Educators

Help Students Navigate the Challenges of Their Age with Today's Hot Topics

Our teenage students face many issues in their daily lives. Whether those issues are digital, medical, social, or ethical, the new Today's Hot Topics can help encourage students, teachers, and families to explore the issues of the day and develop their own opinions informed by Jewish values.  Each chapter of Today's Hot Topics includes a complete package of resources that will help you lead discussion about a Hot Topic with your students. The chapter packages contains:

Save on Your End-of-the-Year Certificates

The end of the school year is coming, and Behrman House is ready to help you prepare.  From now through April 15, you can save 50% on new end-of-the-year certificates to thank volunteers, acknowledge teachers, and help your students celebrate their accomplishments.  You can receive 50% on 50 or more of the new certificates that feature artwork from renowned Israeli artist Rinat Gilboa. Use the code 'Certificate2016'* through April 15th.  The new certificates commemorate:

Apples & Honey Press Spring Titles Featuring New Characters and Returning Favorites!

It's almost time to add new holiday stories and old favorites from Apples & Honey Press to your shelves!

Shalom Hebrew OLC App Now Available

Practice Hebrew at home, school or on the go – on any device! Developed in conjunction with the Jewish Journey Project, Shalom Hebrew OLC App is a digital primer to learn decoding, Hebrew letters, vowels, and keywords. Packed with engaging features, interactive reading exercises that can be recorded and reviewed by educators, and more than a dozen games, Shalom Hebrew OLC App makes learning to read Hebrew fun AND effective for students of all ages.

Encourage Young Children to Participate in Your Passover Seder

In recent years, we have released three essential titles to help create new ways for families with young children to participate in their Passover seder.  With help from The Gateways Haggadah, Frogs in the Bed, and Kayla and Kugel's Almost-Perfect Passover, your children will be interested and engaged during the seder. 

Why Jingles Work

You know how those silly jingles you hear on the radio or TV stay in your head for hours? There's a reason some work so well - and it has to do with memory and emotion. Companies use jingles to help customers remember their business name and products. Songs in commercials can help put listeners in a good mood, which they then associate with the company.  For example, when FreeCreditReport.com released its commercials with those catchy songs, it saw a 20%  increase in website memberships. 

The Fast Track to Hebrew and Prayers

The Hineni series has been a long time favorite resource for teaching Hebrew and prayers. The new Hineni Express, by Ellen Rank, offers the same proven approach as Hineni 1, 2, and 3, combined into one easy-to-use volume. It's especially useful for studnets who have joined your program in 5th grade or later.

Get Your Haggadot From Bed Bath and Beyond this Passover

This Passover, visit your closest Bed Bath & Beyond* to get copies of Simply Seder and Family Haggadah: A Seder for All Generations. The Passover titles will be available for purchase at more than 100 Bed Bath & Beyond locations in early March. 

In Memory of Ruby Strauss z’l

By David Behrman Many who read this will not have known our former colleague Ruby Strauss, but you are reading her words in your books, and using her books in your classrooms. She was a powerhouse—our vice president and the editor of the vast bulk of what we published for almost 20 years before she retired in 1998.  Her work had remarkable range—she spanned Hebrew and Judaica, was an editor and an art director—and she had a good eye, a keen visual sense, and a good ear—a feel for words and verbal expression.

Mindfulness and the Brain

People who practice meditation and mindfulness have long reported health benefits, from lower blood pressure to reduced anxiety. New research released this week shows that such practices can actually change your brain. "To meditate mindfully demands 'an open and receptive, nonjudgmental awareness of your present-moment experience,'"says J. David Creswell, who led the study and is an associate professor of psychology and the director of the Health and Human Performance Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University in this week's announcement.

How to Host an Inclusive Passover Seder

Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month (JDAIM)may be coming to an end, but with help from Gateways: Access to Jewish Education, we can continue our inclusive mindset through the year.  Last year we introduced The Gateways Haggadah: A Seder for the Whole Family, which offers something truly amazing - a place for all at the Passover table. 

Hot Topics: Is the Final Four Fair?

The latest Hot Topics wants to know, should the NCAA pay its athletes? While the NCAA and TV networks make billions off of the Final Four college basketball tournament, the players themselves do not make any money for their efforts. In this lesson, students learn about the Jewish view on employment rights, and negotiate and draw up contracts for college basketball players based on these rights. 

Save on Your Passover Haggadot Today!

It's time for the annual Haggadah sale at Behrman House!  Starting February 24, and continuing through March 30th, take an extra five percent off on Passover haggadot, on top of your regular discounts, and get free shipping* on orders of 50 books or more! You can mix and match any of the titles below to get to 50 books.  Haggadah Sale Titles Include:

Crazy Weather Got You Anxious? Try Coloring!

Adult coloring books are all the rage these days, and for many reasons.  Coloring for adults offers mental benefits. In 2005, research proved that anxiety levels dropped when subjects colored mandalas.  We took this into consideration when we published Shalom Coloring: Jewish Designs for Contemplation and Calm in 2015. 

Everyone is Welcome

How can we welcome all children, regardless of their physical, emotional, or intellectual challenges, into our classrooms and the community of their peers? This question often tears at the hearts of professionals and leaders of the Jewish communities. Building an inclusive program in your school doesn't need to be overwhelming. With help from Everyone is Welcome, previously published by URJ Press, authors Rabbi Steven Rau and Stacey Levy offer a proven and accessible approach to creating a culture of inclusion in your community. 

The Healing Power of Music

Music holds a special power. Just ask Rabbi Ron Isaacs.  Apples & Honey author and rabbi emeritus of Temple Sholom in Bridgewater, New Jersey, works part-time as music therapist for patients receiving palliative care.  "I play my guitar, I sing for (and sometimes with) them, I encourage them to keep the beat with rhythm instruments, to make any special requests, even to talk about memories that the songs evoke," Isaacs explains. 

Your First 2016 Golem Package is Shipping Soon!

It's almost time! The first Golem package is scheduled to ship the first week of March. This Golem package features a new Passover title from Apples & Honey Press, two student journals, new cross-platform Hebrew curriculums, and a new approach to the popular Hineni series. 

What Can We Learn Through Song?

Music plays a regular part in our worlds, from the radio playing during our commutes and music sessions during Shabbat to prayers in school and songs at summer camp. How are the songs we are exposed to in our daily lives shaping us and our values?

Where Do You Go for Your Resources?

We believe that real teachers create the most relevant and engaging educational resources.  That's why we've reorganized Babaganewz as an open marketplace for Jewish educators to find, share, and even sell original, teacher-created resources. The Babaganewz open marketplace model promotes resource quality, quantity, and availability. 

What Would You Ask Miriam?

From the courage of the midwives as they save the Israelite babies to Moses standing up for justice to Miriam's thankfulness at the Sea of Reeds, students can learn something new about how to apply Jewish values to their own everyday challenges. 

Teach Israel

 Experience Modern Israel

New from Behrman House. Fly to Israel without a plane ticket.

Discover Israel

 Let's Discover Israel

Offer younger children an exciting and age-appropriate introduction to the Jewish homeland