Jewish Education Innovation Challenge Announces New Program, New Partners
Bal Harbour, Florida, June 15, 2016 – Jewish Education Innovation Challenge (JEIC) announced today the launch of a new initiative to be run with support from three new partners. With this new initiative, JEIC hopes to discover innovative, engaging, inspiring, authentic, substantive and personally meaningful Jewish learning and teaching into our Jewish day schools.
Following the successes of the JEIC’s Day School Challenge and the Innovators Retreat, the new initiative is tentatively called the Team Challenge while a meaningful and definitive name is under consideration. The Team Challenge is the third JEIC initiative aimed at revitalizing a day school system in need of thoughtful and fresh approaches to Jewish learning.
Under the leadership of the Mayberg Foundation and with support from philanthropic partners Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah and Arnee R. and Walter A. Winshall and operational partner Joshua Venture Group, the JEIC Team Challenge will gather together a group of highly talented and motivated individuals for a facilitated, yearlong creative process to develop multiple innovative and engaging models for delivering Judaic education in Jewish day schools that can then be piloted in real-world schools.
The educational models created by this dedicated group will aim to empower students to embrace Jewish learning holistically. In a later phase of the Team Challenge, these models will be tested in existing schools, and the successful plans will be adapted, improved and shared among the broader Jewish educational community.
“The Jewish world is so privileged to have such talented and motivated partners behind this initiative,” said JEIC Founder and Mayberg Foundation Trustee Manette Mayberg. “It is an honor to work with such accomplished entrepreneurs in the Jewish education field, all of whom have accomplished so much already. I am excited to see what positive and lasting change we can create together through the Team Challenge.”
Jonathan Woocher, President of Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah said, “The goal of Jewish learning is not just to acquire knowledge. It’s to help us live more meaningful, purposeful, and responsible lives. We’re excited to be a partner in the Team Challenge because we’re confident that the new models that emerge will enable more day schools to provide this kind of learning to more students.”
Arnee Winshall added: “We have all benefited from the experience of being inspired by remarkable teachers and memorable learning experiences. We have seen such educators in action and the resulting impact on their students. We want to contribute to the possibility that every Jewish child will have the opportunity to be immersed in engaging and personally meaningful Jewish learning that will inform their lives and provide them with the tools and the passion as they become lifelong Jewish learners.”
Supported by like-minded partners, JEIC hopes to roll out similar creative initiatives in the future.
About JEIC
Jewish education should inspire our children, providing the foundation for a Jewish life. By supporting initiatives that embody the creative and experimental spirit of the Jewish people, the Jewish Education Innovation Challenge seeks to reignite the passion for learning that will sustain future generations.