What are we trying to achieve in Jewish education? What do martial arts have to teach us about pedagogy for Jewish learning? How do we think about community and autonomy, tradition and innovation, in day schools? Brandeis education professor Jon A. Levisohn is joined by heads of school Stephanie Ives at Beit Rabban in Manhattan and Rafi Cashman at Netivot HaTorah in Toronto to discuss what our schools are and might be.
Resources
- Producers, not Possessors: A Direction for Jewish Education in Turbulent Times by Jon A. Levisohn, Brandeis University
Presenters
Rabbi Dr. Rafi Cashman is the head of school at Netivot HaTorah Day School in Toronto. He holds a BA in history and political science from the University of Toronto, an MS from the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration at Yeshiva University, and a PhD in education from OISE at the University of Toronto.
Stephanie Ives has been head of school at Beit Rabban since June 2016. Previously, she served as the NY/Tri-State Director of the New Israel Fund, founded and ran the Department of Education and Community Engagement at American Jewish World Service and consulted in the Jewish and nonprofit sectors, including work with Repair the World and Citizens Schools New York. Earlier, as a lawyer, Stephanie clerked on the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., as well as for Justice Aharon Barak on the Supreme Court of Israel.
Dr. Jon A. Levisohn is the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Associate Professor of Jewish Educational Thought at Brandeis University, where he also directs the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education and chairs the Department in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies. He began his career teaching Jewish studies to middle schoolers in a Jewish day school.