MCSJE News & Events -I- February 2025

NEWS

Orna Siegel Selected for Wexner Field Fellowship

Mazel tov to MCSJE Doctoral Fellow Orna Siegel, who joined the new cohort of the Wexner Field Fellowship. Orna's research explores how the interaction between teacher professional identity and motivation affects instructional choices among educators of other faiths in the Jewish early childhood classroom. 

MCSJE Faculty Present at Prizmah Conference

Earlier this month, Professors Sharon Feiman-Nemser, Ziva Hassenfeld, and Jonathan Krasner presented, "Where the Rubber Hits the Road: Bringing Research into Practice," at the annual Prizmah conference. They shared some of their recent scholarly work and, with attendees, explored the implications of these ideas for Jewish day schools and yeshivas.

MCSJE RESEARCH

From Interpretive Rights to Interpretive Responsibilities

Professor Jon Levisohn offers a new interpretation of the story of the Oven of Akhnai, arguing that the text emphasizes constructive engagement across difference rather than just interpretive independence.

An Ethics of Care During War

A new research article by Professor Ziva Hassenfeld shares insights into how teachers in Israel conceived of their work in the days and weeks after October 7.

UPCOMING EVENT

MCSJE events are free and open to the public. Registration is required.

Learning About Learning: Conversations with Scholars of Jewish Education

Using Both/And Thinking to Repair a Rift in Jewish Education

Dr. Tali Zelkowicz

Date: Thursday, February 27

Time: 1 - 1:30 ET via Zoom

The field of Jewish education has now been split into two sub-fields, referred to as “formal” or “informal” (or “experiential”) education. But this division is artificial and proving profoundly limiting, distorting, and even harmful. What might be the ultimate potential of the field were we able to employ a balanced and integrated use of the full range of educational competencies, across all settings? In this session, Tali Zelkowicz will share recent work, in which she applies both/and thinking to surface a more expansive and integrative vision of Jewish learning that can empower and endure.

PAST EVENT

Learning About Learning: Conversations with Scholars of Jewish Education

Fluid Meanings of the Yarmulke Across Educational Contexts

Dr. Anastasia Badder

In her recent article, Anastasia Badder asks: How do congregational school students experience moments in which they were confronted with Jewishness outside of the classroom, in their secular schools and public spaces? And taking a material approach, how does the presence (and absence) of yarmulkes influence those experiences? In this session, she discussed findings from fieldwork she conducted as an ethnographer and teacher in a Jewish congregational school researching the ways children learn about and how to do Jewishness.

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