I have the good fortune to be working with a nationally based group of educators and teens associated with the iCenter’s MZ Teen Israel Internship. The purpose of this program is to follow up on teens’ Israel summer experiences, through a framework consisting of a series of yearlong educational and social activities. The young people meet with mentors and educators to…

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The universe is expanding. That’s the core of the Big Bang Theory. As the cosmos gets older, everything in it moves apart. Not to delve too much into such esoterica like Hubbles Law, I need to affirm - אני מאמין - I'm a believer. In the last week I experienced something akin to this phenomenon in my own universe. Let’s call it the Virtual Big Bang.



Last Wednesday I participated in the first #jedchat., organized by Dov…

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Of all the recent retrospectives of the late Steve Jobs, the one that has had the most impact on me contained the observation that he “hated traditional market research”. It was a comment made by one of the guests (advertising consultant, Cindy Gallup) on the public radio show “The Take Away” on Friday, October 7. You could hear the entire recording here. Mr. Jobs believed that successful marketing and production must be customer centered, but that consumers don’t really know what they want.…

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I had a conversation with a Rabbi recently. He was upset because a cantorial colleague of his had decided to strike out on her own, performing “destination B’nai Mitzvah”, divorcing herself from synagogue life, and setting up private Hebrew schools in community club-houses. He fretted that this is antithetical to the idea of community and affiliation. He felt that to be a true part of the Jewish community, one needed to belong to a synagogue. He continued, pointing out that he knows that times… Continue

Pesach is a time for questions.

 

So, in the spirit of the season, I would like to ask you some.  I’ll start with one: How do Jewish educators learn to use 21st century educational technology in the Jewish classroom?  This will lead to a few more.  What follows is a survey with 15 questions (an auspicious number for Pesach). The goal of this short (5-8 minutes) questionnaire is to find some answers to the question of how and…

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