New biographies paint portraits of two Jewish luminaries Books coverage is supported by a generous grant from The Milton and Sophie Meyer Fund. We depend on biographies to bring giants to our level and offer us entry into otherwise inaccessible worlds. I was glad to see the recent publications of…...
David’s farewell message
Dear friends, When I began at the Bureau of Jewish Education thirteen years ago, every community survey announced with ever-greater alarm that the Jewish people were sliding toward oblivion. Throughout our history, “there was hardly a generation in the Diaspora that did not consider itself the final link in Israel’s chain,”…...
A Round Up of Jewish Virtual Programming for Teens in the Bay Area
Debra Sagan Massey, Senior Educator at Jewish LearningWorks in San Francisco, has for the last year been holding regular pop-up meetings for Jewish educators working with teens. As a result of the pandemic crisis, these meetings have recently gone virtual, but have, as a result, become fertile ground for sharing…...
Daughters of the Holocaust uncover old stories in new memoirs
Daughters of the Holocaust uncover old stories in new memoirs – J. Jews place a premium on remembering, and particularly so when it comes to the Holocaust. But how can we recall what we never learned? Two outstanding new memoirs by daughters of Holocaust survivors focus on uncovering the stories…...
Class dismissed: Jewish LearningWorks CEO David Waksberg retires
Originally published in J. Jewish News of Northern California – May 28, 2020 Around the time David Waksberg became CEO of the Bureau of Jewish Education 13 years ago, he had a heart-to-heart with a colleague. And not just any old colleague. He called former Soviet Jewish refusenik Natan Sharansky.…...
Farewell from our Director of Inclusion
Dear Friends, For nearly a decade I have had the privilege of supporting, advising, and working with all of you to make the Bay Area Jewish community more welcoming and inclusive. From our humble beginnings with five schools in the North Peninsula, to our work today offering special needs support…...
Jewish Education and Engagement Award Winners
Jewish LearningWorks is proud to announce the recipients of two new awards for 2020. Devra Aarons, Executive Director of Contra Costa Midrasha, is receiving the Award for Excellence in Jewish Youth Education and Engagement. Rick Concoff, Director of Chaverim at the JCC of Sonoma County, is the recipient of the…...
Recent Comments