air Port. The figures in the display are even bigger than life size and so this “exhibit” very hard to miss. I stood staring in disbelief for several minutes. Mystified, I asked myself over and over what is their real message? Diesel is a successful multimillion-dollar business—what do they know that I don’t understand?

I have been reading “A Whole New Mind” by Daniel Pink with my RHSOE CoP. Pink believes that the “keys to the kingdom are changing hands” and that our society that has been dominated left brain (analytical) thinking is moving into a new era that will value and be dominated by right brain (emotional) thinking. Perhaps the folks at Diesel agree with Pink’s read of the declining appeal and influence of left brain thinking and values. Like Pink, it seems that Diesel feels that rebelling against left brain thinking (driven by knowledge and analysis) means valuing emotion, creativity, and play.

I do believe though that Pink would be mortified, though maybe not surprised by this ad display that shouts; "SMART CRITQUES, STUPID CREATES”. “SMART LISTENS TO THE HEAD, STUPID LISTENS TO THE HEART” and “STUPID IS GOOD FOR YOU”, “SMART HAS BRAINS, STUPID HAS BALLS”, “STUPID IS FEARLESS”, and my personal favorite, “TRUST STUPID”.

As a Jewish educator I am struggling with how to make sense of all this. What does Diesel know that I don’t? What lessons can we draw from this jarring approach as we do our avodat kodesh (sacred work)?

Todah Rabah to our Educators!

2011-02-06T20:46:00.000-08:00

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 the religious school is a director of education (sometimes known as the principal) who cares about the Jewish journey of the students and their families.

For the last two weeks, I have traveled across the country to participate and present at professional learning conferences designed for these educators. The Conservative movement’s Jewish Educators’ Assembly (JEA) and the Reform movement’s National Association of Temple Educators (NATE) sponsored the two events held in Philadelphia/New Jersey and Seattle respectively.

Collectively, over 450 educators gathered to learn about the challenges and opportunities that technology and social media offer us in education. (Yes, both conferences engaged in the same theme.) While together in their respective conferences, educators took the opportunity to network, collaborate, and engage in meta-level conversations about Jewish education in the 21^st century. If you want a glimpse at all they learned and toiled with, you can check out the twitter feeds for #jea59 and #nateseattle.

I had the opportunity to present at both conferences, which gave me the chance to learn with the participants in a unique way. These educators work hard. They work hard at their own learning. I only wish their students and the parents could see them hard at work. I wish they saw the role modeling in life-long learning these school leaders engage in. In addition to the core education components, each of the conferences included aspects of Torah L’shma (text study for the sake of study), offered t’filah, and community-building activities. A perfect dugmah (example) of what our synagogues are trying to offer the student learners. From sun-up at 8 a.m. until way past sun-down (sometimes after 11 p.m.) these educators gave 1000% of themselves for the sake of their own learning, for the sake of being better so that they can serve our people better.

These educators don’t make a fortune; they don’t do the work because of the first-class perks they get, or the year-end bonuses. They do this work because it is a true passion for each and every one of them. So the next time you wonder through the halls of your synagogue, take time to peak your head into the office of the education director, and just thank him/her for dedicating themselves to this sacred work.

Jewish Disability/ABILITY Awareness Month.

2011-02-03T19:08:00.000-08:00

February is Jewish Disability Awareness Month. Google these words and you will be pleased to get 53,300 hits! Nearly every link encourages readers (and organization and synagogues) to do such admirable things as start an inclusion committee, offer programs and events on disability awareness, and dedicate a Shabbat to inclusion and to the contributions of people with disabilities.

Through my work as the director of the Tikvah Program at Camp Ramah in New England, and as a teacher of Jewish Studies/bar and bat mitzvah for children and young adults with a range of special needs, I am very aware of Jews of all ages with disabilities. I am also aware of their sometimes amazing ABILITIES. Tikvah campers routinely lead birkat hamazon and Friday night davening for the entire camp, they put on a play, travel to Israel and participate in a weekly “Shabbos Is Calling” video conference. Campers take part in more than a dozen Special Olympics sports, some climb the Alpine Tower in seconds, and one camper (with Down Syndrome) even tutored a neurotypical peer for his bar mitzvah (many years later, that appreciative bar mitzvah student became a counselor in our Tikvah Program!).

Bar Mitzvah students with disabilities have delivered profound divrei torah, read the Torah and Haftarah, and lead the congregation in davening. Others moved the congregation by exhibiting their deep love of Judaism—unable to speak, they operated Power Point presentations, used a Dynavox Dynamo augmented communication device, or lovingly clutched the torah; or they displayed a model of the portable Tabernacle which they had carefully constructed.

Jewish Disability Awareness Month is a time to acknowledge those with a range of both disabilities and abilities, and those who work as tireless advocates on their behalf.

I would like to introduce a few people and organizations making a difference. There are truly hundreds of examples. Please add yours by commenting on the blog!

Richard Bernstein: a marathoner and Iron Man Triathlete, and a diability rights attorney in Detroit—who happens to be blind from birth

Aaron Rudolph: a former Tikvah camper and staff member who is one of many young adults with special needs hired by Walgreens to work in one of their many distribution centers (Walgreens is a company with an amazing policy of hiring adults with special needs). Aaron is an amazing worker!

Eytan Nisinzweig: also a former Tikvah camper, is a young man with autism who is a very talented piano player and a prolific artist of very engaging drawings. His family has taken his art work and put them on T-shirts and notecards—check out his impressive website!

Jodi Samuels: founded Jewish International Connection of New York (JICNY), a Jewish outreach program for international Jews living in the metropolitan New York City area. She has also been a tireless advocate for daughter, Caila, who has Down Syndrome. Jodi and her and her husband, Gavin, have worked hard to create Jewish educational opportunities for Caila and other children with special needs in Manhattan

Jay Ruderman and the Ruderman Family Foundation have been helping people with special needs in the Boston area, and in Israel, and they have been making a tremendous impact in the world of Jewish special needs. Jay recently organized Advance, the first-ever international Jewish funders conference on special needs. As a result, 13 foundations have recently joined forces “to improve the treatment of people with disabilities in the Jewish community and to raise awareness of their needs” (see recent Jerusalem Post article: http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=206149)

Reelabilities Film Festival is a film festival, held throughout New York area, dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expressions of people with different disabilities. If you are in NY from February 3-8, 2011, join me at the festival!

The JEA Conference and the Jim Joseph Foundation Fellowship Program

2011-01-30T13:02:00.000-08:00

I'm finally sitting in my home in Rochester, New York, still with an incredible buzz from the recently concluded Jewish Educators Assembly Conference, which had the theme From Sinai to Cyberspace: Exploring the Impact of Technology on Jewish Education. The accolades, which began on the second day of the four day event, keep rolling in. Virtually everyone in attendance agreed that it was the best JEA conference in quite some time. Even the keynote speakers and breakout session facilitators have made it clear that it was an amazing conference for them as well.

Just what was it that made 200 Jewish educators, 30 vendors, and 21 technology theater exhibitors so enthusiastic? Everything. We had four phenomenal keynote sessions, led by incredible speakers and visionaries: Deborah Nagler, Lisa Colton, Caren Levine, and David Bryfman - each one really made us stretch our thinking and helped many break out of their "fixedness" and begin thinking out of the box. Our breakout sessions were led by the leading experts in their fields. And our innovative, hands-on technology theaters helped attendees learn what is out there that can be used in the classroom, or for communicating, collaborating, sharing, or even collecting data!

And through it all, it occurred to me how much of the success was due to the chairperson (that's me) being in the Jim Joseph Foundation Fellowship Program, run by our fearless leaders Shalom and Esther from the Lookstein Center in Israel.

The obvious tie-in between the JJFF and the successful conference was the planning process, all done as an on-line Community of Practice, which was the main purpose of the fellowship. I ruminated on this fact in my last post of January 17, so I won't go there again.

But there are a few less obvious things that are byproducts of the Fellowship that were equally important in the success of the conference. It wasn't until this conference, for example, that I realized that the JJFF has in fact turned me into an expert in technology. I am certainly not a technical wizard like Caren Levine or Lisa Colton - I don't even tweet very well, and am still not certain what an RSS feed is. But, after 18 months, I'm confident that I know what's out there in web 2.0 land and can give good advice. I understand how and why to use a social network, I know what can be accomplished with the variety of collaborative tools available, I can run a web based conference, and can tell you what applications are both educational and fun to use in a classroom. And most importantly, I have a deep appreciation and understanding of how technology is transforming education - whether we like it or not. JJFF has made me feel well equipped to engage in meaningful dialogue with some of the major Jewish educational thinkers of our times.

Not only has JJFF given me the tools to swim with the big fish, but it has also given me access to them. We have learned with Nancy White and Nava Frank, major players in the world of on-line CoPs. We have studied the use of certain technologies with Caren Levine from Darim Online. Most of the leading thinkers of our times are well aware of the fellowship and what we have been learning, and, not surprisingly, think of us as their colleagues. I found myself up late at night, sitting around a table with David Bryfman, Caren Levine, Lisa Colton, Deborah Nagler, Peter Eckstein, Robyn Faintich and others, engaged in really exciting and meaningful dialogue about the future of Jewish Education. I couldn't help but think whether this ever would have or could have happened if I were not a Fellow.

And, most importantly, JJFF has created an incredible network for me. My 13 colleagues are all good friends and tremendous resources. Robyn Faintich came to the conference and led a great workshop on teens and the balance between face-to-face relationships and technology. Howard Blas presented a fantastic workshop on working with students with special needs. Elana Rivel taught our early childhood educators all about digital portfolios. And while Lisa Micley couldn't be there, her presence was felt as BabagaNewz was one of our presenters in the technology theaters. And many of our other speakers came to my attention due to their relationship with my colleagues - they were part of my own network's networks! Rick Recht, for example, an absolute highlight of the conference (he led a workshop one day, exhibited his new Jewish Rock Radio internet station in our tech theaters, and even led some singing one night) would not have been there if not for Robyn Faintich.

So it was indeed a great conference, and I owe so much of it to this wonderful fellowship - from my ability to plan the conference in a totally unique way to the quality of speakers. Thanks to the foundation, the Lookstein Center, and most of all, to the 13 best colleagues anyone could ask for!

From Sinai to Cyberspace, Pt. 2: Thawing out

2011-01-30T06:00:00.000-08:00

This post comes from Peter Eckstein, a colleague from Florida. These are his thoughts on the just ended JEA conference that focused on technology and innovation, and chaired by JJF Fellow Barry Gruber. It is cross posted from his blog, The Fifth Child.

As I reflect on the Jewish Educators Assembly conference that just ended, the lyrics of an old song pops into my head: “There’s something happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear.” It’s not that we’re clueless when it comes to us knowing what Jewish education will look like in the future; it’s just that we’re not sure in what direction we’ll be traveling.

So…maybe we are a little clueless after all.

Let me back up for a moment. The close to 200 participants at the Conservative movement’s education conference were exposed (many for the first time) to web 2.0 platforms that foster collaboration and have the potential to build community in new ways. For many of those present, the learning curves were steep as questions were posed, such as: “How do I set up a twitter account?” and “What is a Personal Learning Network?” Lisa Colton (@darimonline) presented the challenges facing Jewish professionals as we reach out to a new generation of Jewish parents. Caren Levine (@jlearn20) introduced tools that enhance professional development, all within the context of social media, and opportunities of cloud based collaboration. David Bryfman (@bryfy) stressed the importance of stepping out of our professional and institutional comfort zones as we look at existing structures, re-visioning them through a process of re-prioritization. discovering new opportunities we never dreamed of.

So in this embarrassment of riches with which we were blessed at the JEA, we must ask the hard question: What is truly necessary in our work and for our constituents? And here is where we get to the hard stuff.

Who are our constituents? Parents? Kids? How are Baby Boomers, Gen “Xers” and Millenials different from each other? How do we rise to this challenge of being effective in reaching different generational cultures? How do we cope with the democratization (or is it the rise of the consumer ethic) of knowledge? More than any other time in history, not only do people have a greater exposure and ability to get answers to ALL their questions; they also demand a say in what they want to learn, and when. We seem to be on the cusp of a reordering of the traditional dynamic between parent, teacher and child. Pam Edelman, from Yerusha, presented a model of Jewish education that is sort of a combination between home-schooling and the scouting merit badge program. It exists outside of current institutions, and was born out of young families’ frustration with organized Jewish life today. Is this a fad or a trend? Should we, as Jewish professionals, feel threatened by this new phenomenon, or embrace it?

The new tools that enhance collaborative learning (like Voicethread and Google Docs) and building school communities (such as interactive school websites like Activit-e) reflect the reality that relationships are central to building authentic Jewish lives. What this means is that the digital tools we have available to us today are only means to create a 21st century Klal Yisrael. This idea of unity certainly isn’t new. It’s just that the way to achieve it, is.

