The Rich Landscape of Summer Jewish Learning

Last month, I shared reflections on our special Board Meeting in Israel to mark the Foundation’s ten year anniversary. Next month I will offer some thoughts on transitions occurring at the Foundation as we welcome in the new year. Bookended by these two substantial themes, one might think the August blog would be a “light read.”

Thankfully, that’s not the case, primarily because of intensive work that Jim Joseph Foundation grantees do during critical summer months. I am heartened by the thoughtful ways Jewish education organizations utilize this time of year, recognizing the special learning opportunities summer presents for youth, for young adults, and for educators.

In fact, summer is an ideal time for “teachers to become students.” Pardes held its annual summer curriculum workshop for educators, along with its first-ever Tefilah Symposium at the Pearlstone Center in Maryland to help educators apply best practices to tefilah education. Additionally, the Pardes Institute in Israel welcomed Hillel professionals for three weeks to gain fluency in Jewish text study and ideas. As they return to campuses for the school year, these Hillel professionals are better equipped to engage students in serious Jewish learning.

Various other Hillel professionals studied this summer at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Israel as part of an Israel education program. Others explored Jewish texts as part of Mechon Hadar’s weeklong Hillel Professionals Institute. One participant commented, “Now, I am able to bring back to campus a new attitude towards learning, and an idea of how and when to implement text. Beyond that, I have built strong relationships with others in all areas of Jewish professionalism, who wish to gain great personal understanding and apply that to educating others.”

These opportunities were in addition to the Hillel Educators’ Kallah in Pennsylvania and its Summer Institute in St. Louis that trained student interns along with professionals. Hillel’s strategy to blend substantive Jewish learning with personal relationship building is premised on its educators and student interns having the knowledge and confidence to impart relevant Jewish content to the students they serve.

In the post-college space, Moishe House held learning retreats for residents throughout the summer. It brought alumni together to strengthen and sustain those relationships nationally. Meanwhile, the new cohort of four Wexner Field Fellows spent the summer engaged in one-on-one Jewish learning and executive coaching. This cohort includes an artistic entrepreneur, day school head, executive director of a Hillel, and a development office for a day school—indicative of the varied settings of Jewish learning and the diverse backgrounds of those who make these experiences possible. The cohort will gather at the end of the summer with the other Field Fellows and all 80 Wexner Graduate Fellows for the Wexner Graduate Fellowship Summer Institute, exploring the theme of God, Spirituality, and Belief.

One of the Foundation’s largest current endeavors, the Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Funder Collaborative, has helped catalyze many new summer learning opportunities. Los Angeles (led by The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles) launched its Community Internship Program in June, a three week long program for rising High School juniors and seniors. The program introduced participants to the workplace, offered an opportunity to learn from successful Jewish non-profit organizations, and benefit from mentorship at the side of communal leaders (read a reflection from a participant here). New York launched seven new summer teen Jewish learning programs (operated by The Jewish Education Project with matching funding from UJA Federation of New York)—from service learning and internships, to Jewish surf camp, to an Israel experience for Russian teens focusing on arts and technology. And the National Incubator for Community-Based Jewish Teen Education Initiatives, run by The Jewish Education Project, just held its first ever gathering for practitioners representing 10 communities implementing initiatives within the Collaborative framework.

In another exciting “first ever,” the National Yiddish Book Center held its Great Jewish Books Teacher Workshop (supported by the Foundation). 20 participants from around the country, primarily from middle and high Jewish Day Schools, gained skills and knowledge to introduce a wider variety of modern Jewish literary and cultural materials into their classrooms

The evolution of these summer learning opportunities is an important development in the growth of the field of Jewish education. Programs and initiatives of this sort fill voids that previously existed and leverage opportunities that previously were squandered. For Jewish educators of this sort specifically, the opportunity to add to one’s skillset and to develop new, innovative curriculum for the coming academic year is integral to their professional development.

Finally, any conversation about summer Jewish learning must include two areas where the field continues to thrive. First, Jewish camp is known to be an effective, immersive Jewish learning experience for children. Over the past several years, the Foundation for Jewish Camp’s Specialty Camp Incubator has launched nine new Jewish camps that blend a specialty interest with Jewish learning and traditions. A Jim Joseph Foundation program officer recently visited 6 Points Sci-Tech, (one of the camps in the second cohort of specialty camps), and reported on the unique environment it creates for Jewish learning.

The camp offered a seemingly endless list of very high quality activities including robotics, video game design, movie making, makerspaces, and much more. Linked to a high quality program, the facilities also need to be high quality, which was true here.

The presence of Judaism throughout all aspects of camp was incredible. The Jewish values of camp are very present, both visually and in program design. Counselors start every morning with a Boker Big Bang where they blow something and discuss its meaning to Judaism. They created daily prayers specific to their camp. They play a slideshow at meals of notable Jewish scientists. They ask a Jewish question of the day to which campers respond. 6 Points Sci-Tech seamlessly incorporates Jewish learning into nearly everything they do.

Second, travel opportunities also continue to be a staple of Jewish summer learning—and with good reason. Whether trips to Israel, such as with Birthright Israel or BBYO, or to Jewish communities around the world, such as with JDC Entwine, traveling and learning with peers is a powerful experience. It often lays the foundation for continued Jewish learning and growth through the rest of the year and throughout individuals’ lives.

The Foundation is fortunate to work closely with organizations that offer such a wide range of engaging, innovative summer learning experiences. Jewish education seen in this bright light truly is a year-round endeavor.