I just came back from visiting a synagogue with an enviable number of teens in their Confirmation Program. What number, you ask, counts as being worthy of envy? About FORTY. I was talking to them about continuing their Jewish education and framing it in the context of choices they make. For example, I asked and the majority answered, that they play sports or a musical instrument. I asked them if faced with a choice about whether to practice scales, do drills, or go to the mov

Secretly, I hope they’ll do something about what I’m telling them, but that hasn’t happened yet.  So, here I am, blogging to you. At least you can listen and perhaps share my frustration, and who knows? Maybe things will change. First, we need to cooperate more. We are not working as a team on behalf of our teens.  I’ll define a teen team player as anyone or any organization that has the teen’s best interest at heart for involvement in Jewish life. Period. That team, the teen

I’m so lucky.  We Jewish educators trudge uphill a lot of the time, just to keep pace. Yet, every week I get inspired from the Jewish teens I work with. Last week I asked a group of 10th and 11th graders how they would reinvent the synagogue: “Your goal is to insure that people will be active, engaged, and interested. There are no limits. What will you create? What type of organization will speak to you?” They had a hard time with this initially, not being able to get past wh

This is the e-mail I received today: Hi Ruth!  How are you? I hope all is well! As my mom told you, I am now teaching at a local synagogue near my college. I am enjoying it a lot so far, but I’m having trouble coming up with new and creative lesson plans apart from the teacher’s guide. Can you recommend any good books on Jewish lesson plans that I could use for my class? I would really appreciate it! Isn’t this a really great e-mail? I love to hear from our graduates. Here’s

You would think it would be easy to market a product that has intrinsic long-term value, is priced well, offers tremendous flexibility, is an intellectual challenge, offers social experiences and networking opportunities, and even looks good for college. You’d be wrong. Welcome to my world where marketing a great product  is a struggle. Here are just a few reasons why, with more to come in future posts: 1. The ‘point of sale’ is often at a synagogue Hebrew school, where we pr

I’m by nature an optimistic  person (I’m a Jewish educator, after all). But, there’s no doubt that when I consider the topics I’ve written about the outlook seems a little gloomy, and the word ‘kvetch’ comes to mind. The process of change seems to tug along slower than a cruiser trying to glide through oil. Even though I tell myself that what I’ve observed and written about is true  and some would say it’s in the best interest of the Jewish community for me to point these thi

Image via Wikipedia I kid you not.  The headline is exactly what the large billboard sign posted on the edge of the synagogue’s property said, proclaiming that I can now believe in a building. If I hadn’t been driving, I would have taken a picture.  Was I the only one experiencing the message as spiritually arrogant? Obviously, someone went through a lot of trouble to make that sign, and it probably had to pass several committees for approval. Who knows, maybe there was even

Freeflyer09. Use does not imply endorsement I read the article “Employees are faster and more creative when solving other people’s problems” by Daniel Pink with fascination. It turns out that we think more creatively and abstractly for others than for ourselves. The solutions are more concrete when working on things that affect us personally. What does this have to do with Jewish education? Plenty,  it turns out. I’d like to share just two experiences with you: 1. Recently, a

courtesy of katerha's photostream Recently I was teaching a class the Jewish value of G’milut Hasadim (acts of loving kindness). I asked them to think about a time when someone (friend, family–anyone) did something for them that they would define as an act of G’milut Hesed so we’d have an example of how the value is applied to real situations.  This is a class of intelligent and outspoken students, grades 8 and 9, who attend public and private schools in a suburban area. No h