Ultimately, the question that underlies all others, in my mind, is what will Jewish communal life look like the day after tomorrow? The idea of Social Networking was ubiquitous at the JEA conference. It’s all about relationships and how technology can be a tool to enhance the growth of community. As others have said before me, it’s not about the tech, it’s about the people.

As I write these words, I’m sitting in the Philadelphia airport waiting for my flight to take off in the driving snow. At the same time, the final keynote address is being given back at the conference. Robyn Faintich (@Jewishgps) is live-tweeting it at #jea59. The speaker, David Bryfman has asked the participants to close their eyes and “think about the future: What COULD Jewish life look like in your imaginary vision. Who are the learners? Where? When?”

Next week the Reform movement's educators are meeting in Seattle for their conference: called "Imagineering Jewish Education for the 21st Century". They too are exploring the frontiers of technology and Jewish education. I can't help but think that we are at a serendipitous moment, when we all are on the same page of Talmud. We all know what needs to be done, we're just trying to figure out how. I believe now is the time for Jewish futurists, educators,and leaders from all movements to come together and explore tomorrow. If I may borrow Jack Wertheimer's imagery, we need to break down the denominational silos and finally collaborate.

We don’t know what next week will look like. Before us are possible paths. In this age of cloud computing, virtual communities, and social networks, we need to take the leap of faith and move forward, not knowing exactly where it will take us, but being confident that by embracing the future, we will ensure a Jewish context for all those who will live in it.

Remarketing Jew Education

2011-01-25T20:07:00.000-08:00

This week the Jewish Educators Associatian (JEA) is having their annual conference. This coming week, I will be joining my colleagues from the National Association of Temple Educators (NATE) at our annual conference in Seattle. Both the Conservative JEA and the Reform NATE conferences are making technology and futuring the centerpiece of their learning. It is very exciting.

In The Networked Non-Profit, Beth Kantor and Allison Fine point out that when it comes to Social Media, the important word is SOCIAL not MEDIA. In other words the technology is a tool for bringing people together, and in our case, making Jewish learning happen.

Joel Grishaver has posted what I think is a very interesting idea about futuring on his blog, The Gris Mill, and I am glad he wrote it now so I can think about it while I am learning in Seattle. - Ira Wise

Remarketing Jew Education

by Joel Lurie Grishaver

We are at an interesting moment in the world of parenting. This parenting chaos directly impacts the way we present ourselves as Jewish “schools.”

The first voice is Amy Chua, author of "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother," who says give your child no room to do anything but succeed. The other voice is Wendy Mogul, whose long overdue second book, “The Blessings of a B-Minus,” cajoles us to accept our child as human beings. Both books are now coming to prominence. One is about high achievement, the other is about resilience. Both take a swipe at the long over emphasized issue of self-esteem.

Chua wants us to be tougher on our kids and demand “perfection.” Mogul understands that “failure” is a useful growth opportunity. Both of them wind up as commentary on new reports about the failure of American schools to even teach the difference between facts and opinions and the overall failure of American Universities to make any impact on the learning of many of their present students. Richard Arum, lead author of the study, “Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses” (University of Chicago Press) came out in January, too, is the third voice putting the foundations of the way we parent at risk.

Believe it or not, all this comes back to the role and optics of Jewish schools, particularly Jewish supplemental schools. Who we are as a school has a lot to do with what our parents believe a school is.

We are simultaneously being told be like regular schools and become technological. At the same time we are being told, don’t be like a school at all (we’ve had enough of that) be a camp or a program or something interesting (and do that using a lot less time). What is common knowledge every where but in our classroom, is the universal belief that the present Jewish schooling system is a total failure.
Here is a radical idea. We ought to play to our own strengths. We know that the Jewish tradition centers on learning how to close-read texts. (Think reading comprehension!) That we use a thing called “Talmudic Logic” that teaches you how to evaluate evidence, reason, and know the difference between fact and opinion.

Jewish schools can and should do camp pretty well. We need to get better at technology. For sure, our tradition centers on building both self-esteem and resilience. But, what Judaism really is good at is learning—deep learning.

In the future, when the alternative (for example) is 10 minutes of Skype a week plus one informal event a month probably involving families, we will brag: “We help our students become better learners.”
Camp will do camp better than we do. Other schools will always have more money to spend on technology than we do (and Web 2.0 apps only go so far). But what we can really brag about is “let us teach your children the Jewish tradition and they will do better in life.”

We will incorporate the camp selling point: “You children will make friends to last a lifetime.” We will have the technological appeal: “We allow your children to remix the Jewish tradition.” But our unique promise is about learning skills. Right now we teach not language but mechanical reading. Language provides useful insight. Mechanical reading is self-serving. We are geared to teach names and facts, but “meaning” and “insight” are what are precious. We have to work to make our classrooms both challenging and responsive, and those are goals we can achieve. It is perhaps the only truth that will keep us in business.

To stay on the weekly schedule, to make it worth the carpool time, Jewish Schooling has to have advantages. The good thing is that we own them: Friends, Remixing, Creativity, Resilience, and Academic Excellence. We know how to do this—we simply need to become good Torah teachers and not a pale imitation of secular schools.

Cross posted to The Gris Mill and Welcome to the Next Level

One CoP Bears Fruit

2011-01-16T09:14:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe, but this Sunday marks the culmination of 8 months of effort for the Community of Practice I created under the auspices of the Jim Joseph Foundation and the Lookstein Center. Ironically, it also marks it death - but that was to be expected.

In January of 2010 I was asked to co-chair the Jewish Educators Assembly (JEA) annual conference. The theme was to be technology, and due to both my position on the JEA Board and my "studies" and expertise gained through the Jim Joseph Fellowship Program, the leadership felt I would be the natural co-chair. I accepted the appointment, with the understanding that I would plan the conference by creating an on-line CoP to do so. Until this point, every conference had been planned by a very small committee, whose members were almost exclusively from the host city.

The CoP began officially in July of 2010. I began by creating a structure, which consisted of several teams, each led by a facilitator, and each to deal with a specific area of the conference: programming, marketing, ritual, entertainment, etc.... There was also a coordinating team, which was composed of the facilitator of each team plus the JEA president, vice president in charge of conferences, and the Executive Director. We discussed the CoP at our July JEA Board Retreat, where I asked for volunteers to join the teams. I also sent out an announcement to all our members through our listserve, explaining the idea of a CoP and how we would be planning the conference, and asked for volunteers to join the teams. In the end, we had over 20 people in our CoP, divided amonst the various teams.

Each facilitator was trained in the use of an asynchronous platform (we used google groups), asynchronous collaborative tools (google documents and wikis), and a synchronous platform (we used DimDim). The facilitators then provided training to their teams. Over the last 8 months, each team has been busily using the tools to complete their charge. For example, the programming team used the synchronous platform to suggest topics and speakers, then used the asynchronous platforms to discuss the topics, suggest speakers, share videos of the proposed speakers and articles they had written, etc....

I won't bore you with a blow by blow description of how we used technology to create our conference - you can probably imagine it based on the short example above. What I will bore you with are some conclusions I have drawn about using the CoP model to plan a conference, and how the model has contributed to making this (hopefully) one of our best conferences ever.

The CoP model allowed for and encouraged much greater and broader input than the traditional small committee model. Our CoP had great diversity in several key areas: technological expertise and experience, geography, and age. We had many opinions and ideas to consider, not just one or two. We were able to consider the needs of almost every JEA member. Many new and highly qualified speakers were brought to our attention. We discovered that CoP members had areas of expertise that we could tap into, and several members will be presenting keynotes, workshops, or presenting in our tech theater.
Because it all took place on-line, and due to more people involved in the process, potential presenters from all over the country who we never even thought of somehow got wind of the conference and actually contacted us, asking us if they could present. Many presenters on the final schedule are only there because they heard of us, rather than vice versa.
The CoP, because it engaged more people than the traditional process, was in the forefront of marketing the conference in so many ways. One member decided to set up a twitter hashtag in order to tweet about the exciting speakers and topics. Another chose to set up a facebook page for the conference. Yet others chose to do weekly posts on our listserve.

It's hard to pinpoint the exact reason, but as of today, our registration is quite a bit larger than any other conference in the past few decades. Every day I get emails from speakers, vendors, and JEA members alike, all extolling how exciting and innovative the conference appears. It could be the timely theme of Technology, it could be the central location (Philadelphia), it could be the exciting program. But I know that the main reason this conference will, please God, be one of our most successful ever is because it was designed through the efforts of a CoP.

This particular CoP will have no reason to exist past this week. But several of the CoP members will be joining me as a design team to create a new CoP for our JEA members who are interested in further pursuing the use of technology in their professional lives. I'll let you know how it's going next time I post!

Let's Dig a Hole and Plant a Seed

2011-01-11T14:35:00.000-08:00

This post is from the iCenter, which is on the cutting edge of Israel education in North America, and is written by my friend Lori Sagarin. Very appropriate for the season and for a day of celebrating the life of Debbie Friedman.

When I think of pivotal memories... Tu B’shvat always emerges as one of the clearest. I am sitting in my Talmud Torah class, licking the backs of the JNF “green stamps” working my way down the card to purchase a tree in Eretz Yisrael.

I, not unlike many American Jews, imagined someday visiting Israel and seeing “my tree”. I planted trees in honor of relative’s special birthdays, anniversaries, and most notably, in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King. Recently, while visiting my parents I came across the letter, dated in the spring of 1969 from the desk of Coretta Scott King thanking me for honoring her husband in this special way. Re-reading this note reminded me how significant this tree planting exercise had been for me and my generation. It connected us in a very tangible way to the State of Israel. We were the first generation who had not known a time without a Modern state and we appreciated the importance and significance of this faraway place in our lives.

I don’t imagine a single child in my 1960’s Religious School did not plant a tree. It was a given. No one had to prod or cajole any of us. It was just what Jewish kids did. Over the years, I think we have lost this connection. Yes, we continue to send tree forms home with our students each year prior to Tu B’shvat but only a minority plant trees and I imagine it is at their parents’ behest.

Two things have happened that have convinced me that time has come to renew our efforts in encouraging children to plant trees. The first is our international growing awareness and support for the green movement. We are all far more aware of the need for protection of natural resources and the roles trees have in that effort. JNF has reinvented itself in order to provide a context for extensive green education through a Jewish lens and they are not alone. Hazon has produced a myriad of resources that any family or institution can take advantage in an effort to spread a green message and connect our families to Israel and our tradition.

The second are the recent Carmel fires which devastated northern Israel destroying conservatively 5 million trees. I am the kind of Jewish educator who consciously tries to avoid linking all of Jewish history to tragedy and endeavors to engage my students through the accomplishments of our people. This event, however, is a tragedy with healing - healing that can take place at their hands through the planting of trees.

My congregation’s lay leaders have picked up the gauntlet and beginning on Tu B’shvat and continuing through Yom Ha’atzmaut are raising funds to plant a grove of trees. These trees will be a small effort to begin to replenish the lost Carmel forests. I am so proud and excited to be a part of a community that is ready to take action in such a meaningful manner. I look forward to incorporating the children in our schools in this effort, renewing the excitement and pride I felt so many years ago, licking those stamps, filling that card and planting that tree.

This past weekend we lost the voice of American Jewish music. Debbie Friedman wrote music that gave access to both liturgy and Jewish celebrations by creating the musical backdrop for generations. Debbie wrote an iconic song for Tu B'shvat for very young children the title of which is "Plant a Tree for Tu B'shvat". I couldn't have said it better myself.

Lori Sagarin is the Director of Congregational Learning at Temple Beth Israel in Skokie, IL. She is the former president of the National Association of Temple Educators (NATE), and is also past president of the Chicago Association of Temple Educators. Lori is an educational consultant to the iCenter.

Crossposted from iCenter and to Welcome to the Next Level

Mourning for Debbie Friedman

2011-01-10T11:28:00.000-08:00

This is from Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz of Bridgeport, CT

Dear friends,
I am truly at a loss to share words at this time. Debbie Friedman touched the hearts and souls of thousands with her music and her presence. She was among my dearest friends for these past 12 years and I am deeply mourning her loss. I have no words.

I simply wish to share, for those who have not received the information through other channels, that the gathering for Debbie last night at the JCC Manhattan, which was streamed live, was also recorded and can be viewed here.

In addition, the funeral will be broadcast over the web. It is taking place on the West Coast tomorrow morning, at what will be 2:00 pm EDT. If you wish to attend the funeral in this way, the link is here.

Her memory is forever a blessing. May she be blessed as she goes on her way...

standing up for what's right

2011-01-07T11:02:00.000-08:00

Howard Blas asked me to post this for him. It was written by Jodi at MetroImma - an online community for Jewish moms. It speaks for itself.

We will do anything for our kids.
We will wake through the night.
We will nurse them to health.
We will do homework to all hours of the morning.
We will wait up until we hear the door open.
We will also defend our children under attack...

