Landmark Jewish Education Conference Convenes

Six months post October 7, BJE convened LA’s Jewish educational leaders across denominations for a critical examination of how we move forward as educational institutions in a new Jewish world. In a landmark conference on April 1,2024, BJE assembled Jewish part-time and day school administrators, leaders, youth professionals, clergy, partners, and national experts to examine the impact of October 7th on Jewish peoplehood and identity and to develop approaches for addressing where L.A.’s Jewish schools need to go from here.

The day long BJE program, Jewish Peoplehood & Identity: What’s Next for our Schools?, was held at Stephen Wise Temple and kicked off with a panel moderated by David Suissa, Publisher & Editor in Chief, Jewish Journal, with panelists Cathy Gordon, Head of Religious School, Wilshire Boulevard Temple, Rabbi Mordecai Shifman, Head of School, Emek Hebrew Academy, Mark Shpall, Head of School, de Toledo High School. 

The group of 80 participants then met in active working sessions and training workshops led by national and regional experts from: ADL, iCenter, Moving Traditions, OpenDor Media, Tzedek America, and author and professor Sivan Zakai, Professor Lauren Applebaum and Rabbi Dr. David Fox. See experts bios here.

Critical current topics and training for our educators to bring back to their Jewish schools and institutions included:

Israel Education:  Important tools to help students develop a strong literacy about Israel and Zionism. And practical ways to navigate difficult and diverse conversations.

Responding to Anti-Semitism: Strategies to equip Jewish students with the tools to effectively intervene against anti-Semitic language and behavior in their learning spaces.

Navigating the Social Media Minefield: Best practices for helping students safely navigate the anti-Israel social media battlefield.

Conflict Education: How to use educational tools to turn conflict into growth.

Mental Health Tools: Guidelines and tools for helping students and faculty cope with the mental health effects of war news on identity and emotional functioning.

Building Jewish Identity: How building confident Jewish identity and pride can create safety and respect in fostering connections with our neighbors.

Learning from the Children: What our children are thinking and how their own words on the terror attacks, war and anti-Semitism can guide us as educators.

Connecting Teens to Jewish LA:  New ways to help Jewish teens feel connected to one another and to Jewish people, as Jewish identity is changing in our post October 7 world.

A full description of each session and leaders is here: 
Breakout Session 1 | Breakout Session 2 | Breakout Session 3

The day concluded with time for individualized school planning.

I was really impressed by the presenter, particularly in the way that he challenged some of the more seasoned educators, and their approaches toward the lived experience of Israel, among their Generation Z and Generation Alpha students. His session provided great clarification about the goals behind Jewish education versus Jewish advocacy or Jewish studies.

Rabbi Eric D. Rosenstein, Associate Rabbi / Director of Education, Temple Judea

WONDERFUL discussion, very rich in thought, they asked us good questions for us to think about and bring back to our community. I could have just gone to this workshop and the day would have been beneficial.

Larry Kligman, Head of School, Abraham Joshua Heschel Day School

This conference was jointly produced by two departments of BJE LA - Reshet-LA: BJE’s Center for Excellence in Part-Time Jewish Education and BJE’s Center for Excellence in Day School Education.

BJE thanks Jewish Federation of Los Angeles for its ongoing supportive partnership and The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles for its sponsorship of this day of learning. 

Contacts:
Dr. Gil Graff, Executive Director, BJE: Builders of Jewish Education | David Lewis, Director, Center for Excellence in Part-Time Jewish Education | Rabbi Jim Rogozen, Director, Center for Excellence in Day School Education