Enrollment in Jewish congregational schools continues to decline, with children themselves often driving the decision to leave. This study centers student voice by examining how 68 learners aged 9-17 experience supplementary Jewish education. Findings from focus groups and interviews with students primarily in Reform congregational schools show that students prioritize social belonging, meaningful peer relationships, and opportunities for choice. They seek substantive conversations about contemporary issues and practical skills like conversational Hebrew. Students emphasized teacher quality and identified significant misalignments between their priorities and adult assumptions. Their perspectives illuminate what sustains engagement and drives disengagement in voluntary Jewish educational settings.
In this essay, I reflect on my experience teaching an introductory course on Hasidism to fourth-year rabbinical school students at Hebrew College. I focus specifically on my teaching of a well-known story about the initial meeting of Israel ben Eliezer, the Ba'al Shem Tov, and R. Dov Ber, the Maggid of Mezeritch. In so doing, I seek to provide the reader entree into my classroom and the ways this narrative source serves to catalyze conversation about the contemporary study of Hasidism, including the use of historical-critical tools in service of the religious growth and development of emerging Jewish clergy.
This article explores the integration of mindfulness meditation and Jewish spirituality in a retreat setting, focusing on the theme of "the power of speech." The author describes a novel approach to teaching meditation inspired by the more-than-human world, using a traditional Jewish taxonomy of domem (mineral), tzomeach (plant), chai (animal), and medaber (human). The study examines how contemplative pedagogy enhances learning experiences, fosters kinship with nature, and complements traditional Jewish text study. The author reflects on the impact of this approach on participants' spiritual growth, highlighting the potential for integrating mindfulness practices with Jewish wisdom to address contemporary challenges.
Through close phenomenological reading of the Hasidic work Or HaMeir, this article develops a partial account of spiritual teaching focused on one crucial dimension: answerability as a crafted relation to language. It traces how speech, voice, and silence operate together as pedagogical presence-address, resonance, and restraint-through which teachers remain accountable to text as living call and to learners as spiritual beings. The article shows why spiritual pedagogy cannot be reduced to technique or outcomes-based measures, and why it requires inward preparation and in-the-moment discernment. It concludes with implications for educator formation and pluralistic classrooms seeking depth without foreclosure.
The article highlights the functioning of national minorities in the Second Polish Republic through the perspective of secondary education. It analyzes the secondary school diplomas of women from the interwar period obtained from educational institutions located in Bia & lstrok;ystok. It presents a collective portrait of women of the Mosaic faith in comparison to other religious groups. It inspects the exam results from the only state girls' gymnasium operating in Bia & lstrok;ystok. The article emphasizes the coexistence of two parallel and almost nonintersecting worlds in the 1920s: The Jewish population almost exclusively attended private schools, whereas Christian families sent their children only to state schools. This process of change began in the 1930s, with the Anna Sapieha Jablonowska State Girls' Gymnasium and Secondary School playing a key role. The article also provides a detailed account of an outstanding graduate of this school: Luba Krugman Gurdus.
Children's literature plays a formative role in shaping how young readers understand identity, history, and justice. This study examines 12 advocacy-oriented picturebooks published between 2020 and 2025 that center on Palestinian identity, analyzing representations of Jewish identity, Zionism, and historical context. The analysis integrates Bishop's mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors framework with a modified Generalized Antisemitism (GeAs) Scale and an ethical-pedagogical rubric assessing stance transparency, historical anchoring, humanization, analogy, and inquiry. Findings reveal patterned variation: while all texts foreground Palestinian experience, several rely on historical omission or rigid moral binaries that marginalize Jewish history.
This study examines how Hebrew teachers in North American Jewish day schools perceive their professional identity. Using narrative inquiry and interviews with eight teachers, the research reveals that their identities are complex, fluid, and shaped by both ethnic and pedagogical dimensions. These identities are influenced by personal and professional experiences, as well as temporal and contextual factors. The findings highlight that teaching Hebrew in the Diaspora extends beyond language instruction, involving deeper ideological, cultural, and identity-based considerations, making it essential to understand the multifaceted nature of these teachers' professional identities.
This paper explores the history of Jewish day schools in Los Angeles, especially in the context of resistance to court-ordered busing in the late 1970s. This contentious issue brought the evolving dynamics within the Jewish community to the fore, in addition to property tax changes, highway construction, and anti-black racism. By analyzing the intersection of educational, cultural, and political factors, the article highlights the tensions within the Jewish community regarding identity, integration, and education in a changing urban landscape within the framework of Jewish institutions and the shifting relationship Jews have had with day schools in the United States.
This study explores the experiences of kindergarten teachers during the evacuation of children in the 2023 war in Israel, when entire northern communities were forced to leave their homes and educational settings. Using semi-structured interviews with 22 kindergarten teachers, the research examined how educators managed the challenges of teaching and caring for young children under temporary and often unstable conditions. Three primary challenges were identified: the gap between the need to act and the lack of available support; the dual challenge of supporting children's emotions while regulating their own; and the personal difficulties faced by teachers during the crisis. Analyzing these findings through the lens of resilience theories highlights how kindergarten teachers perceive and fulfill their professional roles in fostering resilience during times of crisis. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of teacher resilience and offers practical recommendations for strengthening professional and systemic support to enhance educators' stability and effectiveness in emergency contexts.
The loci mnemonic has many studies demonstrating its efficacy. This pilot study examined its potential use in memorizing the Mishnah, an authoritative text for Orthodox Jews. Seventy-one participants were divided into two control groups and one experimental group, the latter using the loci mnemonic. Statistical analysis suggested improvement in the experimental group 24 hours after learning for both strict serial and lenient recall and immediately after for strict serial recall. These findings derive from a small, nonrandomized pilot sample and should be viewed as hypothesis generating, providing a foundation for further rigorous research.
