LIVE from the Kotel - The Lookstein · PDF fileGerber-Goldschmidt Trust ... pillars and then...

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE LOOKSTEIN CENTER FOR JEWISH EDUCATION

Winter 2011-2012 / Horef 5772 No.16

The Lookstein Center SalutesIts Donors and PartnersAmerican Friends of Bar-Ilan UniversityAvi Chai Foundation, New YorkHans and Gini Bachrach z“l, JerusalemIlana and Daniel Benson, New YorkBritish Friends of Bar-Ilan UniversityRobert and Ruth Epstein, MelbourneBarry and Pamela Fingerhut, New YorkThe Foundation for Jewish Renewal, FloridaGerber-Goldschmidt Trust, SwitzerlandBetsy Gidwitz, ChicagoDavid and Susan Goldsmith, New YorkDavid Gradel, LondonThe Greater Miami Jewish FederationMorris z“l and Charlotte Green, JerusalemVan Greenfield, New YorkMichael and Barbara Horowitz, DetroitJesselson Foundation, New YorkJim Joseph Foundation, San FranciscoEvelyn and Dr. Shmuel Katz, Bal HarbourMordecai and Monique Katz, EnglewoodL.A. Pincus Fund for Jewish Education, JerusalemManfred and Anne Lehmann Foundation, NYLarry and Shirley Loewenthal, DetroitNina Moinester, New YorkMyrna and Jack Robbins, New YorkJoyce Saffir, ChicagoShoresh Charitable Foundation, JerusalemTargum Shlishi: An Aryeh and Raquel RubinFoundation, FloridaUnited Jewish-Israel Appeal of BritainUJA Federation of New York

Lookstein LIVE has been providing day school classrooms with quality learning from Israel via video conferencing for the past seven years. Beyond offering its participating schools with fulltime classroom teachers, it has expanded to include Virtual Tanakh Tours, informal Israel update seminars, and Israel live reporting “from the field” enrichment classes. It has also begun partnering with local Federations in an attempt to nurture grassroots community support for its multifaceted programming. As it continues to grow, Lookstein LIVE continues to assess the changing needs of the schools and communities it serves, and empowered by its dynamic faculty, is committed to meeting those needs in creative and innovative ways.

This year, a class had the privilege to see real-time, an IDF paratrooper’s swearing-in ceremony at the Kotel, and even got to see close-up, a hayal boded’s (“lone soldier”—soldier whose parents do not live in Israel, in this case the soldier was from Canada) tanakh and rifle—both presented to the soldiers at the ceremony. More recently, a New Jersey class went on a real-time virtual tour of the Old City of Jerusalem. Read an excerpt from the Lookstein LIVE teacher’s diary:

I wanted to tell you about my lessons yesterday. I prepared a lesson on the old city—its walls, gates, quarters, the Jewish quarter and the Hurva Synagogue. I rented a net stick and started my lessons outside the Jaffa Gate. I walked through the Armenian quarter to the Jewish quarter. In the Jewish quarter, we counted hanukiot in glass boxes outside homes, walked by to see the Cardo pillars and then stopped to learn about the building, destruction, rebuilding, destruction and finally rebuilding of the Hurva Synagogue. We ended at the Kotel to see the hanukiot there. I now have laryngitis from speaking so loud while teaching and walking through the old city! Hanuka sameach!

And student feedback:

I just wanted to compliment you on your awesome tour of Yerushalayim. It was so cool and I was particularly happy to be able to daven at the Kotel. Thank you so much. See you on Wednesday.

For more information about the exciting Lookstein LIVE classroom opportunities and possibilities, made possible thanks to the generosity of the Avi Chai Foundation, contact Susan Yammer at [email protected].

Deena Kahane teaching live from the Old City of Jerusalem

LIVE from the Kotel

“Like” us on Facebook. Search “The Lookstein Center” and get periodic updates.

Follow us on Twitter @Lookstein.

With thanks to our Associate Members for their support:

Jeeww isshh A rt Ed uccaat

iioon

JAE

• An Interview with Minna Heilpern • New Programs at the Center• Conferences and Research• Curriculum News• Lookstein Around the Globeinsideinsideinside

Winter 2011-2012 / Horef 5772 No.16222

From the DirectorNow more than ever, The Lookstein Center is continuing to strengthen its core projects, while at the same time building on its areas of experience and expertise to pioneer new paths in Jewish education. Examples are profiled in this newsletter.

