News & Blogs Category: Featured Partner

Only one organization is devoted exclusively to engaging young Jewish adults as volunteers, and to infusing their volunteer service with Jewish learning and values: Repair the World.

Last year alone, Repair the World engaged 32,645 unique individuals in service and educational programming. They performed over 50,000 hours of direct service. These efforts were connected to meaningful Jewish learning, with an understanding that everyone connects to Judaism in their own way. Repair empowers young Jews to learn how their passion for service relates to Jewish values, traditions, teachings, and personal Jewish heritage.

Repair is taking this effective approach and creating unique High Holiday opportunities for Jews across the country. With dozens of organizational partnerships in place, Repair will help individuals connect to the holidays in personally meaningful ways—through relationships with peers, through community building, and through intentional volunteer service. Its High Holiday campaign focused on Food Justice will mobilize thousands of individuals, offering opportunities to lead volunteer efforts, to host and attend Shabbat dinners centered on food justice, and to elevate the conversation through thought leadership and social media opportunities.

Mariel Schwartz of Ann Arbor is on board as a “Movement Leader,” ready to lead efforts in her community:

Being a Movement Leader with Repair the World is a great opportunity to make a difference in my local community during an important time in the Jewish calendar. The chance to set the tone for the year ahead is energizing and empowering!

I now have the tools I need to create a meaningful service opportunity for friends and peers. It’s also a chance to experience the High Holidays in a way that reflects my Jewish values and is meaningful to me.

The Jewish High Holidays are a time for reflection, community gathering, and setting the tone for the coming year. For Repair the World, it’s only the beginning of more big things to come. With year-round opportunities like Repair the World Communities—in Pittsburgh, Detroit, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and now New York—Alternative Spring Breaks, and hundreds of other public programs, Repair is the destination for meaningful Jewish service learning.

Learn more about Repair the World’s High Holidays Food Justice Program.

The Jim Joseph Foundation has awarded more than $8 million to Repair the World.

The Ruderman Family is pleased to invite the entire community to the inaugural Ruderman Inclusion Summit which will be held in Boston on November 1-2, 2015 at the Seaport World Trade Center.

This convening will bring together all stakeholders in the disability and inclusion community in order to foster strategic advocacy and awareness, peer to peer learning, best practice, networking and more. The Ruderman Inclusion Summit will feature nationally recognized leaders in the field, speaking and engaging with attendees on the critical issues of education, housing, employment, community and religious life.

Registration is now open. Summit schedule, workshops, presentations, speakers, and additional details will be posted there in the coming weeks.

CASJE, the Consortium for Applied Studies in Jewish Education, has rapidly evolved into a dynamic community of researchers, practitioners, and philanthropic leaders dedicated to improving the quality of knowledge to guide the work of Jewish Education.

CASJE’s new website—www.casje.org—is part of this exciting evolution.

Casje.org is an integral part of CASJE’s commitment to discovering, generating, and sharing useable knowledge about significant issues in Jewish education. Visit the site to learn about CASJE’s work, current areas of focus, and collaborative communities. Casje.org is now a hub for news and events about Jewish education in general — with a focus on applied research.

Over the next five years, CASJE will offer an environment for scholars—new and veteran alike—to think creatively about questions and topics that can help shape Jewish education. CASJE provides the structure to not only search for the answers, but to disseminate this critical learning to the entire field.

The purpose of CASJE is to connect Jewish education researchers, practitioners, and funders. In fields like law and medicine, research informs and improves practice. We believe that research in Jewish education can and should do the same, by better drawing on what we already know about Jewish education and being more thoughtful about what we might learn.

-Lee Shulman, Stanford University

The Jim Joseph Foundation has awarded three grants for CASJE totaling more than $1.7 million. Please see Chip Edelsberg’s guest blog about CASJE’s contributions to the field of Jewish education.

Welsome to the new CASJE website, casje.org. Featuring a re-imagined visual identity, the website will facilitate CASJE’s commitment to discovering, generating, and sharing useable knowledge about significant issues in Jewish education.

On its website, you will find easier navigation and access to information about CASJE’s work, current areas of focus, and collaborative communities. It is CASJE’s hope that the website will serve as a hub for news and events about Jewish education in general — with a focus on applied research. The new site also features short CASJE Stories that highlight CASJE’s growing impact on members of the community.

Blending superb Israel content with high quality educator development has been the iCenter’s M.O. since its founding. When the iCenter launched the Aleph Bet of Israel Education in 2011, it was the first attempt to introduce common language and principles into the field of Israel education. Representative of the ever-maturing field, the iCenter’s new Aleph Bet 2.0 is a refined and extended version of the original, designed to keep the guiding principles relevant and to advance the conversation about creating the best Israel education experiences.

