Adapting: The Future of Jewish Education

Every person has a story to be told, and today’s episode of Adapting tells one individual’s unlikely journey to become a Jewish educator.David Bryfman met Elyssa Hurwitz of Moishe House at a recent conference for Jewish educators when she volunteered from the audience to partake in David's interactive keynote presentation, to explore what it means, in philosopher Martin Buber's language, to strive to create I-Thou relationships. This experience had an unintended but profound impact on both Elyssa and David.What transpires in this episode is a powerful conversation about the consequences of our interactions as educators and humans, and the changing dynamics of the Jewish educator landscape today.This episode was produced by Dina Nusnbaum and Miranda Lapides.The show’s executive producers are David Bryfman, Karen Cummins, and Nessa Liben. This episode was engineered and edited by Nathan J. Vaughan of NJV Media.If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a 5-star rating and review, or even better, share it with a friend. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and be the first to know when new episodes are released. To learn more about The Jewish Education Project visit jewishedproject.org where you can find links to our Jewish Educator Portal and learn more about our mission, history, and staff. We are a proud partner of UJA-Federation of New York.

In a time of shortage of Jewish educators, today’s episode of Adapting focuses specifically on why one would even consider becoming a Jewish educator today, asking such challenging questions as: how has the role of educator become more difficult than it once was? And how can we, as a culture, better champion the profession?This week's guest is Aviva Lauer, Director of the Pardes Center for Jewish Educators in Jerusalem. Aviva speaks with David Bryfman about equipping educators with the Jewish knowledge, pedagogical skills, and supportive onboarding needed to succeed – and avoid burnout.Aviva shares her pitch for why a career in Jewish education is the most meaningful career one can have.This episode was produced by Dina Nusnbaum and Miranda Lapides.The show’s executive producers are David Bryfman, Karen Cummins, and Nessa Liben. This episode was engineered and edited by Nathan J. Vaughan of NJV Media.If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a 5-star rating and review, or even better, share it with a friend. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and be the first to know when new episodes are released. To learn more about The Jewish Education Project visit jewishedproject.org where you can find links to our Jewish Educator Portal and learn more about our mission, history, and staff. We are a proud partner of UJA-Federation of New York.

Your Shavuot is about to be elevated by this special episode of Adapting, where you will experience the profound wisdom of Rabba Yaffa Epstein, The Jewish Education Project's Senior Scholar and Educator in Residence.Rabba Epstein and David Bryfman's discussion, brimming with intellectual insights and ideas around the holiday, practically becomes a midrash in the making as they touch on two key components of Shavuot: receiving the Torah and the delivering of the first fruits. Once you hear how Rabba Yaffa explains what these incredible physical and spiritual gifts mean to the Jewish people, you'll feel an overwhelming sensation of gratitude for the holiday and its deep themes.​​​​​This week in particular, we express gratitude to Jewish educators everywhere who work tirelessly to impart the invaluable gifts of knowledge and learning to their students.Chag Shavuot Sameach!This episode was produced by Dina Nusnbaum and Miranda Lapides.The show’s executive producers are David Bryfman, Karen Cummins, and Nessa Liben. This episode was engineered and edited by Nathan J. Vaughan of NJV Media.If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a 5-star rating and review, or even better, share it with a friend. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and be the first to know when new episodes are released. To learn more about The Jewish Education Project visit jewishedproject.org where you can find links to our Jewish Educator Portal and learn more about our mission, history, and staff. We are a proud partner of UJA-Federation of New York.

Gender, feminism, and power are all salient features of adolescent development today. Jewish youth is certainly no exception, and Jewish education must tackle some of these challenging issues today if it is to be relevant and meaningful for today’s learners.This week's Adapting guest, Shuli Karkowsky, is incorporating these themes into Jewish education through her own work as CEO of Moving Traditions, an organization that merges Jewish learning with social and emotional learning to serve the needs of teens today.Don't miss Shuli's profound discussion with David Bryfman about insights from her non-traditional career path, the Jewish value ofhakarat hatov, or expressing gratitude, and why teens engaged in their Jewish community are happier teens.This episode was produced by Dina Nusnbaum and Miranda Lapides.The show’s executive producers are David Bryfman, Karen Cummins, and Nessa Liben. This episode was engineered and edited by Nathan J. Vaughan of NJV Media.If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a 5-star rating and review, or even better, share it with a friend. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and be the first to know when new episodes are released. To learn more about The Jewish Education Project visit jewishedproject.org where you can find links to our Jewish Educator Portal and learn more about our mission, history, and staff. We are a proud partner of UJA-Federation of New York.

May is Jewish American Heritage Month, and what is more Jewish American than teens spending the summer at camp exploring their culture?Since the postwar era, summer camps have been driven by intentional and ideological education (think Zionism, Yiddish and Ashkenazi culture, etc.). No one understands this history better than this week's Adapting guest, Sandra Fox, author of the book, The Jews of Summer: Summer Camp and Jewish Culture in Postwar America. Her book serves as a wakeup call for anyone who might have thought that summer camp was all about fun and socialization. This discussion teaches us how the historical understanding of postwar America can inform our thinking about many issues in Jewish education today.This episode was produced by Dina Nusnbaum and Miranda Lapides.The show’s executive producers are David Bryfman, Karen Cummins, and Nessa Liben. This episode was engineered and edited by Nathan J. Vaughan of NJV Media.If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a 5-star rating and review, or even better, share it with a friend. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and be the first to know when new episodes are released. To learn more about The Jewish Education Project visit jewishedproject.org where you can find links to our Jewish Educator Portal and learn more about our mission, history, and staff. We are a proud partner of UJA-Federation of New York.

