Welcome from the Dean

I welcome you to the Winter 2023 issue of Gleanings, a publication of the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education profiling changemaking educational leaders. This issue, focusing on “Professional and Instructional Leadership in Jewish Education,” highlights innovative pedagogues and the ways in which their initiatives are inspiring both adult and teen participants to advance and elevate their own leadership. 

As the field of Jewish education continues to grapple with the challenge of attracting and retaining the next generation of teachers, summer camp educators, and youth professionals, a debate has emerged as to the best pathways for expanding the professional pipeline: Should we be focusing on developing intensive, university-based programs, or will there be better success in attracting and retaining prospective educators through what are often referenced as “field-based” programming?

As dean of a school that encompasses both academic and instructional leadership options, I firmly believe that we can nurture a both/and approach, with both degree-bearing programs, such as our MA and EdD in Jewish education, and professional learning or certificate-based initiatives. What is most important and essential to an impactful professional learning experience is that it is rooted in a Jewish Growth Mindset, that the trainings stimulate and motivate participants to picture themselves in a new way, with new possibilities for their leadership and career trajectories. This can be achieved through inclusion of one, or a combination of the following elements:

• Collegiality and networking, through cohort and group gathering
• Jewish study, through personal connection to rituals, texts, and/or prayer
• Self-reflection, through mentoring and coaching
• Skill-building, through hands-on and practical experience

The four portraits in this issue of Gleanings each spotlight Jewish educational leaders who embody and embrace one or more of these elements of Jewish Growth Mindset: Jaimie Krass, graduate of our in-house MA program and director of youth programming at Keshet; Kathy Schwartz, graduate of our executive doctoral program and senior director of professional learning at JewishLearningworks; Judith Shapero, Cindy Reich, and Aviva Silverman, staff of the Standards and Benchmarks initiative at the William Davidson School; Daniel Brenner, vice president of education at Moving Traditions. Each has advanced degrees that prepared them for these leadership positions, as well as expansive experience across the span of Jewish education. The trainings, curricula, and cohort-based learning that they oversee are models of innovation in adult and teen leadership.

I hope you enjoy the read and wish you a happy and healthy 2023.

Elevating Educational Work to the Realm of the Sacred: Kathy Schwartz

When Kathy Schwartz (EdD 2018), senior director of professional learning at Jewish LearningWorks, interviewed post b’nei mitzvah teens as part of her doctoral dissertation research, she learned that almost every young person, whether they were at a synagogue or in an alternative setting, reported the physical connection with a sefer Torah as one of the most meaningful parts of the rite of passage. The ritual of reading, holding, or passing the Torah was a highlight for teens and their families. “This was their moment to feel a deep sense of personal connection and pride,” Schwartz said. “They felt a deep appreciation for the people who guided them towards this moment—their tutors, clergy, and family members.”

What she learned about teens confirmed what she knew from decades of working with educators.

As a director of congregational education for 28 years, first in Milwaukee and then in Boulder, Schwartz infused her work with a sense of purpose. She created a ritual at the end of educator orientation where the team would gather in the sanctuary and take the Torah out of the ark, passing it one by one starting with the most senior educator on the team until the Torah was held by the newest members of the faculty team, a brand new teen madrich. “I would say ‘You are holding onto Torah in a different way now that you are a teacher of Torah; you have a new connection to Jewish tradition.’” 

Connections matter to Schwartz. “The secret to working with teens is knowing to ask them first, ‘What’s your story? What’s meaningful for you?’” said Schwartz. “We don’t ask people that enough, and the same is true for educators. We need to feel personally connected just as much as our constituents.”

Schwartz herself knew she wanted a career in Jewish education from the age of 14 or 15. “Growing up in Cleveland, I got a lot of support from my synagogue. They placed great value on my involvement,” she said. “They gave me agency to find my own voice and place.”

The adolescent ambition stuck with Schwartz through her undergraduate experience at Washington University in St. Louis, Project Otzmah, where she fulfilled her dream of spending a year in Israel, and at HUC-JIR where she received two MA degrees—one in Jewish education and another in Jewish non-profit management. 

