Cultures of Jewish Education: How Communities Address Local Educational Needs

Abstract:

This chapter seeks to understand how local communities go about the business of ensuring the support and stability of local programs of Jewish education. To what extent do they coordinate the work of various institutions? Do they conceive of Jewish education locally as a linked network of educating agencies or rather as a set of loosely connected, if not entirely uncoupled, schools, programs, and institutions? Have some communities created models of integration, and if so, have those efforts made a difference to the learners, educators, and to the educational programs themselves? To examine these questions, the author selected to analyze seven Jewish communities of different sizes and in different regions of the United States.