Visions of Jewish Education

This book looks at the philosophical consideration of Jewish existence in our time, as reflected in Jewish education, its alternative visions, its purposes and instrumentalities, the values it should serve, and the personal and social character it ought to foster. Prevalent conceptions and practices of Jewish education are neither sufficiently reflective nor thoroughgoing enough to meet the multiple challenges that the world now poses to Jewish existence and continuity. New efforts are needed to develop an education of the future that will honor the riches of the Jewish past and grasp the opportunities of fruitful interactions with the general culture of the present. To promote such efforts, six leading scholars in this book formulate their variant visions of an ideal Jewish education for the contemporary world. This book also translates these visions into educational practice and, finally, articulates a vision abstracted from a case study of a school's ongoing practice.

Part I. The Vision Project: 1. Envisioning Jewish education; 2. The project in operation; 3. Six visions: an overview; Part II: 4. Visions in detail: what must a Jew study and why? Isadore Twersky; 5. Jewish studies in Israel from a liberal-secular perspective Menachem Brinker; 6. We are as those who dream: an agenda for an ideal Jewish education Moshe Greenberg; 7. Reflections on the educated Jew from the perspective of reform Judaism Michael A. Meyer; 8. Educated Jews: common elements Michael Rosenak; 9. The concept of the educated person: with some applications to Jewish education Israel Scheffler; Part III. Visions in Context: 10. The art of translation Seymour Fox; 11. Before the gates of the school: an experiment in developing educational vision from practice Daniel Marom; Conclusion: the courage to envision.