We at the Center believe strongly in the need to maintain focus and effort on classical methodologies of learning and professional development, while concurrently exploring where the power and potential of modern technology can take us to enhance Jewish teaching and learning.

For several years now, The Lookstein Center has been at the forefront in embracing a blended learning model in its professional development and teaching programs, an approach which has

more recently become very prevalent in a range of learning environments. Blended learning may involve integrating on-site with online learning or synchronous online learning with asynchronous online learning. Most of the projects described in this newsletter incorporate this approach.

We are constantly studying the efficacy of these programs, and based on the findings of self-evaluations as well as external evaluations, make adjustments and fine-tune the programs to enhance their impact and value to Jewish education.

I hope that the information in this newsletter merits your attention and curiosity and I invite and welcome any comments and suggestions you may have concerning these projects or any programs at The Lookstein Center.

I can be reached at [email protected].

Bivrakha,

Stuart Zweiter, Director

Continued on page 5 >>

Conferences and ResearchPublicationsEli Kohn of the Center recently published two articles which appeared in leading academic journals, “What should I have learned as a Jew after 12 years in a Jewish school?” (International Journal of Jewish Education Research) and “Designing a Curriculum Model for the Teaching of Bible in UK Jewish Secondary Schools -A Case Study” (British Journal of Religious Education). Dr. Kohn can be reached at [email protected].

Jewish Educational LeadershipThe most recent Jewish Educational Leadership issues focus on The Arts in Jewish Education (9:3) and Assessment (10:1). Upcoming issues will focus on Student Empowerment (10:2) and Tikkun Olam (10:3) For information about submitting an article in the journal, contact Zvi Grumet at [email protected]; for information about sponsorship, advertising options and membership/subscriptions, contact Alissa Burstein at [email protected].

and curiosity and I invite and welcome any comments The Lookstein Center.

Winter 2011-2012 / Horef 5772 No.163

נימה בב פ ל כל עוד ב

ה נפש יהודי הומי

ולפאתי מזרח קדימה

ה עין לציון צופי

קותנו עוד לא אבדה ת

ים נות אלפ ת ש קוה ב הת

ארצנו י ב להיות עם חפש

לים ארץ ציון וירוש




ה עין לציון צופי

קותנו עוד לא אבדה ת






The Symbols of IsraelSemadar Goldstein

1 Eretz Yisrael Throughout the YearGrade Yom

Ha'AtzmautHa'Atzmaut

Curriculum NewsFinishing Touches on Eretz Yisrael Throughout the YearWe have been reporting about the exciting and comprehensive Eretz Yisrael curriculum for the last few years. We are now delighted to report that the booklets are in the final stages of completion. By way of reminder, students in grades 1-8 will now be able to learn about Israeli history, geography, language, politics, culture, environment and tradition in four friendly lessons centered around each of the Jewish dates of Tu BiShevat, the fast of the tenth of Tevet, Jerusalem Day and Israel Independence Day (sixteen total for each of the eight grades). Colorful, engaging and informative in a precise, compact manner, the booklets prepared by The Lookstein Center thanks to generous support of Evelyn and Dr. Shmuel Katz, are ready for day school use. For more information, contact Yonah Fuld at [email protected].

Strengthening the Lookstein-JCP Partnership Eli Kohn, director of curriculum development at The Lookstein Center, serves also as educational director of the Jewish Curriculum Partnership (JCP), heading their partnership with the Center. The JCP is a UK-based organization, supported, among others by the UJIA and the United Synagogue, that provides Ivrit and Jewish Studies professional and curriculum development program for some 35 Jewish schools.

Over the last few months The Lookstein Center has partnered with JCP in the development of two new curriculum programs.

1. The planning of an Ivrit program, in collaboration with the Center for Educational Technology (CET), for students aged 11-14 in UK Jewish high schools, which will improve standards of Ivrit teaching and increase students motivation and enjoyment of Ivrit lessons. The multi-media course will be written by experts in the UK and Israel. The course will be of similar standard to courses that students will be using in other Modern Foreign Languages and will be delivered through textbooks, digital textbooks and a multi-media resource bank consisting of audio files, videos, interactive activities, interactive formative and summative assessments and editable worksheets. The course will focus on contexts and themes that motivate teenagers and aspects of Israel life and culture will be integrated into the content. The course is unprecedented in the UK and is expected to be cutting edge in the Jewish education world.

This program builds on the successful Ivrit elementary school resource that is being implemented in some 30 schools in the UK. Called Ivrit B’click, it features video clips, digital interactive resources and a teachers’ guide.