Every community, every school, every synagogue, and every teacher now has the ability look at their programs, their classes, and their teaching to determine if they offer exceptional Israel education. Are we reaching our goals? Can we share what we’re doing in Israel education with others in a way that is understandable? Suddenly when you have a shared language it becomes much easier to collaborate.
– Michael Emerson, Educator, SAR High School, Cohort 1 member of the MA Concentration in Israel Education

Now, thousands of educators in day schools, at camps, on Birthright buses, and in so many other settings bring Israel to life for their learners. They form a cadre of talented, dynamic individuals who have gained an expertise in Israel education through iCenter initiatives, programs, and partnerships. But without the Aleph Bet—and now the Aleph Bet 2.0—the field’s evolution would have stagnated.

Israel has always been a focal point for us, but over the last few years, Israel has been infused in all the spaces in camp. From the dining hall, to the cabins, to the sports fields, to arts and culture, Israel is all around our campers. The Goodman initiative has been a driving force behind this change, giving us exciting tools and ideas to bring Israel to life at camp.
– Ellen Felcher, director of Camp Pembroke, part of the Goodman Camping Initiative and winner of the inaugural Goodman Prize for Excellence in Israel Education at Camp

Working with partners like Taglit-Birthright Israel, Foundation for Jewish Camp, and universities across the country, the iCenter uniquely taps into the personally meaningful connections to Israel. Whether focusing on Israel’s remarkable history or modern day innovations, the iCenter helps educators and their students go beyond a textbook or lecture.

…when we see students as partners in the educational process, the ability for all of us to learn grows exponentially.  We have learned that Israel Educators must first explore their own personal relationship with Israel and be able to articulate “their Israel story.
– Michael Soberman is a Senior Educational Consultant at the iCenter for Israel Education and the Director of the iFellows Masters Concentration in Israel Education.

iCenter opportunities and initiatives continue to grow and expand. Its “Conflict Toolkit” is a sophisticated and nuanced approach to learning, discussing, and understanding Israel in conflict. The Master’s Concentration in Israel Education just launched its 5^th cohort and is on its way to certifying 120 educators. And, in December 2015, the iCenter will hosts its second iCamp Conference, bringing together dynamic educators, leaders, and thinkers from across North America and Israel to explore new ideas in Israel education.
 The Jim Joseph Foundation has awarded more than $7,360,500 in grants to the iCenter. For more information on iCenter opportunities—and to pre-register for iCamp 2015—visit www.theiCenter.org.

Just over thirteen years ago, a network of highly successful young cultural creatives began to take shape. These deeply passionate individuals, most of whom considered themselves at the outskirts of Judaism, came together to form Reboot, a nonprofit organization with the primary aspiration of opening up Jewish life. The purpose: to affirm the value of Jewish traditions and to create new ways for people to make them their own. Reboot provides a distinctive methodology, an open space for “Rebooters” to explore Jewishness and its place in their contemporary lives. Most importantly, Reboot offers a welcoming invitation to discover, question, imagine and create.

Since its founding, Rebooters, (there are now over 500 in the network) have been the minds—and hands on the ground—behind Reboot’s projects that have grown to engage hundreds of thousands of Jewish young adults around the country in projects such as Sabbath Manifesto/National Day of Unplugging; 10Q (for the Ten Days of Awe); Beyond Bubbe; Sukkah City; Unscrolled and a new project, reBar. Reboot also partners with and shares methodology, content and DIY tools with over 750 national and international community partners including East Side Jews, Lab/Shul, IKAR, Hillel, Moishe House, synagogues, museums and JCCs.

Reboot puts Judaism in play, makes it active and alive. It presents the same big question, but from dozens of angles a year: What am I going to do with my Jewishness? It asks questions that beg answers. Questions that cannot be ignored. Dozens of times a year, those questions put me in play, and those questions pull me toward interacting with Jewishness.
– Rebooter

Reboot recently reflected on its impact over the last 13 years through a network-wide study. The findings offer great insights into the value of the Reboot experience and community for network members. Through Reboot, many connect to Judaism for the first time, or re-connect after years of detachment or distance. Through Reboot’s programs, projects and DIY resources, the organization also opens powerful new perspectives on living a Jewish life, and routes for exploring Judaism on one’s own terms. Members feel a greater sense of ownership over Jewish rituals, practice, and customs—and how those traditional values and themes can be translated to a contemporary setting.

