Miriam Heller Stern, PhD

Miriam Heller Stern, PhD, is CEO of Builders of Jewish Education, Los Angeles. 

A career Jewish educator, visionary scholar, strategist and creative thinker, Miriam Heller Stern built her career in academic leadership and teaching, directing the graduate schools of education at Hebrew Union College (2016-2025) and AJU (2010-2016) as a faculty member, and also serving as Vice Provost for Educational Strategy at HUC (2021-2024). A historian who always has an eye on designing the future, she is thrilled and honored to serve the Los Angeles Jewish community and the broad field of Jewish education as CEO of Builders of Jewish Education.

Dedicated to enriching the quality, ingenuity and efficacy of Jewish education, Dr. Stern is a highly sought-after strategic thought partner, advisor, mentor and coach by Jewish educational leaders, organizations, institutions and initiatives across the United States and Israel. She serves on the national advisory committee of Reimagining Jewish Education; Be’er: the Global Jewish Educational Leadership Group; and the global strategic advisory committee of UnitED (a project of the Israeli Ministry of the Diaspora aimed at advancing Jewish education). She has served on the boards of theatre dybbuk, Shalhevet High School, bimbam, the Torah Studio and the Association for Reform Jewish Educators. She is on the editorial board of the Journal of Jewish Education and chaired a research awards committee of the Network for Research in Jewish Education. In recent years she has contributed her expertise on task forces and strategic working groups for organizations including Prizmah: the Center for Jewish Day Schools, M²: the Institute for Experiential Jewish Education, Hillel International, Jewish Education Innovation Challenge, and research advisory committees for Rosov Consulting and the Jewish Education Project. Committed to elevating Jewish education across the spectrum of Jewish life, Dr. Stern has also, in recent years, performed consultancy projects for the Azrieli Graduate School of Education of Yeshiva University, Camp Ramah of California, the Association of Reform Jewish Educators as well as synagogues and schools across denominations.

Inspiring creativity in Jewish educational design and practice is a core focus of Dr. Stern’s work. Her most recent publication, "Jewish Creativity: An Essential Aspiration for Jewish Education" is a call to educators across the Jewish spectrum to empower learners to develop chidushim, novel of ideas of value, reclaiming a historic legacy of Jewish creativity through the ages. She is the founder of Beit HaYotzer, the Creativity Braintrust, a strategic initiative designed to amplify creative pedagogy and leadership, which she launched with a signature grant from the Covenant Foundation. A Scholar in Residence at the Covenant Foundation as well as a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education in 2024, she has published numerous academic, professional and popular articles. She speaks widely on topics in education including the habits of creative Jewish thinkers; the history and future of Jewish education; and articulating “the why” of Jewish education. A creative teacher herself, she is known for her kintsugi beit midrash and Aramaic incantation bowls workshops, in addition to teaching Torah in various adult education settings. 

Dr. Stern has been proud to call Los Angeles home for over two decades together with her husband Jonathan and their three children, Elijah, Judah and Zoe, all products of BJE-affiliated schools.

 

Selected Writings, Podcasts & Webinars

Creativity, Judaism and Jewish Education

New! “Jewish Creativity: An Essential Aspiration for Jewish Education,” Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education, Brandeis University: Fall 2024. (Available on the Mandel Center’s website at https://doi.org/10.48617/1219.)

Watch the Mandel Center’s Webinar, “Learning about Learning,” on Teaching Jewish Creativity.

“Learning to find the words when “There are no words/Ein Milim/ אין מילים”,” in Until the Day Breaks and the Shadows Flee Away Directions in Jewish Education After October 7, edited by Howard Deitcher and Alex Pomson, Hana Dorsman and Assaf Gamzou, Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combatting AntiSemitism and UnitED, (Fall 2024).

“To be a Co-Author of the Jewish Story,” Educated Kaplanian Jew Talmud Page, The Kaplan Center, January, 2024.

“Sustaining a Creative People: Learning the Habits of Creative Thinking,” The Peoplehood Papers, edited by Shlomi Ravid and Dean Bell, Volume 30 (August 2021).

“Jewish Creative Sensibilities: Framing a New Aspiration for Jewish Education,” Journal of Jewish Education, 85:4 (December 2019). Winner of 2019 Article of the Year Award for the Journal of Jewish Education and most downloaded article 2019.

“The Past as Portal to the Future: theatre dybbuk’s Creative Exploration and Presentation of Jewish History,” with Tobin Belzer, in Portraits of Adult Jewish Learning: Making Meaning at Many Tables, edited by Diane Tickton Schuster (Wipf and Stock Publishers: 2022).

Jewish Thought and Spiritual Meaning

“Revelation is Just the Beginning,” An interpretive journey among artist-scholars in search of meaning leading to the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, 2020-2021. Published with the generous support of the Covenant Foundation.

“Experiencing God in the Midst of Conflict,” in Because My Soul Longs for You: Integrating Theology into Our Lives, edited by Edwin C. Goldberg and Elaine S. Zecher. CCAR Press: 2021. pp. 89-98.

The State of Jewish Education

“From Thriving to Striving: Jewish Education for a World of Uncertainty and Opportunity.” in Where Jewish Education Helps Students Thrive: A Tribute to Dr. Jonathan Woocher, eds. David Bryfman and Beth Cousens. (Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah, 2018) pp. 34-41.

“A Dream Not Quite Come True:” Reassessing the Benderly Era in Jewish Education,” Journal of Jewish Education 70:3 (Fall 2004).

Listen: Judaism Unbound, Episode 186, “Reimagining Jewish Education.” 

Leadership and Vision

“Toward a “Happier” New Year: Some Musings for 10 Days of Reflective, Accountable Iteration”  (September 2023).

“Beyond Disruption: Learning, Leading and Healing in 2021,” eJewishphilanthropy, (November 5, 2021).

“Lessons from Pixar: Staying Animated in Leadership,” HaYidion, (Winter 2017).

Jewish Thought and Spiritual Meaning

“Revelation is Just the Beginning,” An interpretive journey among artist-scholars in search of meaning leading to the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, 2020-2021. Published with the generous support of the Covenant Foundation.

“Experiencing God in the Midst of Conflict,” in Because My Soul Longs for You: Integrating Theology into Our Lives, edited by Edwin C. Goldberg and Elaine S. Zecher. CCAR Press: 2021. pp. 89-98.