According to this week's Adapting guest, Liron Lipinsky, w​​hen it comes to youth programming, teens come for the social component and stay for the educational experiences. Is this tactic a bait and switch? No. In fact, it's the secret sauce to teen engagement. In this episode, BBYO's VP of Enrichment discusses with David Bryfman how to leverage informal social experiences to empower youth, instill Jewish pride, and build engagement and education around Israel. If you are a teen educator or someone who cares about Jewish life at such a critical age, you will not want to miss this episode!​

There is much at stake for the future of Jewish education in these rapidly changing times. Last week, The Jewish Education Project released a comprehensive report, From Census to Possibilities: Designing Pathways for Jewish Learners, on the current state of Jewish supplementary schools in North America, the first of its kind since 2008.On this week's episode of Adapting, David Bryfman delves into the report's findings, but more importantly potential pathways forward, with Jewish educator Marisa Kaiser, who not only is immersed in the religious school environment daily, but has a broader perspective on the field as well. Marisa shares possibilities of how to enhance supplementary Jewish education so that children can grow into lifelong learners of Judaism. This episode was produced by Dina Nusnbaum and Miranda Lapides.The show’s executive producers are David Bryfman, Karen Cummins, and Nessa Liben. This episode was engineered and edited by Nathan J. Vaughan of NJV Media.If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a 5-star rating and review, or even better, share it with a friend. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and be the first to know when new episodes are released. To learn more about The Jewish Education Project visit jewishedproject.org where you can find links to our Jewish Educator Portal and learn more about our mission, history, and staff. We are a proud partner of UJA-Federation of New York.

Data can be used as an effective and important tool for measuring success of Jewish engagement. But what are the data points we are looking for? And once we have that data, how can we use it to the best of our ability to better understand our audiences and the factors that motivate them to live a more Jewish life?On this week's episode of Adapting, Jennifer Zwilling draws from her experiences at Hillel International and the Edlavitch Jewish Community Center of Washington, DC, and how she successfully collected data to measure the impact of Jewish engagement and further connect audiences to Jewish experiences. This work shows how when you ask the right questions, you can gain insight that gets you closer to achieving your organizational goals.​​This week's Adapting includes a frank conversation with David Bryfman and Dr. Samantha Vinokor-Meinrath, Senior Director of Knowledge, Ideas, and Learning at The Jewish Education Project, as they review key takeaways from discussions about AI at the Jewish Futures Conference on March 23, 2023.Tune in to this episode of Adapting to explore: as educators, should we be wary this new technology, or can we embrace these platforms as our teaching partners? Listen to find out!This episode was produced by Dina Nusnbaum and Miranda Lapides.The show’s executive producers are David Bryfman, Karen Cummins, and Nessa Liben. This episode was engineered and edited by Nathan J. Vaughan of NJV Media.If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a 5-star rating and review, or even better, share it with a friend. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and be the first to know when new episodes are released. To learn more about The Jewish Education Project visit jewishedproject.org where you can find links to our Jewish Educator Portal and learn more about our mission, history, and staff. We are a proud partner of UJA-Federation of New York.

Today we can interact with machine learning in new, unprecedented ways. Educators can ask a chatbot to write lesson plans at the click of a button. Students can incorporate their selfies into the Exodus story. Artificial Intelligence has the potential to revolutionize Jewish education, and this emerging technology is also raising ethical concerns amongst educators.This week's Adapting includes a frank conversation with David Bryfman and Dr. Samantha Vinokor-Meinrath, Senior Director of Knowledge, Ideas, and Learning at The Jewish Education Project, as they review key takeaways from discussions about AI at the Jewish Futures Conference on March 23, 2023.Tune in to this episode of Adapting to explore: as educators, should we be wary this new technology, or can we embrace these platforms as our teaching partners? Listen to find out!This episode was produced by Dina Nusnbaum and Miranda Lapides.The show’s executive producers are David Bryfman, Karen Cummins, and Nessa Liben. This episode was engineered and edited by Nathan J. Vaughan of NJV Media.If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a 5-star rating and review, or even better, share it with a friend. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and be the first to know when new episodes are released. To learn more about The Jewish Education Project visit jewishedproject.org where you can find links to our Jewish Educator Portal and learn more about our mission, history, and staff. We are a proud partner of UJA-Federation of New York.

The way educators talk about identity has direct impact on how learners see themselves reflected in Jewish tradition. That is why LGBTQ+ advocacy and embracing gender identity work is imperative for Jewish education.Talking to David Bryfman this week on Adapting is Dubbs Weinblatt (they/them), Founder and CEO of Thank You for Coming Out, who advocates for creating a more just and inclusive world. Bravely sharing their story as a genderqueer trans Jew, Dubbs teaches us this work is inherently Jewish, intertwined with the values of B'tzelem Elohim ("In God's Image") and Shmirat Halashon ("Guarding one's use of language"), and that we shouldn't have to sacrifice one identity for another in Jewish spaces.This episode was produced by Dina Nusnbaum and Miranda Lapides.The show’s executive producers are David Bryfman, Karen Cummins, and Nessa Liben. This episode was engineered and edited by Nathan J. Vaughan of NJV Media.If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a 5-star rating and review, or even better, share it with a friend. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts and be the first to know when new episodes are released. To learn more about The Jewish Education Project visit jewishedproject.org where you can find links to our Jewish Educator Portal and learn more about our mission, history, and staff. We are a proud partner of UJA-Federation of New York.