As a mom of a special needs kid, we also become CEO's of our kid's intervention teams.
We become chief worrying officer.
We become familiar with hundreds of acronyms like cpse, ei, pt, ot,si, st.
We also sometimes have to defend our kid's right to existence...

Our beautiful princess was just four days old and my husband was holding her when a "friend" came to visit and said, " I don't understand how could you have not done an amnio and aborted."

That was our wake up call - welcome to reality. When we applied for a spot in a two-year-old class in a private Jewish day school where her siblings attend, we were told NO. 12 kids, three teachers, and we offered the school a full-time shadow and told them we would cover all expenses not provided by the city. We soon learned about more realities - the lack of dignity for special needs families, the fact that people in power could threaten us, the fact that very few people truly cared. Everyone says "bad bad, sad, sad." Very few people will leave their comfort zone and take a stand for what's right.

We soon learned our story was not ours alone. The harsh reality is we live in the wealthiest Jewish community in the world in one of the largest communities and our special needs children have no access to an Orthodox, Jewish education. No inclusion programs in synagogues, no physical access to many synagogues and schools. No empathy from the community at large.

My husband and I soon realized if we wanted the world to change it would have to be us who fight for the change. If we wanted real change, this needs to be a community issue, something on the community agenda. We embarked on a campaign of advocacy and education. We created a fan page, www.facebook.com/cailysworld. We speak at events, we meet with all the organizations in the special needs area to determine how we can effect change. Community forums educate, they create discussion, increase communal pressure...they attract media and they force this issue onto the community agenda. We have a vision of a series of forums. Our first one was titled "What is the Jewish community's responsibility to special needs children?" At our next forum, on Sunday, January 9th, at 7.30 pm Accepting the challenge: Towards a fully inclusive Jewish Community

http://tinyurl.com/2barvex

We plan to build a series with communal support. We insist that we will be heard and have a rightful place in a community that is charged with the role of being a light unto the nations.

As Martin Luther King so aptly said, "We begin to die when we are silent about the things that matter."

Soles

2011-01-06T21:12:00.001-08:00

If you have been following this blog for a while you know that one of my favorite teachers is Seth Godin. I have never learned from him face to face. I began reading him in Fast Company Magazine. Then I read the Idea Virus and The Purple Cow. A few webinars, YouTube and some TED talks. And most recently Linchpin - which has helped me to crystallize a lot of my thoughts about synagogue education. And I follow his blog.This is what he posted today:

All you've got, all your brand has got, all any of us have are the memories and expectations and changes we've left with others.

It's so easy to get hung up on the itinerary, the features and the specs, but that's not real, it's actually pretty fuzzy stuff. The concrete impact of our lives and our work is the mark you make on other people. It might be a product you make or the way you look someone in the eye. It might be a powerful experience you have on a trip with your dad, or the way you keep a promise.

The experiences you create are the moments that define you. We'll miss you when you're gone, because we will always remember the mark you made on us.

There's a sign on most squash courts encouraging players to wear only sneakers with non-marking soles. I'm not sure there's such a thing. If you've going to do anything worthy, you're going to leave a mark.

Tonight the chairs of my religious school committee - Gayle Szuchman and Cindy Becker - gave a report to the board of our synagogue about the work of the committee. They were asked to do so because the committee has become a shining example of a group of people coming together around a shared vision and working to make it real. That vision is all about relationships.

We changed some of the focus of the committee from the classroom to the parents. We decided that the most important factor in determining whether a child grows up to be a Jewishly functionally literate adult connected to the community are his or her parents. And our focus is not initially on improving parents Jewish knowledge or even expanding the range of their Jewish practice. It has been on developing and deepening relationships between adults.

Our room parents no longer focus on who is bringing snack or shopping for the model Seder we no longer hold. Instead they have been charged with bringing the parents in their children's classrooms together. Teams of parents in the middle grades come together to create and implement relationship-building games among their children during school hours - getting the teams together is as important as the socialization among the kids. And the committee spent part of the summer identifying and reaching out to parents who were asked to step up and take a role in the life of our school.

They have spent this year creating experiences that have brought people together. Those folks have begun to develop relationships. They have become Facebook friends. And their kids are getting together too! I think Seth is right, worthwhile things we do leave a mark. And that is what this group is doing. And that mark is making people more connected to the synagogue, and valuing their membership in new ways.

How will you leave a mark? Please offer your suggestions or experiences. I am hoping we can all learn from one another!

Cross-posted to Welcome to the Next Level

Back to reality?

2011-01-03T06:02:00.000-08:00

I like to think of myself as a genuinely positive person. I also love sleeping late.

These two facts came in conflict for me this morning, as I know from Facebook they did for most of my friends and colleagues. Whether coming off a 3-day weekend (as I am) or a 10-day school break, this morning was the first day back to “reality” for many of us.

Thinking about this morning, two things came to mind: first, my whole life is my “reality,” not just those hours spent in my office – and not just those hours spent at home with my family. And second, I can choose how I approach my life, choosing my attitude – positive, exasperated, frustrated – rather than letting it choose me.

If I’m to have a fulfilled life, I must be fully present, fully engaged, and fully positive (not Pollyanna-ish, but approach life with a positive attitude) about all components of my life. On the recommendation of a friend and colleague, I recently read Fish by Lundin, Paul, and Christensen. The book is a parable, based on the Seattle Fish Market. I did find it a little hokey at times, but I liked the core message of placing responsibility on each individual for creating the environment he wants to work in.

Fish identifies four core concepts for creating a positive work environment:

Choose your attitude
Play
Make their day
Be present

Each of these could be their own blog post, exploring how these concepts play out in our own individual work environments – or how they could! – but right now I just want to look at the first and last, choosing your attitude and being present.

Choose your attitude. See two Facebook postings from late Sunday night:

Ugh...I have not worked a 5 day week in over a month. I am not ready for tomorrow :-( Maybe the storm predicting for this Friday will bring another blizzard!
Instead of looking at it like crap I gotta go back to work I'm going to try to look at it like I'm glad I have a job and glad I have a job where I get time off on holidays (well most) and get to spend that time with two awesome kids.

I am guessing one of these two people was able to get going this morning much easier!

In Fish, one of the characters challenges this concept:

‘“Suppose I’m driving my car and some idiot cuts me off in traffic. That causes me to get upset and I may honk or even make a gesture, if you know what I mean. What’s with the choice thing? I didn’t do it; it was done to me. I didn’t have a choice.”

“Let me ask you something, Steve. If you were in a tough part of town, would you have used that gesture?”

Steve smiled. “No way! You can get hurt doing that.”

“So you can choose your response in a tough part of town, but you have no choice in the suburbs?”’

We often think we have no choices – or limit what we see as our choices – because our situation is influenced by the actions of others. But what we control is our behavior, our attitude, our responses. Do you give a gesture to Monday morning or do you come in with a positive attitude?

Be present. This concept shows up in basically every life or management coaching guide I’ve ever seen. Be present tells us to focus on where you are right now and who you’re with right now. How many times have you been frustrated by a conversation where the other person jumps in with an answer before you’ve even finished the question? How about being on a call where the other person takes just a little too long to answer, or seems so distracted you just know their attention is divided.

Twice last month I got called out for not being as present as possible. This was a hard pill to swallow, because I’ve focused on being present for many years and seen the great response I get from everyone. I started to feel defensive (everyone checks email during conference calls! Of course I’m paying attention to my kids, I’m just also checking my facebook!) but what good was that actually going to do? I realize I had put “being present” onto autopilot a little too much. I spent the weekend really, fully engaging with the people around me – friends, kids, family, all got my full attention when I was with them. It meant less multitasking, and I was probably slower at responding to emails than usual, but I also got to watch my daughter’s eyes light up when she figured out how to get a puzzle piece into the right spot. Now, back at work, I am going to be conscious of being present, focusing fully on the person I’m speaking with or the project I’m working on.

Was it hard to wake up at 6 am this morning? Yes, it was tempting to roll over and go back to sleep. But I decided that this week will be the beginning of a refreshed focus on being positive and being present. And so far, so good!

An Open Special Education Contract

2010-12-30T14:10:00.000-08:00

I have recently been invited to join a committee that is exploring how to make access to Jewish education a priority in congregational schools for learners with the whole array of disabilities. While I have always cared about the full spectrum of special needs in Jewish Education, I have to tip my kipah to my friend and teacher Rabbi Fred Greene of Temple Beth Tikvah in Roswell Georgia. Fred came to my congregation in CT straight out of rabbinic school and he really held my toes to the fire on this issue. It is so easy to concentrate on the needs of the many, but we are only as good as how we treat the few. And the lesson is not lost on anyone. I came across the blog Special Education {Tech} courtesy of someone I follow on twitter (I apologize for not giving credit).

This is from a blog entry by Chris Vacek, an educator whose bio follows the article. I think he presents an interesting and important challenge to us as educators. I am not yet certain his list is comprehensive or completely applicable in our settings, but I think it is the beginning point for an important conversation.

An Open Special Education Contract

Recently, I came across a classroom blog that struck a profound chord in me. It contained a teacher’s “manifesto”, with the promises the teacher made to his students. I love this idea, and thought about special education. I have never seen a Special Education Contract of that sort, and immediately started jotting down ideas. Then it occurred to me that this really needed to be an “open” project, and that I should seek the input of the special education world at large. If you are a special education professional, service provider, teacher or administrator, or a parent or advocate or a person with special needs, please contribute to this project. The items below are a beginning, and presented in no particular order, and I welcome your feedback and additions. I would love to see this grow and saturate the online special education community – so please share this with your friends, colleagues and contacts. Thanks!

I promise to do no harm.
I promise to individualize your education to the best of my abilities and resources.
I promise to focus on your outcomes, and to be able to explain what difference the current education program makes to your functional independence later in life.
I promise to listen to your parents, and work towards their goals, and yours.
I promise to champion your success, and value your failures.
I promise to promote your opportunity, and to seek opportunities for you to succeed.
I promise to educate myself, to help educate you.
I promise to use technology, and to help you use technology, so we can both succeed.
I promise to strengthen your skills, and use your strengths to further strengthen your weaknesses.
I promise to put your outcomes and needs first, and keep them close and centered, in your heart and mine.
I promise to gather data on all your outcomes, and to only use data-informed, peer-reviewed, scientifically established interventions that document measurable progress.
I promise to respect you and your wishes, always.
I promise to involve you in decisions about your future, as best I can and as you are able.
I promise to center your education around your needs today and your needs in the future.
I promise to help generalize your skills in the classroom, and the home, and the community.
I promise to use the most appropriate tools available for us to learn.
I promise to remember daily that you are a wonderful human being, and that data and statistics rarely tell the whole story of YOU.
I promise to help you fill your life with rich experiences in art, music, science, social studies, physical activity, etc… because reading and math are not more important than everything else. Everyone deserves to find his/her own passion.
I promise to introduce you to, and teach you how to interact with, your peers. You will need both friends like you and friends that are different from you, and you’ll need to know how to interact with them.
I promise not to think of you as data or outcomes, but to think of you as feelings and desires and wants and needs.
I promise to advocate for you, always, everywhere, even when my boss disagrees, or the community disagrees, or the world disagrees. I will advocate for you.
I promise to teach you how to help yourself, how to advocate for yourself, and how to become the most independent person you can be.
I promise to love you as my student and as a person, even when my life is tough, your life is tough, and our work together is tough.
I promise to value function over form.
I promise to continually work towards your independence.
I promise to educate others about how extraordinary you are.
I promise to say something nice or positive to you daily.
I promise to never try to make you fit into the world’s view of “perfect.” I will value you as “perfect” just the way you are.
I promise to help you speak for yourself.
I promise to help you stand tall.
I promise to remember that you are whole, just the way you are.|
I promise to do my best not to say or do anything unkind.
I promise to listen to your eyes.
I promise to laugh with you.
I promise to ensure that you get to take your rightful place in the world.
I promise to experience and celebrate you and your joy.
I promise to do more than see. I promise to be a keen observer.
I promise to not just say ” I hear you,” but to mean it with all my heart.
I promise to learn from you and use what I’ve learned to help you grow.
I promise that as hard as it may be to watch you fail, I know that “there is dignity in risk” and realize that sometimes you will fail before you succeed.
I promise to facilitate your independence needs, and seek transparency and clarity for all in this process.

What promises would you make to your particular, and every other, special education student?

The original posting may be found at http://specialeducationtech.com/special-education-tech-news/an-open-special-education-contract/ which is part of a very interesting blog called Special Education {Tech}.

About the author

Chris Vacek is the Chief Innovation Officer for Heartspring and the parent of a child with both Williams Syndrome and Autism. Heartspring, located in Wichita, Kansas, is a world wide center for children with disabilities, and a leader in technology based functional independence outcomes.

"Super..." and "Amazing..." Curricular Projects

2010-12-26T04:56:00.000-08:00

This is cross-posted from Caren Levine's blog jlearn2.0. Caren is one of those people who is always thinking about the intersection of Jewish education and technology. Her digital and analog lenses work in stereo, kind of a unified field theory of Jewish education. She cross-posted it to YU 2.0, a wonderful membership site maintained by our friend and fellow JJF Fellow, Dr. Eliezer Jones.