Working in synagogues and serving as president of the Association of Reform Jewish Educators (ARJE), Schwartz felt she need to go deeper in her own learning and wanted to refresh her mindset. She applied to the executive doctoral program at the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education, which she knew she could attend from Boulder with a mix of in-person and remote learning. The application asked her to reflect on a teacher who influenced her and she remembered a Catholic high school teacher. She emailed the teacher that week and then completely coincidentally ran into him after she graduated. 

“I was so grateful for the opportunity to do research and to think with high-level intellectual colleagues. My cohort is very close to each other and we are all pulling each other along to finish our degrees,” she said. “In my coursework I could think deeply about topics I am passionate about.”

Schwartz knows that such a direct path to a career in Jewish education is not typical of many in the field. “Many educators find themselves unintentionally in Jewish education, especially in sectors that are struggling to find staff like early childhood and congregational education,” said Schwartz. “One early childhood director I met recently is a chemist by training,” she said. This dynamic makes her commitment to providing professional development even more significant.

“We know from research what kind of professional development works—training that is supported by cohort-based learning and individualized coaching or mentoring.” Schwartz sees the cohort as especially critical because a group of peers can be accountable to one another and can elevate work to the realm of the sacred, exactly what she experienced with her William Davidson School classmates.

“We do a service to each other when we remind ourselves of the value of work,” she said. “Educators will always find reflection their go-to tool. Professional development can give people a chance to reflect on why they put their heart into their work and to learn, to play, to rehearse with their peers.”

Schwartz recently joined Jewish LearningWorks in San Francisco as senior director of professional learning. She works remotely from her home in Boulder, Colorado. “I haven’t had a new job for 25 years,” she said, excited about the prospect of expanding her impact beyond a single congregation.

Jewish LearningWorks elevates the field of Jewish education by nurturing educators, inspiring innovation, and building Jewish literacy. Schwartz leads their efforts to support educators, which involves both responsive work, such as connecting educators to coaches and providing one-on-one mentoring and individualized trainings for educators or teams, as well as proactive initiatives, such as the Voices for Good initiative designed to advance gender equity in Jewish life and support women in leadership.

While much of her work is focused on the San Francisco Bay–area Jewish community, Schwartz is excited about the prospect of leveraging Jewish LearningWorks’ reach more broadly. “The Mountain States share a lot of the ethos of the Bay Area,” she said, “We find a lot of similarities in what motivates people—creativity, individualism, the entrepreneurial spirit.” 

After completing a doctorate remotely, serving as a clinical faculty mentor and associate director of HUC-JIR’s Executive MA in Jewish Education, serving as the national president of ARJE and of course supporting educators and families remotely all through the pandemic, Schwartz is not daunted by the idea of working across time zones. “We learned from all the Zooming we’ve done that people can share across silos more than we had anticipated,” Schwartz said.

As she transitions from hands-on congregation work, Schwartz finds the switch fairly seamless. “I am moving from sharing intimate moments with families about their Jewish journeys to thinking about what educators need based on the reality of Jewish life today,” she said. “My work taught me the prevailing attitude among families, which is ‘I get to decide who I am as a Jew.’ We are missing the boat if we are not helping Jewish educators navigate this environment, lifting up individuals’ Jewish paths and their desire to connect to Jewish life and community.”

In recognition of her leadership in Jewish education, Schwartz was recently named an ARJE Distinguished Educator, a well-deserved honor.

Written by Suzanne Kling Langman

How Do You Cultivate Jewish Self-Confidence? Jaimie Krass

As director of youth programming at Keshet, Jaimie Krass strives to be the kind of educator who made a difference in her own life, promoting self-discovery using the learner-centered constructivist approach she mastered at The William Davidson School of Jewish Education.

During the first week studying Hebrew at the University of Haifa where Jaimie Krass (MA 2019) was studying abroad on what she called a bit of a whim, she reached out to her teacher requesting to switch to a lower Hebrew level. “I had taken one semester of Hebrew at the University of Florida, and I felt like I was understanding 20% of what my professor was saying,” she remembered. “Mina, the teacher, would not let me drop. She insisted that I stay in the class and through our shared love of the arts, we developed a close relationship, and I ended up thriving in her class.”

Finding a teacher who believed in her made all the difference to Krass, and she aspires to replicate this in her current role as Director of Youth Programs at Keshet.

