CAJE Goes Green

By Ellen Bernstein

Dear Friends,

For the first time in its 33-year history CAJE will offer an ECO-Track at its conference at the University of Vermont in Burlington.

We have put together a wonderful array of 59 sessions on Judaism and ecology, from the practical to the pleasurable to the sublime.

You’re invited to:

• daven outdoors;
• learn in the Eco beit midrash;
• study with an array of 20 teachers who have been developing the field Judaism and ecology for over 20 years;
• hike and bike in the beautiful Vermont countryside;
• experience nature from a Jewish perspective;
• to discover the world of Jewish farms and farming, and how to bring these practices to your classroom.

You’re invited to learn how to teach Jewish values by using nature’s classroom.

This is truly a unique opportunity. For the first time, 20 pioneers in the field of Judaism and ecology are joining together and volunteering their time and their expertise with the hopes of creating a sea change in the Jewish community and engaging Jews more deeply in ecological thinking and environmental concerns. We all believe that our tradition has much to offer the Environmental Movement, and we are eager to share our work with you.

So please join us this summer.

You don’t need to be a Jewish educator to love the CAJE conference. The Conference is for all of us who love learning and experiencing the joy of Jewish community.

We are particularly eager for people who have never been to CAJE to join us — especially those of you who may have a strong interest in environment, nature or the outdoors.

Scholarships are available to college students (apply through the Schusterman Fellowship program). And scholarships are available to adults (who need them) who plan on taking at least 10 sessions in the ECO-Track. College Credit is even available from Hebrew College for those who are taking at least 10 eco-track sessions and are interesting in getting academic credit.

Scholarships are on a first-come, first-served basis, so apply now!

To learn more and register, go to CAJE.org.

Kol tuv,
Ellen Bernstein
Chair, CAJE ECOTRACK
Founder, Shomrei Adamah
http://www.ellenbernstein.org

Look Who’s Coming to CAJE 33

By Joel M. Hoffman

With 100 days to go until our August conference, here are a few statistics about who’s coming to CAJE 33:

• Fiften percent (about one in seven) are first-time attendees. (Why not become one of them?)
• Almost 3% do not live in the U.S.A.
• Over 15% are arriving in time to celebrate Shabbat with us.
• About half are teachers.
• About one third are directors or administrators.
• Five percent of the session proposals involve magic markers.

Count the Omer with CAJE

By Joel M. Hoffman

The seven-week period from the second day of Passover to Shavuot is known as the Omer, and it represents our broad journey from slavery to Torah. It’s a time of personal growth, and renewed attention to vision: Where do you want to be? What do you want to do? How will you get there?

At CAJE 33, we’ll be using this time to craft the final program for Vermont. As we put pieces in place, we’ll post frequent updates here. So stay tuned - or even chime in with a comment - and join us on our Omer journey. (We already have information on the Roundtable Fishbowl and the “Who We Are” track.)

As a thought for these 50 days, I quote Ralph Waldo Emerson: “[Education] is to be created not by compulsion, but by awakening a pure interest in knowledge.” Many supplementary schools feel too much like the slavery of Egypt and not enough like the joy of receiving Torah. CAJE 33 is working to fix that.

Who we are!

By Mel Birger-Bray

With over 700 people 1,100 people representing almost 40 U.S. states and 4 continents already registered for CAJE 33, I want to add my voice to those who are eagerly anticipating a wonderful CAJE conference this August.

I’m particularly excited to be Co-Chairing CAJE 33 this year. One of the things Im focusing on is a new track called “Who we are”, designed to focus our collective attention on the growing diversity in our schools and shuls. Dr. Richard Freund, one of our Shabbat scholars, will play a load role in the “Who we are” track, teaching, for example, about the Jews of Latin America. Edward (Buzz) Bray will offer advice on sensitizing teachers to interfaith families and a converts’ path to Judaism.

As a Gay Jew who has not always felt included, I know what important roles teachers can play in fostering diversity and educating our communities.

Whoever you are, and wherever you’re from, I’m looking forward to welcoming you to CAJE 33.

The 2008 CAJE Conference Just Keeps Getting Better

By Joel M. Hoffman

As we mark the intermediate days of Passover and reflect on our freedom, I thought I’d bring you up to date on some recent additions to the 2008 CAJE conference (known to you and me as CAJE 33). But it’s hard to know where to start!

In addition to the Roundtable Fishbowl on the future of Jewish supplemental education, the Environmental Track, plenaries, evening entertainment, and other highlights you already know about, we’re thrilled that the conference will include such stars as former ambassador Dennis Ross, actor and author Evan Handler, MacArthur genius award recepient Liz Lerman, musician Craig Taubman, and much more.

And even though the conference is months away, we just received our 700th application 1,100th application.

Happy Passover!

The Roundtable Fishbowl

By Joel M. Hoffman

(See the full-size graphic.)

Hi Everyone,

I have lots of news about CAJE 33. Even at this early date, we already have over 400 people 1,100 people signed up! And with tracks on the environment, the future of Jewish education, teacher training, and much more, it’s shaping up to be a very exciting 5-days. No wonder there’s such a buzz in the air about CAJE 33.