A question I am often asked is, "Yes, but what are some examples of how these resources are integrated into the curriculum? By real live educators with real live learners!"

Presenting two free ebooks to whet your appetites and tickle your imaginations:

The Super Book of Web Tools for Educators: A comprehensive guide to technology in all k-12 classrooms. Articles include perspectives from administrators and teachers, as well as elementary school, middle school, and high school projects, and projects centered around particular subject matter or tools (ESL, Skype, blogging). Contributors include notable education bloggers Steve Anderson, Richard Byrne, George Couros, Larry Ferlazzo, Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano, and others. Check it out!

Open publication - Free publishing - More classroom

But wait, there's more! Be sure to read through Terry Freedman's The Amazing Web 2.0 Projects Book, a compilation that is chock full of practical ideas for the classroom. The many contributors include an international cast of educators such as Terry Freedman, Jackie Gerstein, Julie Lindsay, Sharon Peters, Shelley Terrell, Silvia Tolisana, Jen Wagner, and Reuven Werber, to name drop just a few.

Amazing Web 2 Projects 2 Online Version

Inspiring Jewish Educators

2010-12-19T12:54:00.000-08:00

Why would a group of Jewish educators spend half a day with a leading Israeli venture capitalist firm? I would like to suggest that educators can learn a great deal from venture capitalists—especially if the firm is Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), founded in 1993 by Erel Margalit. The firm, currently with $820 million under management, is dedicated to building world class media strategy companies, and also to bringing together “profit and social profit, innovation and creativity, technology and leadership, in one place.”

Our JJFF (Jim Joseph Foundation Fellowship) visit began with a tour of JVPs Lab (Ha’Maabada), a performing arts incubator for graduates of Jerusalem’s arts academies. We then learned about “Bakehila,” an educational empowerment program in four of Jerusalem’s underprivileged neighborhoods (including 15 schools and 10 learning centers).

But the main purpose of the visit, in the words of JJFF Israel Seminar Coordinator, Rabbi Zvi Grumet, (Associate Educational Director of the Lookstein Center of Bar Ilan University and editor of Jewish Education News) was to “look outside of our own world (of Jewish education) and view models of innovation in the business world—to see people who do creative things and think creatively."

Meeting Gavin from the Animation Lab and viewing some of his high quality/high resolution animated film, seeing Maor’s work on the soon to be released Anyclip.com project, and learning about Veoh, was invigorating.

The cynical part of me thinks such a visit makes us question why we are in Jewish education when there is so much excitement and life (and maybe even compensation!) in a place like JVP. But maybe a business like JVP is precisely where Jewish educators should look for inspiration and ideas. This will give us the chizuk (reinforcement) we need to stay in Jewish education!

In our short visit, I observed:

1. excited, enthusiastic and super intelligent workers
2. physical space organized for collaboration and sharing (well lit work rooms with tables meant for working together; doors, even of bosses, which were literally transparent and inviting, sending the message to “come in” and share an idea
3. an environment consciously sending the message “we are here to take care of you so you can use your professional skills to produce an amazing product” (they provide food, administrative support, legal and accounting work, etc. to people involved with the projects they support.
4. super cool, innovative products. For example, anyclip.com, now in beta, will be released in a month, allowing people (including Jewish educators) to access that perfect movie clip.

Today, fourteen Jewish educators went from learning about innovation at JVP, to learning about an innovative king, King David (via our afternoon at Ir David, the City of David). May we continue to learn from models of inspiration and bring this excitement back to our various Jewish educational settings.

How Do We Talk About Israel in Our Schools?

2010-12-15T05:19:00.000-08:00

I am currently in Tel Aviv at the final meeting of the Jim Joseph Foundation Fellows at the Lookstein Center for Jewish Education in the Diaspora at Bar Ilan University. Stuart Zweiter is the director of the Lookstein Center and coincidentally (to our being here) posted this observation to the Lookjed listServ (an e-mailed forum for Jewish Educators facilitated by Shalom Burger, director of the JJF Fellowship) on December 7. I think he asks some vital questions that I hope you will join me in discussing in the coming weeks. The original posting is archived here. You can reply there or here. I will copy comments here to the Lookjed list. If you would like to subscribe to Lookjed - and I recommend that you do, go to the on-line form at http://www.lookstein.org/register.htm.

This past Friday night Natan Scharansky told a few of us sitting around the Shabbat table with him that he had found in his travels to North American college campuses that Jewish students were uninformed as well as scared to speak up for Israel, scared that if they were to actively defend or speak positively about Israel it would impact negatively on their academic career as well as their future professional career.

This morning in a discussion I had with the head of a major Jewish Foundation I was told that during a visit she recently had at a very large Jewish high school, she found the students preparing for an internal school debate on the topic, Israel: Is it an apartheid state? In an informal discussion she had with several students at the same school, she was told by them that they love Israelis but do not like Israel.

This evening I read a piece in the JTA concerning the vote taking place this week at Princeton University on whether to ask the university's dining services to provide an alternative brand of hummus. Why? Because the current brand being offered is Sabra, which is half-owned by The Strauss Group, which has publicly supported the IDF and provides care packages and sports equipment to Israeli soldiers.

We all know of many similar examples. I am mentioning these because they all occurred in just the past few days.

This post is not an invitation to debate political issues related to Israel. Rather, we are very interested in learning how Jewish high schools and junior high schools of all stripes are educating their students regarding Israel. It seems particularly important during this period in which there is increasing de-legitimization of Israel. How much time do schools invest in this critical issue that all of their graduates will face on college campuses? Is it dealt with in a serious and systematic way through formal and informal educational programs? Where does it fit into your school program?

What does your school do? We are hoping that through the Lookjed list the Center can raise consciousness of and attentiveness to this issue and that the thousands of subscribers to the Lookjed list can learn about the different efforts and programs that are being implemented in schools.

This question, of course, touches on how we prioritize what is included in our school programs and how schools allocate and divide up the time that is available. That itself is an important question for reflection and deliberation by school principals and teachers. All schools make choices regarding what is in and what is out? Where does this issue fit in?

Stuart Zweiter

Director, the Lookstein Center

Blown Reputations

2010-12-08T18:30:00.000-08:00

This blog was originally written for the JFNA Challah Back blog and is being cross-posted to http://nextgenjews.org/blog.aspx?id=307

I have a reputation. I have a reputation for walking into Jewish professional spaces and knowing the majority (if not a large percentage) of others in the space. [In fact, in one group it was statistically proven by survey that I was the most-connected in the group.] I have a reputation. I have a reputation for sitting pretty far to the left in my political and social viewpoints. Both of those were challenged this past week.

I have been hired by Jewish Funds for Justice (JFSJ – just don’t try and put the ‘S’ into the full name of the org) to serve as a program leader for their immersion service-learning initiative. Over the next six months I will be leading groups of participants to New Orleans where they volunteer to help re-build post-Katrina and will encounter the systemic issues which created the immense and distorted oppression which these victims suffer. The program participants, some with a 20’s/30’s group, some with college groups and some as bar/bat mitzvah students and their parents, will also engage in Jewish text study to learn how Judaism frames social justice. Along with my JFSJ program leader colleagues (about 30 of us), we will take over 500 people to have similar experiences, not only in New Orleans, but in Los Angeles, Baltimore and the Gulf Coast.

Last week, the program leaders from JFSJ came together with the program leaders of American Jewish World Service (AJWS … and if you haven’t seen their brilliant PR video, stop reading right now and click here to watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQTtMXZs2LA), for a five-day training held at Pearlstone Retreat Center in Reisterstown, MD. The partnership, along with leadership from PANIM Institute at BBYO, was inspired. The AJWS program leader staff leads similar trips to that of JFSJ, but to international locations like Guatemala, Nicaragua, Ghana and Mexico. The multi-agency partnership, under an umbrella of Repair the World, was a powerful tool for training, networking, and collaboration.

Here I was, surrounded 50+ passionate Jewish educators who are dedicated to social justice and Jewish identity development. I was in a Jewish space, where pluralism seemed to be at its best, and where expression of Jewish identity came in so many forms. As a post-denomination Jew, I was in a great space.

So what was challenging my reputation?

First of all, other than two of the senior staff people, and a brief encounter once with one other program leader, I walked into a room of strangers. How could it be that I was in a room with dozens of Jewish educators, ranging in age from early 20s to early 60s, and I didn’t know anyone? After spending a week with these new colleagues, I surmise that a large portion of that is that I came to this work 85% through my Jewish education lens and 15% from my social justice lens, and the majority of the program leaders seemed to come to the work 95% through their social justice passions and 5% from a motivation of a “traditional” (aka establishment) Jewish education framework. It was truly enlightening.

I heard the following from these talented people:

“It’s [Social Justice Judaism] almost its own denomination. It is my form of Jewish identity; it’s how I connect to Judaism.”

“It’s [Social Justice Judaism] now becoming an accepted way to express Judaism. Once it made it’s way to a GA session, that makes it almost mainstream.”

One of the highlights of the program was a panel with Simon Greer (CEO of JFSJ); Ruth Messinger, (President of AJWS); Rachel Meytin (Associate V.P. of Panim Institute at BBYO); and moderated by Jon Rosenberg (CEO of Repair the World). Ruth shared with the group some personal insights into the work she has done for so many years as well as some anecdotes she has heard from past participants. Of one, Ruth paraphrased the person’s response to her learning with AJWS: “I have learned more text at AJWS than I did at Hebrew School.” This seemed to resonate as a prominent experience for many JFSJ/AJWS participants, as reported by my program leader colleagues … that many participants encounter Judaism only via Social Justice (or primarily through it).

I encounter Judaism in a dozen different ways each an every day. I walk through this Jewish professional world by way of each of these pathways, and along them encounter many Jewish professionals over and over again. However, for the bulk of my co-leaders, this is THE pathway to their Judaism, and therefore the chance of me coming across them in other venues is slim to none; my professional network reputation blown!

The second challenge to my self-identity came by way of the political and social spectrum. I am not sure that there has ever been an instance when I have been described as “on the right.” In most of my experiences, I am somewhere on the left of the group or in the middle of the pack in my political and social beliefs. This is perhaps the first space where I might have been the person standing the furthest on the right. It’s disorienting.

One such case where this displayed itself was in the context of my leading a “pluralistic” Kabbalat Shabbat experience. In the effort to model Shabbat experiences we help shape in the field, the larger group was broken down into three smaller cohorts of about 20 people each. These 20 people had to work together to design a Kabbalat Shabbat experience and a Havdallah experience in which all 20 people would have their Shabbat needs met on some level. I joined the Kabbalat Shabbat sub-committee, and along with my teammates, decided to plan a multi-option experience. The group started out together talking about “B’ruach shel Shabbat” (in the spirit of Shabbat) and sang several songs to usher in that feeling. Then participants were given a choice of celebrating the Ruach shel Shabbat by participating in a liturgical singing service or by moving into a reflection/meditation/conversation space. Then, the groups came together at the end for Kaddish and a closing song. It was during the preparation and recitation of the Kaddish that I unknowingly entered into a political arena I had never encountered in a Jewish professional space.

The first hint of this was when I asked that our group keep the soldiers of the U.S. and the soldiers of Israel in mind as we recited the prayer. One group member then offered, “and those of Palestine.” To which I quickly broadened it to “all those who have lost their lives in this world fighting for their rights and protecting their homelands and freedoms.” The second mention of this came after services were over, and after dinner, when I was approached by one of the other program leaders who had been in my Shabbat group. She very respectfully sat down with me to ask why I had asked the group to call into memory the soldiers of Israel and of the U.S. I shared that I believe that American Jews are citizens of both countries and that while I don’t expect everyone to agree on the politics behind the wars/battles themselves, I assume that everyone would support the soldiers and their families who have sacrificed and lost. To which she responded, “I do not consider myself a citizen of Israel,” and went on to share that she does not believe that Israel has a right to exist as a nation-state and doesn’t believe that it represents her identity in any way. She confided that she often feels alienated in Jewish spaces, particularly in prayer spaces, because of the role Israel plays from the bima, and as a result removes herself from synagogue community. We spent about 30 minutes talking about this, from a Jewish educator perspective and as a personal Jew perspective. While I don’t agree with her politics, I have allowed her to challenge my assumptions as an educator and to challenge what real pluralism in Jewish spaces truly means, especially as it relates to Israel. As a result of this experience, and other conversations I had at this training, I have perhaps re-oriented myself on the political and social spectrum. Maybe not permanently, and it may be only situational, but it was my reality for at least those five days; my leftist reputation blown!

