Graduate School of Education and Human Development officials launched a center to expand Jewish education and tackle “modern challenges” faced by Jewish community members Wednesday.
The Collaboratory: A Center for Jewish Education will address antisemitism on college campuses, expand access to expert research on the Israel-Hamas war and promote GW’s Israel Education program, which offers master’s and graduate certificates in Israeli education, according to a University release. The release states that the center will engage three pre-existing programs — the Collaborative for Applied Studies in Jewish Education, the graduate programs in Israel Education and Experiential Jewish Education, and Mayberg Center for Jewish Education and Leadership — in furthering Jewish education research, leadership and public engagement initiatives.
Benjamin Jacobs, the director of graduate programs in Israel Education and Experiential Jewish Education, will co-direct the program with Arielle Levites, the executive director of the Collaborative for Applied Studies in Jewish Education. Jacobs said the trio of programs, which GW has developed over the past decade, will collaborate to combat current challenges facing the Jewish community.
Officials launched The Consortium for Applied Studies in Jewish Education in 2011 and moved the program to GSEHD in 2016. GSEHD established the master’s degree in Israel Education in 2021 and launched the Mayberg Center for Jewish Education in 2019.
“The Collaboratory’s three programs have a robust history of significant contributions to the field of Jewish education, addressing timely and critical needs,” Jacobs said in the release.
The release states that the center will also explore what it means to belong in Jewish and global communities, expand community engagement by creating hubs of education and conversation and build support for Jewish professional leaders.
GSEHD Dean Michael Feuer said the center will bring separate programs together to expand Jewish education offerings and awareness of current issues affecting the Jewish community on campus and globally.
“The Collaboratory is positioned to lend vision, coherence and rigor to a diverse and segmented field, and to explore the underlying dynamics that influence communal and individual decision-making, investment and concern related to Jewish education,” Feuer said in the release.
The release states that Naomi Gamoran, the program manager for the Collaborative for Applied Studies in Jewish Education and the Israel Education Program, and Ilana Weltman, the program manager for Experiential Jewish Education, will work for the center.
