Fostering a "Flourishing" Mindset to Face Uncertain Times
On May 12-13 at JFedLA’s Bar Center in Venice, BJE led a cohort of part-time religious school educators in advanced training to help foster student flourishing (vs. languishing) during challenging times. The in-person training, led by Rabbi David Levy of The Jewish Education Project (JEP), is part of JEP’s Flourishing Initiative, a two-year program committed to supporting mental health and wellbeing in Jewish school communities.
Rabbi Levy, a nationally recognized subject expert, facilitated the training which included in-depth study and multiple exercises. The group delved into what it means to thrive by examining, through pedagogic, scientific, and Jewish perspectives, activities that contribute to student growth and are rooted in deep Jewish content and/or supported by scientific outcomes. Each professional was asked to share an aspect of their work of which they are most proud and together they unpacked why these elements foster pride and joy, and how they can replicate this experience into more of their work. The group participated in a drum circle to physically bring to life some of the experience of thriving.
BJE has been responding to the mental health crisis impacting Jewish youth for several years. In late 2018, BJE hosted a series of professional development training programs for more than 30 local educators entitled “Working with Jewish Students Through Traumatic Times.” This was 2018 - our young people were experiencing increased levels of anxiety and depression long before the global pandemic, the horrifying attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 and ensuing war, the sharp rise in antisemitism and the recent wildfires that have devastated L.A. communities.
BJE had been closely following trends in youth mental health and knew from leaders and educators that L.A.’s schools needed more guidance on how to support their students’ mental wellness. In 2020, David Lewis, then Director of BJE’s Center for Excellence in Part-Time Jewish Education, organized a four-part series for religious school educators on Positive Education, an approach that merges the world of mental health support and the science of Positive Psychology to help and encourage students, their families, their teachers and their schools to flourish in the face of uncertainty and challenges. The response was extremely positive. Twenty-one L.A. Jewish schools participated in the initial four-part series, with up to 40 educators attending each session.
Following the successful four-part series, BJE centered Positive Education in its work with part-time religious school educators, and in 2023 established a Positive Education program with cohorts made up of educators from day schools, early childhood programs and part-time religious schools.
While each of the participating schools has benefited from the training to support student and faculty well-being, the impact has been particularly profound in religious schools - part-time, often synagogue-based programs. While day schools and early childhood programs are more likely to have counselors and educators whose focus is student well-being; this is not the case in our part-time religious schools.
Any of several crises of the past five years could have negatively impacted the well-being of individuals in our community. The combination of events has been particularly challenging for many school-aged children. Parents have sought help from BJE-affiliated schools, and our schools have turned to BJE to help them address these challenges.
For the past five years, BJE has worked closely with dozens of part-time religious schools, providing vital training to help the schools address mental well-being. This Positive Education training has led to the development of a Jewish Holiday curriculum currently used in our schools that focuses on developing these skills while enhancing and deepening the holiday content. The goal has been to help schools realize they don’t have to make a choice between ‘Jewish content’ and mental wellness ‘first-aid’ and that both can be more impactful when addressed in concert.
“For the past few years, our [learning center] has practiced the power of Positive Education — a discipline that studies what helps human beings to thrive and flourish. Our goal has been to help our community (teachers, students, and parents) see how embracing Jewish practice, Jewish text, and Jewish tradition can help us all to thrive and flourish in today’s world. Taking this approach does require a shift in educational perspective, but not in curricular content,” said Rabbi Adam Schaffer, Director, The Sevran Jewish Learning Center (JLC) at HAMAKOM.
As Rabbi Schaffer so well expressed, the aim of BJE’s work in positive education is to help schools integrate a wellness mindset and Jewish education, enabling our students to flourish as Jews in today’s world.
For more information, please contact David Lewis, Senior Consultant, BJE Center of Excellence in Part-Time Education
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