Reboot has been utterly vital in nurturing the development of my Jewish identity such that I now feel more confident interacting with those traditional bodies (our synagogue, synagogue-based preschool and religious school).
– Rebooter

A Reboot original: Tashlique at the beach in San Francisco

Learning and building from their Reboot experience, Rebooters are also passionate about their obligations to future generations. They continue to create vibrant Jewish life in their communities around the country through idea generation, incubation, and collaboration with like-minded peers from diverse backgrounds—all with the idea that Judaism’s rich traditions offer an array of engagement opportunities in today’s modern world.

The Jim Joseph Foundation has awarded three grants to Reboot totaling up to $6,547,490 beginning in 2008. The most recent grant, awarded in February, is for four years.

In 2008, five Jewish high schools in Los Angeles partnered with BJE: Builders of Jewish Education, the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles, the Simha & Sara Lainer Day School Endowment Fund, and the Jim Joseph Foundation to launch the LA High School Affordability Initiative (LAHSAI). The initiative was premised on the schools collectively raising $17 million in cash endowments, which would be matched by $4.25 million from the Lainer Endowment Fund, positioning the schools—and really the broader community—to be able to help middle income families enroll their daughters and sons in Jewish high schools for years to come.

Earlier this month, the five schools—Milken Community High School, New Community Jewish High School, Shalhevet High School, YULA Boys High School, and YULA Girls High School—reached that formidable benchmark of $17 million raised. When combined with the $4.25 million Lainer match, this means that $21.25 million in endowment funds will be providing the schools with yearly income for tuition assistance.

The Jim Joseph Foundation wishes the schools, their families, BJE, and the entire community a sincere kol hakavod for meeting the challenge!

Jewish high schools develop individuals who possess strong Jewish identities, a dense network of Jewish connections, and deep Jewish knowledge. Now, more youth in Los Angeles will have the opportunity to  participate in enriching day school education.

To learn more about the LA High School Affordability Initiative, view its model documentation, read a previous blog from Arlene Lepoff Agress and Miriam Prum Hess of BJE, and see a previous featured grantee profile.

Three years ago, BBYO set out to enhance the quality of experiential Jewish education offered to teens across its global movement. This was no small challenge, given that BBYO engages about 42,000 teens annually, but does not have the capacity to reach out and to individually connect directly with each teen. As a result, BBYO launched its Directors of Jewish Enrichment (DJE) initiative, which placed three talented Jewish educators in BBYO regions throughout North America. DJE’s are responsible for teaching, inspiring and supporting key stakeholders—including staff, teens and community volunteers—in their ability to deliver meaningful Jewish experiences.

The DJEs developed the Jewish Enrichment Team—a kind of brain-trust that drives educational capacity-building throughout the organization. The DJE’s network together as a dynamic team of educational entrepreneurs, and work with teen leaders, program professionals, and volunteer adult advisors to strengthen the quality of Jewish programming at the local, regional, and international levels. As the pilot phase of DJE comes to a close, an external evaluation shows that the DJE initiative has helped BBYO deliver a deeper, more engaging Jewish learning experience:

 ‘As a result of the DJEs’ work, BBYO has shifted to prioritize Jewish enrichment … Stakeholders have a richer, more textured understanding of what Jewish enrichment can be, and they create programs that are more relevant to teens. BBYO’s Educational Framework [Kivun] has become a lens through which regional professionals and teens see their programs, which contributes to the potential richness of programs. Meaningful or high quality Jewish enrichment is following a pattern, where relevant content is put in front of teens who then discuss it in small groups, learning from the content and from each other.’

The DJEs have built important relationships and their own credibility within the organization, paving the way for dynamic new Jewish learning initiatives. The DJEs led a Jewish Enrichment Specialist Team (JEST) that hosted webinars for BBYO professionals, teen leaders and volunteer advisors.  Later, JEST evolved into The Learning Advantage (TLA), webinars designed for cohorts of regional professionals and supervisors. Whereas JEST primarily shared resources, TLA also taught skills and capacities.

Kivun—BBYO’s educational platform – guides all activities by clearly outlining goals for teens’ Jewish commitments, knowledge and attitudes; outcomes related to those goals; and indicators of teens’ Jewish growth.  Experiential Jewish programs focus on three core content areas: Shabbat, Israel and service/advocacy – each of which is supported by Jewish texts, questions and program modules.  Importantly, all major program initiatives are aligned with Kivun and designed with intentional Jewish learning outcomes in mind:

“… Kivun has become integral to the organization. The DJEs have increased Kivun’s utility by making the concepts within it more accessible with key questions and texts. As a result, stakeholders understand what Kivun is and report that it either validates or drives their program development … Kivun has also helped to make BBYO’s Jewish enrichment work more unified. An international professional shared, ‘The entire way of thinking about programming has changed… We’re driving toward the same goals, the same outcomes.’’