“When I think about what educators do, I think about the pivotal moment in our tradition when Bnei Yisrael was crossing the Jordan with the Torah they received at Sinai. While scores of people approached the river, I imagine there were some who stood to the side, reaching out their hands to support those who slipped along the way,” said Krass. “That’s who I aspire to be through my work at Keshet–someone who provides support and motivation to others as they make their own way to their Promised Lands.”

Like Mina, her Ulpan teacher, Krass wants to promote self-confidence, self-worth, and self-discovery. These are the features of professional development that have made an impact on her own growth as a person and educator.

Having moved from Chicago to Florida in high school, Krass grew up with minimal Jewish affiliation and was involved in LGBTQ+ advocacy amidst a primarily right-wing, non-Jewish local population. This brought her to Keshet and her first connection to organized Jewish life.

Krass began her unexpected journey toward a career in Jewish education as an undergraduate when a stranger gave her a set of Shabbat candles on campus. “I watched a YouTube video on how to light them and quite literally, the fire caught,” said Krass.

Abroad in Israel was the first time Krass met scores of LGBTQ+ Jews, and she recalled attending a pro-peace demonstration in Tel Aviv’s Kikar Rabin where she witnessed a touching moment of solidarity between a gay rabbi and a Palestinian activist. “I realized that there were many ways of carving out a Jewish life, including ways that affirmed my own identities” she said.

When she moved to the mountains of Virginia after graduation, she formed a connection to the Hillel at Virginia Tech, whose director encouraged her to look for a job in Hillel. “Even though I had no formal Jewish leadership experience, they hired me at Muhlenberg College and for the first time, I got the sense that I might have something to contribute to the field of Jewish education,” said Krass.

Throughout Krass’ work at Hillel—she went on to work at Columbia/Barnard Hillel–she tried to do what others have done for her, “instill a sense of Jewish self-confidence,” she said. “In Hillel I exercised muscles I didn’t know I had; being in Jewish education gave me opportunities I didn’t even know I was craving and brought together all the pieces of Jewish life I hadn’t had.”

Working at Hillel in Morningside Heights, she learned about JTS and The William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education and enrolled in the MA program. “Studying and working at the same time enabled me to apply directly, in real time, what I was learning in class,”said Krass.

Krass was drawn to Davidson’s learner-center constructivist approach, an educational philosophy that aligns with her own personal and professional experience. She found at JTS a community of professors and classmates that fed her ambitions.

“At JTS we were all standing on the shoulders of giants. So many leaders in the Jewish world have their roots at JTS. The thirst and love of Jewish life is transcendentally powerful,” she said.

Krass found at Davidson professors who exposed her to both content and pedagogy. “The Multicultural Pedagogies course I took with Shira Epstein continues to shape how I see my work with Keshet,” she said. Courses with luminaries such as Barry Holtz, Sarah Wolf and Alex Sinclair shifted paradigms in Krass’ mind, and in Ofra Backenroth’s Arts and Exegesis course, the projects were experiential and innovative.

“Transformative learning takes place through action,” said Krass, who found the practicum among her most important courses. “Because I was working at the same time, on any given evening at Hillel I was able to directly apply what I had learned that day at Davidson.” Krass credits her practicum faculty, Backenroth and the late Dr. Rabbi Sarah Tauber z’’l, with cultivating the kind of reflection that supported Krass and her classmates to greater self-confidence in their own practice.

Krass now holds what she calls her dream job, at the intersection of her LGBTQ and Jewish identities. “The Keshet model is all about empowering youth to build their own communities and to tap into their own imaginings of the liberated world they deserve,” she said. “LGBTQ youth face more barriers to leadership and belonging in other youth groups than cisgender, heterosexual youth do; within Keshet, we strive to remove these barriers and empower youth to take the helm. The impact this has is profound. One hundred percent of youth who take on leadership in Keshet go on to serve as agents for change in their own communities.” In effect, Krass’ work at Keshet is emulating the model of effective professional development she herself has experienced.

About three years ago, following the sudden tragic loss of Dr. Rabbi Sarah Tauber, Krass was in touch with Backenroth who asked for her help leading the practicum for current Davidson MA students. Stepping into the shoes of her beloved teacher was not easy at first, but Krass found that being back around the practicum seminar table became one of her most important learning experiences.

