How do we measure Jewish identity?
Stanford professor, Ari Y. Kelman has been actively studying "how people learn to be Jewish" and recently shared his views in jweekly.
Even as a teenager Kelman questioned why all the educational questions seemed to be connected with the value of a strong Jewish identity.
"My job is to ask really hard questions about the field," Kelman said. "Why is identity the desired outcome of Jewish education?"
Identity has been a main focus in the Jewish world for many years, yet why it should be the goal of Jewish education has not been adequately studied by Jewish scholars.
In order to provoke a national scholarly conversation about Jewish identity, Kelman and Co-chair Jon Levisohn hosted a conference called "Rethinking Jewish Identity and Education."
You can read the full article here.
"Scholars and educators should come up with alternatives that better reflect the ways that Jews live," Kelman explained, "To put their Jewish lives in conversation with other aspects of themselves."
What does Jewish identity mean to you? How does it fit in with the goals of Jewish education? Let's talk about it on Facebook!