In 2014, just before International Convention, the DJEs hosted a 24-hour seminar on Jewish enrichment—“The eXodus Games”—to show teens how Jewish enrichment can be fun and engaging. Teen and staff reflections clearly demonstrated that this was a success.

The recently released evaluation report captures the significant positive effects the DJEs have throughout BBYO:

Stakeholders are now using new approaches to program planning, which in turn make programs more meaningful for teens. There are also indications that a different, deeper understanding of Jewish enrichment is at play within the organization, one that is more complex, more engaging to teens, and more entrenched in the organization.

Read the full evaluation of the DJE initiative here.

More and more young adults engage in Jewish life through volunteer service and leadership opportunities in which they create change and help others in ways personally meaningful to them. As the demand for these opportunities has grown, so too has Entwine, JDC’s initiative for young Jewish leaders, influencers, and advocates who want to make an impact on global Jewish needs and international humanitarian challenges.

Each year, Entwine engages more than 12,000 young Jewish adults through an increasingly large platform of service, educational, and leadership opportunities in global Jewish issues. By blending these experiences with deep Jewish learning, young adults explore their Jewish identities and shape their own vision of what it means to live a joyful Jewish life. Along with its international service experiences, Entwine’s Learning Networks in New York City, Boston, Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Houston, Dallas, and London create volunteer-led events that feature peer-to-peer education, combined with socializing and networking. These experiences are bringing many young adults back into Jewish life in new and meaningful ways.

As one example, San Diegan Mike Spear had distanced himself from Jewish life post-Bar Mitzvah. However, he was attracted to exploring Jewish India with his local Entwine San Diego Network trip. After Shabbat at a synagogue in Mumbai, Mike said: “We were told that our visits were breathing life into these isolated communities. Today, I realized that this trip, this community, is breathing life into me and my Jewish self.”

Having returned from India, Mike continues to be active with his San Diegan Entwine peers. As a group, they are active service members in their local community—volunteering at the San Diego Jewish old age home, hosting Shabbat dinners for their local community, and, on behalf of Entwine, developing a formal local service initiative for the San Diegan Jewish Community.

Jessica Nysenbaum of Washington, DC also has re-engaged in Jewish life as a result of Entwine. She says:

“Until I discovered JDC Entwine, I wasn’t involved in the Washington, DC Jewish community….Through JDC Entwine, my Judaism has once again become a central part of my life. Learning about JDC’s international work, and making friends through Entwine with a diverse group of young Jews in my local community and around the world, makes me excited and proud of my Jewish heritage. I’m currently the Co-Chair of Entwine’s DC network, a role that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. Entwine started me down a path of re-engaging with my Judaism that has led me to the incredibly opportunity to now help lead and teach my peers about the Jewish world.”

JDC Entwine is poised to expand and deepen its offerings for both new participants and alumni. As it does, Entwine will continue to catalyze a generation of young Jews to connect to each other and to live a life of action, with global Jewish responsibility at the core.

The Jim Joseph Foundation’s December 2014 grant to JDC Entwine was for $3 million over three years. The grant has a matching element that aims to leverage this investment to attract even more philanthropic investment in Entwine.

Against the backdrop of substantial changes—and many challenges—for American Jewish life, one of the areas of significant growth in the last dozen years has been the JOFEE field – Jewish Outdoor, Food & Environmental Education. Organizations such as Hazon, Pearlstone Center, Urban Adamah and Wilderness Torah have pioneered a wide range of programs that are enabling a growing number of people to connect Jewish life and tradition, on one side, with food, the outdoors and the environment, on the other.

Last year’s report “Seeds of Opportunity: A National Study of Immersive Jewish Outdoor, Food, and Environmental Education,” made clear that JOFEE programs have had a significant impact both on leadership and on Jewish identity.  And the report offered a look at the potential of the field to grow, mature, and to deepen the Jewish learning JOFEE offers. Leaders in the field recognize this opportunity and continue to learn and experiment with new strategies and initiatives to create the most effective Jewish learning experiences.