On the Road to Breaking Functional Fixedness

2010-12-06T20:39:00.000-08:00

I can’t get the image out of my head. I keep thinking of the Power Point slide of the metal shopping cart with wheels, turned on its side, over a fire pit. Only a mischief-maker would burn a shopping cart, right? Wrong. An innovative person who wanted to cook meat but didn’t have a grill might be clever enough to put a shopping cart in a fire! The slide was entitled “Task Unification.”

The 14 Jim Joseph Fellows got a taste of what S.I.T.-Systematic Inventive Thinking does in an online webinar, and we will be spending 11-1/2 hours in Israel, starting a week from today, learning about tools and principles for breaking cognitive fixedness. One type of fixedness, “Functional Fixedness” is defined as cognitive bias which limits a person to using an object only in the way that it is traditionally used. Perhaps this applies to computers and video conferencing as much as it applies to shopping carts.

I am assuming that MegaMeeting and other video conferencing systems were intended to make it easier for employees of a company, based in different locations, to hold meetings, share ideas, and communicate better.

The directors of the special needs programs at the various Camp Ramah camps have begun using MegaMeeting for a slightly different purpose—for our “Shabbos Is Calling” Program. Every Thursday for 30 minutes, campers and their counselors “meet;” they hear and see friends from places as far away as Buffalo, NY; Chicago, IL; and Boston, MA. They sing Shabbos songs, hear stories about the weekly Torah portion or upcoming holiday, or simply “shmooze.” Last week, the group sang Happy (19th) Birthday to Riffy, talked about Chanukah, sang Chanukah songs, and even watched a counselor light Chanukah candles.

We are finding new uses for MegaMeeting, and we are proudly helping campers with special needs overcome isolation and loneliness by connecting in a meaningful way in the months when camp is not in session.

Time to get ready for next Thursday’s “Shabbos Is Calling!”

30 Days, 30 Texts: Shema is For Real: A Book on Prayer and Other Tangents

2010-12-01T17:22:00.000-08:00

"In case of fire, throw this book in…"

So begins a religious school text book that was as revolutionary as the internet and social media are today. Joel Grishaver developed this book as graduate student at the University of Chicago, as a counselor at Olin Sang Ruby Union Institute in Oconomowoc, WI and as a the youth group advisor at North Shore Congregation Israel in Glencoe, Il.

I was a camper in Wisconsin and a junior youth grouper and religious school student at a neighboring congregation.
Shema is For Real: A Book on Prayer and Other Tangents was transformative. It said that we could have experiential learning and out of the box thinking at Sunday school. It said that Jewish learning could be fun and engaging, even if you got the next best teacher. It told us there were more interesting people than the Stickmans.

This is the book that launched (several years later) Torah Aura Productions and challenged all Jewish book publishers to raise their game. And it challenged teachers and synagogue educators to make us think about prayer, not just learn the words. It taught us that the prayers could mean something to us, and that the way they were organized in the service had a larger meaning.

And when we got to play the Prayer Book Board Game (at camp, at temple, and at NSCI with Joel)—wow! Our opinions and ideas were connected to the prayers and became one. I still think about James Brown shouting “Let me hear you say Yeh!” when I rise for the Barchu. Thank you, Joel, for thinking this way. And thank you Jerry Kaye, director of Olin Sang Ruby for publishing it and Debbie Friedman’s Sing Unto God.

Cross posted at JESNA's site and Welcome to the Next Level
This essay series is co-sponsored by:

Published in Jewish Book Month 2010

Instilling Jewish Pride in the Next Generation

2010-11-29T00:00:00.000-08:00

Last week, as my son and I were doing some last minute Hanukkah shopping, we found ourselves staring face to face with an aisle devoted to Christmas. You can imagine how appealing these items were to a five year old, and I have to admit that I found myself staring at them quite a bit as well, as they were a remarkable display of the holiday season. When he asked me what they were, I told him that they were for Christmas and we moved on to the next aisle. A few aisles later, we found the Hanukkah section, and it included a pretty small selection of items compared to all that we had seen just a few aisles back.

Unlike the merchandising selection at this department store, we can't let Hanukkah, or any Jewish holiday for that matter, be seen as the smaller or less significant stepchild of a more popularly held holiday. It's critical that we not compare Christmas and Hanukkah as if they are in competition. Each holiday stands on its own merits, and in their true celebration express very different theological messages. Hanukkah's central theme is the courage to maintain one's religious convictions in the face of persecution. When we light our hanukiah and place it conspicuously in our windowsill, we are actively engaged in publicizing the miracle of Jewish survival and are linking ourselves to thousands of generations of Jews who have fought for the right to practice the faith of their ancestors.

Often, Jewish professionals use the term "December Dilemma" to refer to the struggle that interfaith families have in navigating the challenge of satisfying the needs of both partners during the holiday season. However, Julie Hilton Danan, a Rabbi and Professor of Religious Studies at California State University, Chico suggests in her book The Jewish Parent's Almanac, that the term might also apply to "the range of uncomfortable feelings that many Jews, in particular Jewish parents, experience while most of the rest of the country is celebrating Christmas. It’s as if the year’s biggest party is going on, and we’ve decided not to be invited…"

Indeed, although my family leads a very active Jewish life, my children occasionally feel that they have been left out of the mainstream, and want to "taste" what they are seeing on television and at shopping malls throughout Houston. What might be the solution to this "December Dilemma?" In my opinion it is making Judaism compelling year round. The more our children feel a sense of pride in being Jewish, the less they will look longingly at other traditions to fill a need their Judaism isn't providing.

On this issue Rabbi Danan continues: "I think that the people who experience the most problems with children and Christmas are those for whom December is practically the only time of year in which their children feel distinctively Jewish…When family observances revolve around the Jewish calendar, we know who we are, not just who we aren’t."

Hanukkah is just about to begin and Christmas is right around the corner. With four opportunities to celebrate Shabbat in addition to celebrating the Festival of Lights before Santa makes his yearly visit, consider ways to make your kids feel so happy to be Jewish that Christmas is just another day of the year.

DEFINING COMMUNITY

2010-11-21T19:43:00.000-08:00

It’s hard to believe that it was only 13 months ago that the 14 of us Jim Joseph Fellows met in Los Angeles for the first time. We knew the name of our fellowship, Leading Educators On-line, and we knew that each of us would be responsible for starting and leading an on-line Community of Practice (CoP). But other than a few preparatory articles and internet-based asynchronous discussions about them, we were pretty clueless what they really meant.

And so, not surprisingly, we spent much of our first retreat together learning with CoP experts like Nava Frank and Nancy White. A great deal of our discussion centered around what initially seemed like a very elementary concept: Exactly what is a community? Lots of ideas and definitions were put forth. Most of them had to do with the people within a community having something in common: a common purpose, a common goal, a common heritage. We never really came to a conclusion, and the discussion continued at our Israel treat last December. I remember one of our teachers suggesting that perhaps everyone who pays taxes belongs to the community of taxpayers. As you can imagine, that garnered a great deal of lively discussion.

Now here we are, over a year into our fellowship, and each of us has already launched or is preparing to launch a CoP. My particular CoP is extremely outcome driven: We are planning the upcoming Jewish Educators Assembly annual conference (the theme is technology) using the CoP model. On paper, we look pretty perfect. We have several teams working and have been using google groups as our asynchronous platform. We have dozens of discussion threads, share documents and videos, and have worked out speakers and a schedule through web 2.0 collaborative tools. Every few weeks since July we have had team web conferences, using DimDim as our synchronous platform. By most standards we have been extremely successful and productive, and the conference is pretty much planned and the registration materials have gone out.

But something doesn’t quite feel right. Yes, we are clearly meeting our common and goal and purpose – the JEA conference will be a great one. And there have been many benefits of doing the planning as an on-line CoP, including fresh ideas and getting many more “average” members involved. But most of the time, it feels like we are just a committee that happens to be “meeting” on the web. It doesn’t feel like a “community” to me.

Contrast this to the fellowship itself. Nowhere in the description of this fellowship did it ever talk about the fellowship itself becoming a CoP, merely that we would learn how to start our own. And yet, somewhere along the line, without even really trying, we all realized we were, in fact, a CoP.

So what makes a group a community rather than just a bunch of people with some commonality or another? I have come to the rather obvious conclusion that in order to be a community, the members have to care about and feel obligated to one another. Once the 14 of us started to care about each other, we couldn’t help become a community. Similarly, although I don’t necessarily like everyone who goes to my shul, I feel obligated to make shiva calls, or go to a Bat Mitzvah, etc… That’s why a shul is a community, and not just a gathering of people.

Somehow, whatever the issue, the weekly Parsha always manages to convey an answer, and this issue of community is no exception. This week, we begin the story of Jacob’s family. While clearly a family, Jacob’s 12 sons do not start out as B’nei Yisrael, a community. Rather, there is sibling rivalry, hatred, jealousy, and all sorts of divisive issues. The brothers don’t really care about each other, and certainly feel no obligation to one another. By the end of the story, the brothers put aside all their issues and began to care about each other. Certainly, they begin to feel obligated to each other. Only then, in Egypt ironically enough, do they truly become the community of B’nai Yisrael.

We spend a great deal of time worrying about how to facilitate a CoP, how to be the technology steward, how to draw in the outliers, which platforms to choose. Yet to me, these are not the real challenges. For me, creating this vitally important sense of community is the real challenge of a CoP that exists only virtually.

Any ideas, anyone?

2010-11-18T13:00:00.000-08:00

Tag Team from the GA

I recently attended the Jewish Federation of North America General Assembly in New Orleans (JFNA GA NOLA, because we like acronyms!).

This blog is a piece I wrote for the Challah Back Blog which is sponsored by the JFNA National Young Leadership (JFNANYL). I am curious to hear from Davar Acher readers their take on changes JFNA may need to take to reach younger leaders, and also to reach more of the Jewish education constituency.

Ten days ago, a former student of mine asked me what advice I had to give as she prepared to attend her first GA. I responded:

@edenrachael advice for the #nolaga. First thing - bring snacks. Second - most business is conducted in the hallway/lobby. Third - business cards.

This exchange embodies my GA experience.

First of all, it happened on Twitter. According to JFNA leadership, there were about 4,000 tweets that came through the #nolaga hashtag. This in and of itself represents a new feeling about the GA. The use of technology and social media to build community, transmit ideas, and disseminate information was profound at this year’s General Assembly.

By running an archive application on the #nolaga hashtag, I was able to ascertain the top words which appeared in the tweets.

NOLAGA, Jewish, Thanks, Israel, Netanyahu, Speech, Jews, New Orleans, Young, GA, Community, Best, Students, Hero, Amazing, Plenary, Twitter, 2010

In thinking about these as words that represented the GA, what I find as fascinating is that words I would typically associate with the Federation (i.e. fundraising, campaigns, leadership, boards, etc) are not the words that were highlighted in the list. This either indicates an overall shift in what took place at the GA, or it represents what those drawn to a tool like Twitter feel is important. This is an important lesson for JFNA as it continues to struggle with how to engage “the next generation.” (More on that later!) The archive tool also generates a list of the top-tweeter. Hillel came in first and pulling into the second slot is William Daroff, Vice President for Public Policy and Director of the Washington office of The Jewish Federations of North America. There’s a commentary in that juxtaposition as well. Note: I did make the top 10.

Continuing on the note of technology, in one session I attended (and was asked by organizers to live-tweet), The Jewish Futures Conference, the organizers invested in equipment where participants could vote from their seats in a poll and live results were displayed on large screens. There was a clear sense of enjoyment from the over 300 attendees. The presence of “Bloggers Alley” (sponsored by Jewlicious) in the Exhibit Hall is another sign of the infiltration of technology and social media into the GA.

Lastly, while not an actual display of technology itself, the Nolaism Schmoozeup, attracted a few hundred people who use social media regularly. It gave me a chance to meet people whom I have been conversing with for a while on Twitter or in the blogosphere but have never met. The introductions are unique: Hi, I’m Robyn Faintich…Silence. JewishGPS…Oh, wow, so great to meet you, I’m [insert Twitter name here]. But as unique as the introductions are, the foundation for a collegial relationship, and often times a friendship, are already laid and the conversations pick up where they left off in cyberspace. (BTW, only to be picked back up in cyberspace the second we departed for the airport.)

But, back to my advice to @edenrachael. First, bring snacks. As a frequent attendee at a large variety of Jewish conferences, the GA stands out to me to be a unique entity unto itself. At no other conference do the sessions run all the way through the day without any meal breaks. At no other conference, are meals not a general part of the conference culture itself. This is a downside to the GA in my opinion. Meal times allow for de-briefing, re-energizing, and community building. As a result of the lack of meal breaks, people who need to meet and network are forced to do so outside of the sessions. Which brings me to my second piece of advice.

