Learning and Community: Jewish Supplementary Schools in the Twenty-First Century

by Jack Wertheimer

Overview

At a time of heightened interest in Jewish supplementary schooling, this volume offers a path-breaking examination of how ten diverse schools have remade themselves to face the new challenges of the twenty-first century. Each written by an academic observer with the help of an experienced educator, the chapters bring these schools vividly to life by giving voice to students, parents, teachers, school directors, lay leaders, local rabbis and other key participants. The goal of the book is to uncover the building blocks each school put into place to improve its delivery of a Jewish education. Employing qualitative research, Learning and Community is filled with moving and inspiring human-interest stories. Collectively, these portraits offer models of how schools of different sizes and configurations can maximize their impact, and in the process revitalize the form of religious and cultural education that engages the majority of Jewish children in the United States.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781584657705
Publisher:	Brandeis University Press
Publication date:	07/01/2009
Series:	Brandeis Series in American Jewish History, Culture, and Life
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Jack Wertheimer is the Joseph and Martha Mendelson Professor of American Jewish History at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Wertheimer is the author or editor of more than a dozen books, including The New Jewish Leaders: Reshaping the American Jewish Landscape, also published by Brandeis University Press.
 

Table of Contents

Contributors • Introduction • INNOVATIVE SMALL SCHOOLS • Kehillah – Isa Aron with Nachama Skolnik Moskowitz • The Power of Their Commitments: Lessons for the Jewish Community from a Small Synagogue School – Susan L. Shevitz with Marion Gribetz • Between Entrepreneurship and Jewish Mission: The Making of a Chabad Hebrew School – Jack Wertheimer with Serene Victor • RE-THINKING LARGE SUBURBAN CONGREGATIONAL SCHOOLS • Belonging Before Belief – Harold Wechsler with Cyd Beth Weissman • Adath Shalom Religious School: Strengths, Challenges, and Transitions – Randal F. Schnoor with Billy Mencow • Innovating Inside the Box: An Ongoing Process to Improve a Congregational School – Susan L. Shevitz with Marion Gribetz • Promoting a Counterculture – Harold Wechsler with Cyd Beth Weissman • Beit Knesset Hazon: A Visionary Synagogue – Isa Aron with Nachama Skolnik Moskowitz • HIGH SCHOOL MODELS • Western Hebrew High: A Place for Social Belonging and Personal Meaning – Randal F. Schnoor with Billy Mencow • Putting the School Back into the Supplementary Jewish High School – Jack Wertheimer with Serene Victor • Conclusion • Index

Editorial Reviews

Wertheimer and his colleagues have made a significant contribution to the field of Jewish education. This is an important book to both study and use with practitioners, professionals, and lay leaders.” —H-JUDAIC

From the Publisher