The last 15 months have seen exciting developments in JOFEE.  Hazon completed a merger with the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center. The start of the shmita year – in September 2014 – saw a flurry of new programing both in the US and in Israel, and the publication of a new edition of Rav Kook’s Shabbat Ha’Aretz.  The Davidson Foundation has provided support for the launch of Hazon Detroit. And, most recently, the Leichtag Foundation convened a significant gathering of Jewish farmers at their ranch in Encinitas.  As one JOFEE professional put it, “It’s only been 15 years since [JOFEE] has come into being. If you look at the field as a whole, we’re really just leaving childhood, and it’s stunning how rapidly the field has grown.”

And the field is poised for more growth in the future. In March 2015 the Foundation awarded a matching grant of $7.5 million over four years to Hazon, Pearlstone Center, Urban Adamah and Wilderness Torah. The matching grant for business planning and capacity support is designed to spur more investment into the field to support its growth. With the funding, Hazon also will launch a JOFEE Educator Fellowship, as all four organizations work to offer even more immersive JOFEE experiences.

“This is a significant moment not only for the JOFEE field but for the American Jewish community as a whole. If we can strengthen these three doorways – through food, the environment and the outdoors – we can have an immense and positive impact on American Jewish life in the next two or three decades – touching people’s lives, strengthening Jewish institution, and creating a better world for all.”

– Hazon’s Nigel Savage

At this important stage in the field’s development, Hazon and others are committed to engaging even more individuals in meaningful JOFEE experiences—imbued with rich Jewish learning opportunities and fostering deep connections to Jewish life.

When it comes to teacher preparation, the DeLeT program—Day School Leadership through Teaching—has a 13 year record of helping develop teachers into dynamic and effective educators. DeLeT operates at both Brandeis University and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, offering two summers of study and a year-long mentored internship during the school year. Whether its graduates teach general or Jewish studies, they all share a common characteristic—they view themselves as Jewish educators and understand how that identity informs their practice.

To date, DeLeT has graduated more than 200 teachers. Many of them are now veteran teacher-leaders at their schools. Recent evaluation helps to explain why the program is so effective: 93 percent of DeLeT graduates say that DeLeT articulates a clear vision of teaching and learning. And 81 percent of DeLeT graduates say that their coursework in DeLeT aligns closely with their internship.

DeLeT has truly changed my teaching and my ideas about teaching for the better. Even though I had a degree in education prior to beginning DeTeT, I can honestly say I learned more in my DeLeT year than I did in my four year education program. DeLeT has provided me with a community of teachers with whom I can seek advice, share ideas, and collaborate. I am lucky to have been a part of this tremendous program.
– Kathy Kanigsberg, DeLeT graduate and current mentor

DeLeT’s broad vision links initial teacher preparation with new teacher induction and ongoing professional development. Thus, DeLeT works with graduates across their career. At Brandeis, most of the current mentor teachers are graduates of the program who develop their mentoring skills by attending a monthly mentor-teacher study group. At HUC-JIR in Los Angeles, mentors meet six times during each cycle—two Y’mei Limmud and four Mentor Shuirim. At the beginning of each cohort, the mentors also attend a day long summer institute.

School heads and parents see the impact of DeLeT first-hand: “It is an amazing process to witness the transformation of eager and enthusiastic new student teachers evolve into mature, highly skilled—and eager and enthusiastic—professional Jewish educators,” says Elisa Deener-Agus, a parent whose child attended a day school in Massachusetts. “Equally as impressive as the transformation of the DeLeT fellows is the impact they increasingly have on the classroom as the year progresses. At some point during the year, we begin to realize that our children are having the benefit of an additional highly qualified teacher in the classroom.”

DeLeT continues to accept new cohorts annually, while at the same time evaluating the program to glean insights that can help the entire field of Jewish education. One current study underway examines how DeLeT students’ ideas about effective teaching evolve over the course of the program. A second study surveys graduates from DeLeT and three other teacher preparation/induction programs—Stern College, Jewish Theological Seminary and the Jewish New Teacher Project—to better understand why they choose to stay in day school teaching or leave the field.

The Jim Joseph Foundation recognizes that more well-trained and supported educators leads to more effective and compelling learning experiences for young Jews. Besides their contributions as classroom teachers and Jewish role models, some DeLeT alumni serve as technology coordinators, department chairs, directors of general studies, and leaders of teacher study groups. In the years ahead, DeLeT will help prepare even more teacher-leaders for success in day schools, shaping the Jewish learning experience for countless Jewish youth.

The Jim Joseph Foundation has awarded a total of more than $8 million to Brandeis and HUC-JIR for DeLeT.