Visions Of Jewish Education

This book looks at the philosophical consideration of Jewish existence in our time, as reflected in Jewish education, its alternative visions, its purposes and instrumentalities, the values it should serve, and the personal and social character it ought to foster. Prevalent conceptions and practices of Jewish education are neither sufficiently reflective nor thoroughgoing enough to meet the multiple challenges that the world now poses to Jewish existence and continuity. New efforts are needed to develop an education of the future that will honor the riches of the Jewish past and grasp the opportunities of fruitful interactions with the general culture of the present. To promote such efforts, six leading scholars in this book formulate their variant visions of an ideal Jewish education for the contemporary world. This book also translates these visions into educational practice and, finally, articulates a vision abstracted from a case study of a school's ongoing practice.

The International Handbook of Jewish Education, a two volume publication, brings together scholars and practitioners engaged in the field of Jewish Education and its cognate fields world-wide. Their submissions make a significant contribution to our knowledge of the field of Jewish Education as we start the second decade of the 21st century. The Handbook is divided broadly into four main sections: Vision and Practice: focusing on issues of philosophy, identity and planning –the big issues of Jewish Education. Teaching and Learning: focusing on areas of curriculum and engagement Applications, focusing on the ways that Jewish Education is transmitted in particular contexts, both formal and informal, for children and adults. Geographical, focusing on historical, demographic, social and other issues that are specific to a region or where an issue or range of issues can be compared and contrasted between two or more locations. This comprehensive collection of articles providing high quality content, constitutes a difinitive statement on the state of Jewish Education world wide, as well as through a wide variety of lenses and contexts. It is written in a style that is accessible to a global community of academics and professionals.

When What We Know about Jewish Education was first published in 1992, Stuart Kelman recognized that knowledge and understanding would greatly enhance the ability of professionals and lay leaders to address the many challenges facing Jewish education. With increased innovation, the entry of new funders, and the connection between Jewish education and the quality of Jewish life, research and evaluation have become, over the last two decades, an integral part of decision making, planning, programming, and funding.

In Vision at Work: The Theory and Practice of Beit Rabban, Daniel Pekarsky offers a philosophical portrait of a vision-guided school. In a series of engaging letters to his imagined correspondent, Pekarsky depicts a real Jewish day school, Beit Rabban, which explicitly incorporates into its educational design a vision of the kind of person and community that it aspires to promote. Beit Rabban is guided by a vision of Jewish life that puts engagement with classical Jewish texts and the alleviation of human suffering at the center. The school's practice embodies the conviction of its visionary leader that these and other activities should take place in a learning community that emphasizes intellectual openess, rigorous thinking and imaginative problem-solving. While describing the philosophy and practice of Beit Rabban, Pekarsky also addresses the problems faced by educators and others who wish to create and maintain vision-guided schools. Vision at Work will be of interest to educational theorists, to educators, and to anyone concerned with basic educational questions and with the challenges that confront both general and Jewish education.