J-ed Talks

Akiva Carr is a passionate Jewish educator with 10 years of experience across varied age groups. He is in search of a meaningful way to transfer the skills and experience he has built over the years to others in the field. Akiva has recently moved into the field of crowdfunding for the non-profit sector with Charidy. Contact Akiva via email: akivac@charidy.com Akiva Carr on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akiva-carr/

Akiva Carr is a passionate Jewish educator with 10 years of experience across varied age groups. He is in search of a meaningful way to transfer the skills and experience he has built over the years to others in the field. Akiva has recently moved into the field of crowdfunding for the non-profit sector with Charidy. Contact Akiva via email: akivac@charidy.com Akiva Carr on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akiva-carr/  

Joshua Sevitz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-sevitz-mba-4a13a9109/ Do you want to learn about management in Jewish education? Listen to this episode to hear about the day-to-day ins and outs of a real-life on-the-ground leader of Jewish education teams. Josh brings wisdom and insight as he talks eloquently about the issues that Jewish education faces and how challenges may be met.   

Newly published book: What Would You Do? You Write the Book on Being a Mensch https://www.amazon.com/What-Would-You-DO-Mensch/dp/B0B28HWFLQ https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/what-would-you-do-rabbi-dr-david-s-bauman/1141491349 Rabbi Dr. David Bauman Bio Rabbi Dr.  Bauman has taught  Tanakh and Talmud at Solomon Schechter Day School of Metropolitan Chicago and at Robbins Hebrew Academy in Toronto, and he is the rabbi of Lake Shore Drive Synagogue. He also teaches for the Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning. He was a commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps from 2011-2018, stationed in Great Lakes, IL and Okinawa, Japan, among other places. He received his rabbinic ordination from the world renowned Talmudic Scholar Rabbi Dr. David Weiss-Halivni and from Rabbi Zalman Nehemiah Goldberg z”l. He holds a Master’s degree in Jewish Studies from The Jewish Theological Seminary, a Master’s degree in Education Administration from New York University, and a Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Heal

We welcome Rav Ramon Widmonte, Dean of The Academy of Jewish Thought and Learning to the podcast. In this brilliant episode, he describes the work that The Academy does, both in the Adult Education space and in Teacher Upskilling. One small statistic: Almost 40 participants have done or are doing an MA in Jewish Education over the last couple years. This impact and much more can be discovered by clicking on that play button :-). Enjoy. 

What if you could speak to a student who graduated from Jewish day high school two years ago to ask them about their experiences? Well, in this episode, I tracked down a Jewish day school graduate who was willing to speak to me. "Bob" generously agreed to spend some time chatting informally. As an aside, you will note that I did not have an interview protocol to follow and that I also tried to sometimes provide 'leading questions'. If you are interested in the research side of things, you may want to listen with an ear to how the interview proceeds and how, in a research context, things that the interviewer does or says would have to change. If you are interested in the student perspective, you may want to compare this anecdotal chat to your own knowledge of students or to the more robust research literature that is out there. 

This is a fascinating overview of the Midrasha Institute for Adult Jewish Learning in Cape Town, from Viv Anstey, the director. Not only is Viv a "Serial Social Entrepreneur" in the Jewish community - her influence is felt in a diverse array of communal programmes - she is also a fountain of information about Adult Jewish Learning. Today, we focus on one of Viv's many projects, the Melton programmes which are run for a diverse audience. Listeners are in for a treat as Viv explains what it is that Melton does, what makes it unique, and the impact Melton has had through a range of partnerships. 

What is the purpose of Jewish education?  What is the trick of Jewish education? What is the core challenge that, if navigated successfully, can lead to success in the form of student learning? What is one way to sum up this core issue? Is traditional or progressive pedagogy more appropriate? Does it even matter? Is this a false dichotomy? Maybe it is. But maybe it isn't.  Opportunity cost is what educational decision-making is all about - if you believe Dylan Wiliam (and I mean, why wouldn't you?). But what if you tried to hold both this option and that option. Is this pure indecision and insanity or is there something to it? Are there ways to turn zero-sum games (EITHER OR) into BOTH AND situations? Who knows? I certainly don't. 

Basically, what the title implies. 

Hello again! It has been over a year since I posted. I had grand intentions for this podcast in 2021, but alas, the podcast fell by the wayside. Nevertheless, I had many interesting things happen and the future looks bright at the moment. Most of 2021 was challenging but in a good way.  I share a bit about the year that passed and look into the future. What can you expect content-wise from this podcast? Listen to find out. 

Welcome to a new episode with another outstanding educator! This is a wonderfully varied conversation with Dr Helena Miller (bio below) in which we discuss all sorts of things - from her research on a massive longitudinal study to teaching an MA in Jewish education online to students all over the world (and especially in South Africa).    I hope you find it interesting and informative.    Dr Helena Miller (Source) Co-Head of Teacher Training, Director of Degrees and Senior Research Fellow at London School of Jewish Studies   Dr Helena Miller has a PhD in Jewish Education and has taught, researched and written widely. She heads the “Jewish Lives” longitudinal study, following the cohort of young people who started in UK Jewish secondary schools in 2011. Helena is the senior editor of the two volume International Handbook of Jewish Education (2011 Springer). She is the senior editor of the Journal of Jewish Education, and has both initiated, and been involved in, many innovative education, research and evalu

In this episode, Ronnie Gotkin, a veteran Jewish educator, shares some of the key challenges that confront Jewish education and Jewish educators today in Cape Town.  A sample of the topics we cover in the episode:  Ronnie's roles and career If you have the motivation, Hebrew fluency is attainable Hebrew education The role of Jewish history in Jewish education and more! but I don't want to give it all away, so go listen to our chat.  I hope you find it stimulating. 

