Jody Hirsh, the director of Judaic Education at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has been chosen to receive the Morton L. Mandel Jewish Educational Leadership Award for his lifelong commitment to Jewish education. The Mandel Award is presented by JCC Association and will be awarded at the JCCs of North America Biennial Convention in March.

Prior to joining the Samson JCC in 1999, Hirsh taught Jewish studies at the University of California (both the Berkeley and Los Angeles campuses), Mills College, and the University of San Francisco as well as the Los Angeles University of Judaism and Hebrew Union College. In the fall of 1990 through the winter of 1992, he was a Jerusalem Fellow, concentrating on museum education at the Israel Museum and the Citadel Museum, with post-graduate work at the Hebrew University. For three years, he served as programme director of the Hong Kong Jewish Community Centre. Hirsh was honored with the 2005 Covenant Award for Outstanding Jewish Educator.

The Mandel Award is given biennially to an individual or an institution that has made a singular contribution to the enhancement of Jewish education in Jewish Community Centers and JCC camps