Loving Israel: What Does it Mean Today?

The Hovevai Zion were among the earliest Zionist but now that we have achieved what they barely were able to dream of, what does it mean to be a lover of Israel. Dr. Lisa Grant Associate Professor of Jewish Education on the New York campus is our guest blogger this week. Drawing on her extensive work in Israel education and her own personal experiences, she shares some reflections on what loving Israel today.

Israel has been an integral part of my life since childhood. For almost 39 years, I have had an immediate family presence there, first my parents for over 34 years and then my daughter for almost five.  I’ve lived there as well, for longish stretches at three different times in my life, and I visit regularly to see family and friends, to work with colleagues, to conduct research and to teach.  Having meaningful ongoing encounters with people, places and memories in Israel is an essential part of who I am as a human being and a Jew. There’s no doubt that I love Israel. It’s personal.  It’s in my bones.

My love of Israel grows out of my deep and abiding commitment to the Jewish People and collective Jewish life.  Israel is infused in symbols, actions, beliefs, and expressions of collective Jewish belonging.  Simply put, it’s impossible for me to imagine being a Jew without a relationship to the multiple dimensions of am, Torah, eretz, and medinat Yisrael.

But, loving Israel is complicated. Throughout my life, I’ve grappled with the politics and tried to understand the contours of the many competing and contentious social, cultural, economic, historical, ethnic tensions that make up the complex weave of contemporary Israeli life.  Israel is a place of wonder and inspiration, where the ongoing story of the Jewish people plays out every day.  And it is also a divisive, overly sectarian place that far too often wallows in and is paralyzed by its history, and seems all too often willing to abdicate moral responsibility in the self-righteous name of security.

As an educator, I often think about what my job is in teaching Israel.  I do not believe that the starting point is love. Rather, I think we need a new paradigm for teaching about Israel.  Too often, we rely on the “myth and miracle” narrative of Israel to foster a romantic notion of a heroic place. Yet, the day-to-day reality is far removed from this and a relationship built on myth is likely to crumble in the face of a much more complicated reality.  Nonetheless, many educators avoid grappling with confusing complexities that they themselves are uncertain about and that they fear will distance learners and undermine formation of a strong Jewish identity.   Ironically though, a case can also be made that approaches to Israel education that promote and perhaps even demand an unreflective love, may have the opposite effect, leaving Israel as a superficial, peripheral and even alienating aspect of American Jewish life.

A new paradigm for Israel education begins with a stance of critical engagement.  Love is not the starting point but is the ultimate goal – not a naïve and unreflective love, but rather a mature love that can endure even in the face of missteps and imperfection. Cultivating this type of love requires deep engagement with the complex and rich dimensions of Israel as a land, people, and state. More importantly, it requires a commitment to the Jewish collective enterprise of building a shared future that celebrates our diversity of stories, experiences, beliefs, and practices, and that contributes to a thriving Jewish People and a better world.  That’s the foundation of my love of Israel, of Judaism, and the Jewish People.  Each is an inseparable thread in the tapestry that gives my life shape, purpose, and meaning.

Glee: TV’s most Jewish show

The most Jewish show on TV? In my opinion it has to be Glee. Each week the songs and story lines revolve around a particular theme, musician or type of music. Excellent execution transforms a somewhat goofy concept –yes, students do just break into song in the gym- into good television. It is also a wonderful contemporary example of the value of intertextuality. Anyone who appreciates the ways in which Jewish culture rests on the ability of texts and traditions to comment on each other across time and place will relate not only to the content –which the URJ has already flagged as useful for those working with teens- but to the format.

Last week’s episode, for example, revolved around “Bad Reputations” and their rehabilitation. The story line revolved around several of the main characters and their struggles with their own reputations –both good and bad. Meanwhile, the members of the Glee club, collectively suffering from the lack of popularity that desire, are charged with task of taking a “terrific song [which] because of time or some bad press has become a joke,” and giving it new life. Not only does the challenge faced by the songs exemplify the challenge faced by the characters, but the songs themselves help bring along the broader narratives. In this particular episode, Olivia Newton John, a 1980s pop star makes an appearance to work with one of the teachers on a redo of Newton John’s 1981 song physical. It is possible to understand the story line with Newton John without having seen the original music video or knowing the ways in which the song resonated with listeners when it was originally released but without the larger context one loses important nuance that the remake conveys. There are layers of irony and history portrayed in the haircuts, color choices, and dance moves that are only apparent if one is able to recall the original work and period.

