Inside Jewish Day Schools – Leadership, Learning, and Community

Alex Pomson is principal and managing director of Rosov Consulting Israel. He is coauthor of Jewish Family: Identity and Self-Formation at Home as well as coeditor of Jewish Day Schools, Jewish Communities: A Reconsideration, and the International Handbook of Jewish Education. Jack Wertheimer is the Joseph and Martha Mendelson Professor of American Jewish History at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Wertheimer is the author or editor of more than a dozen books, including The New Jewish Leaders: Reshaping the American Jewish Landscape, also published by Brandeis University Press.

"Inside Jewish Day Schools presents a unique perspective on Jewish education in North America and the factors that contribute to successful learning within the community and within the school. But perhaps even more significantly, as one prominent Jewish educator mentioned to me, the book, with its analysis of the nine schools, presents a series of excellent case studies that can advance and improve the state of Jewish education."

• IntroductionPart I: Lower and Middle Schools1. Progressively Maintaining the Middle—Hillel Torah, Skokie, IL2. A Forward-Looking Community School—Hillel Day School, Detroit3. The School as a “Gateway” —Brandeis Marin, California4. Nurturing Students’ Reflectiveness and Wellness—The Pressman Academy, Los Angeles5. Doing More with Less—Akiva, NashvillePart II: High Schools6. Re-centering the Centrist Orthodox Day School—The Rav Teitz Mesivta Academy, Elizabeth, NJ7. It’s All in a Name—Community Hebrew Academy of TorontoPart III: K-12 Schools8. How a Day School Transforms Itself—Hebrew Academy (RASG), Miami Beach, Florida9. The Yeshiva as Teiva (a protective ark)—Darchei Torah, Far Rockaway, NYConclusionAppendix: Day School Sectors by the NumbersGlossary of Terms