My study concerns the teacher knowledge of "mehankhim," teachers in Israeli high schools entrusted to promote students' moral, civic, and social growth. It examines two "mehankhim" from a secular Israeli high school who participated in a long-term professional development program in secular Jewish education, centered by…

This article describes the impact of sustained professional development programs in two Jewish congregational schools. This research suggests that contrary to common assumptions, part-time teachers in Jewish congregational schools will invest time in professional development when it is of high quality, interactive and engaging and based at their…

The literature on curricular integration in Jewish education has tended to focus on two basic paradigms. In the first paradigm, the integration of Jewish and general studies curricula represents the aspiration that the graduates of the institution will likewise integrate Jewish and general studies (or "Americanism" or "modernity") in their lives.…

Bible teachers worldwide lack a shared language with which to describe expectations of what pupils will learn at various stages of their schooling. This article attempts such a language. If defines a framework, formulated with the assistance of twenty-five Bible teachers in Jewish schools in the United Kingdom. It is hoped that this article will…

This article investigates the use of the contextual orientation to the Bible--which seeks to understand the Bible as a product of its time, and in the context of historical-critical biblical scholarship--as a deliberate, significant aspect of a teacher's overall approach to reaching Jewish adults in their 20s and 30s. Through classroom observation…

The author summarizes current thinking about signature pedagogies in "learning to profess" and explores the extent to which these ideas apply to Jewish education. Three signature pedagogies for Jewish education are proposed: the d'var Torah, "chevruta", and pedagogies of argumentation ("machloket"). (Contains 1 figure.)

The author observes that now many religious educators are grappling with the realization that forming persons in faith today necessitates teaching them "to be religious interreligiously." Yet, there is one inter-religious relationship that is absolutely fundamental to Christianity: its relationship with Judaism in both the past and present. The…

This article presents the author's response to Joseph Reimer's article titled, "Beyond More Jews Doing Jewish: Clarifying the Goals of Informal Jewish Education." In his article, Reimer laudably seeks to concretize the often ambiguous goals of informal Jewish education. To build his case, he points to the work of Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi to…

This article presents the author's response to Joseph Reimer's essay titled, "Beyond More Jews Doing Jewish: Clarifying the Goals of Informal Jewish Education." In his essay, Reimer has presented an approach to understanding informal Jewish education. He drives home the point that many formal educational theorists have posed regarding the validity…

My study explores a curriculum development project for Israel education in a liberal Jewish high school. Through an action research framework, I investigate the tensions between teaching about Israel to achieve critical thinking goals and to facilitate students' development of positive affinity for Israel. I also explore the affordances and…

This article provides a qualitative analysis of the chapters of the forthcoming "What We NOW Know About Jewish Education" (to be published by Torah Aura, Spring 2008). The findings of this analysis outline an agenda for further research by highlighting a number of emergent themes pertaining to the practical and conceptual challenges that lie…

This article presents the author's response to Joseph Reimer's essay titled, "Beyond More Jews Doing Jewish: Clarifying the Goals of Informal Jewish Education." Learning from experience, Joseph Reimer maintains, lies at the heart of informal Jewish education. Learning, Reimer explains, entails "going deeper": becoming immersed in the activities,…

This article looks at the cultural impact of faith schools on their pupils in terms of what it teaches them about their own identity, and what it fails to teach them about the identities of people whom they live among in the wider society. On the basis of personal experience it attempts to tease out the assumptions on which such an education is…

This article presents the author's response to Joseph Reimer's essay titled, "Beyond More Jews Doing Jewish: Clarifying the Goals of Informal Jewish Education." The author focuses his response on Reimer's notions of challenging advocates of informal Jewish education to "go deeper" into the learning processes they envision. The…

In this article, the author shares a few points of clarification to amplify the argument he puts forth in his article titled, "Beyond More Jews Doing Jewish: Clarifying the Goals of Informal Jewish Education." The author argues that socialization and education are two social processes that often overlap and reinforce one another. The purpose of…