Most business is conducted in the hallway/lobby. In my experience, the GA is less about the sessions themselves then they are about the conversations that are feverishly scheduled to take place in the lobby, in the Kosher Café, in the chairs under the staircase, on the front steps of the hotel, or standing up in a hallway. I am pretty sure that this is not what the JFNA organizers intended when they GA was first thought into being, but it is certainly now a primary focus of what the conference has become for many participants. As a new start-up Jewish education consultant, the time in the hallway was priceless. I was able to create several dozen face-to-face connections with people, who are all phenomenal Jewish leaders, within a two-day period of time. In addition to the formal meet-ups, the quick passing in the hallway, elevators or security lines of old colleagues and dear friends, added value and rounded out my GA experience.

My last piece of advice to her was to bring business cards. In a fast-paced environment like the GA, sometimes the exchange of a business card is the only thing two people have time for before moving on to the next conversation. The business card exchange is actually more about what happens after the GA than what happens during. The follow-up, post-conference conversations are often stewarded by the business cards you end up with by the end of the GA.

The Twitter exchange with @edenrachael highlights another part of the GA experience. Mentioned briefly earlier in this article, it is the goal of JFNA to engage more “next generation” Jews. I heard and read on twitter about this through the entire GA (and in fact, last year’s GA as well). A few items come to mind when I begin to contemplate this. First, I am not thrilled with the term “next generation.” There was a resounding pushback from those between the ages of 21 and 40 saying, “We are not the next generation of leaders, we are leaders now.” I challenge JFNA to come up with another term to describe this age cohort and for readers to offer suggestions. Perhaps JFNA can use the upcoming TribeFest (www.tribefest.org) as a forum for the actual end-users to come up with and vote on a name. It seems the liveliness and edge of the TribeFest messaging and marketing is exactly what JFNA should try and replicate throughout its work with this age cohort.

Second, the formality of the GA – both in physical space and in dress code is often a turn-off for this group. Frontal panels and speakers, in theater-style seating, is far from the intimate environments that young Jews are building for themselves in Hillels, Moishe Houses, independent minyanim, and entrepreneurial startups. I suggest thinking about how some sessions could be conducted more parlor-style, including couches, coffee tables, in the round, breakout spaces, etc. I know when trying to arrange logistics for 4,000 people, this kind of specialty setting may seem over-the-top, however, it goes back to the goal of JFNA try and engage this population. Another formality of the GA is the suits and ties. The formal dress code of the GA demonstrates a disconnect between the conference culture and the current dominant professional culture of business casual and in many cases, casual, dress. One question that has to be asked is if the leadership of the GA wants to encourage a huge cultural shift at the conference and blatantly persuade attendees to dress down. If the answer is no, there may be a real challenge to be debated here because while the staff/leadership may give “permission” to the crowd to dress down, if it’s not an entire conference culture-shift, then those who choose to will still stand out, be set apart and possibly be judged as un-professional. This tension already exists: I had a discussion with a woman who was in-town attending the International Lion of Judah Conference. They had participated in a volunteer project in the morning, and therefore had attended morning plenary in casual clothing. She was lamenting why it was important to get “all dolled up and dressy” to attend the next day’s sessions, when she was just as committed, confident and content in her jeans and sweater. I overheard a similar conversation at the GA when participants were attending Monday’s Plenary dressed for the Day of Service that commenced as soon as the Plenary ended. It would be interesting to ask in a survey how the culture of the GA impacts the overall experience. Informally, I encourage discussion about this here.

Overall, I noticed a significant difference in the overall energy of the GA due to the make-up of the conference as result of the influx of young participants, the increased representation of independent non-Federation organizations, the introduction of text study and service-learning opportunities, and the embracing of technology and social media. Next year, as we all descend on Denver (hashtag still being widely debated!), I will be curious to reflect on how far I have come in my new venture in Jewish education consulting (what will the meetings at this GA turn into?) and how far the GA has come in making space in the schedule for meetings, in the further embrace of a younger, more independent participant, and in “providing snacks.”

Technology in Temple: Spirituality in 140 Characters or Fewer

2010-11-11T11:39:00.000-08:00

This was published recently in the Huffington Post. Rabbi Laura Geller serves Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills. There are some interesting questions, and I think she has found some interesting answers in bringing the Jewish analog and digital lenses together. Obviously this exercise does not fit every setting at every time. - Ira Wise

I am with my congregants on a Jewish study tour of Morocco following "the footsteps of Maimonides." There in the old city of Fes is the Kairaouine Mosque, constructed in 857 C.E. and connected to what might be the oldest ongoing university in the world. Maimonides was a student there. In some ways, the city hasn't changed since his time. Donkeys still carry heavy loads of fabric on their backs through the narrow ancient streets just the way they did when he lived here.

But when you peer into the mosque, you can see the same poster that you see as you enter our synagogue: a picture of a cell phone with a line drawn through it. In the mosque, the Arabic words on the sign can be roughly translated as: "Please turn off your cell phones. Talk to God instead."

Some things never seem to change and are common the world over. People still gather for prayer. Imams, priests and rabbis give sermons. We want people to pay attention. How do we help people pay attention?

Sometimes we take risks, do something that might even be slightly transgressive. Consider for example these recent High Holy Days in our congregation, Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills, a large, almost 75-year-old Reform congregation in the middle of Beverly Hills. The opening words of my Rosh Hashana sermon, as I took my cell phone out of the pocket of my white robe, were: "Please do not turn off your cell phone."

There was stunned silence, then nervous laughter. "Yes, you heard me. Please do not turn off your cell phones. In fact, please take them out now. And if you have a Facebook or Twitter account, please log on."

The theme of all of our High Holy Day messages related to the existential question posed by God to the prophet Elijah in the Book of Judges: "What are you doing here?" "What are you doing here," we asked our congregants. "What are you doing here in the synagogue and here at this very moment in your life?"

So I gave the congregation an assignment right there in synagogue: "Please post your answer to the question 'What are you doing here?' in 140 characters or less."

In 140 characters. Characters, not words.

Many of them did, and the answers, because they were so short perhaps, were especially moving.

"I am in Temple Emanuel for Rosh Hashanah services sitting next to my adult children thinking about my own parents." (111 characters.)

"I am letting beautiful music wash over me and feeling a connection with Jews around the world." (91 characters)

"I am thinking about last year... not an easy year... financial challenges, health scares...I'm hoping this year will be better." (117 characters)

"I am looking for balance in my life. ( 36 characters.)

"I am trying to connect my soul to something deeper than just myself." (68 characters.)

Existential questions probably don't change. But the ways we challenge people to think about them do change over time. And new technology gives us new tools.

My colleague Rabbi Jonathan Aaron also took risks with technology for one of his sermons. He used a PowerPoint presentation to encourage people to think about what it means to be "here." It opened with an image of the chairs in our sanctuary, and then of the sanctuary building. Then the picture expanded to the city of Beverly Hills, then to the state of California. In each subsequent image the camera zoomed further and further away until eventually we saw the picture of the universe from the Hubble space craft.

It was as though we were seeing the universe through God's eyes, as it were. Suddenly everything looked different, including our own personal dramas that often keep us stuck in constricted places and keep us from seeing the bigger picture.

The Biblical story describes how Elijah discovered that bigger perspective not in an earthquake and not in a fire, but rather in a still small voice. Our congregation got a glimpse of it through PowerPoint, Facebook and Twitter.

The important questions never change. But new technology can help us pay attention -- and respond -- in different ways.

Crossposted to Welcome to the Next Level

45 Volumes, 45 Years - An Amazing Accomplishment for Klal Yisrael

2010-10-28T15:19:00.000-07:00

Even if you are an infrequent adult Jewish learner, at some point you have encountered the Talmud. Often inadequately described as a commentary on the Mishnah (a compendium of legal traditions that initially developed orally), the Talmud is really a conversation on all spheres of life: the home, street, marketplace, and field; and all types of human relationships: those between husband and wife, children and their parents, neighbors, teachers and pupils, and communal leaders and the general public. Its topics range from both the most mundane to the most theologically challenging. Developing as an oral tradition over centuries, it was compiled and set in writing around the fifth century. No Jewish journey is complete without an exploring this critical exploration of all things Jewish.

Until recently, studying the Talmud was an activity reserved for the most ambitious students. Beyond the challenges one faces in deciphering a text that appears both in Hebrew and Aramaic, a Talmudic discussion is often circuitous and its logic is very different from that of the western philosophical tradition. Today, there are numerous opportunities to study the text, either in its original, with a parallel translation, or in a foreign language altogether. This study can even occur online or through podcasts and software purchased through Jewish vendors.

Perhaps the most pioneering development in making the study of the Talmud accessible occurred in 1965, when Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz began his work in providing a translation and running commentary on the Talmud. Rabbi Steinsaltz’s work began a movement to bring the Talmud to the masses, and this groundbreaking initiative is about to be completed forty-five volumes and forty-five years later, when Rabbi Steinsaltz publishes the final volume this November.

On Sunday, November 7, communities around the world will celebrate Rabbi Steinsaltz’s achievement both personally and for the Jewish people, by participating in the first Global Day of Jewish Learning. This program, developed by the Aleph Society and supported by national and international Jewish organizations including United Jewish Communities, the Jewish Community Centers Association, and the Joint Distribution Committee, will include both Talmud study and the opportunity to participate in a Jerusalem-based live broadcast of a siyyum, a celebration of the completion of study, led by Rabbi Steinsaltz.

I study Talmud each week. Sometimes I struggle, sometimes it comes easily. I am personally indebted to Rabbi Steinsaltz for making the Talmud accessible both for me and my students. Thank you Rabbi Steinsaltz.

For information about a Global Day of Jewish Learning program in your community go to www.1people1day.org.

A CoP Comes To Life

2010-10-27T05:08:00.000-07:00

I was sitting in my living room at 9:30 pm Sunday night, staring at my computer screen, hoping and praying. And one by one, they appeared--Rose from Chicago, Elyssa from Denver, Beth from New Jersey, Adam and Casey from Toronto, Ralph from Chicago and me—in Manhattan. And Avi joined us for twenty minutes from his home in Washington, DC to update us on the status of the Tikvah Ramah Bike Ride in Israel.

For weeks, I had been preparing for this day. Our Ramah Special Needs Program Directors Community of Practice (“CoP”), designed to connect directors from eight Ramah programs in four time zones in the US and Canada, has been meeting regularly since April, 2010. In our Google Group and in our conference calls, we have been offering each other support and sharing information relevant to directors of overnight camping programs, vocational training programs, and family camp programs—from staff training to buddy programs; social skills groups, Yahadut curriculums, use of technology with a special needs population, fund raising, and Israel trips—even such sensitive issues as sexuality and marriage.

But Sunday was different. After sending out Meeting Wizard to find a date to bring all of us together, then trying out Megameeting with three smaller groups, speaking with Megameeting tech support (“how do we reduce feedback and squelching?” “can a member who will be on the road call in by phone?”), sending out step by step instructions and reassuring notes to our somewhat technophobic group, and…praying--the moment arrived!

One by one, the nervous faces turned to smiling faces. Within minutes, we were hearing about a May, 2011 bike ride in Israel to raise scholarship money to support our programs. We were learning about the successful Buddy Program in Ramah Wisconsin. We were sharing ideas about the successful “Shabbos Is Calling” Program in New England—and discussing ways to use video conferencing to connect campers in the winter months—in Canada, California, Wisconsin, and New England. The group was excited when they learned that we can apply for a foundation grant for this exciting project—aimed at connecting a population which often feels isolated. We discussed staff hiring, and the role of the division head within our programs. And, best of all, our ninety minute meeting ended with plans for our next video conference, and with a discussion of when and where we might meet over the summer for an in person meeting. The group was excited to meet at one of the camps—to see an actual program in action!

I am proud of my colleagues who are the best proof that online technology works! A group of busy camp directors who live in four time zones, have other employment in the winter, and are a bit nervous with new technology, are excited to meet and share on a regular basis.

Perhaps we should invite Tzvi Daum to join us in a future MegaMeeting. Daum, in a recent blogpost writes:

I don't want to sound pessimistic or be the naysayer who says it can't be done, but until I see a successful open source Jewish educational project I remain unconvinced about the viability of using open source to solve Jewish educational needs. I know for example, the Jim Joseph Foundation made a grant to 14 fellows to build online communities of practice, I am curious where that will lead to after two years of training.

We can tell Daum how helpful our CoP has been, and we can let him know what we have accomplished after just one year of Jim Joseph Foundation Fellowship training. I hope he will share my excitement when I tell him my plans for our CoP going forward—connecting counselors and staff from Ramah camps. And a CoP for all staff members of Jewish special needs camps—Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Community—you name it. And if he has time, I can share updates about the status of my 13 amazing Jim Joseph colleagues—all hard at work on their CoPs—and changing the landscape in the area of education and online technology. Visit us, Tzvi!

Including All Jews

2010-10-24T05:10:00.000-07:00

In many ways, it was the perfect Jewish conference. And it had so much to do with the careful, thoughtful planning. Of course the location (mid-town Manhattan), the weather (a crisp clear autumn day), and the delicious kosher food contributed to the success of the day--but they were mainly incidental.

