What Do Educational Leaders in The Complementary Setting Need in The 21st Century?

What Do Educational Leaders in The Complementary Setting Need in The 21st Century?

Beyond curriculum, beyond programs, beyond mission and vision statements, stands the outstanding educator. These individuals, and the cadre they represent, matter more than anything else to the flourishing of complementary education. (Dr. Sarah Tauber)

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[ReFrame, an initiative of the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary, strengthens complementary schools, such as those housed in congregations, through the approach of experiential Jewish education. ReFrame asked a wide range of leaders in Jewish education to contribute to the initiative by addressing a series of questions related to the application of the experiential techniques which seem to serve so well in Jewish summer camps, Israel experiences, youth groups, and other popular settings associated with an experiential approach. The following article is one of the responses received. To learn more about ReFrame visit the website.]

by Dr. Sarah Tauber

Any analysis and understanding of the needs of Jewish educational leaders in complementary settings with specific regard to experiential education must include the following criteria:

Identifying those leaders (including clergy) with reputations as excellent educators and educational leaders, and gathering data from them and their constituents about their processes and approaches to teaching and learning. Without this kind of evidence we are functioning only on the level of theory, hearsay, and anecdote, rather than grounding our proposals in the lived experience and wisdom of practitioners who toil in our congregations and communal settings. Their voices must be heard.

Accepting the attenuated nature of Jewish home life for many American Jewish households, and seeking ways to foster the complementary setting as a “Jewish home away from home” that can become a framework and a bridge for these households to the Jewish aspects of their private lives.

Grounding the work of Davidson in its roots as the Teachers Institute, which, through Mordecai Kaplan’s influence, drew deeply upon and adapted John Dewey’s philosophy of experience and education. In this regard, Davidson, as the offspring of the Teachers Institute, reflects a very different orientation to Jewish education than the other divisions of JTS, one that ought to be mined as it moves forward in contributing to defining experiential Jewish education as a serious field of endeavor in the American Jewish universe.

The following remarks will address those three priorities. They are based upon my extensive research and scholarship on congregational rabbis as educators in congregational settings, on my extensive reading about educational leadership, and on my current work with mentors and students who are or aspire to become Jewish educational leaders in complementary settings.

Part One – Profiles of outstanding Jewish educators in complementary settings

Beyond curriculum, beyond programs, beyond mission and vision statements, stands the outstanding educator. These individuals, and the cadre they represent, matter more than anything else to the flourishing of complementary education. We need to know more about who they are and how they work. Some of these

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