Blog

In anticipation of a new and challenging school year, educators from BJE’s Day School networks had the long-missed opportunity to gather in-person and COVID-safe, for training sessions:

Three educators were surprised with the prestigious Jewish Educator Award (JEA) and an individual $15,000 prize during outdoor all-school assemblies.  A fourth recipient will be surprised later this fall.  The annual awards are presented by the Milken Family Foundation (MFF) in partnership with Builders of Jewish Education (BJE).

The 2021 JEA recipients are:

Even amid the challenges of the pandemic, BJE’s 2020-2021 Campaign exceeded its goal thanks to our generous donor community and committed leadership. Services required of BJE, by our community’s schools, educators, parents and students were significantly greater this year. Your generosity helped ensure that BJE was able to respond to additional needs, quickly and nimbly.

Having difficult conversations – with parents, colleagues, employees and supervisors – is part of any early childhood director’s experience. Learning how to successfully navigate these conversations so that each party feels heard, and progress can be made, is critical.

BJE Honors Religious School Educators

Like educators in so many settings, teachers and administrators in part-time religious schools rose to the challenges of this year in a huge way, pivoting overnight to digital platforms, and often providing critical emotional support to students overwhelmed by the pandemic. It is BJE’s great privilege to honor six of these educators.

Counting each day of the seven weeks between Pesach and Shavuot is referred to as Sefirat Ha’Omer – a reference to the “wave offering” of a sheaf of ripe grain (an Omer), brought to the Temple in Jerusalem, from the beginning of the grain harvest in Israel to its conclusion.

The Talmud considers this period to be one of semi-mourning, in memory of a plague (or Roman soldiers) that killed thousands of Rabbi Akiva’s students.

For two weeks, friends of BJE March of the Living helped make a huge impact on social media by donating to BJE’s special Facebook campaign, sharing the campaign with their friends, and holding their own Facebook campaigns. The result of these efforts was the most successful single social media campaign BJE MOTL has held to date, helping raise $30K, exceeding BJE’s goal.

On Wednesday Evening, April 7th, 7:30-9:00pm PST, BJE MOTL and partner SOCAL Shinshinim will host a special Erev Yom HaShoah program, an evening of remembrance featuring Holocaust survivor and artist Gabriella Karin. Gabriella has travelled on the March with BJE’s LA-based delegation in the past, and will share her powerful story of resiliency. Register for this free BJE MOTL Yom HaShoah program.