MCSJE News & Events -I- November 2023 | |
The MCSJE Doctoral Fellows Program provides intellectual and professional support to a small group of current doctoral students in North America and Israel-based universities whose research is related to Jewish education. | |
|
A New Study of Jewish College Students
Dr. Jenny Small, Associate Director of MCSJE, and Professor Pietro Sasso, Delaware State University, co-lead Jewish Campus Belonging: Fraternities and Sororities as Jewish Educational Spaces. This new national study examines identity development, sense of belonging, and concerns about antisemitism among members of Jewish and Jewish-heritage fraternities and sororities, with insights from the campus professionals who support them. While the study was developed months ago, the questions that it is pursuing are more pressing than ever.
Jewish Campus Belonging is a collaboration between MCSJE, the Timothy J. Piazza Center for Fraternity and Sorority Research and Reform at Penn State University, and the following organizations: Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Phi Sorority, Penn State’s local chapter of Beta Sigma Beta, Sigma Delta Tau Sorority, Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity, and Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity.
| |
|
MCSJE is committed to sharing its research findings broadly with other scholars and practitioners in an effort to strengthen the field of Jewish education scholarship. To that end, please find links to current and past MCSJE research. | | |
|
|
Reflections on Gender and Jewish Education
In May 2023, twenty Brandeis community members and visiting scholars and practitioners from around North America gathered in discussion around three goals: (a) to provide a forum to discuss the intersection of gender and Jewish education, (b) to build a community of scholars to think together about those ideas, and (c) to generate a set of short papers about those ideas. Subsequently, the participants developed their thoughts from the day into short thought pieces, now available to all on our website. This convening was co-sponsored by the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute.
| | |
|
|
Why Jews Need a Common Language: A Plan for Universal Hebrew Literacy
Professor Vardit Ringvald’s essay in Jewish Priorities: Sixty-five Proposals for the Future of Our People makes the claim that modern Hebrew is today a crucial Jewish value, a powerful tool for strengthening Jewish identity, and a window into an entire Jewish world of life, creativity, and culture. It is also a statement about the ideal pedagogical venues and the philosophical frames that can support the teaching and learning of the language and its cultures.
| |
|
Brandeis at 75: The Future of American Jewry
Joseph Reimer, Associate Professor Emeritus of Jewish Education, shared his thoughts on the future of American Jewry in a panel celebrating Brandeis University's 75th anniversary. Reimer says, "There is power in a ritual celebration when it is peer oriented and joyous.”
| |
|
These MCSJE events are free and open to the public. Pre-registration is required. | |
Beyond lifting the spirits of teachers and students, play in Jewish education spaces can also shape moral development and character. Drawing from his new research, Judd Kruger Levingston will share how teachers and administrators can cultivate "a moral ecology of play" in classrooms, hallways, gathering spaces, and playgrounds. In this session, Levingston will speak about ways in which a wide variety of approaches to play across the curriculum and throughout a school's culture can transform a young person's values and moral outlook. | |
Spotlight on Jewish Learning: Past, Present and Future | A panel of Brandeis faculty in recognition of the University's 75th anniversary
Date: November 30
Time: 1 - 2:15 p.m. ET via Zoom
What have we learned about Jewish learning in the past, where are we today, and what do we still need to learn for the future? Join MCSJE for this special Spotlight Session in honor of Brandeis University’s 75th anniversary, at which Brandeis scholars of Jewish education share some of the most important developments in the field of Jewish education and why they matter for the flourishing of individual students and the vibrancy of the Jewish community.
Panelists include Sharon Feiman-Nemser, Ziva Hassenfeld, Jonathan Krasner, Jon Levisohn, and Joseph Reimer.
| | | | |
