Based on the premise that private religious schools function sociologically as crucibles for collective memory work, this study examined the image of Jews conveyed through a Holocaust unit as taught at a fundamentalist Christian school. After presenting an analysis of both the enacted and experienced curricular dimensions of the unit, we argue…

Jewish studies have split into two camps. The one camp is the ethnic and the other is the academic. The crisis of ethnic studies arose because the ethnics ignored the disciplines of the academy, and because the academy found a way to segregate the ethnics. (MLW)

A questionnaire was administered to measure the religious beliefs, religious practices, religiosity, and definition of religion held by members of a conservative Jewish youth group. Independent variables included Hebrew School attendance, sex, and parental practices. Only parental practices significantly accounted for any of the variance in the…

Since 1993, Boston's Jewish community has supported "Sh'arim," a regional initiative in Jewish family education (JFE). This paper examines parents' perceptions of the impact of that initiative on their children, themselves and their families as a whole over the past 10 years. After briefly describing the initiative's original goals,…

In this article, the author talks about Jon Levisohn's discussion of "Visions of Jewish Education," which includes at least four valuable contributions. First, Levisohn offers an illuminating account of what a reader of the important book will find. Second, Levisohn draws attention to the ways in which the book will significantly enrich discourse…

This study sought to reveal teachers' personal cultural ideologies as reflected in their conceptions of the curriculum for, and in their actual teaching of, culturally valued texts. The concept "teachers' personal cultural ideologies" refers to their value orientation toward the curricular and teaching contents relating to, in this…

This paper compares the concept of mixed faith/cultural education in Northern Ireland and Israel. It is primarily concerned with the processes that these "integrated" schools adopt in their quest to improve relations between divided ethnic groups. Drawing on qualitative data collected in two mixed religion primary schools in each…

Examined the backgrounds, personalities, and experiences of 110 young men in Yeshivot, orthodox religious seminaries in Israel. Describes the reactions of their parents and contrasts the Yeshivot with cults. Suggests that alienated youths are especially vulnerable to recruitment. (JAC)

Judaism is, through its scholarly traditions, both inclusive and isolationist. In the Bavli Talmud the rabbis discuss whether or not the Torah, or any other sacred writing, can be translated into the languages of the "goyim" (Hebrew for nations, generally referring to nations other than Israel) and have that translation continue to…

The challenge of teaching classic religious texts with flawed moral messages from a contemporary point of view is examined in the case of the Beautiful Captive of War (Deuteronomy 21:10-14). A moral dilemma is generated by contradictory ethical stands within the Jewish tradition, between which students have to choose. This dilemma is explored in…

This article explores how the role of educational leadership can significantly enhance adult Jewish learning experiences through an in-depth examination of the position of site director at the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School, a two-year program of adult Jewish learning operating at more than sixty sites across North America. Applying the…

Ben-Avie and Comer describe how Jewish day schools and the Yale Child Study Center's School Development Program (SDP) share a common agenda regarding the aim of education. The foundational science of education is child development, advocates James P. Comer in such seminal works as "School Power" (1980) and "Waiting For A Miracle" (1998). SDP, the…

Jon Levisohn's perceptive study of the Fox, Scheffler, and Marom "Visions of Jewish Education" volume manages both to pay tribute to the book's enormous contribution and to raise a number of serious intellectual issues that call for further reflection and analysis. His clear writing and educational insight are to be applauded. By raising questions…

This article proposes to read events of the educational past not as history but as midrash. It juxtaposes an historical account of a watershed experiment in adult education (Franz Rosenzweig's Freie Judisches Lehrhaus) with an ethnographic account of a presently practicing elementary school teacher. These accounts are generically different and…

Qualitative and quantitative research methods are used to examine the religious and ethnic identity of youth attending a Jewish summer camp in Texas. A strong aspect of participants' Jewish identity is formulated in reaction to the surrounding Christian society, with which they negotiate a compromise to live relatively comfortably. The informal…