The Shofar: Embracing the Crooked
Have you ever seen a straight Shofar? Theres a reason why; according to Jewish law, a Shofar must be crooked. In the first chapter of his Laws of Shofar, Sukkah, and Lulav, Maimonides writes:
Putting b'nai mitzvah back where it belongs: in nature
An Editorial from the Jweekly August 8, 2013 by Zelig Golden While often providing a meaningful initiation into Judaism, today's [...]
Appetizing challah app for kids from G-dcast
An article from the JweeklyJune 20, 2013
G-dcast announced this week that its latest animated app one that teaches kids how to make challah and partake in the Jewish rituals surrounding it is available to download for free in the App Store.
Lets Bake Challah! is the S.F.-based nonprofits fifth app, but the first designed for 3- to 6-year-olds. Kids using their parents smartphone or iPad get to interact by doing things such as dragging ingredients into a mixing bowl, rolling out dough and braiding the challah. Optional parental settings include prayers, lessons about rituals and a male or female voice.
New UpStart groups blaze trail of Jewish innovation
An Article from the Jweekly
June 13, 2013
By Emma Silvers
UpStart Bay Area, the S.F.-based nonprofit that supports up-and-coming Jewish social entrepreneurs, welcomed three new groups into its cohort this month, while transitioning five current UpStarter organizations to alumni status meaning theyve proven to be sustainable organizations on their own. The new groups cover a wide scope of interests.
Innovation Mindsets for Successful Schools
Some of the most exciting developments on todays Jewish landscape come from the innovation sector, which encourages people to take an idea and run with it. Bernstein applies its principles for Jewish education.
Introduction
Why is innovation in Jewish education so critical? To reframe the question: if we believe that a Jewish education has something to offer our own community, and that individuals granted this education have something important to offer society at large, isnt it our most important responsibility to ensure that this education is vibrant, creative, inspiring, relevant, thorough, and profoundly meaningful?
What Does Collaboration Look Like?
As a sector-within-a-sector, the Jewish innovation space must work together if we are to achieve maximal impact. Important conversations about growth, sustainability, and impact cannot take place exclusively behind the closed-doors of boardrooms or within the four walls of any one organization.
Radical Collaboration – A Work in Progress: The Day School Collaboration Network
Like the secular world, the organized Jewish community today has a bit of a crush on entrepreneurs. In a recent New [...]
Israel’s Emergence Intersects With Global LGBT Struggle
Today, Israels 65th Independence Day, it is appropriate that we stop and take pride in the many strengths of this young nation, and what its existence and growth has meant for Jewish people not only in Israel but around the world. 2013 offers much for LGBT people to take pride in compared with 1948.
Today marks the end of a three week period on the Jewish calendar that begins with Passover, in which we tell the Biblical story of our peoples exodus from bondage in Egypt, and ends with Yom Ha'atzmaut, on which this year we mark the 65th anniversary of the establishment of the modern state of Israel. We mark these two connected episodes of liberation, an ancient miracle and a modern one. The creation of the free and independent state of Israel is perhaps the most profound miracle of the 20th century, the reconnection of the Jewish people with our historical roots.
The Structures that Set Us Free
In a recent article in the Sunday Styles Section of The New York Times entitled The Family Stories that Bind Us, Bruce Feiler notes a surprising correlation between the resilience and health of children and their fluency in their familys stories: the single most important thing you can do for your family may be the simplest of all: develop a strong family narrative. He quotes research that has identified that the more children knew about their familys history, the stronger their sense of control over their lives, the higher their self-esteem.
UpStart on the Radio!
Originally Aired on Westerchester On the Level on January 23, 2013
Ms.Maya Bernstein, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Ed.M., Columbia Colllege, Columbia University, B.A. graduate, and present Strategic Design Officer at UpStart Bay Ares, San Francisco, CA. Curiculum writer, designer, and evaluator with international teaching experience, replete with work in Russia, Israel, Germany and China. Joining her is Rabbi Ed Harwitz who earned a Masters of Arts Degree and Rabbinic Ordination at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1997, a Masters Degree in Hebrew Letters from the University of Judaism and extensively studied at the Schechter Institute of Judaic Studies in Jerusalem, Israel. Rabbi Harwitz has taught students of all ages in Jewish text, philosophy and theology, with particular experience teaching Talmud in Jewish high schools.
We welcome the opportunity they afford us to follow their respective backgrounds in the passion and promise they bring to education and their continuing quest to better define and destill the best function and methodogy in dispensing education. To that end, we learn of the catalyst that drives them to continue to explore for a ever more effective manner and find out what drives them to think outside the perrenial box, what influence the IDEO concept had in finding the answer of the day, and so forth. It will be an exploration of learning the process and celebrating their adventure.