The idea that old texts, ie. songs, can resonate if we work to reinterpret them is a very Jewish notion. But in reality, Glee does this kind of reinterpretation each week. The songs chosen, whether based on a theme or an artistic body of work, harken back to the original context and ways in which they were presented. Much like Torah study, the ability to understand the story is greatly enhanced by knowledge of the original texts and contexts in which they existed. The ways in which music, text and meaning interact in the show shares similarities with the ways in which music adds layers of interpretation and meaning to prayer in Jewish worship. In Glee, as in midrash, stories reference each other even as they move in different directions and interpretations of the themes under consideration.

Original broadcasts of the show can be seen on Fox on Tuesday nights, but several episodes are available for viewing at anytime online. If you are a fan of the show, a newcomer, or looking to engage young teens in a conversation about Jewish intertextuality, I have put together some of the questions that came to my mind when watching last week. They can be used with the “Bad Reputations” episode but are equally appropriate with any other episode.

• How do the songs add/animate to the storyline? Do they change or advance the story line in any way? How does music add to/annimate Jewish prayer? What would this show be like without the music? What would prayer be like without music?

• How does the original song compare to the Glee version? How does the setting and story line change/add to the original intention? What do you gain about the story line by knowing something about how the theme or musician is thought about outside the context of this show? Consider how Jewish texts or prayers, like the Friday night Kiddush, draw from biblical sources and splice them together. Does this add to or change our understanding of the prayer?

• What do you think the original singer/songwriter would say if they saw the reinterpretation? (In “Bad Reputations,” Oliva Newton John does actually come back and comment on the need to reinterpret her original work.) What do you think that our biblical ancestors would say about how we understand Judaism? What about the rabbis of ancient times?

Welcoming Others

We learn in Midrash Tanuhma B, Hukkat that in paving the way for the people of Israel to make their way across the wilderness to Mt. Sinai, God smoothed out the landscape lest mountainous terrain make the people of Israel weary on their way to revelation. This vision of paving a smooth path for people toward the Torah is one that I would venture to say guides most Jewish professionals. Yet, those who we are trying to embrace often feel somewhat weary from the obstacles they encounter.

Closing the gap between welcome we hope to extend and the welcome people experience is the work of the Jewish Welcome Network. Based in San Francisco, the Network emerged from the Bay Area communities’ need to address the diversity of those connected with and interested in connecting to the Jewish community. Founding Executive Director Karen Kushner, is aware that communal Jewish professionals don’t always recognize the ways in which newcomers or returnees to the Jewish communities encounter the community. Often being welcoming is equated with watering down the content of Judaism. Kushner, who comes from a family with many rabbis, values the work of Jewish professionals and the values of our tradition. She works with Jewish professionals to consider how, even as we uphold the norms and practices of Judaism, we can help others hear our message of welcome.

Based on her years of experience, as a therapist and with diversity of the Jewish world, Kushner has put together a significant library of materials on many topics that can help pave a smoother journey. According to Kushner, just putting a series of pamphlets in the lobby that signal that not everyone who walks in the door looks the same, knows Hebrew, has traditionally Jewish grandchildren, for example, can make a big difference to how people perceive their welcome. What I like about these booklets is that they are available online for easy download. They can be printed up in multiple copies for a waiting room or called up on demand in anticipation of a particular counseling or family concern. For example, Kushner’s most recent booklet explains in a straightforward, though not simplistic, manner, the meaning and rituals of Shavuot.

Kushner also runs a listserv that keeps Jewish professionals connect, learn and grow with regards to creating welcoming community.

As we count down towards matan Torah I hope that we will all be blessed with the ability to remove the barriers from those journeying towards the embrace of our tradition.

What KLM and British Airways have to teach us about Jewish Leadership

Leaders on the front lines?

A cloud of volcanic ash grounds European airlines and the chief executives of KLM and British Airways join their crews on test flights to show that it is safe to fly. What do these actions say about the importance of symbolic involvement by top leaders in responding to crises?

This was the question asked this morning by Steven Perlstein and Raju Narusetti in the Washington Post as part of their by weekly column “On Leadership.” I was particularly drawn to three of the nine responses. Clayton Rosa, a fellow in the Coro Public Affairs program, compared the executives to Cy Sperling of The Hair Club for Men. Cadet Christina Tamayo from Westpoint compared them to her survival swimming instructor. Dr. Marshall Goldsmith an author and expert in business leadership compared them to Jonas Salk.

