I was always nervous the night before the first day of school. It didn’t matter if I was a student, a teacher, or a head of school. I slept very little the night before and was exhausted by the end of the first day…
Where Have All the Teachers Gone?
The indicators point to an intensifying shortage of Jewish educators in North America and beyond, and it looks like it will only get worse. This is not new and there are likely multiple causes, but COVID has brought about a wave of early retirement and teacher burnout so that the need has become more acute faster than anyone anticipated and the effects are being felt almost everywhere.
Relating the Four Sons to Holocaust Memory
The Passover Seder serves not only as ‘the quintessential exercise in Jewish group memory’ according to the Yerushalmi, but it can serve as a paradigm of what Jewish education should be. The Seder with its symbols, practices and intellectual stimulation resonates in us all.
A Lesson from Chelm: The Secret Recipe for Professional Development that Works
One of my favorite children’s Chelm stories is “Malke’s Secret Recipe,” by David Adler which tells the story of Malke, who was known for her delicious, succulent, and soft latkes. The only problem was that she would not share the recipe…
Rethinking Prayer and Jewish Education from a Neurodiverse Perspective
My neurodiversity is likely a form of ADHD, partially due to brain surgery. Some of my distractions are due to wandering thoughts and others to sensory stimuli. I also have Irlen syndrome and irregular auditory processing. Irlen syndrome causes visual distortions due to inefficient perception and processing of light and is treated using colored spectral filters.
All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten
Thirty-five years ago, a short book of essays called “All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” was published by a Unitarian Universalist minister named Robert Fulghum. Fulghum argued that he learned life’s most valuable lessons in Kindergarten…
Teaching History: Why the Facts Matter
I’ve been heading up the Israeli division of the education, research, and documentation unit of the Holocaust Claims Conference since 2019. We fund Holocaust museum exhibits…
Summertime Advice for Leaders Entering New Positions: Build An Entry Plan
Before I assumed a new headship a few years ago, I was given some excellent advice: to read a modest-sized booklet entitled “Entry Plan Approach: How to Start a Leadership Position Successfully.”
Ending the Year with Hebrew Language Games
The school year is coming to a close in the northern hemisphere, and in-class parties (to the extent they are not on Zoom) have begun.
Engaging Souls: Bringing Elementary Tefillah to Life
Ask a teacher to teach the same short story to children every day for eight or more years, and they will likely look at you like you are crazy! Yet, in a sense, that is the challenge of teaching tefillah (prayer). We have the same tefillot, more or less, that we use with our children day after day for their entire school career. Unless there is a conscious effort to create a rich tefillah experience, group prayer is at risk of becoming a mindless task, with children (and adults!) on autopilot.