BJE’s Reshet-LA Keeps on Growing!

On February 20, BJE’s Reshet-LA will "graduate" eight schools from Tier One of the program, bringing to 15 the total number of part-time Jewish school programs engaged in the practical work of school innovation. As the program continues to grow, participants are benefiting from the unique opportunity to connect with and learn from national experts in the part-time religious school world, opportunities that are only made possible through BJE.

BJE’s Reshet team responds to the evolving needs and interests of school participants. Affinity groups enable participants to focus their work in specific areas of mutual interest. Currently, affinity groups exist in Hebrew language learning and Project Based learning. Three new affinity groups will launch March 2020 and focus on community building, post b’nai mitzvah engagement and teacher training.   In each group, participants have the opportunity to connect with national leaders and successful innovators in the various areas.

BJE is part of a network of eight communities working on innovation in part-time Jewish education. In March, the Reshet-LA group together with other members of BJE’s Religious School Educators Network, will participate in the fourth national webinar of the year, linking educators from these communities, during which they will take virtual tours of two highly successful and dramatic changes in religious school programs in New Jersey and Massachusetts. This will be a chance for Reshet-LA participants to discuss the practical implications of the programming they have been learning about and beginning to implement in their schools.

Randee Bishoff, Director of Education at Temple Akiba, and was one of the first educators to become an innovator with Reshet. “Being part of Reshet LA has allowed me to access communal resources that colleagues on a local and national level have developed. Reshet LA has provided the guidance and resources for Temple Akiba of Culver City to keep up with cutting-edge initiatives in Religious School supplementary education. By providing recognized experts in the field, Reshet LA has helped Temple Akiba bring our Hebrew education program into the 21st century and, more importantly, has enabled our students to better connect to the language of the Jewish people!”

For more information about BJE’s Reshet-LA, click here, or contact BJE Director of Jewish Educational Services, David Lewis, 323-761-8618.