Linking these three examples drawn from very different areas of leadership is Goldsmith core reason for admiring Salk, who by injecting himself with the Polio vaccine, “lived his commitment.” The swimming instructor had asked that the cadets to swim the length of a pool underwater in full battle gear. By jumping into the pool and demonstrating this himself he proved that it was humanly possible and that he was not asking others to do anything that he himself was unwilling or unable to undertake. While the least serious of the three examples, Cy Sperling was famous for the line “I’m not only the Hair Club president, I’m also a client.” In all three cases, the ability of the leader to live the message that hoped to inspire others to follow was key to their success as leaders.

Working in the Jewish community, we are often in the position of “selling” ideas or behaviors to others: Torah study, setting aside Shabbat as a day of rest, holding our tongues from speaking evil. In bringing others along for the journey it is essential that we not only preach but truly live these precepts.

During my first year of Rabbinical School I taught at a local Hebrew School. Most of the time, I had difficulty engaging them in the material in my lesson plans. During the last semester, I gave up on the curriculum and held conversations with the kids. One thing led to another and one week I ended up spontaneously describing Shabbat dinner in my home. Towards the end of the evening, a quiet boy who often chose to attend my class rather than the one to which he was assigned asked if he was missing something. I repeated back the last few sentences in case he had not heard properly. “No,” he corrected me, “am I missing something by not doing this Shabbat thing?”

I can assure you that the Shabbat I had described was far from my own vision of what I though of as peaceful. A full time student, mother of two young children, my Shabbatot were usually chaotic. Still, in describing them my passion and commitment for the rituals, my joys in these moments despite the frustrations, the power of the experience must have shone through. I had moved in that moment from being the purveyor of information, to a leader with an authentic vision. There was no question as to which was more compelling.

It is often hard for Jewish professionals to make time and space to live their own Jewish commitments; to pray not just to lead prayer, to study Torah not just teach Torah study, to embrace the complexity that is their own spiritual journey and struggle. Yet when we do make the time and space, we like executives at KLM and British Airways, have the opportunity to take our leadership roles to next level.

Thoughtful Israel Engagement

Solemn ceremonies. Joyous celebrations. Introspection. Advocacy.

Long gone are the days when marking Yom Hazikaron, Yom Haatzmaut, and later Yom Yerushalyim were marked with relative ease. Political complexities both in the United States and Israel complicate our ability to talk about Israel. Facilitating conversations about Israel demands the ability to hold on to multiple narratives about Israel’s past and present. It means allowing different opinions but demanding civility. Additionally, it can be challenging to know how to interpret the myriad of news stories about Israel that come to us through traditional and new media sources.

One of my favorite resources for engaging with Israel is the collaboration between the Haaretz newspaper and Makom. Mokom is a relatively newcomer to the Israel education scene. Based in Israel, it specializes in helping those living in North America connect with Israeli culture and current events. The organization promotes questioning and discussion on all elements of Jewish life but provides particular focus on the arts and on challenging contemporary issues. The collaborative Haaretz and Makom site combines the headline news with opinion pieces, arts commentaries, and forum for discussion.

Jewish professionals will find the vast array of educational resources of great interest and use. There are film guides, text studies and book group guides. For example, Makom has collaborated with the UJA Federation of New York to create a booklet for chevrutah study on the words L’hiyot Am Chofshi that is visually and intellectually engaging. There are wonderful explorations of contemporary music, including study guides and interviews with musicians. Videos are used to create virtual tours of monuments.

As you plan to engage with your congregations around Israel in the coming weeks or at any time, I recommend that you check out the site and make use of its resources.

The Past, Present and Future of Jewish Education

Rhea Hirsch

From the time of its founding, Hebrew Union College has led the way in Jewish education in the United States. The founding of the Rhea Hirsch School of Education in 1969 signaled a new phase in the professionalization and professionalism of Jewish education.  Today RHSOE graduates are to be found in synagogues, schools, camps, and organizations across the globe.  In addition to training teachers and administrators to work in formal and informal Jewish settings, the school is also a hub of scholarly research about Jewish education.  This week the school entered a new phase. With the dedication of the Sara S. Lee Chair of Jewish Education, the school of education has cemented another important foundation stone on which to build the future of Jewish education.