What educational work goes on in Jewish Cape Town beyond schools? Rachel Bootcov joins us to discuss her role in the community, her views on various educational questions and challenges, the main considerations when creating programming for youth, and other issues.  Rachel is deeply involved in Jewish youth education. Currently, her roles are:  Youth Director at Temple Israel Head of the Zionist youth council Netzer Camp - Head of education and head of Cape Town    

If you have not read Chaya Herman's book, Prophets and profits, then what have you been doing?! In this magnificent book, Herman presents a critical account of the upheaval surrounding a Jewish day school in South Africa. She records various stakeholders' experiences as the school community navigates the treacherous waters of restructuring, new managerial systems, and a concerted effort by a new powerful individual (and his backers) to shift the school's ethos.  Even if you do not agree with her interpretation of the matter at hand, you will come away enriched due to the extensive breadth of the book and the erudition with which the author develops her argument. You will learn to look at Jewish education in South Africa in a new light and you will certainly experience the "shock of recognition" if you are at all familiar with the South African landscape. While this episode turns out to be a bit of a ramble, and I thought of re-doing it in a more precise/coherent way, I decided to leave it be. The book is more

This episode introduces the listener to M.E. Katz, a prominent Jewish education personality in Cape Town. His prominence is twofold. First, his professional career was spent as a Jewish educator and principal of Herzlia. Second, he produced (in 1980) a work on the history of Jewish education in Southern Africa that is unparalleled in its breadth and therefore essential reading for anyone who wants to do serious research in the field. I explore a theme he develops in his work and provide my own understanding of the implications of this theme for the contemporary scene.  You can access M.E. Katz's work here:  Title: The history of Jewish education in South Africa, 1841-1980. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/23668  

Having introduced Isaac Goss and his significance to the South African Jewish education landscape, I read an excerpt from his book entitled "Reflections on Jewish Education in South Africa" (1951).  The first essay is a letter written to Goss by a frustrated, yet well-intentioned and thoughtful parent. In it, he poses some challenging questions on the topic of Jewish education. He genuinely seeks answers to these questions, solutions to these problems.  Goss, for his part, addresses the issues in a methodical and practical manner. He weaves together abstract philosophies with concrete suggestions. He sets out to describe his vision for the system but remains anchored firmly to the reality on the ground. It is an interesting piece due to the delicate manner in which he explores these four elements (educational philosophy, pedagogic recommendations, systemic vision, practical suggestions). I do not analyze this further in this episode, but I hope you enjoy it in the raw, unprocessed form.   

This is the first of two episodes dedicated to Isaac Goss, perhaps the most influential Jewish Education Personality in 20th century South Africa. Director of the Board of Jewish Education for four decades and a dedicated educationalist his entire life, Goss's influence is still felt today in the structure and ideology of the Jewish educational system in South Africa. By South African standards, he is a prolific educational writer, and his literary output remains an indispensable resource for both the history of education research and insights into perennial questions.  In this episode, I try to date an apparently updated book of his. It is strange because his other works are all dated but this one is elusive. When was it published?  I track my thinking in this regard and tell you the date that I settled. But then something catches my eye. And this changes everything...     

We are privileged to host Professor Adam Mendelsohn in this episode. He discusses important findings from a recent set of surveys conducted by the Kaplan Centre for Jewish Studies. Although at first glance, the South African community survey is not immediately relevant to Jewish education, it is obvious to me that these results are very significant indeed. Schools are embedded in a community and serve the needs of that society, while also shaping that society. Many of the survey findings discussed shape and are shaped by the Jewish education system.  This is an important conversation to set the scene for deep questions such as: What is the purpose of Jewish education in SA? In Cape Town? What are the best approaches? And how shall we proceed? I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed speaking with Adam.  You can read about our guest's bio below.  Kaplan Centre: http://www.kaplancentre.uct.ac.za/ Surveys: http://www.kaplancentre.uct.ac.za/kaplancentre/reports Adam D. Mendelsohn is Director of the Kapl

This was fun! In a very flexible, generative discussion, Efraim and I bounce ideas off each other. Some of it is pretty theoretical and abstract, but other parts clearly have practical applications for the teacher in the classroom and for the school within its societal context.  Efraim shared his personal background that shaped his desire to help students bring out their best from within. He talks of the value of educational approaches that value the individual as a person. And we wonder together about the challenges of conceptualizing and implementing such approaches.  I consider this a generative discussion rather than a formal interview and I hope you, as the listener, appreciate this different style of conversation. You can hear that some ideas are very raw, some connections are delightful and new. I hope this will lead to further thinking and development of ideas and practices for both of us. You the listener, get to tune in and hear a discussion wind its way around core problems that face education toda