A TBT member whose children are adults asked me what I did during the summer, since classes were finished until the fall. I gave my usual answer “I recruit new teachers, continue to develop curriculum, hold teacher training, and work with different groups planning adult Jewish learning.” The latter is why we were having lunch.
After I got back to the office, I thought about his question some more. I realized that by listing tasks, I had really not answered him very well at all. What I really do all summer is assess the year just finished and dream about where we are going next. Did we move the dials in the right direction? What are we measuring? And finally, how does knowing those things help us move forward?
My friend and colleague, David Bryfman, is the CEO of the Jewish Education Project and in my opinion, an amazing Jewish Educator. In a recent speech, he said:
”One of the challenges of education is that everyone thinks they understand it because everyone has experienced it. But those of us who have devoted our lives to this work know something different. Helping another human being grow, discover meaning, wrestle with complexity and find belonging is sacred work.”
In other words, we need to look beyond what stage of Hebrew proficiency each child has reached. We need to look beyond the Jewish facts and information they know and can access. Make no mistake, we absolutely look at their reading skills and Judaic knowledge, but we need to reach deeper and further.
What we do in our classrooms needs to be about creating experiences that prepare them for the kind of wrestling Bryfman talks about. The world we are handing to them (and for that matter the one that was handed to us) requires more than knowing about Shabbat and holidays, life cycle events, stories, traditions and Jewish law. Again, those are part and parcel of the experience, but the totality is greater than all of those things. The world they are growing into is, as Bryfman says, very complex.
I could spend a dozen Shofar pages exploring the complexity of Israel, its trials and conflicts and the many different ways in which both Jews and the rest of the world have chosen to relate (or not relate) to it. I could do the same exploring issues around gender and sexuality, interfaith relations, antisemitism, race relations, politics both in the US and abroad and -- I think you understand where I am going. SO much of life is complex. Nuance and context are challenging things for any of us to take into account on almost any issue. My expounding is at best irrelevant.
We are trying – in 27 bursts of 60, 90 or 150 minutes per year – to prepare our students to wrestle those and other issues for themselves. We are helping them to build a toolkit of Jewish values. When they encounter almost anything – including issues we cannot imagine – they can reach in and find some ideas and resources to help them decide what is right for them, and hopefully for the Jewish people. They may choose differently than I, but it will be from a position of knowledge.
That is the point. We need to help them grow and develop their own pathways. Our brief is to help them choose a route that takes their essential Jewish identity as a main guidepost.
That’s what I do in the summer – figure out ways to do that better. One of those ways is to find people who are passionate about the growth and development of Judaism and Jewish peoplehood to become teachers in our school. As of today, June 11, 2026, I need one more teacher. It would be amazing if it was a TBT member! What wonderful modelling! Please email me at rsdirector@tbtshoreline.org. Or go to https://bit.ly/MeetwithIra and set up an appointment with me! I am around most of the summer! Let’s get coffee, tea or something cool to drink while we talk.
In the meantime, have an amazing summer!
L’shalom,
Ira J. Wise, D.J.R.E.
Temple Educator