Sara Lee

In a moving ceremony, Rabbi David Ellenson inaugurated the Sara S Lee Chair for an Emerging Scholar in Jewish Education at the Los Angeles Campus of HUC-JIR. In addition to recounting the history of the Rhea Hirsch School of Education, Sara Lee’s role in it and her widely acknowledged impact on the entire field of Jewish education, David spoke about his own relationship with Sara as colleague and teacher. Sara shared her reflections about her work of the last 37 years in the field, passionately setting out her

Tali Hyman Zelkowicz

vision of Jewish education and the powerful role it can play in the life of individuals and communities. Both David and Sara spoke about the first person to hold the chair, Rabbi Tali Hyman Zelkowicz, and her unique qualifications as an RHSOE alum and outstanding young scholar. Tali also shared words of gratitude and anticipation.

To watch the ceremony play the video below:

What Do We Know About Jewish Education? Not as Much as You May Think.

The form is there, the facts are fuzzier

We all believe in the importance of Jewish education, but creating and maintaining  experiencew, opportunities and institutions of Jewish learning is not always simple.  This week, Rabbi Scott Aaron, Community Scholar at the Agency for Jewish Learning of Greater Pittsburgh and a doctoral candidate in the Philosophy of Education at Loyola University Chicago, raises some questions about how much we know about Jewish learning and the reasons we need to know more.

“Given the importance of religious and ethnic identity and the specific concerns of the Jewish community, it is surprising how little systematic information exists about Jewish college students.  Much of the extant data were gathered in the 1960s and early 1970s and lack contemporary relevance.”[i]

I was surprised by this point when I first came across it a few years ago as I began my doctoral studies in Jewish education and identity development.  The Jewish community really had so little data on such an important segment of the community?  My own area of interest is the 18-26 year olds, but as I expanded my research to look at data on Jewish education overall, I saw that there has indeed been a paucity of identity information before the 1990s.  Much of what has been generated since then has been focused on pediatric education and Jewish identity.  Moreover, much of what had been done involving Jewish identity (adult or child) was evaluating it from the perspective of sociology rather than education.  Simply put, and with apologies to all of my sociologist colleagues for the generalization, what little was out there was mostly measuring what Jewish adults did or did not do, not what they did or did not know or believe.  This has always perplexed me given the broad spectrum of credible data across the various fields of secular education that I was encountering as part of my studies.  How could the most educated ethnic identity group in American history make such massive investments in Jewish education and identity development with so little reliable data to show for it?  However, some recent perspectives from academics in the community have gone a long way to explaining this discrepancy for me.  It all seems to boil down to a need for reflection.

1. Academic Reflection – As Dr. Adam Gamoran pointed out in a recent webinar through the Berman Jewish Policy Archives of New York University (http://www.bjpa.org), the Jewish community is spending a lot of time seeking a cure for our communal education problems without actually doing valid measurement and diagnosis of them.  Many of our studies and evaluations of Jewish identity are not truly objective experiments that result in clear and unbiased data and extrapolation.  The problems related to this flaw are often rooted in the tension between deeply held personal and communal assumptions and truly objective evaluation, not to mention a sense of communal crisis needing to be assuaged.  (Dr. Gamoran’s critique of the recent much-heralded Birthright Israel study – http://ir.brandeis.edu/handle/10192/23380 – is worth hearing if you want to listen to the webinar yourself.
2. Theoretical Reflection – In a very interesting recent article in the Journal of Jewish Education[ii], four authors presented important ideas to elaborate on this problem.  Two in particular struck me as powerful.  First, Dr. Stuart Charme of Rutgers University observed that educational philosophies in the Jewish community could be metaphorically understood as a Drink-Your-Milk model.

Jewish identity is likened to the human body and Jewish education is likened to milk.  What one consumes strengthens one’s being.  The more “nutrition” i.e. Jewish education, the stronger the body i.e. Jewish self.  The stronger the body, the less susceptible it is to threats like assimilation and intermarriage in adulthood.  Stronger = more Jewish, weaker = less Jewish.

Charme points out that the community has tended to structure Jewish education on this binary philosophical model and conducted evaluative outcomes in this vein.  The result, he points out, is that “[t]o a great extent, research on Jewish identity has been a byproduct of the communal concerns of a minority living in a pluralistic, open society where ethnic survival as a coherent group is not guaranteed”.

The problem with this byproduct is twofold.  First, as Charme points out, it sets Jewish identity up as a goal, as something that can be reached and once achieved is assumed to be stable.  Second, it does not easily allow for alternate measurements of success.  To extend Charme’s metaphor, it negates the nutritional value of skim, 1%, Lactaid or soy milk, not to mention cheese, yogurt, etc, i.e. a multiplicity of dynamic contemporary Jewish experiences that may not easily fit in to a normative or traditional model of Jewish education.