“Professional development is any space that empowers you to learn more about yourself,” said Krass. “All professional development is about fostering a connection between yourself, your community, what you want to be, and what you want your community to be.” Back at Davidson, being with the cohort of students and workshopping their challenges, reflecting on shifting paradigms, Krass finds herself in the sweet spot of blending theory and practice.

Krass counts herself fortunate in being able to continue to enrich her professional life with ongoing reflective practice. “That is not baked in to most full-time jobs,” she said.

Thinking back to the image of those who played a helping role as Bnei Yisrael crossed the river, Krass identifies with the aspirational nature of education. “Confidence to try something new comes when you know that if you slip, someone will be there to support you,” she said. “You can’t give anyone a sense of self-worth, but you can create conditions and catalyze them to find it for themselves.”

Written by Suzanne Kling Langman

Starting With Goals: Judith Shapero, Cindy Reich, and Aviva Silverman

Now in its third decade, the Jewish Day School Standards and Benchmarks initiative at the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education has redefined professional development for Jewish studies professionals in nearly 100 schools—and transformed the teaching and learning of Jewish sacred texts for hundreds of educators and thousands of students.

In the late 1990s, as more Jewish day schools were opened across the denominational spectrum, former William Davidson Dean Dr. Steve Brown secured funding from the AVI CHAI Foundation to create a project of standards and benchmarks that focused on Bible. The goal was to help elevate the teaching of Bible and the ability of faculty to think more clearly about goals, methods, and outcomes assessment.

A group of serious Jewish educational leaders and William Davidson School faculty members came together for a roundtable at JTS to address a direct question: what does a day school graduate need to know and to be able to do?

“There were so many things that people started to be aware of,” said Aviva Silverman, who serves as field operations director of Standards and Benchmarks. “Day schools were really actively trying to gain accreditation from independent school agencies, and the process asked them to consider just these kinds of questions.” 

As school leaders were influenced by independent school best practices and responded to the sophisticated perspective of parents and philanthropists alike, phrases like “mission-driven” found their way into school taglines and logos. “People started to question if we were doing what we said we were doing,” recalled Silverman.

At the time, with the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act drawing more than its share of criticism, even the word “standards” raised eyebrows. “Why would we take on an idea—standards—that was so problematic in general education?” said Cindy Reich, academic director of Standards and Benchmarks. “We made it very clear that ‘standards’ did not mean ‘standardization,’” said Reich. “Instead, Standards and Benchmarks is a tool for schools to use to concretize their mission and vision. The use of the term ‘standard’ is not about making everyone conform but rather the articulation of a broad learning goal and a vision for what your graduates will look like.”

Charlotte Abramson, who held senior educational positions at Hillel Day school in Michigan and Golda Och Academy in West Orange, New Jersey, was the founding director of Standards and Benchmarks and directed the crafting of the first Tanakh Standards and Benchmarks document in 2003. She knew that handing teachers a list was not enough, and she proposed a systematic program of professional development that would train both Judaic studies leaders and educators to use the standards for effective teaching and learning. 

Standards and Benchmarks is a process whereby school leaders start from what has already been articulated as their goals and explore how what happens in the classroom can get them closer to those goals. “We are working with a system of professional development that begins with the school’s mission,” said Silverman. “We are never offering a scripted curriculum. This makes us really different from what is out there.”

While the specifics of the program have evolved over the past 20 years, consistent elements include intensive professional development for Judaic studies leaders, along with regular coaching from a consultant and professional learning workshops for teachers in schools. Reich said, “From the beginning, the professional development has operated on two related levels—for the Judaic studies leader and the teachers. This builds the capacity for schools to support and sustain ongoing learning. It is incredible to see what can happen when you are able to support a school and its leaders to set conditions so learning can happen over a long period of time.”

When Judith Shapero, who is a consultant, head of educational technology, and a member of the leadership team at Standards and Benchmarks, first learned about the initiative, she was vice principal for Judaic studies at TanenbaumCHAT in Toronto. “I went into administration to bring the teacher’s perspective to the leadership level,” she said. “I knew I wanted to enhance curriculum, student engagement, and collaboration among faculty. We were looking for this.”

