February 6, 2012 - Boston, MA - Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP) announced today that it is the recipient of a $1.89 million grant for serving Jewish day school students with a wide range of special learning needs. CJP will receive $1.69 million from the Jim Joseph Foundation (JJF) and $200,000 from the Ruderman Family Foundation. CJP, partnering with Gateways: Access to Jewish Education, based in Newton, MA, and Yeshiva University’s Institute for University-School Partnership in New York, will work with six Boston-area Jewish day schools to create “whole school” models for serving students with a range of learning needs. The grant will establish professional development and training programs to build the capacity of teachers and school leaders so that they are well-equipped to better … Continue Reading
YU Students Talk Tachlis about Social Justice
by Abigail Pickus Tucked away in an office in South Tel Aviv, a group of unlikely bedfellows engaged in some weighty conversation. Stav Shafir, one of the most prominent leaders of the social protest movement that shook up Israel this past summer, and a group of Stern College for Women students of Yeshiva University in New York, talked tachlis about social justice. “This wasn’t a protest just about housing - housing was the symbol for all of our social services,” explained the 26-year-old Shafir as she delved into the issues that prompted hundreds of thousands of Israelis of all ages, backgrounds and ethnicities to demonstrate for a more just society. This encounter was just one stop on a multi-tiered, eight-day winter break Israel trip for Yeshiva University undergraduates run by the … Continue Reading
Claims Conference Chair Honored
With an annual budget of approximately $750 million, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) is certainly one of the major players in the Jewish world. However, with a significant portion of their budget coming from the government of the Federal Republic of Germany, the organization is mainly off the radar screen of all but their service partners and program recipients. Since 1952, and as a result of negotiations with the Claims Conference, the German government has paid more than $60 billion in indemnification for suffering and losses resulting from Nazi persecution. The organization is the largest provider of services to Holocaust survivors worldwide. Today, approximately $100 million is allocated through the JDC's Hessed program to provide services for victims … Continue Reading
When Good Donors Go Bad
by Robert I. Evans and Avrum D. Lapin What would you do if you were the executive director, the campaign chair, or board member of a reputable nonprofit organization and a wealthy individual steps forward promising a multi-million dollar gift? In all likelihood, you will accept the gift graciously and then transmit warm gratitude to the donor. Depending on the size of the gift, you may probably offer a prominent, permanent naming opportunity to memorialize the support. Sounds like a straightforward process that hopefully occurs regularly at nonprofits around the world. But what happens if that same donor becomes a national headline due to immoral, untoward, or even criminal behavior? What if that well-intentioned man or woman even goes to jail because of some bad doing? Has this individual … Continue Reading
For Whom the Full (Day School) Tuition Bell Tolls
by Dan Perla Here’s a fact many day school parents may find surprising. If you’re paying full tuition at a typical day school in the US, you’re still receiving a scholarship. According to data compiled by YU’s Institute for University-School Partnership, it appears that a majority of day schools in five major U.S. communities charge less in gross tuition than it actually costs them to educate a child. This amounts to a scholarship, or subsidy, for the roughly 50% of the families in this sample who are listed as “full paying” families. YU’s data is based on extensive financial information collected from nearly 40 schools in 5 communities across the US as part of an AVI CHAI-funded financial benchmarking program. The benchmarking program indicates that the average full paying … Continue Reading
YU’s Israel Summer Camp Initiative Becomes an Accredited Program for Jewish Service-learning
The Yeshiva University Center for the Jewish Future has announced that its “Counterpoint Israel Program,” a month-long service-learning initiative that aims to empower the next generation of Israeli youth via a Jewish values-driven summer camp experience, has been retooled to allow counselors to receive graduate level credits for their participation in the program. This new development makes Yeshiva University the world's first institution to offer an accredited program for Jewish service-learning. Now in its sixth year, Counterpoint Israel - supported by the Zusman Family and Repair the World and staffed by 34 students from the U.S., Canada, South Africa and New Zealand - will double in size with camps operating in Dimona, Arad and Yemin Orde between July 12th - August 18th. As in past … Continue Reading
YU Launches Certificate Program in Experiential Jewish Education
Yeshiva University, with support from the Jim Joseph Foundation, has launched a Certificate Program in Experiential Jewish Education, open to emerging and practicing Jewish educators. For the first cohort of this program, they are seeking passionate, creative and motivated individuals who want to impact the Jewish community by establishing or furthering their career in the field of Experiential Jewish Education. The Certificate Program runs for one year during academic breaks, beginning in June 2011. Four cutting edge seminars - coupled with mentorship, networking and career placement opportunities - will prepare the cohort to transform the landscape of Experiential Jewish Education and Jewish identity in frameworks ranging from camps to campuses and classrooms to communities. Additional … Continue Reading
New Master’s Concentration in Israel Education Launched
In a new partnership, six American academic institutions are teaming up to offer their graduate students a Master’s Concentration Program in Israel education. Selected students will study a common curriculum, gather together for eight colloquium days, receive ongoing individual mentoring, and create their own learning experience in Israel. Students are also expected to be proficient in Hebrew by the end of the program. The program will be coordinated by The iCenter, a national nonprofit whose aim is to dramatically enhance pre-collegiate Israel education in North America. Set to launch this May, the program is recruiting for its inaugural cohort of 18 students from: Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education at Yeshiva University Davidson School of Jewish Education at the Jewish … Continue Reading
Gen-Y is Hungry
by Rabbi Kenneth Brander It comes as no surprise that in a world where many neglect the importance of community, iPhones, iPods, and iPads constantly and consistently appear as the trendiest gadgets. These devices represent a culture that desires to deconstruct the power and purpose of community, placing all importance on the needs of the individual. Despite this societal disposition, I believe many young people of this generation possess an ever increasing eagerness to live lives of meaning. With all the serious setbacks brought on by our new economic realities, the “Gen-Y” generation has still had the opportunity to amass so much material stuff and travel with unprecedented frequency. But these fleeting objects and experiences do nothing to quench their thirst for a purposeful … Continue Reading
Short-Term Social-Justice Trips are Booming
Fueled by young Jews’ interest, short-term social-justice trips are booming, and becoming more professional. excerpted from Tamar Snyder in The Jewish Week: For years, the short-term service trip has been treated like the kid sister of the more established and professionalized yearlong Jewish service program. These short-term programs, which range from a week to 10 days, were often seen as more trouble than they were worth. A group of college students who had never touched a drill in their lives, but were inspired to do social justice work and live out the Jewish value of repairing the world, suddenly swooped into a downtrodden village in a Third World country and built a house - one that needed to be rebuilt by professionals after the well-meaning group had boarded their flight … Continue Reading
English