2. A Tefillah curriculum for students aged 7-11 in UK Jewish schools. The overall aim of the project is to nurture students to have a positive and meaningful experience of and attitude towards Tefillah. Students will hopefully also gain knowledge of and competence and confidence in their Tefillot. A variety of resources with be developed, including a teacher’s guide, intended to engage teachers spiritually, and teacher training sessions will take place, to guide teachers in how to best use the new resources. Twenty school have been involved in the initial planning meeting of the curriculum, funded in part by the L.A. Pincus Fund.

For more information regarding Lookstein Center activities in the UK and other curriculum projects around the world, contact Eli Kohn at [email protected].

Students at a Jewish school in London using the curriculum

OUR MISSIONThe Lookstein Center for Jewish Education of the School of Education at Bar-Ilan University is a service and research center deeply committed to enhancing the quality of Jewish education in the Diaspora. The Center seeks to develop and facilitate programs and projects that reflect, encourage, and foster ongoing growth and learning for the Jewish educator. The Center's work is driven and inspired by the belief that there is much to be gained by creating frameworks that nurture and support the symbiosis between:

• The rich educational and spiritual resources in Israel and the particular experience of the Diaspora• Educators from the broad range of the Jewish community• The worlds of hands-on practice and Jewish and general theory

As technology advances and becomes easier to attain, making it easier for us to offer a broad range of resources to our growing community of Jewish educators - we invite you to join us (or renew your membership if it has lapsed).

Membership packages are offered to individuals, companies, organizations and schools – and when a school joins, all of the school's educators automatically become members too.

If you have read this newsletter, or even just skimmed it, you are obviously interested in Jewish education and concerned about its future. So join us now, and partner with us, in our common goal - helping Jewish education and in particular, the Jewish educator.

w w w . l o o k s t e i n . o r g / j o i n u s

Winter 2011-2012 / Horef 5772 No.16 4

Rabbi Sheldon ChwatFormer Principal, SAR Academy, New York

Prof. Yehuda EisenbergBar-Ilan University and Touro College

Rabbi David EliachPrincipal Emeritus, Yeshivah of Flatbush, New York

Prof. Cli�ord HillEmeritus, Teachers College, Columbia University

Prof. Meni KoslowskyBar-Ilan University

Prof. James KugelBar-Ilan University

Prof. Raymon LewisLa Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia

Ms. Jan MorrisonDirector, Teaching Institute for Essential Science, Baltimore

Prof. Yisrael RichBar-Ilan University

Rabbi Prof. Daniel SperberPresident, Institute for AdvancedTorah Studies, Bar-Ilan University

Prof. Abraham TannenbaumEmeritus, Teachers College, Columbia University

Dr. Joel Wolowelsky Yeshivah of Flatbush, New York

Lookstein Center Advisory Board

Meet our Program Partners: An Interview with Minna Heilpern Tell us a bit about your professional background, your professional affiliations.

Most of my career I have worked in Teachers’ Resource Centers. In 1984, I became the director of the Teachers’ Center at Jewish Educational Services (JES) of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey. I have also served as Director of Outreach for the Commission on Jewish Identity & Continuity of our Federation, served on CAJE planning committees and was a Mandel Teacher Educators Institute (MTEI) Fellow from 2002-2004. I am a certified mentor from the Jewish New Teacher Project (JNTP). Currently I am director of teacher education for JES.

Why did you choose to get involved with The Lookstein LIVE Program?

As director of Teacher Education of JES, I work with Northern New Jersey day schools to enhance their work and to foster collaborations between the schools. I also partner with local and national organizations. In this capacity, I fostered the link between our schools and Lookstein LIVE. This kind of unique partnership with outstanding institutions like The Lookstein Center, is exactly the kind of collaboration that I am constantly seeking to foster for our schools.

When did you first learn about The Lookstein LIVE Program?

I first learned about Lookstein LIVE a year ago when reading about it in on the Lookstein listserv, Lookjed. What caught my eye was Susan Yammer’s name. Susan was one of Northern New Jersey’s premier educators before she and her family made aliyah. I contacted her immediately, was fascinated by what she told me, and arranged a visit to a local participating school. That visit convinced me that NNJ schools could also benefit from the program. I am pleased to say that currently 4 of our 7 elementary day schools are participating.

How do you best utilize Lookstein LIVE? How do your schools benefit from the program?

