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Emphasize Bar and Bat Mitzvah MORE
Here’s a blog post I wrote after attending the Speakers’ Lab panel entitled, “Is Jewish Education Broken?” You can watch the video on their site. Amid all the talk of re-imagining bar/bat mitzvah, I...
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A Growth Mindset is Key to a Culture of Learning: A Case Study
It’s easy to get frustrated with the challenges of Jewish schooling, particularly supplemental schooling. It’s tempting to write off parents and children who miss school by saying their priorities are...
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Our Jewish Podcast, Episode 1
Here’s the latest experiment, a first try at a collaborative podcast. My friend and colleague Rabbi Molly Kane and I are the hosts of Our Jewish Podcast. This first episode features: God Help Us: A...
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A Movement of “Both/And”
There was a great series on NPR last week about young Americans moving away from religion. One of the points they made is that while many young people are moving to the left, organized religion is...
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Five Selfish Reasons for Inclusion
Our tradition clearly teaches us the value of inclusion. But people often feel it is too hard or effects too few people. My contention is that everyone in the community benefits when people with...
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Mission Possible: Setting Realistic Goals For Congregational Schools
What is a mission statement for? Is the mission of your congregation or educational program so expansive that you can never hope to fulfill it or assess your success? Here’s my take on this problem,...
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Teach for Right Now
This post about short-term goals versus long-term outcomes was published in eJewishPhilanthropy. I believe if we focus on why Judaism should matter at each stage we are teaching it, we will be more...
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An Experiment in Congregational Education: Teacher as Researcher, Student as...
I’m proud to share an article here that I wrote with my friend and colleague Rabbi Joel Mosbacher, published in the Winter 2014 issue of the CCAR Journal. I’d love to hear your feedback in the...
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A New Age for Adult Learning
This post that appeared in eJewishPhilanthropy suggests we need more adult learning for the last of the Baby Boomers, ages 50-70, and that we should adopt a transformative adult learning approach. What...
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When School Doesn’t Look Like School: Applied Judaism
Here’s my latest article in eJewishPhilanthropy. Looking forward to your responses. There is a lot of talk about changing the name, the times, the locations and the format of synagogue schools. But...
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Purim: We Have Been Here Before
As we approach the holiday of Purim and find ourselves deep in this year’s bizarre election cycle, I find myself thinking back to different times. The article I wrote below was originally published in...
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My Father Was a Wandering Aramean
I recently went looking for this piece I wrote back in 2006 because of the mention of Leon Wieseltier, and his quote is still the best part of the essay, I think. You can find the archived article...
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What Makes Prayer at Camp So Special?
Open your heart. Open to Me. Let My Presence rest on you. The question of what makes prayer at camp so special has peppered both camp and synagogue innovation literature over the past few decades....
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What Is Summer For? Reflections on the Relationship between Day School and Camp
Here’s an article I wrote for the current issue of the day school journal, Prizma. Enjoy, and tell me what you think! Imagine you are welcoming your students on the first day of school after many of...
View ArticleA Mindfulness Mindset in Parashat Sh’mot: Reflections for Camp
This weekend I was supposed to be up at Eisner Camp with a cohort of folks working on bringing mindfulness to camp. (I’ve written about this initiative before.) Unfortunately, the snow has caused us to...
View ArticleShavuot 5778: Torah from the Heart
Our synagogue had a wonderful event on Shavuot eve in which people shared their personal Torah. Each person spoke from the heart, and we experienced learning about ourselves and each other as the...
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