MCSJE News & Events -I- May 2025

NEWS

MCSJE @ NRJE

Heading to the Network for Research on Jewish Education meeting in Berkeley, CA, June 8-10? Check out the following sessions featuring MCSJE faculty/staff, project leaders, and current Senior and Doctoral Fellows:*

Scott Aaron - Bread Before Schools: Understanding the Historical Relationship Between American Federations and Supplementary Jewish Education

Sharon Avni - Moving Forward from Crisis: Antisemitism on US Campuses after the 2023-24 Academic Year

Ziva Hassenfeld and Sharon Avni - Hebrew as Heritage Language: Identity and Language Learning

Ilana Horwitz - The Entrepreneurial Scholar: A New Mindset for Success in Academia and Beyond

Ilana Horwitz and Jon Levisohn - Exploring the Role of Social Class in Access to Jewish Education

Jonathan Krasner - Jewish College Students Confront the Israel-Gaza Conflict, Antisemitism, and Campus Divides

Jon Levisohn - NRJE Roundtable: Rethinking Jewish Text Study

Reuven Margrett - From the Depths: What Jewish Studies Teachers Really Think About the Texts They Teach

Emily Reich - Community Responses to California’s Ethnic Studies Curriculum: An Analysis of Public Comments



Joseph Reimer - Reflections on the Biblical Unconscious: Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg’s Transforming Influence on Adult Jewish Education

Orna Siegel - Educators and Interventions in Early Childhood Jewish Education

Jenny Small and Yael Silverstein - Jewish Identity, Community Belonging, and Antisemitism on American College Campuses

Daniel Smokler - Fellowship as a Mode of Jewish Education

Laura Novak Winer - Yediat Yisrael: A New Paradigm for Israel Education

Sivan Zakai and Lauren Applebaum - Learning and Teaching about What Matters: A Collaborative Study with Jewish Children and Their Educators

Sivan Zakai, Jonathan Krasner, and Ziva Hassenfeld - Learning How to Publish in the Journal of Jewish Education

*Some sessions include additional presenters. Check out the NRJE program guide for a full listing.

Zakai and Applebaum Win Ettenberg Award

Mazel tov to Professor Sivan Zakai and Dr. Lauren Applebaum, winners of the Moshe and Sylvia Ettenberg Research Grant in Jewish Education for their work co-leading the MCSJE research project Learning and Teaching about What Matters. The grant is awarded by the Network for Research in Jewish Education.

MCSJE RESEARCH

A History of Impact: MCSJE Faculty Offer Current Perspectives on Their Scholarship

In this new series, we’ve asked MCSJE faculty to reflect back on impactful pieces from their body of scholarship. Here, Jonathan Krasner reflects on his 2106 article, "American Jewry at Risk: 'A Time to Act' and the Prioritization of Jewish Education":

"Lately, I’ve been thinking about a 2016 article I wrote on the history and significance of A Time to Act, a 1990 report that was meant to revivify and reshape Jewish educational priorities. A Time to Act contributed to a narrative that American Jews were on a glidepath to assimilation which could only be stemmed or reversed by concerted and unrelenting educational measures. This message was amplified by the reception to the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey, with its eye-popping (and ultimately misleading) 52% intermarriage rate.

Why reflect on this history now? American Jews are in the throes of a new iteration of the survivalism that fueled the 'Jewish continuity crisis' of the 1990s. Playing the part of the bogeyman is antisemitism, a role formerly occupied by the twin specters of intermarriage and assimilation. Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, such thinking launched a slew of Jewish identity-centered programs, some successful (think Birthright Israel and P.J. Library) and others forgettable. But all too often, survivalist programming was built on sentimentality rather than literacy, feelings rather than meaning and commitment to a higher purpose.

What kinds of educational programs, I wonder, will emerge from this new survivalism, and what will be their unintended consequences? When, if ever, will educators and funders learn to be less reactive and, instead, maintain their focus on a long-term strategy for Jewish flourishing based on facilitating Jewish literacy and the quest for Jewish meaning?"

New Chapter on Jewish American History from Jonathan Krasner

In the new book Understanding and Teaching Religion in US History, edited by Karen J. Johnson and Jonathan M. Yeager, Professor Jonathan Krasner discusses Jewish history in the American context and models how to use primary sources for understanding history.

New Perspectives on Tanakh Pedagogy

MCSJE faculty member Ziva Hassenfeld offers new ideas on teaching Tanakh, in her latest piece in Jewish Education Leadership.

Senior Fellow Daniel Smokler on the Power of Hevrot

In a new essay in Arc, Rabbi Dr. Daniel Smokler, a member of the second cohort of the MCSJE Senior Fellows program, shares his thoughts on what "small, intentional Jewish fellowships" could offer to the Jewish community.

UPCOMING EVENT

Antisemitism on Campus After October 7

Date: June 4, 2025

Time: 12:30 - 1:45 ET via Zoom

In this special event, authors from a recent themed issue of Journal of Jewish Education will discuss their articles on antisemitism on college campuses since October 7. The issue spotlights cutting-edge research to broaden and deepen our understanding of antisemitism and anti-Zionism by analyzing their contemporary manifestations and implications for Jewish education and learning.

Panelist include Vikki Katz (Chapman University), Rebecca Kobrin (Columbia University), Jonathan Krasner (Brandeis University), and Graham Wright (Brandeis University), with moderator Nicole Samuel (Brandeis University).

Co-sponsored by the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University and the Journal of Jewish Education.

PAST EVENT

Spotlight on Contemporary Jewish Theology

Julia Watts Belser (Georgetown University), Mara Benjamin (Mount Holyoke College), Yonatan Brafman (Tufts University), Shai Held (Hadar Institute) with Jon Levisohn (Brandeis University)

Recent years have witnessed an impressive outpouring of important new work in contemporary Jewish theology. In this Spotlight Session, we gathered four leading scholars, each of whom has recently produced an important work of Jewish theology, to think together about the implications of their ideas for Jewish education.

Stay Connected with the Mandel Center

The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education is on Facebook and LinkedIn. Stay connected with us and hear about our upcoming events and innovative research by connecting with our pages.

Received this newsletter from a friend? Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox or check out our newsletter archive.

The Mandel Center offers a robust schedule of events to convene scholars, practitioners, and policy makers to advance thinking, generate new questions and, in some cases, generate new work for future publication. Watch our videos on our YouTube channel or listen to our podcasts on Spotify, Amazon, or Apple.