The history of education is a worthwhile pursuit within the study of history writ-large, for education is a powerful cultural device that has been manipulated for a variety of social, political, and economic purposes. So, why is it the case that little work has been done to date on the history of American Jewish schooling? This article assesses…

In this article the author argues that for 150 years Jewish education has negotiated the tensions between modernity and Judaism by means of liberal religion, ultra Orthodoxy, and secular Zionism. All three are in crisis today due to the rise of postmodernism. Jewish educational thought therefore needs to create new syntheses between Jewish and…

This article addresses teachers' understanding of spiritual development in public and religious schools in Boston and Chicago. It examines how teachers define spiritual development in different educational contexts and looks at the way they relate spirituality to a number of factors including community, identity, and character. The data from the…

For this study of sexual education in Israeli Modern Orthodox high schools, we interviewed teachers at the crossroads of conflicting values. Caught between a commitment to promote traditional practices and values, and a sense of obligation to serve as caregivers to students whose lived realities often do not fit neatly within the framework of…

This paper puts forth an argument for new lines of inquiry and deliberation in the process of professionalizing Orthodox Jewish education. Using professionalization to describe a process that emanates from within the profession and its practitioners, and not issues (such as salary, benefits, and status) which are largely controlled by those…

This article argues that the emergence of the era of terrorism, fuelled in part by a form of Wahhabist Islam, impels a religious education imperative of improving understanding about Islam, both in terms of the historical roots with Judaism and Christianity, as well as ongoing conflict between the three traditions. On this basis, this article…

This articles extends the conversation begun by Levisohn in volume 71:1 of this journal, and continued by a number of respondents in volume 71:2. These articles identify two notable themes among the responses: The first is the issue of pluralism, and the tension between vision and exclusion. Despite the best of intentions, it seems unavoidable…

This article examines the application of a recent interpretive trend in the field of gender studies to the study of Talmudic texts as well as its potential role in the teaching of Talmudic literature. It explores what kind of contribution we can make to our students' education in seminaries and Jewish Day schools when we open our texts up to…

This article explores how arts-based learning can facilitate understandings of Jewish religious texts. Through practical examples drawn from our own research, from the worlds of dance, drama, and the visual arts in education, we demonstrate the ways in which arts can allow for the transmission of information and knowledge, as well as offer a…

This collection of articles serves as a record of some of the deliberations of members of the Academy for Torah Initiatives and Directions (ATID) (Jerusalem, Israel). The collection captures the collective thinking that the ATID fellows and faculty members underwent as they explored methods of transforming prayer in Jewish schools into a more…

"What is Jewish education [?] I have been trying for 32 years to find out what it is, but I am still looking." In 1931 these were humble words from the mouth of Samson Benderly, one of the leading thinkers and actors in American Jewish education of his time and of the twentieth century overall--someone whom one might presume had all of…

This article explores the formational provision within a faith community when faith schooling ends at the primary stage. A case study, part of a larger multi-faith study, examined the Jewish community in the greater Glasgow area--a small, and shrinking, community with a long history of relatively peaceful integration but increasingly pressurised…

This paper focuses on an innovative curriculum for teaching culturally valued texts and the issues around the curriculum's implementation by teachers. The writers of this curriculum considered the subject-matter of this curriculum as a cultural "language" containing specific concepts, attitudes, and modes of thought. The curriculum…

This study indicates that in general there is a movement toward less religious involvement on the part of American Jews although second generation Orthodox Jews exhibit more religious involvement. (PR)