I have never been to a conference where the conference packet was available in large print and Braille, where the keynote addresses were signed by a professional sign language interpreter, and where several of the speakers, including Jerry White and Richard Bernstein, were professionals and motivational speakers who just happened to be people with disabilities (White lost a leg in a Golan Heights mine explosion; Bernstein is blind from birth). Even some of the “who's who” of Jewish communal leadership—including Jerry Silverman, Barry Shrage, Devorah Zlochower and Mark Charendoff-- spoke masterfully about their own connection to special needs.

I guess you might just expect such sensitivity and careful planning from Advance: The Ruderman Jewish Special Needs Funding Conference was perhaps the first ever coming together of more than 100 funders representing large foundations, smaller family funds, venture philanthropy and more. And they came for “deep-dive into issue area” morning sessions, and “strategies to maximize funding impact” sessions” in the afternoon. I was lucky enough to serve on the professional advisory committee and to chair the morning session on informal Jewish education.

Imagine the energy and excitement in the sessions devoted to formal Jewish education, informal (camping, Israel trips, college campuses), housing, vocational training, raising awareness, leveraging and partnering, and more!

Perhaps the greatest take home message of the conference is that people with disabilities have tons of abilities, and that funders—in attendance from the US, Canada, and Israel—along with program providers--can partner to do even more to include people with special needs in all aspect of Jewish communal life.

May we soon see the day when including all Jews in all aspects of Jewish life happens so naturally that there won’t need to be special conferences on the topic!

What does it take to create community?

2010-10-12T17:43:00.000-07:00

The 14 Jim Joseph Foundation Fellows came together this week for our final US retreat of our 2-year fellowship. Yes, we have one more Israel retreat left, but the days of our formal in-person gatherings in the US, as our own unique Community of Practice (CoP), are no more.

Since the first day we met each other online we all knew that this group was as diverse as they come. We span the decades, we cover both genders, and we represent the wide array of Jewish educational environments. We cover the entire US from California to Florida and Massachusetts to Texas; and we identify as every mainstream branch of Jewish ideology as is represented in our own unique communities.

Somewhere during the fellowship we became a "community". Somewhere during this last year plus we transitioned from a collection of independent Jewish educators to a Community of Practitioners; and over these last few days each of us tried to identify what was the magic moment, the specific experience, or the secret concoction that helped us move from "one of many" to a "community of one".

What I do know is that we collectively created a community (with of course the help of our Lookstein leaders, coaches, and guest presenters, teachers, and group facilitators). What I don't think any of us knows, however, is what did it take to create "it".

We look forward to your ideas, suggestions, comments, and answers. Our hope is that we'll know when we read it. But until then, help!

Two Parts Authenticity, One Part Emotion

2010-10-10T13:44:00.000-07:00

I BOUGHT MY FIRST BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN ALBUM when I was 12. I got a late start on the concerts (it didn’t help that the band broke up for nearly 15 years), but have made up for lost time, and saw my 13th Springsteen concert last fall. It was the first Bruce show for a colleague attending with me (an informal Jewish educator, of course); he said it was the greatest concert he had ever seen.
Those close to me—and any youth I’ve worked with—are well aware of my Bruce fanaticism.
What does this have to do with the world of informal Jewish education? Everything.
For starters, I point to Bruce as a great example of authenticity.

How is a performer like Springsteen able to hold on to the image of representing the working man, despite his millions? Why do his flannel shirts, boots, and jeans resonate with so many who have so much less than him? I believe the answer lies in that realness, or authenticity, that he maintains with his fans.
You can't fake the energy he displays during a three-hour show—at age 60, no less—without ever leaving the stage. You can't fake his compassion for those who have less, for those who have hit rough times, that he has delivered in his lyrics from Day One, and which he has backed up through his support for those causes.
Bruce isn’t just another old-time rocker playing hits for money. He takes risks. Some of his recent projects (a solo Southwestern album, a folk music tribute to the music of Pete Seeger) did not connect entirely with fans. Others didn’t like his open support of the Democratic presidential campaigns in 2004 and 2008. But he was authentic, for better or worse.
There’s a second element inherent in Springsteen’s work that has deep connections to the world of informal education, which goes hand-in-hand with authenticity: emotion.
David Brooks of the New York Times wrote one of the best essays I’ve read on the emotional value of the Springsteen experience. He writes of the “other education”—the emotional education:

We don’t usually think of this second education… This is odd, since our emotional educations are much more important to our long-term happiness and the quality of our lives...
This second education doesn’t work the way the scholastic education works. In a normal schoolroom, information walks through the front door and announces itself by light of day. It’s direct. The teacher describes the material to be covered, and then everybody works through it…The knowledge transmitted in an emotional education, on the other hand, comes indirectly, seeping through the cracks of the windowpanes, from under the floorboards and through the vents. It’s generally a byproduct of the search for pleasure, and the learning is indirect and unconscious…
Once I got a taste of that emotional uplift, I was hooked. The uplifting experiences alone were bound to open the mind for learning.

Brooks’ comments could easily be speaking about informal Jewish education, and the emotional highs that teens experience at a Shabbaton or convention. Isn’t that emotion, after all, what separates the formal from the informal education we aim to provide our teens as a community?
The formal side sits them down in a classroom, and aims to fill in all the basics they need to know to be a literate Jew—the Bible stories, Shabbat, holidays, tzedakah, Jewish ethics. The informal side, on the other hand, aims to brings them as a group to a proverbial Mount Sinai (the rock concert hall), stand them up on their feet cheering, and have that emotion seep in from under the floorboards and through the vents, so that when it’s over they always want to return for more. To make them say of Jewish life, as Brooks wrote of the concert experience, “once I got a taste of that emotional uplift, I was hooked.”
Springsteen teaches us a simple formula for resonating with those you aim to connect with: Creating meaningful relationships starts with authenticity. Adding in emotional ingredients strengthens the texture.
No one, of course, has better BS sensors than teens. You can’t fake it. Keep it real—respect, honesty, minimal judgment balanced with real expectations, show your inner self without crossing the line—and you just might make a real impact. Better yet, they might even deem you authentic.

Will Social Networks Change the World, or Do You and I Still Have to do the Heavy Lifting?

2010-10-08T10:23:00.000-07:00

My friend and colleague Josh Mason-Barkin sent a few of us an e-mail his question and my reply follow. I hope you will add your thoughts.

"Malcolm Gladwell (in the New Yorker) says online social networks are not capable of empowering real and meaningful change. If he's right, what does that mean for attempts to make real and meaningful change in Jewish education?"

Josh - thanks for tossing this football out.

I think you reduce Gladwell's point to the level at which it might be paralyzing, or at least unhelpful. On one level, I think he is absolutely correct. The internet is changing the world. Not the way the men at Woolworth’s in Greensboro did.

The social network is not a movement, at least not in terms that lead people to sing “We Shall Overcome” in a way that suggests the way things are done must change and change now. It is more a change in the way we perceive and make meaning. Not as dramatic as making a stand on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in March of 1965, nor did I think we are praying with our fingers on the keyboard as Heschel praying with his feet in Selma.

What we can do is profound, but not as dramaticly or even as profound as what Gladwell describes.

I think Gladwell has used the civil rights movement as a straw man of sorts, but one that knocks you down instead of being bowled over itself. That doesn’t mean social networking is trivial. It just isn’t going to change the world the same way as actual civil disobedience and real time advocacy will.

At the same time, let’s look at “Yes We Can” and the Obama online juggernaut of 2008. The campaign relied heavily on social networking to mobilize money, awareness, bodies at campaign rallies and votes. They didn’t give up traditional RT campaign methodology in favor of the digital campaign. Plouffe and company’s genius was integrating the two.

One of the things I find myself saying often is that the technology is awesome. But it is not the only thing! It is a tool, not a revolution. Our success will come from integrating. Nothing will replace the value of students and a teacher sitting around a table or under a tree with texts and ideas. As Grishaver suggests, we need technology PLUS analog/Face to Face/RT experiences, not INSTEAD of them. If the revolution means all digital all the time, it will fail as soon as the kids master the next level of the video game. He says:

“The real point is that real life still offers some unique opportunities: classroom community, love-interests, caring faculty and a speed and spontaneity that you don’t get pounding away a keyboard with your thumbs. Virtual community makes it possible to participate with less exposure. It often feels safer. Yet Solomon and Flexner bring a whole bunch of research sources that suggest participation is higher in blended circumstances. A friend is part of a heavily funded online dialogue. The story I got from this friend was that at first, before they ever met, their online dialogue was full of posturing and pontificating. Once the online group shared a retreat together, the dialogue shifted. It became real people talking to real people.”

What social media and other Web 2.0 technologies offer is access to learners and teachers in new and exciting ways. It offers that access because they are using the technology. When we were kids (and you guys sort of still are ;-}) we went home and played with our friends, did our homework, read books and watched TV. There was not much access to us for our Hebrew school teachers when we were not in the temple.

My sons, aged 12 and 17, now multi-task. While doing homework, they access their text messages on the phones, chat and post items on Facebook, surf the web, watch YouTube videos, etc.

If my teachers are social media savvy,

AND the kids let them, they can initiate or invite contacts that were unimaginable.

AND we can entice them into other Jewish learning modes through third web sites and applications like the Embassy of Israel, the work David and others are doing in Second Life, and even blogs like Jew School and David Wilensky’s stuff.

I am actually putting together a class called “Judaism, there’s an App for that” for our community high school.

I am hoping to explore how we can get students to focus both their digital and analog eyes on Judaism.

So Gladwell is right. But his point doesn’t change the need for us to engage in digital forms of building learners, learning and learning communities.

Cross-posted to Welcome to the Next Level.

Ever wonder what happened to Mad Magazine...

2010-10-04T07:03:00.001-07:00

...that educational wonder that we enjoyed as children?

It morphed into the Moshiach Times!

This article explains the metamorphosis....

Dropping the Baton in the Synagogue

2010-09-20T16:00:00.000-07:00

This is from the July issue of FastCompany. FastCompany is a business magazine, and ever since the first issue came my way fifteen years ago I have read it cover to cover. Each month I find articles that make me think about my work as a Jewish educator and as a human being. There are more ideas than I have had a chance to implement and the list grows longer each month. It has introduced me to Seth Godin, the importance of Design and more recently Chip and Dan Heath.

This article made me think about the process of recruiting, and more importantly growing and maintaining the relationships with a member family in our congregation. They come in through so many different doors: nursery school, family education, social justice, a desire to enroll children in religious school, a worship experience, spiritual searching - you name it. And then we get them to join.

Some time later - hopefully years - they resign. And we are shocked, I tell you. Simply shocked. (cue Sam on the piano - you must remember this...)

Why would they leave? Perhaps they have accomplished what they thought of as their purpose for joining. Maybe the kids have left the house so they see no reason to belong for themselves. Maybe the dues are too high. Maybe, maybe maybe.

This article made me wonder how many ways we drop the baton in our synagogues. With our students. With their parents. With the family as a whole. We should have been working to help them find multiple reasons for being connected to the temple, to develop relationships with other members and with the institution itself that go beyond the reason they joined. I began this line of thought on this blog in April. I am sure there is more to come. I invite your thoughts on this.

Team Coordination Is Key in Businesses

By: Dan Heath and Chip Heath July 1, 2010

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the American men's 4x100 relay team was a strong medal contender. During the four previous Games, the American men had medaled every time. The qualifying heats in 2008 -- the first step on the road to gold -- should have been a cakewalk.

On the third leg of the race, the U.S.A.'s Darvis Patton was running neck and neck with a runner from Trinidad and Tobago. Patton rounded the final turn, approaching anchorman Tyson Gay, who was picking up speed to match Patton. Patton extended the baton, Gay reached back, and the baton hit his palm.

Then, somehow, it fell. The team was disqualified. It was a humiliating early defeat. Stranger still, about a half-hour later, the U.S.A. women's team was disqualified too -- for a baton drop at the same point in the race. (Freaked out by the trend, the U.S.A.'s rhythmic gymnasts kept an extra-tight grip on their ribbons.)
Team U.S.A.'s track coach, Bubba Thornton, told the media his runners had practiced baton passes "a million times." But not with their Olympic teammates. Some reporters noted that Patton and Gay's practice together had been minimal.

Thornton's apparent overconfidence was understandable. If you have four world-class experienced runners on your team, shouldn't that be enough? Unfortunately, no, it isn't. The baton pass cannot be taken for granted -- not on the track and not in your organization.

We tend to underestimate the amount of effort needed to coordinate with other people. In one academic experiment, a team of students was asked to build a giant Lego man as quickly as possible. To save time, the team members split up their work. One person would craft an arm, another would build the torso, and so forth. (At least one person, of course, was charged with tweeting compulsively about what the others were doing.)

Often, the parts were carefully designed, yet they didn't quite fit together properly, like a Lego Heidi Montag. The problem was that nobody was paying attention to the integration. The researchers found that the teams were consistently better at specializing than they were at coordinating.