I see Lookstein LIVE as another avenue to deepen our students’ connections with Israel by learning with the dynamic Lookstein LIVE teachers. Some of our schools use the program as enrichment possibilities for their students for learning Hebrew, Tanakh and Gemara, or the Tanakh Tiyul course, others as part of their core curriculum. In whichever manner the schools are participating, I think the benefit is that they are able to enhance their connections with Israel in an innovative and cost effective way by utilizing technology to connect live with teachers in Israel.

What exactly is your role at Lookstein LIVE?

My role as Liaison has included meeting with the local educators to ascertain how the program is progressing, share insights with Susan that I have gleaned that will help improve the program, and consult with Susan in an ongoing way.

What are some of the strengths of the program?

Teachers and students become closely connected across the ocean. From my classroom observations I have seen how hard the teachers in Israel work to establish personal connections with the students during the lessons, not only by knowing student names, but also by getting to know them as individuals. It is good that the teachers from Israel also come to the States to meet with their U.S. colleagues and to meet the students and teach face to face in their classrooms.

Any parting words you would like to add?

I think that Lookstein LIVE is an exciting, dynamic program and I am thrilled that four of our schools are participating. I hope that more schools will become involved. Getting the word out about the current schools’ involvement is so important in building excitement about it. I look forward to continuing to partner with Lookstein LIVE to help make that happen.

Minna HeilpernMinna Heilpern

I have seen how hard the teachers in Israel work to establish personal connections with the students during the lessons.

Winter 2011-2012 / Horef 5772 No.165

Introducing New Programs at The Lookstein CenterThe Online Principals’ ProjectThe Lookstein Center’s new Online Principals’ Project is a revolutionary idea in professional development for day school leaders. The project will be held online, using a combination of asynchronous and synchronous discussions to enable maximum participation of day school principals. In addition, there will be a two-day in-person seminar. Based primarily on the case study model, participants work together to examine, analyze and tackle some of the most challenging problems facing day school leaders. This project will eventually produce a series of case study “packages,” including discussion, resources, videos and input from some of the leading thinkers and practitioners in the world of education. This project is being sponsored by a generous grant from the UJA-Federation of NY. For more information contact Zvi Grumet at [email protected].

Center for Jewish Online Learning, Teaching and Training (JOLTT)The Lookstein Center and the Center for Educational Technology (CET) have partnered with CET (http://cet.org.il/pages/Home.aspx) to develop JOLTT - the Center for Jewish Online Learning, Teaching and Training. JOLTT aims to promote online learning in Jewish day schools by creating and evaluating professionally-developed blended online Jewish studies courses for day school students, in addition to training day school faculty in the use and facilitation of these courses. The Center will also include an educational library of learning modules and resources, and student and faculty support services. For more information, contact Esther Feldman at [email protected].

The Challenge of the New Antisemitism to EducationIn December, The Lookstein Center partnered with Bar-Ilan’s School of Education, the Israeli Ministry of Education, the World Zionist Organization and Lifshitz College in organizing a two-day conference on educational responses to Anti-Semitism. Entitled “The Challenge of the New Antisemitism to Education,” the conference brought together an array of international academic scholars and educational leaders. One day of the conference was dedicated to academic presentations that laid the groundwork for practical seminars and workshops that took place on the second day.

The keynote presenter was Irwin Cotler, Former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada. Shalom Berger of The Lookstein Center chaired a session on “Classic Anti-Semitism - Anti-Israelism,” alongside Gerald Steinberg of Bar-Ilan University and Roni Stauber of Tel Aviv University. The practical workshops were presented by representatives of Yad Vashem, the Anti-Defamation League, and others in Hebrew, English, French and Russian.

Tzedek V’Tzedaka - Justice and a Just Society In January, Yeshiva University sent thirty students to Israel for a week to explore the topic of Tzedek and Tzedaka and its manifestations in politics, society, and the economy in a democratic Jewish state. The mission was funded by the Jim Joseph Foundation, with the goal of cultivating more and better educators. Eighteen students visited The Lookstein Center on the last day of the program. They were introduced to the work of the Center by Shalom Berger who presented Lookjed and the online communities of Jewish educators supported by the Center, and by Zvi Grumet who offered entrance to a wide variety of educational opportunities that the students could consider beyond the four walls of traditional day school education.

Following a meeting with the students, the Yeshiva University representative, Kiva Rabinsky, wrote, “Thank you for the presentation which emphasized the most crucial element of the winter mission—namely, translating the mission into teaching opportunities for the students.”

