Programs
MCSJE has developed programs that engage and inspire established and emerging researchers and practitioners with the goal of driving impact in the field of Jewish education scholarship.
Featured Content Slideshow
Research
MCSJE’s faculty and community of affiliated scholars conduct research that promotes a deeper understanding of learners and learning in Jewish education.
Conferences and Events
MCSJE offers a robust schedule of events throughout the year. Many events are open to the public, while others are tailored to audiences of scholars or educational leaders.
The Leading Research Center for Jewish Educational Scholarship
The Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education (MCSJE) is dedicated to advancing the field of Jewish educational scholarship through expansive research on teaching and learning and by convening and catalyzing other scholars and practitioners in the field through important programs, events and conferences.
Upcoming Events
Using Both/And Thinking to Repair a Rift in Jewish Education | Dr. Tali Zelkowicz
February 27, 1 PM - 1:30 PM
Learning About Learning | The field of Jewish education has now been split into two sub-fields, referred to as “formal” or “informal” (or “experiential”) education. But this division is artificial and proving profoundly limiting, distorting, and even harmful. What might be the ultimate potential of the field were we able to employ a balanced and integrated use of the full range of educational competencies, across all settings? In this session, Tali Zelkowicz will share recent work, in which she applies both/and thinking to surface a more expansive and integrative vision of Jewish learning that can empower and endure.
Fraternities and Sororities as Jewish Communal Spaces | Dr. Jenny Small
March 20, 1 PM - 1:30 PM
Learning About Learning | Traditionally-Jewish fraternities and sororities are not often considered sites of Jewish community. In this session, Jenny L. Small will discuss findings from interviews with fraternity and sorority life (FSL) educators, revealing their perspectives that students in these organizations bear distinctly gendered burdens around Jewish heritage and continuity. The educators in this study lacked a strong understanding of Jewish identity and how students express those identities through FSL; however, effectively supporting these organizations can help them function as sites of belonging for Jewish college students during turbulent times on campus.
Spotlight on Contemporary Jewish Theology
May 1, 1 PM - 2:15 PM
Spotlight Session | In this session, we gather four leading scholars, each of whom has recently produced an important work of Jewish theology, to talk together about the implications of their ideas for Jewish education. What would it look like if we took these ideas seriously? What assumptions might we revisit about what we teach, how we teach, or other important educational questions? Panelists Julia Watts Belser (Georgetown University), Mara Benjamin (Mount Holyoke College), Yonatan Brafman (Tufts University), Shai Held (Hadar Institute) with Jon Levisohn (Brandeis University).
Featured Videos
Jewish Creativity: An Essential Aspiration for Jewish Education | Professor Miriam Heller Stern
November 7
Learning About Learning | Habits of creative thinking have sustained the Jewish people through centuries of crisis and opportunity. How might the enterprise of Jewish education reclaim and teach creativity? Weaving together a wide range of theory and research, including affective neuroscience, Jewish philosophy and education, and studies of creativity and arts education, Miriam Heller Stern discussed a framework for fostering Jewish creativity that can be pursued across the Jewish educational ecosystem.
Spotlight on Jewish Education after October 7th
October 31
Spotlight Session | The attack on October 7th, the ensuing war, and the changed environment in the US have all led to questions about how American Jewish educational institutions have responded, and how they should. What do we know about the impact of the last year on schools, synagogues, camps, Israel trips, and other initiatives? How have educators been affected? How have children? What new trends are emerging? In this session, a group of scholars and educational leaders offer ideas for educators and educational institutions one year into this new environment.
Fluid Meanings of the Yarmulke Across Educational Contexts | Dr. Anastasia Badder
January 23
Learning About Learning | In her article, "When a Yarmulke Stands for All Jews: Navigating Shifting Signs from Synagogue to School in Luxembourg," Anastasia Badder asks: How do congregational school students experience moments in which they were confronted with Jewishness outside of the classroom, in their secular schools and public spaces? And taking a material approach, how does the presence (and absence) of yarmulkes influence those experiences? In this session, she discussed findings from fieldwork she conducted as an ethnographer and teacher in a Jewish congregational school researching the ways children learn about and how to do Jewishness.