Organizations make this mistake constantly: We prize individual brilliance over the ability to work together as a team. And unfortunately, that can lead to dropped batons, as JetBlue infamously discovered back in February 2007.

You remember the fiasco. Snowstorms had paralyzed New York airports, and rather than cancel flights en masse, JetBlue loaded up its planes, hoping for a break in the weather. The break never came, and some passengers were trapped on planes for hours. If you've ever felt the temperature rise on a plane after an hour's delay on the tarmac, imagine what it was like after 10 hours. These planes were cauldrons of rage -- one stray act of flatulence away from bloodshed.

JetBlue did its best to survive the wave of hatred -- its CEO apologized repeatedly and the company issued a Customer Bill of Rights, offering cash payments for delays and cancellations. But the executives realized that these efforts wouldn't eliminate the underlying problems, which were rather unyielding: The weather is unpredictable; New York airports are overcrowded; passengers expect on-time performance anyway. If JetBlue didn't fix its operations -- learning to respond to emergencies with more speed and agility -- another fiasco was likely.

JetBlue's executives knew that a top-down solution by a team of executives would fail. "The challenges are on the front line," says Bonny Simi, JetBlue's director of customer experience and analysis. In October 2008, Simi and her colleagues gathered a cross-section of players -- crew schedulers, system operators, dispatchers, reservation agents, and others -- to determine how the company handled "irregular operations," such as severe weather.

Individual members of the group knew the issues in their departments, and "if we brought enough of them together," Simi says, "we would have the whole puzzle there, and they could help us solve it."
Where do you start? If you ask individuals what's wrong with their jobs, you'll get pet peeves, but those gripes may not address the big integration issues. But if you ask people directly how to fix a big problem like irregular operations, it's like asking people how to fix federal bureaucracy. The topic is too complex and maddeningly interrelated; it fuzzes the brain.

Rather than talk abstractly, Simi decided to simulate an emergency. As the centerpiece of the first irregular operations retreat, Simi announced to the group: "Tomorrow, there's going to be a thunderstorm at JFK such that we're going to have to cancel 40 flights." The group then had to map out their response to the crisis.

As they rehearsed what they would do, step by step, they began to spot problems in their current process. For instance, in severe-weather situations, protocol dictates that the manager on duty, the Captain Kirk of JetBlue operations, should distribute to the staff what's known as a "precancel list," which identifies the flights that have been targeted for cancellation. There were five different people who rotated through the Kirk role, and they each sent out the precancel list in a different format. This variability created a small but real risk. It was similar to slight differences among five runners' extension of the baton.

In total, the group identified more than 1,000 process flaws, small and large. Over the next few weeks, the group successively filtered and prioritized the list down to a core set of 85 problems to address. Most of them were small individually, but together, they dramatically increased the risk of a dropped baton. JetBlue's irregular-operations strike force spent nine months in intense and sometimes emotional sessions, working together to stamp out the problems.

The effort paid off. In the summer of 2009, JetBlue had its best-ever on-time summer. Year over year, JetBlue's refunds decreased by $9 million. Best of all, the efforts dramatically improved JetBlue's "recovery time" from major events such as storms. (JetBlue considers itself recovered from an irregular-operations event when 98.5% of scheduled flights are a go.) The group shaved recovery time by 40% -- from two-and-a-half days to one-and-a-half days.

Ironically, JetBlue's can-do culture contributed to its original problem. "The can-do spirit meant we would power through irregular operations and 'get 'er done,' " says Jenny Dervin, the airline's corporate communications director, "but we didn't value processes as being heroic." The company's heroes had been individuals -- but now they share the medal stand with processes. (Here's hoping that the next American relay team, too, extends some glory from the runner to the handoff.)

The relay team with the fastest sprinters doesn't always win, and the business with the most talented employees doesn't either. Coordination is the unsung hero of successful teams, and it's time to start singing.

Dan Heath and Chip Heath are the authors of the No. 1 New York Times best seller Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, as well as Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.

Cross-posted to Welcome to the Next Level.

Going Overboard for Yom Kippur!

2010-09-15T11:42:00.000-07:00

G-DCAST has come up with something special from Josh Nelson just in time for Yom Kippur! Enjoy!

G'mar Chatima Tovah!

Yom Kippur from G-dcast.com
More Torah cartoons at www.g-dcast.com

There is a teacher's guide as well at http://www.g-dcast.com/sites/default/files/curricula/yk_curriculum.pdf. You will have to register with the site first, but it is worth it. If you are new to G-dcast (hate the dash), you are in for a treat. They have animated commentaries on all of the parshayot and some of the holy days as well!

Sukkah City

2010-09-15T05:01:00.000-07:00

If you want you students to think about Sukkot "out of the box" send them to Union Square Park in Manhattan (or, alternatively to the http://www.sukkahcity.com/ website).

The website also offers an opportunity to review some of the laws of building a Sukkah.

We Are No Longer Accepting Comments For This Article

2010-09-11T20:00:00.000-07:00

I spotted the new issue of Time magazine while I was in line at the grocery store with my cart loaded in preparation for my Erev Rosh Hashanah cooking marathon (actually not such an ordeal, with a great new fast and easy roast beef recipe from Arthur Schwartz). The cover was intriguing and troubling.Why Israel Doesn't Care About Peace winked out from a string of daisies in the form of a Magen David. I didn't pick it up, because I knew I didn't have time to read it and I was pretty sure I wanted to begin the New Year with other thoughts. The ideas suggested by the cover wouldn't go away if I waited for the weekend. Those kinds of ideas don't ever really go away.

By the time I got around to reading the story (and don't just read it online - the print version is fuller and presents a visual gestalt that the web version does not), there were many responses floating in the blogosphere. A partially annotated list of some of them is below. After reading the story and the blogs I am every bit as disturbed as I expected to be in the grocery store. I am glad I waited until after yontiff, since it seems like the monster under the bed of my childhood has crawled out again - and it is not cute and fluffy like Sully from Monsters, Inc.

The title of this posting comes directly from the Time Magazine web site which shows the article by Karl Vick. I assume they have shut down the comments due to either the volume or intensity of the responses they have received in the nine days since it was posted. Clearly, they would like to let their article be the last word on the subject.

When you read Daniel Gordis or Rick Teplitz - and you MUST read them, you will understand that there is trouble in River City. I could reiterate what they say. I could be alarmist, intellectual or angry. Welcome to the Next Level and Davar Acher are blogs that are primarily about Jewish Education. So I want to issue a challenge and an invitation to all of you who read them, since you are among some of the most creative educators I know.

How will we teach this to our students?
Obviously there are different needs for learners of different ages. I don't think I will be pushing the issue in Kitah Bet (2nd) or Hey (5th). But Kitah Zayin (7th) and above students are going to have some questions that we are honor bound to address. I have created a document in Google Docs which can be accessed by clicking here. It is a blank document right now. Please go there and fill it with your ideas for addressing the issues raised - Anti-Semitism, Zionism, Media Bias, Anti-Israel, Civil Rights, Peace, Arab/Palestinian-Israel Conflict, or any other that occurs to you. They can be a sentence, a link or a fully articulated lesson plan. Whatever we all put there is available for all of us to use. And as you develop things, please add to the document. Invite others to share. Just having the link (http://bit.ly/diEM3D) gives you permission to edit, just like a wiki. All I ask is that you do not change other people's words. Comment freely, supplement and add your own ideas.

A Partial List of Blog Responses

Daniel Gordis, of the Shalem Center is one of the most thoughtful people I have ever read. His response is the perfect starting point: Acceptable in Polite Society.
An old camp friend, Rick Teplitz, lives in Israel and has a really deep blog about the Arab-Israel conflict called Another Mud Pit. While he and I often find ourselves on opposite sides of the political center, he usually nails the issue without goign to extremes. He did so here! Time Magazine - the New Anti-Semitism Goes Front Page.
Honest Reporting discusses Why Time Doesn't Care About Israel.
Psychologist, professor and Israel advocate Phyllis Chesler writes about Time Magazine's Latest Blood Libel Against Israel.
The Lebanese Forces Official Forum offers a very different perspective, although not as slanted against Israel as one might expect - at lease on this issue.
Meryl Yourish takes you on a tour of some other highlights of the blogosphere on her site: Yourish.com

Cross posted to Welcome to the Next Level

Echoes of a Shofar

2010-09-03T07:10:00.000-07:00

Nothing like a new idea to begin a new year.

I'd like to introduce you to the bikkurim - the first efforts - of my friend and colleague Aryeh Halivni, who has devoted the last few years to a project documenting the recollections of people who played a role in the establishment of the State of Israel. This 10-minute film is a moving depiction of blowing shofar at the kotel under the British mandate and it offers the opportunity to raise a wide variety of discussion topics with students. Unfortunately the planned educational guide is not yet ready, but in the hands of a talented educator the film can be a powerful springboard for discussion.

Aryeh Halivni (Eric Weisberg) is Founder and Executive Director of Toldot Yisrael. He has served in senior positions at several US and Israel based organizations, including Bnei Akiva of the US and Canada, the Consulate General of Israel in New York, Edah, the Shalem Center, and Gesher.

Please read his introductory note below.

Your comments and feedback are welcome.

My best wishes for a Shana Tova,

Shalom

Rabbi Shalom Z. Berger, Ed.D.
The Lookstein Center for Jewish Education
Bar-Ilan University
http://www.lookstein.org
Blogging at http://jjffeducators.blogspot.com/
Follow me on Twitter: szberger

NETWORK*LEARN*GROW

<<
80 years ago, at the end of Neilah on Yom Kippur of 1930, as those gathered at the Kotel sang "Next Year in Jerusalem", 26 year old Moshe Segal blew the shofar. He was promptly arrested and taken - still fasting - to jail, and was only released when Rav Kook interceded later that night.

What was his crime?

In the aftermath of the Arab riots throughout Palestine in 1929, the British convened a commission of inquiry to investigate the cause of the unrest. The Shaw Commission's recommendations granted the Arabs absolute ownership of the Western Wall and adjacent property. Jews were forbidden to bring Torah scrolls to the Kotel, to pray loudly, or to blow the Shofar, so as not to offend the Arab population.

Despite this restriction, for the next seventeen years, the shofar was sounded at the Kotel every Yom Kippur. Shofars were smuggled in to the Kotel where brave teenagers defiantly blew them at the conclusion of the fast. Some managed to get away - others were captured and sent to jail for up to six months.

Six of these men are still alive.

Two weeks ago, these six men returned to the scene of their "crime". Armed with shofars, they recounted their individual stories and blew shofar again at the Kotel.

Their powerful and inspiring story is told in Echoes of a Shofar, the first film in Toldot Yisrael's Eyewitness 1948 series.

Toldot Yisrael is a Jerusalem based nonprofit dedicated to recording and sharing the firsthand testimonies of the men and women who helped found the State of Israel. Over 300 video interviews have been conducted with those who were involved during the pre-State struggle and the momentous events of 1948. Our aim is to conduct hundreds more over the next several years – while it is still possible.

Eyewitness 1948, a series of short films being produced together with the History Channel, is the centerpiece of an educational pilot program being developed with The iCenter and made possible through the generous support of the Jim Joseph Foundation. This program will present stories that address the heroism of the era as well as the complex moral dilemmas confronted as the young nation battled for its existence. Toldot Yisrael’s footage will serve as primary source materials for the Israel Education curriculum, bringing to life the founding of the State of Israel for today’s young Jews.

Aryeh Halivni (Eric Weisberg)
Executive Director
Toldot Yisrael
Mobile: 052-530-6020
Email: halivni@toldotyisrael.org
www.toldotyisrael.org

Taking a Break From the Lord’s Work

2010-08-08T01:25:00.000-07:00

A point that I occasionally make to my students is that there is no word for "fun" in the Hebrew language, and that the very concept of "leisure time" is a modern one.

I discussed this most recently while teaching a group of eighth graders in Camp Moshava, where I spent my summer "working vacation." It has been some time since I can recall taking a "real" vacation. I have succeeded in carving out time when I change my schedule so that I travel or enjoy experiences that break my routine, but invariably those, too, involve work at the same time (e.g. the recent conference that I attended in Sharon, MA).

So this article in last week's New York Times was a reminder that I should be more careful to take a break from things.

According to research quoted in the article:

Members of the clergy now suffer from obesity, hypertension and depression at rates higher than most Americans. In the last decade, their use of antidepressants has risen, while their life expectancy has fallen.

The article notes that most of the research has been done with Christian clergy, although many Jewish congregations are now open to the concept of offering Sabbaticals (a Jewish concept, if I ever heard one) to their congregational leaders.

“We now recommend three or four months every three or four years,” said Rabbi Joel Meyers, a past executive vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly, the international association of Conservative rabbis. “There is a deep concern about stress. Rabbis today are expected to be the C.E.O. of the congregation and the spiritual guide, and never be out of town if somebody dies. And reply instantly to every e-mail.”

It's a good start, but how about Jewish educators!

I hope that you are taking it easy this summer.

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