Volume 67, Issue 8

Jewish Teacher’s Corps looks for College Graduates to Teach Around U.S.

by Elad Cnaan

A preponderance of Jewish day schools in America has recently reported that they lack qualified Judaic studies teachers.  In response, Edah and the AVI CHAI Foundation have united together to develop an exciting program to attract potential teachers and train them for educational positions in Jewish communities around America.

Edah and the AVI CHAI Foundation are two organizations that have recently begun to develop educational initiatives to create future leaders of the Jewish community with the values of Modern Orthodoxy.  Of late, Edah has been involved with the establishment of the “left-wing” Orthodox rabbinical seminary, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah.

The AVI CHAI Foundation funds part of the Birthright missions to Israel with the goal of encouraging Jewish learning, observance and mutual understanding and sensitivity among Jews of different religious backgrounds.

During the spring of 2001, Rabbi Saul Berman of Edah and also a teacher at Stern College for Women and Ms. Mem Bernstein of AVI CHAI decided to implement an idea that has been tossed around for a number of years, the Jewish Teachers Corps.  Although Yeshiva as well as Brandeis University are specifically targeted Jewish institutions, all graduating college and post-graduate students with an interest in Jewish education are encouraged to apply.

Rabbi Uri Gordon of the AVI CHAI Foundation is in charge of running the program.  He hopes to recruit a number of graduates from such Northeast colleges as Yeshiva, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania.

The program begins in July with a four-week intensive training seminar that will begin preparing the participants to become teachers.  Upon successful completion of the seminar, teachers will move to six different cities around the U.S. – Chicago, San Francisco, and South Florida are just a few of the areas being considered – and begin teaching Judaic as well as secular subjects in the local Jewish day schools and high schools.

Participants will receive a stipend in addition to the invaluable training gained from the seminar and by observing their master teachers who will also serve as personal mentors.  The duration of the program is supposed to be around two years with an emphasis on the second year to bolster the accomplishments of the first.

The Jewish Teachers Corps is modeled after Teach for America (TFA), a successful program that attracts graduating college students with academic majors to commit two years to teaching in urban public schools.  TFA recruits the top 10-15 percent of graduating seniors who demonstrate leadership and proficient social skills, along with a keen psychological awareness.  Similarly, the Jewish Teachers Corps looks to recruit graduates who have these abilities in addition to a deep connection to Torah, the State of Israel, and the Jewish people.

Gordon emphasizes the rigorous entry requirements as an indication of the demanding nature of the program. He estimates some 18 Fellows will ultimately be accepted based on their recommendations, resume, personal achievements, and a minimum 3.2 G.P.A. Gordon sells the program to “talmidim who have had an exposure of a year or two in a yeshiva of some sort in Israel, plus the years in university spent in a way that reflect genuine commitment to Torah, to Am Yisrael, to Medinat Yisrael.”

Despite the program’s ambition to attract the brightest and the best, Yeshiva College junior Eli Cohn is skeptical of the program’s future.  “To invite unqualified graduated college students to prepare for a field in education in about a month or so is an insult to academic institutions such as Azrieli [School of Education] which require longer intensive training before sending teachers out to the work force.”

However, Cohn does add that, “the goal to involve people in Jewish education is extremely important and can only be positive.  The fact that the issue is being addressed is certainly a good thing.”

YC senior Eddie Farbenblum disagrees.  “I think that there is a tremendous shortage of qualified teachers,” explains Farbenblum, “and hopefully this program will encourage our best to consider being involved in Jewish education.”

One YC student marvels at how the program mirrors another educational initiative started recently by the Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik Institute in Boston.  This institute has created a similar program to facilitate Jewish study and actively develop Jewish leadership.  “The timing is striking,” remarks this YC student, “and I am not really quite sure what the differences between the two are.”

In any case, the agenda of the Jewish Teacher’s Corps is surely ambitious with a plan to better the educational system of America’s Jewish day schools.  The Jewish Teacher’s Corps calls out to all potential teachers with the slogan of, “If you could inspire the next generation of day school students… would you?” It’s hard not to answer such a question.♦

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