3. Personal Reflection – Additionally, in the same article, Dr. Tali Hyman of HUC-JIR LA also makes the very cogent observation that almost all those who have studied Jewish education and identity in the last two decades are themselves Jews.  Dr. Hyman correctly asks how well Jewish researchers of Jews filter out their own biases based on their own personal Jewish life experience and identity.  Are they self-reflective enough to see any personal bias?  Are we truly getting reliably objective data from our research efforts?

So where does this leave us?  Now we know why we do not have enough reliable data, but knowing highlights for the need for that information.  My own confusion at the lack of significant and reliable data that can be built upon to develop testable new theories for Jewish education and identity is explainable by the ideas offered by these three commentators.  Their own reflective observations can assist all of us in better serving our community as both practitioners and students of education.  I share with them the hope and belief that as the community continues its recent efforts to engage in extensive academic research in to Jewish education and identity, it will be able to rely on those findings to develop new and meaningful paradigms of Jewish education.

[ii] Charme, S., Horowitz, B., Kress, J., & Hyman, T. (2008). Jewish Identities in Action: An Exploration of Models, Metaphors, and Methods . Journal of Jewish Education , 78 (2), 115-143.

A Yankee Master’s Vision of Excellence in Jewish Education

What does Judaism offer as a vision of education? What does excellence in education look like? Is it possible to achieve excellence in education in the realm of supplemental schools? Day schools? Camps? These were some of the substantive questions be posed, last week, to a diverse group of Jewish educators by Ron Berger.

Berger, a veteran educator and the author of An Ethic of Excellence, believes that all children can achieve excellence in education. Moreover, he does not distinguish between excellence in academic achievement and excellence in character building and moral development. Indeed it is the integration of ethics and learning that Berger, himself not Jewish, sees as a model for educators of all religious backgrounds and institutional affiliations.

Berger’s vision of excellence comes from his years teaching in the small school in Shutesbury, MA. He taught children of all ages and abilities to strive towards excellence by employing a projects based approach that stressed individual contributions, critique and revision, and the creation of products that were of value in the world.  Now working with Expeditionary Learning Schools Berger has brought this approach to school across the US, many of them with limited resources, and achieved amazing results both in terms of academics but also broader community engagement. On display were high quality educationally significant posters, books, calendars, field guides, trading cards, greeting cards and other final products made by children as young as 5 years old.

Some in the room drew a parallel between inner city schools who struggle with limited resources and synagogue schools, where commitment of students and parents as well as money is in short supply. Parents, for example, could be drawn in to donate skills with computers or design to create the means for producing calendars that a class learning about the holiday cycle might create. Such engagement would both involve parents and help add to the financial and classroom resources available to teachers.

Berger’s insistence that the final product of projects be of value to people in the community means that the students can see the importance of their contributions. Rabbi Shoshana King-Tornberg walked away from the workshop dreaming of having her students write a guide to the service at their temple. Not only would it help the children learn more about the customs and culture of their community, but the final product would be of great use in building a sense of openness to newcomers. Others were dreaming of famous Jews trading cards. Still others of Hebrew language books written, illustrated and produced by students in higher grades for those in the lower grades

Feedback is a key element of Berger’s philosophy. In order for work to be excellent, it needs to go through drafts, to receive critique not from adults but from peers. The process, which teaches children to give kind, specific, and helpful feedback is an opportunity to think about how to be in community with each other, a model if you will of responsible and effective tokhekha.

By the end of the afternoon, we were all inspired towards a vision of excellence that focused on the engagement of children and their ability to produce materials

The program was presented by HUC-JIR in conjunction with DeLeT, the BJE and the Union for Reform Judaism.

To get a sense of how the process works, I would recommend the following two YouTube videos of Berger, explaining his approach:

Ron Berger 1 of 2

Ron Berger 2 of 2

Jews and the Civil Rights Movement: There’s more to it than you might think

photo from SNCC

Ahead of next week’s celebration of Martin Luther King and his legacy, guest blogger Julia Philips Berger pushes us to reconsider how we think about and teach the history of civil rights.   Julia has been working with the Jewish Women’s Archive to develop new approaches for teaching the history of civil rights. A graduate of the Rhea Hirsch School of Education, Julia is an education consultant residing in Orlando, FL.

