Mark Charendoff is the Director of Jewish Educational Services for the JCCA of North America. He received his Bachelor of Hebrew Letters at the Darche Noam College of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem where he also received his Rabbinic Ordination. He serves on the Board of CAJE and on the Advisory Boards of the Washington Institute for Leadership and Values, Edah, the National Center for the Hebrew Language and the Joint Authority for Jewish Zionist Education. He is the Co-Editor of Jewish Education and the Jewish Community Center. But we must not ask of Jewish education that it alone carry the burden for the Jewish future.
Education provides skills that people require to participate in living communities.
The problem we confront today is less about those skills and far more about those communities. Our challenge is less about marketing, about outreach, even about Jewish education. It is about all of these things, but it is foremost about creating compelling communities, inspired and inspiring communities, that can sear the soul, communities of ambition that can beckon on the basis of what they can offer as vehicles for human fulfillment and personal meaning. This session will explore this approach and consider the profound implications for Jewish educators. John Ruskay is nationally recognized as one of today's foremost professionals in Jewish communal service, Dr. John Ruskay is Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of UJA-Federation of New York.