Once a school engages in the Standards and Benchmark process, they choose one or two standards that align with their school vision. Selecting from a “menu” rather than starting from scratch to identify their goals has proven a benefit, according to Shapero. “Starting with tried and true structures in place gives Judaic studies leaders a sense of relief that is passed on to their staff.” Below are examples of two standards:

Tanakh Standard 8: 

Students will develop a love of Torah study for its own sake and embrace it as an inspiring resource, informing their values, moral commitments, and ways of experiencing the world.

Rabbinics Standard: Textual Access

Students will develop the skills to read, navigate and comprehend a variety of genres of rabbinic literature, fostering the ability to understand rabbinic text independently.

The process of standards-based “backward curriculum design” starts with articulating goals and assessments first and then planning instruction that supports students in engaging with sacred texts and drawing meaning from them. “Instead of asking students questions on a test about a text, you might engage them in a real task that requires higher-order thinking such as imagining they are a reporter interviewing Adam and Eve or redesigning a school auditorium to make it more inclusive,” said Shapero.

“Standards and Benchmarks works as well as it does because it focuses on improving the learning of students,” said Reich. “It leverages the collaborative faculty culture where teachers bring their experience at the same time that an outsider brings expertise and creates structure.” Research has shown that effective professional development is job-embedded and ongoing, she added. 

The program also requires that schools carve out time for instructionally focused conversations, to do the really important work that everyone wants to do. “The one-off ‘spray and pray’ teacher trainings are just not in our lexicon,” said Silverman. Schools generally work with Standards and Benchmarks for one or two years. “For learning to become embedded, it takes time,” said Silverman.

Designed and developed at The William Davidson School, Standards and Benchmarks exemplifies field-university partnership. JTS faculty from the departments of Bible and Talmud contributed to the articulation of the standards, and regular dialogue among William Davidson School field-based and academic programs has led to interactions that empower and expand ongoing learning and relevance. 

Last summer, the connection was made tangible when the administration asked the Standards and Benchmarks team to create an online asynchronous course, Teaching and Learning Sacred Texts with Standards-Based Curriculum Design. William Davidson School graduate students across disciplines had the chance to access Standards and Benchmarks as a practical tool. “We learned that our work, which has always been directed to Jewish day schools, can make an impact on educators in other settings such as camp, early childhood, supplemental education, and youth work,” said Reich. “This broadened our own understanding about the applicability of Standards and Benchmarks,” said Shapero.

Standards and Benchmarks was recently asked by the Jewish Education Innovation Challenge (JEIC) to join a consortium of professional development providers for day school teachers. In the DEEP (Developing Embedded Expertise in JDS Program) consortium, Standards and Benchmarks is recognized as one of the leading providers of professional development. 

“As our name has spread,” said Reich, “schools from across the denominational spectrum have reached out to use Standards and Benchmarks. Our work with schools of all types helps us learn more and more from the field about what makes professional development work.” Reich points to the atmosphere of collaboration and commitment of school leadership as well as the willingness on the part of leaders and educators to grow. Silverman echoes the values of patience, consistency, and follow-through. 

“We are really about developing a cadre of learners in a school—not just students, but leaders and teachers, too,” said Silverman. 

Written by Suzanne Kling Langman

Where Judaism and Relationship Skills Meet: Daniel Brenner

“Being teen-focused doesn’t mean giving up on Jewish literacy, it just means you have to start with the teens,” said Rabbi Daniel Brenner, vice president for education at Moving Traditions. 

For the past 11 years, Brenner has worked at Moving Traditions, whose mission is “to embolden Jewish youth to thrive through the pursuit of personal well-being (shleimut), caring relationships (hesed), and a Jewish and feminist vision of equity and justice (tzedek).” The Moving Traditions model of monthly facilitated-discussion groups was developed through initiatives like Rosh Hodesh groups for teen girls and Shevet groups for teen boys and now also includes the B Mitzvah Family Education program and Tzelem for trans, nonbinary, and LGBTQ+ teens. Moving Traditions provides curriculum and training to the educators who lead these groups.

“Our curriculum combines Jewish wisdom made relevant for today with insights from positive psychology and social-emotional learning models, generating proven methods of learning that foster well-being,” said Brenner. Training the group leaders in both Jewish texts and how teens think and interact with peers is a core part of Brenner’s responsibilities.

