Jewish Reconstructionist Federation

Rabbi Erin Hirsh: JRF Director of EducationNearly 60 educators came together at Or Hadash in Fort Washington, PA for the Mid-Atlantic Educator’s Day.

[Watch Erin's charge to the education directors.]

They came from nine congregations ranging from Mechanicsburg, PA to Newark DE to Princeton, NJ. The topic was “Educating Reconstructionistly.” The keynote speaker was Rabbi Jacob Staub, author of Exploring Judaism.

He spoke about the Reconstructionist concept that tradition has a vote and not a veto. Teachers and education directors then broke into a series of workshops to explore their own engagement with tradition and how they can and do transmit it to our students.

Jacob Staub Speaking to Reconstructionist EducatorsThe first series of workshops focused on God, Israel, Prayer and the Civilizational Approach. This was followed by a series of workshops in which teachers divided into age groups to talk about how they really can target their work in developmentally appropriate and concrete ways.

The evaluations indicate that teachers found it empowering and invigorating to deepen their own knowledge while finding other Reconstructionist educators who are struggling with the same issues.