Lisa D. Grant

Adult Jewish Learning: What Do We Know? What Do We Need to Know?

This article describes the emergence of the field of adult Jewish learning and the need for research in this burgeoning aspect of contemporary Jewish life. The authors describe the context in which the upsurge of adult Jewish learning has occurred, drawing attention to the absence of systematic data collection about programs, funding structures, or long-term impacts. They review existing research about adult Jewish learners, learning experiences, and teachers, and identify three categories (and numerous questions) for future research: (1) the purposes of adult Jewish learning; (2) adult Jewish learning settings, subject matter, and methods of instruction; and (3) underrepresented groups in adult Jewish learning programs.

Pluralistic Approaches to Israel Education

Teaching Israel is a complex endeavor in todays world where the founding myths of Israel no longer appear to capture the hearts and minds of American Jews as they did a generation ago. As a result, a new way of speaking about and conceptualizing Israel education is evolving among researchers, program providers, policy makers, and many teachers. Through an in-depth case study, this paper explores whether and how this new way of thinking and speaking about Israel actually plays out in a community Jewish day high school that espouses a commitment to critical thinking and pluralistic education. The analysis is informed by a conceptual framework that argues that a meaningful and holistic approach to Israel education demands critical engagement with both the sacred vision and complex realities of Israel, past, present, and future as well as the literature on pluralism in Jewish educational settings. The key question threaded throughout the article is: How does a pluralistic Jewish curriculum navigate between fostering open inquiry and supporting a commitment to Israel and the Jewish people?

THE ROLE OF MENTORING IN ENHANCING EXPERIENCE OF A CONGREGATIONAL ISRAEL TRIP

Many adult American Jews travel to Israel, at least in part, to try to understand how it fits into their own life story. Most of them have a story of religious and or ethnic identification, involvement or non-involvement that shapes what they explicitly or subconsciously expect from a trip to Israel. The stories are varied and complex. For some, an Israel trip represents the fulfillment of a long-time dream. Others go out of a sense of curiosity or obligation. Some go to mark a family life cycle event such as a childs bar or bat mitzvah or their own adult bat mitzvah. For others, it serves as a benchmark— a way to measure personal growth from one stage of adulthood to another. For others still, it is part of a newly discovered or reawakened interest in Judaism. Though they may seek out and encounter vastly different experiences of Israel, many are after an answer to the same questions: Where do I belong? What is my place in this story of the Jewish people? In this paper, I explore how the religious experiences of mid-life adults on a congregational Israel trip might be developed into lasting and meaningful life change after re-

Authenticity, Autonomy, and Authority: Feminist Jewish Learning among Post-Soviet Women

This articles explores how a group of women in the Former Soviet Union grapple with questions of Jewish identity and Jewish “authenticity” as they participate in adult Jewish learning program that employs methods of feminist pedagogy and transformative learning. The study reflects on areas of dissonance between the transformational learning process and the tenacity of the womens world assumptions that are shaped by background, history, and worldview. While the learning process seems to be prompting these women to seriously and critically reflect on and reframe their self-understanding as learners and as Jews, their limited content-knowledge combined with a tentative sense of personal authority about Jewish life seems to impede their ability to harmonize their learning with a clear sense of what constitutes authentic practice of Judaism.

Adult Jewish Learning: The Landscape

In a retrospective review of the research literature, Schuster and Grant (2005) described the evolution of the field of adult Jewish learning, situating the blossoming of adult Jewish learning in the historical and social contexts of the late twentieth century. Here they ask how contemporary social forces have led to new developments in the field and what changes and priorities appear to be shaping the vision and decisions of adult education planners and policy makers today. Using Schwab’s four commonplaces as an organizing frame, they describe the increasingly diverse constituencies who now participate in adult Jewish learning activities; assess the impact of various contemporary social and historical factors on the learning needs of these groups; suggest a new conceptual framework for situating the “where, when, and what” of different types of learners and the learning programs that attract them; and offer suggestions for future planning and research in the field of adult Jewish learning.

Rabbis as Educators: Their Professional Training and Identity Formation

This chapter explores the professional preparation and identity formation of rabbis who define their role as rabbi-educator in a variety of settings including day schools and congregations. Our research focuses on how these rabbi-educators in both Israel and North America describe the contributions they can make to their setting based on their combined training. The study reveals both similarities and differences in how the professional identity of these rabbi-educators is shaped. Americans and Israelis in our study share two goals. These include (1) their educational mission to align the Jewish world with Jewish life; and (2) their desire to serve as spiritual mentors or guides for their various constituents. In addition, the Israelis articulate a broader mission of promoting a pluralistic agenda in Israeli society. While each of these individual goals may not distinguish these rabbi-educators, their interrelationship does. Indeed, it may be that the first goal is shared with other educators; the second goal is shared with other rabbis; and the third goal is shared with others working to create a more pluralistic society in Israel.

CONNECTION AND CARING: THE ROLE OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP IN ADULT JEWISH LEARNING

Abstract This article explores how the role of educational leadership can significantly enhance adult Jewish learning experiences through an in-depth examination of the position of site director at the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School, a two-year program of adult Jewish learning operating at more than sixty sites across North America. Applying the literature on moral leadership that is shaped by an ethic of caring, the author shows how these site directors care for their learners and build learning communities. The article explores how the site directors shape, support, and sustain the learning process at this particular program and considers how the role of educational leadership can enhance and enrich adult Jewish learning in other venues.

“Like a Distant Cousin”: Bi-Cultural Negotiation as Key Perspective in Understanding the Evolving Relationship of Future Reform Rabbis with Israel and the Jewish People

This research explores the impact of a year studying in Israel on Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) rabbinical students’ emotional connection toward and knowledge about the State of Israel and the Jewish People. We want to better understand the students’ beliefs, ideas, and behaviors that emerge from their experience including “ideological dilemmas” that they confront and negotiate. The study is based on a series of three interviews conducted with 10 students at the start and end of their year in Israel, and again in their third or fourth year of school. Findings are presented along a continuum of belonging and connection and suggest that understanding how these future rabbis relate to Israel and the Jewish People is strongly tied to how they negotiate their American and Jewish identities and to their different perceptions of Judaism: as a religion or as a civilization.