Brenner believes that while it can take a special person to work with teens, there are proven tools and structures that can be learned and that dramatically shift Jewish education in this age group. At the core of Brenner’s work training educators is one question: how do you structure a learning experience that will lead teens to have the discussions that speak to their search for meaning? 

“Our work is at the nexus of Judaism and relationship skills,” said Brenner. “We are bringing Jewish learning together with what we know about developmental psychology.” The Moving Traditions model—entering its 18th year—empowers teens to engage in meaning-based conversations about ideas that they already care about. “We train group leaders to expect initial push back from teens and help them to avoid the dynamics that shut down a conversation. Guided informal dialogue on challenging topics helps teens to broaden how they see themselves and everyone around them in a healthy, age-appropriate way.”

Ordained at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Brenner knows that rabbis and educators in general do a great job talking about their own personal spiritual journey. “With teens,” said Brenner, “you can put a charismatic figure in front of them to talk and they will listen, but it is far better to get someone who is less likely to put themselves at the center and ask the teens to talk about their own experiences.”

Many of the influential adults Brenner encounters have been trained in careers outside of Jewish education, such as social work or general education. “Teens connect to adults who show a sincere interest in them, and that can be a sports coach, a 20-something part-time synagogue employee, or a caring aunt or uncle.” 

Brenner discovered a key lesson about working with teens when he coached his daughter’s soccer team and realized that he couldn’t be everywhere on the field. “Even if I were the best coach ever, I couldn’t be in the ear of each girl on the team at all times.” Brenner learned at a coaches training that he needed to engage all the players on the team to be supportive of each other, in effect to coach each other. “There are definite limitations to the role of adults,” he said.

When teens support, challenge, and uplift one another, the learning is much more effective and long-lasting, a message Brenner reiterates in the training he provides. “Giving teens agency takes trust and accepting that sometimes things might seem a bit chaotic. Chaos is okay,” said Brenner. 

Brenner knows that to be successful, group leaders have to understand teen mindsets. “The best educators know there are profound differences in development based on gender and age,” said Brenner. “A group of sixth-grade boys are likely going to be engaged very differently than seventh-grade girls, for example.”

Moving Traditions designs and leverages the pedagogies that work best for teens, even down to providing content for specific grades and genders. “We have invested a tremendous amount of time in curriculum development, and our trainings are designed to help educators understand what insights are baked in for each unique population.”

“Part of our role is to say, ‘This model has worked,’” said Brenner. He knows that group leaders will always want to add their own insights and approaches. “We ask educators to have faith in the structure that Moving Traditions has designed so that they can build toward a specific group dynamic. After that, they’ll find the freedom to explore,” he said.

Moving Traditions pedagogy follows a structured order: play, debate, sharing, ritual. “Each element is tested,” said Brenner. “We know from hundreds of successful groups that if you follow this order, adjusting the time allotted to each element according to the developmental needs of the group, and you repeat the structure with different themes, teens will come to feel safe and will open up.” Building trust will lead to a cohesive group.

“The themes we use are what is relevant to teen’s life—such as competition, friendship, sexuality, money—all paired with texts from tradition,” said Brenner. 

Brenner gave the example of how Moving Traditions trains educators to use a “text” like a Super Bowl commercial as a conversation-starter. “Our goal is to focus on one piece and help educators be the best they can be, which often means looking at the same topic multiple times and using multiple senses,” said Brenner. 

First, he will ask the educators to watch the commercial in its entirety, then the group will watch it without sound, then listen to it without video in order to analyze it from every angle. Educators begin to notice the more subtle cues and messages the commercial is conveying about gender roles and the social codes that it may be imprinting. “Through this analysis, group leaders start to discover the many possibilities for how to open a discussion,” said Brenner. “The same is true, of course, with a Jewish text—it could be taught a million ways.”

All Moving Traditions trainings include an immersive experience with a diverse peer group followed by a reflection four to five months later. This gives educators the chance to experiment with the pedagogy and share back with the group their experiences. “We know our model asks group leaders—and teens—to take risks,” said Brenner. “We hear over and over that after a few months, teens see the group as a safe space and the educator as someone they can trust.”

Brenner never underestimates the power of humor, especially in work with teens. “You know you are loved by a teenager when they ridicule you,” he said. “The training we provide to the group leaders prepares them to recognize that as a kind of badge of honor.”

Written by Suzanne Kling Langman