Today, when most Reform synagogues have a social action committee and when legal segregation is a thing of the past, it may be hard for us to understand how some American Jews could not support and participate in the Civil Rights Movement. Over the last seven months, as I’ve worked on a high school curriculum about Jewish participation in the Civil Rights Movement for the Jewish Women’s Archive, I have been examining this issue and many others that highlight the complexities of Civil Rights history. Part of what I’ve learned is that only when we are fortunate enough to hold a position of power and privilege can we support the fights of others. While many Northern Jews felt safe enough and powerful enough to help African Americans in the South, many Southerners did not. Equally important is the fact that many Northern Jews felt differently when the Civil Rights Movement came to the North. In their own communities, Northern Jews did not always support bussing to integrate schools or Affirmative Action to help African Americans enter college and new business fields. These events were more immediate and more threatening to Northern Jews. The lives of American Jews in the 1950s and 1960s were complicated, so are our lives today. If we want our young people to feel connected to Judaism and continue our legacy of social justice, we need to share with them a more nuanced history that resonates with them, not a nostalgic picture of larger than life heroes who always do the right thing and make the right choices.

Carol Ruth Carol Ruth Silver, Civil Rights activist, in Birmingham, Alabama, May 2000. From the Jewish Women's Archive.

As Reform Jews, we are proud of our legacy of social justice. The many Jews who participated in the pivotal events of the Civil Rights Movement are an example of this. In addition to the general Jewish participation and the work of individual Reform activists, there was official Reform involvement in this social movement. Rabbi Joachim Prinz, who escaped Nazi Germany, gave a speech at the March on Washington. Members of the CCAR and NFTY participated in this March as well, under banners proclaiming their Jewish affiliation. These are the people and events that we generally point to at this time of year or in our religious school classes. But the history of Jewish participation during the Civil Rights Movement is much more complex. And that complexity has much to teach us.

Rabbi Joachim Prinz speaking on behalf of civil rights in Washington

While we are proud of the large percentage of white civil rights activists who were Jewish, the actual percentage of Jews who participated in the Civil Rights Movement is relatively small and the majority of these lived in the North. Many Southern Jews did not actively support the Civil Rights Movement. It was not that they didn’t believe that segregation was wrong, but that they knew that actively supporting desegregation could be dangerous. It could mean the loss of jobs or customers and clients that they could ill afford. It could mean having crosses burned on their front lawns or the bombing of their temples. Northern Jews would eventually leave the South. Southern Jews needed to live within the white Southern community, and they had done so for years by keeping a low profile. The Civil Rights Movement was not low profile, and the actions of Northern Jews reflected upon Southern Jews, exposing them to the wrath of Southern whites.

Tensions also developed between Southern Jews and some Jewish organizations. For example, in 1956, a congregation in Mississippi wrote to the President of the UAHC expressing its feelings that segregation was neither a religious issue nor a Jewish issue, and asked the UAHC not to make statements about segregation which might be understood by others as being the views of all Jews.

As I read these documents, I was reminded of Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, which explains that we need to fulfill our basic needs like food, housing, and safety before we can aspire to ideals such as tolerance. As Jews, we often think of our people, in more or less homogenous ways, despite our experience to the contrary. A number of years ago when I was a congregational educator, I learned about a child in my religious school who, upon  seeing the temple food chest full of soups, pastas, cereals, etc., wanted to know if she could bring home some of the food for her family. Her classmates and teacher were aghast and reminded her that this was where we brought food for those less fortunate than us. As her mother later told me, they were in want and truly needed the food. Sometimes, we forget that not all American Jews are middle or upper middle class.

This month, as we celebrate Martin Luther King Day, I hope we can have pride in the fact that our people could be found in the Civil Rights Movement. We should also feel gratitude that many of us today have the power and privilege to be able to help others, and the perception to remember that just as we don’t like it when non-Jews make simplistic statements that begin “all Jews…,” we too must remember that all Jews are not the same, and bring that varied tapestry into our teaching of the past.

[For more information about the JWA’s new Civil Rights Curriculum and their summer institute which will teach teachers how to use these materials, go to http://jwa.org/teach/profdev/institute10/ .]

Photo credits: http://www.ibiblio.org/sncc/, http://www.joachimprinz.com/index.htm, <http://jwa.org/discover/infocus/civilrights/silver/index.html> (January 12, 2010).

National Thinking on Continuing Rabbinic Education

A few weeks ago, I reported on the 2^nd Alliance for Continuing Rabbinic Education conference in New York. Now ACRE has made available on their website detailed descriptions of the many engaging and important sessions that took place. Reactions to the days events were captured on film and can be seen at the ACRE site as well. Two of those who responded were HUC-JIR alumni, Rabbi Jerry Weider and me and can be viewed here. All the videos can be viewed on YouTube as well.