YU/Center for the Jewish Future Experiential Learning Mission sponsored by the Jim Joseph Foundation, at Bar-Ilan University

>> Continued from page 2Conferences and Research

Advisory Board

Contact UsThe Lookstein CenterSchool of EducationBar-Ilan UniversityRamat Gan, 52900 IsraelTel: 972-3-531-8199Fax: 972-3-535-1912

www.lookstein.org

[email protected]

The Lookstein Center SalutesIts Donors and PartnersAmerican Friends of Bar-Ilan UniversityAvi Chai Foundation, New YorkHans and Gini Bachrach z“l, JerusalemIlana and Daniel Benson, New YorkBritish Friends of Bar-Ilan UniversityRobert and Ruth Epstein, MelbourneBarry and Pamela Fingerhut, New YorkThe Foundation for Jewish Renewal, FloridaGerber-Goldschmidt Trust, SwitzerlandBetsy Gidwitz, ChicagoDavid and Susan Goldsmith, New YorkDavid Gradel, LondonThe Greater Miami Jewish FederationMorris z“l and Charlotte Green, JerusalemVan Greenfield, New YorkMichael and Barbara Horowitz, DetroitJesselson Foundation, New YorkJim Joseph Foundation, San FranciscoEvelyn and Dr. Shmuel Katz, Bal HarbourMordecai and Monique Katz, EnglewoodL.A. Pincus Fund for Jewish Education, JerusalemManfred and Anne Lehmann Foundation, NYLarry and Shirley Loewenthal, DetroitNina Moinester, New YorkMyrna and Jack Robbins, New YorkJoyce Saffir, ChicagoShoresh Charitable Foundation, JerusalemTargum Shlishi: An Aryeh and Raquel RubinFoundation, FloridaUnited Jewish-Israel Appeal of BritainUJA Federation of New York

THE RABBI DR. JOSEPH H. LOOKSTEIN CENTERFOR JEWISH EDUCATION

6

Lookstein Around the GlobePrograma E-Limud: Jewish Curriculum StudiesWhen Jewish high school students in Latin America start their new school year in March, they will be greeted by a new Jewish studies curriculum, thanks to The Lookstein Center.

Several schools approached the Center, asking for a program that will provide their graduates with knowledge and intellectual tools to strengthen their Jewish identity, while still in high school, and at the same time tighten their bond with the State of Israel.

The thirty-two hours of study, one third of which is interactive online, will include select topics in Jewish history, the Jewish lifecycle, Jewish literature, and Israel (past and present). The schools’ teaching staff will receive training in order to best relay the material to the students.

To date, several schools in South America have enthusiastically embraced the program, and schools in Peru and Buenos Aires will be the first to integrate the program in the coming months. For more information, contact Meir Ben-Ytzhak at [email protected].

Look-Sea

The Lookstein Center initiated a project in 2007, supported by the Pincus Fund, to advance Jewish school teachers in the Baltic States. Over the years, the project has seen the following results:

Greater than two-fold growth in the number of teachers participating in the program, and learning how to use web-conferences, e-mail, and other computer facilities

Creation of new programs, books, and other educational materials, including their implementation

Official recognition of the new curriculum by a local Education Ministry, offering further opportunities to teach Jewish Tradition in Latvian Jewish schools

In 2011 a new teachers’ guide, based on the project, was published by Lookstein Center mentors Uri Tair and German Levin. A Latvia-born Jewish tradition teacher, Levin is one of the most experienced Jewish educators in the CIS. The book, written in Russian (the major language of instruction in Jewish day schools there) is devoted to methods of teaching Jewish ethics in senior grades of a Jewish day school. It includes extracts from Jewish sources, texts for reading and analysis, lesson plans, and other materials, ready-made for classroom teaching. The content of the book was discussed during Lookstein Center web-conferences held for participating teachers in 2008-2011. Some units were even taught by our mentors via video-conferences to Riga Dubnow school students.

Copies of the book, entitled Teaching Jewish Ethics in School, were sent to Jewish schools in the Baltics, Russia, Ukraine, Germany and other countries. Related activity books for students are available on our Russian-language web-site http://lookstein.org/russian/.

Similar projects are now planned for other regions of the FSU, tentatively named “Look-Sea” (Lookstein’s School Educators’ Advancement). The content of the project will be tailored to each area’s needs and goals. For more information, or to support Center projects in the FSU, contact Anna Fein at [email protected].

When Jewish high school students in Latin America start their

Lookstein mentors present a mezuza to the students of Riga Dubnow school

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