Mandel Center News & Events -I- March 2022
NEWS
Mandel-Brandeis Series in Jewish Education

The Mandel-Brandeis Book Series in Jewish Education provides an outlet for the publication of rigorous scholarship in the field of Jewish education research. The Book Series produces and disseminates scholarly monographs and edited volumes about Jewish educational settings and processes.
 
The first of its two books, Inside Jewish Day Schools: Leadership, Learning, and Community by Alex Pomson and Jack Wertheimer, was recently released. Making Shabbat: Celebrating and Learning at American Jewish Summer Camps by Joseph Reimer will be published this summer. Both books can be purchased on the Brandeis University Press and Amazon websites.
 
We hope you will join us for the Series' first book launch event with the authors of Inside Jewish Day Schools: Leadership, Learning and Community.
 
Watch a video of Professor Sharon Feiman-Nemser, the founding director and senior scholar of MCSJE and co-editor of the Mandel-Brandeis Series in Jewish Education, introducing the Mandel-Brandeis Series and why it matters.
MCSJE RESEARCH
MCSJE is committed to sharing its research findings broadly with other scholars and practitioners in an effort to strengthen the field of Jewish education scholarship. To that end, MCSJE is sharing information about one of its current projects, the Jewish Day School History Project and a chapter that emerged from a past research project.
Jewish Day School History Project

This project is an investigation into the history of Jewish day schools in America since their beginning in the early 20th century. Professor Jonathan Krasner, the project director, is exploring the origins of the idea of modern Jewish day schools, why they have developed as they have, and whether they are likely to be sustainable in the future. The picture of the children and their teacher is of Yeshivah of Flatbush's 1929 kindergarten class. It was given to Professor Krasner by the daughter of one of the girls in the picture. Read more about this picture, its story and what it illustrates about Yeshivah of Flatbush's role in the history of Jewish day schools.
Bridging Scholarship and Pedagogy in Jewish Studies

"The Pedagogy of Slowing Down: Teaching Talmud in a Summer Kollel," Jane Kanarek, in Turn It Again and Again: Studies in the Teaching and Learning of Classical Jewish Texts (pp. 128-157), edited by Jon A. Levisohn and Susan P. Fendrick (2013).

Turn it Again and Again emerged from the MCSJE project on Bridging Scholarship and Pedagogy in Jewish Studies. In this chapter, Jane Kanarek describes a set of practices in Talmud teaching that she calls “the pedagogy of slowing down.” It reflects her effort to more deeply understand her practices in teaching Talmud through a close up examination of an intensive Talmud class at the Northwoods Kollel of Camp Ramah in Wisconsin. Kanarek describes the techniques of slowing down that emerged from her research into and reflection on her pedagogy in the Kollel and presents some potential effects of the pedagogy of slowing down.
UPCOMING EVENTS
These events are free and open to the public. Pre-registration is required.
Accentuating the American Jewish Hebrew Speaker

Date: Thursday, March 10, 2022
Time: 1 - 1:30 p.m. ET via Zoom
This conversation will focus on Professor Sharon Avni's recent work on how the everyday acts of speaking, learning, and engaging with Modern Hebrew inform our understanding of contemporary American Jewish life.
Mandel-Brandeis Series in Jewish Education Book Launch
Inside Jewish Day Schools: A Conversation with Alex Pomson and Jack Wertheimer

Date: Thursday, March 24, 2022
Time: 4 - 5:15 p.m. ET via Zoom
What types of Jewish day schools are there, and how do you distinguish the difference? How do they operate? What happens day to day? What do the schools mean to their students, families, and communities?
 
The authors of Inside Jewish Day Schools: Leadership, Learning and Community, Alex Pomson and Jack Wertheimer, will share some of the highlights from their research, moderated by master teacher educator and scholar in education, Sharon Feiman-Nemser. They will be joined by Susie Tanchel (Hebrew College), Amanda Pogany (Luria Academy) and Daniel Held (UJA Federation of Greater Toronto), who will share perspectives on how the book impacts their work in the field.
A Conversation with Professor Ari Kelman:
What Can We Learn From Jewish Education?

Date: Monday, April 11, 2022
Time: 1 - 1:30 p.m. ET via Zoom
The term "Jewish education" is used to refer to a broad array of practices, approaches, and institutions. Ari Kelman has written a new book, framing a broad shift from what Jewish education has meant, in modernity, to what it might mean for Jewish life in the 21st century.
PAST EVENTS
Spotlight on Daf Yomi

In this session, four highly experienced educators discussed what Daf Yomi means now, as a Jewish cultural or spiritual practice. What does it mean as a unifying practice (everyone who participates is "on the daf") that actually comprises many distinct and diverse practices? What does Daf Yomi represent as a mode of engagement with the Jewish tradition that is both continuous and discontinuous with traditional modes of study? How does it bring people together in shared purpose? How does it meet individual needs or advance individual goals?
 
The Spotlight featured the following participants:
 
Rabbi Professor Jane Kanarek (Hebrew College), Rabbi Avi Killip (Hadar), Professor Barry Wimpfheimer (Northwestern), Sara Wolkenfeld (Sefaria), moderated by Professor Jon Levisohn (Brandeis University).

Stay Connected with the Mandel Center
 
Did you know the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education is now on Facebook and LinkedIn? Stay connected with us and hear about our upcoming events and innovative research by connecting with our pages.

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