I’m particularly excited about the roundtable fishbowl, which brings together seven people who collectively represent over 100 years of formal education and nearly 300 years of experience. They’ll engage in a directed conversation about the future of Jewish education, with Monday and Tuesday afternoons devoted to every aspect of what our schools should like like, and how to get there.

The audience will listen to the conversation, and even have the opportunity to contribute by sending text-messages or e-mail to a moderator. (Computers will be set up around the room to help make this possible.)

The People

The seven participants - three rabbis, two PhD’s, one principal, one lawyer, a change-management expert, and 4 graduate-school faculty members (these people all do more than one thing!) - represent every aspect of congregational education and come from a wide variety of religious and institutional backgrounds.

This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity puts David Behrman, Mara Braunfeld, Dr. Steven Cohen, Rabbi Ed Feinstein, Rabbi Larry Hoffman, Linda Klonsky, and Rabbi Danny Zemel all at one table. And thanks to CAJE, you get to be there, too.

Register Now!

A Note from Iris: CAJE 33 Briefing

By Iris Petroff

I am very pleased to announce that beginning next week registration information and applications will be available online at www.caje.org for the 33^rd Conference on Alternatives in Jewish Education.

CAJE 33 will take place from August 10 - 14^th in Burlington, VT on the beautiful University of Vermont in Burlington campus. Conference Chair Joel Hoffman and Co-chair Melanie Birger-Bray in collaboration with CAJE staff and volunteers are doing a wonderful job of planning CAJE 33. It’s going to be a very exciting conference and I urge you to attend.

Though full conference information will shortly be available online at www.caje.org I want to take this opportunity to single out some of the new innovations that you will find at CAJE 33.

These include:

• A new planning process. Rather than heavily making use of the more traditional conference calls, the program is being planned though the use of online wikis. Kol Hakavod to Joel for pushing us to model the use of 21^st century technology. As a valued member of CAJE we want to invite you to help add your voice to the conference. You can become involved in the planning process by going to CAJE 33 planning wiki at http://www.lashon.net/cgi-bin/moin.cgi/Caje33.

• Modeling one of our conference themes of going GREEN, CAJE 33 will only offer online conference registration (at www.caje.org). There will be no paper applications for CAJE 33. This will enable us to cut down on paper and printing costs as well as provide a more environment friendly way to process information.

• In 2008 Tisha B’ Av falls on Sunday August 10^th which is also the start date for the conference. We are planning for a wonderful Shabbat and meaningful Tisha B’ Av observance, as CAJE did three years ago with a unique Shabbat and Tisha B’ Av program at University of Washington in Seattle. To date, Shabbat Scholars include Richard Freund and Ellen Dreskin. This year, in recognition that some of our CAJE participants would prefer not to travel on Tisha B’ Av, we will provide a discounted Monday registration option.

• Over the past several years CAJE has seen a continued decrease in the number of children enrolled in our childcare programs. Last year we had only 20 children enrolled, ranging in age from six months to eleven years. This decrease is due to the twin phenomena of older CAJE participants who no longer need childcare and younger full time professionals who don’t bring their children to a professional development conference. A significant amount of volunteer and staff time have gone into programs for very few participants and due to the very transitory nature of the program and the wide range of ages we have not been able to offer the type of high quality child care setting we know is developmentally appropriate. Therefore we have made the decision that the Coalition will no longer offer child care at our conferences.

• For the past few years our Teen Leadership Kallah program at the conference was generously underwritten by a grant from the Reinhard Family Foundation. Last summer the grant for this program ended. Due to lack of funding we will be unable to offer the Teen Leadership Kallah program for CAJE 33.

• We are thrilled to continue to build upon CAJE’s successful collaborations with other organizations to sponsor their events within the CAJE conference structure. Intensive conference within a conference programs will include:
  
  · The Consortium for the Jewish Family

· The URJ CHAI Curriculum Training Institute

· The URJ Mitkadem Training Institute

· Panim’s National Educators’ Institute for Jewish Service-Learning

· Challenge and Change: History of Jews in America

· Hebrew College and Siegel College intensives for college credit

· Creating Mentor Teachers: A Promising Approach to Teacher Excellence with Sara Lee

• We are also very excited about the new and returning tracks for this year’s conference. Participants will be able to take sessions in one track or will be able to choose sessions from a variety of tracks, in the same way CAJE participants have for many conferences past. The tracks are:

• • Jewish Congregational Education: Evolution AND Revolution
  • The Early Childhood Conference @ CAJE 33
  • Eco-Judaism
  • Technology: Jewish Learning 2.0
  • Teacher Track
  • Methods and Resources for Teaching Hebrew
  • Education Directors Track
  • Israel @ 60
  • Who We Are
  • What We Know Now about Jewish Education
  • Judaic Basics
  • Hebrew
  • Hebrew Speakers
    
• Additionally, get ready for some great late nights with the second season of the CAJE take on American Idol - CAJE Rising Stars.

This is but a small taste of what CAJE 33 has in store for you! Next week go to the CAJE website www.caje.org to register for CAJE 33 and to find more conference details.

I look forward to seeing you in August at CAJE 33 in beautiful Burlington, VT.

Iris

Iris Petroff, President