“When we embrace our role as facilitators of resilience, we do more than help learners survive — we empower them to thrive.”

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Jewish educators play a crucial role in shaping Jewish life and cultivating thriving Jewish identity and community. However, with the field of Jewish education and engagement facing talent pipeline challenges and the Jewish community navigating complex challenges, there is a need to provide professionals for more transformative and compelling educational frameworks, especially following the events of October 7th, as community members increasingly turn to their educators for guidance and support.

M² addresses these challenges through its range of programs, equipping educators and organizations with the skills, resources, and frameworks needed to create meaningful, values-driven Jewish experiences that strengthen Jewish identity and connection. By offering cohort-based training programs and fellowships focused on developing educational resources and pedagogical approaches, M² is creating a global community of educators inspired to transform Jewish life. These initiatives ensure a strong pipeline of educators who are prepared to meet current demands and build a sustainable and purposeful future for Jewish education.

The 2025 fellows will partake in the following programs:

1. Senior Educators Cohort: Thirty-five fellows are welcomed to the 8th class of M²’s flagship program, which provides outstanding educators from across the globe with the theories and practices that enable them to master the craft of experiential Jewish education. The Senior Educators Cohort is generously supported by the Maimonides Fund.
2. Mabat Israel: Twenty-three outstanding Israeli fellows will be joining this immersive experience in Israel, which will provide them with a comprehensive overview of the theory and practice of experiential Jewish education. Over the course of three seminars, participants will gain exposure to cutting-edge methodologies that challenge them to articulate and sharpen their educational vision, approach, and practice. Mabat is generously supported by the Goodman Foundation, Weingarten Foundation, and two unnamed foundations.
3. Jewish Pedagogies of T’fillah Research Fellowship: Ten fellows will be taking part in M²’s inaugural T’fillah Research Fellowship. The program attracts master educators to research and develop educational practices that enrich the field of Jewish prayer and honor ancient traditions and contemporary spiritual needs. The fellowship is in partnership with the Hadar Institute, with support from the Covenant Foundation and Taube Philanthropies.
4. Jewish Pedagogies of Peoplehood Research Fellowship: Twelve professionals will participate in this research fellowship to lead educators in developing Jewish Peoplehood educational practices and cultivating a collective sense of belonging within communities. The program will help educators foster a new sense of peoplehood, resilience, and unity in response to the challenges emerging from October 7th. The program is run in partnership with the Z3 Project, with support from the Covenant Foundation and Taube Philanthropies.

The diverse group of fellows hails from the U.S., U.K., Israel, France, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Germany, Spain, Serbia, Bulgaria, and more, and has vast experience across various disciplines within the Jewish world. Participants include educators, academic researchers, creatives, rabbis, and organizational leaders representing a broad range of organizations, including the Jewish Federation of North America, the Orthodox Union, Hillel, BBYO, the World Zionist Organization, the Hartman Institute, Moishe House, Limmud, the National Library of Israel, and other Jewish institutes, foundations, schools, and synagogues.

“Jewish educators are the architects of the future of Jewish life, and Jewish life will never be more compelling than what these educators can convey,” said Shuki Taylor, M²’s Founder & CEO. “We are committed to equipping them with the most transformative ideas, content, and frameworks alongside a vibrant global community of peers to help them embrace their role in shaping Jewish life with creativity, purpose, and a shared vision for generations to come. I look forward to seeing how each of our fellows utilizes our training programs to challenge, confront, and reenvision the landscape of Jewish education, especially during these challenging times.”

About M²: The Institute for Experiential Jewish Education

M²: The Institute for Experiential Jewish Education is a global nonprofit organization whose mission is to unlock meaningful and purposeful Jewish living. Founded in 2016, M²‘s cutting-edge professional development programs, innovative educational frameworks, and tailored consulting services empower educators and organizations to conceptualize transformative educational experiences that inspire individuals and communities to find meaning and purpose in Jewish living. It also equips educators with tools to strengthen their professional identities, master their craft, and drive impactful change. M²’s global network of alumni and partners continues to inspire and expand the reach of Jewish education worldwide. For more information, visit ieje.org.

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At M², we, like countless others, were only beginning to process our role in the crisis and recovery when we reached out to alumni to check in — even while our own team members were hurting and mourning. The message we heard was unmistakable: educators were extremely distressed. For the past few weeks, they had been doing the unimaginable: standing in front of learners and trying to meet their needs without the chance — or tools — to process their own pain.

“We realized that educators needed a new kind of support,” said Shlomit Naim Naor, M² Program Director. “We needed to provide them with different methodologies and exercises that demonstrate that even when they cannot choose what happens to them, they can choose how to respond.”

The Yated initiative was founded with that mission at its core. The three-day program provides educators with the tools, skills, and language for navigating their experiences, so they can help their learners to do the same. With programs in North America and Israel, participants are taught a blend of concepts from psychology, education, and storytelling to help craft new narratives to support them and their learners in experiencing growth and finding meaning amid the chaos.

“Educators constantly give to others,” said Shlomit. “During Yated, we take care of them, just as they do for their learners.” One year in and three cohorts later, we asked three of the program’s alumni to reflect on their experience.

Rediscovering what it means to teach in a post-October 7th world

Inbar Zonenfeld Falik, an educator and social program coordinator at Reali Hebrew School in Haifa, was one educator whose role changed dramatically after October 7th. The school lost 12 people in the attacks and ensuing war.

“I felt like I needed to approach my students not only as a teacher but also as a social worker,” she said. “I needed to change how I taught, transform my lessons, and choose my words more carefully.”

After two months, Zonenfeld Falik said the stress had taken a toll on her. She didn’t want to write lessons anymore or reflect on resilience, and even speaking about her beloved country made her heart ache.

“I knew that I needed to help my students process what they were experiencing,” Zonenfeld Falik said. “But I didn’t know where to start.”

For all kinds of educators, including Zonenfeld Falik, Yated has proven to be a transformative experience.

“After Yated, I started to pour myself into my lessons again,” she said.

Indeed, working through how to tell her October 7th story transformed the course of Zonenfeld Falik’s life: her experience at Yated inspired her to return to university as a student — to study experiential education.

Healing through storytelling

The importance of processing through narrative is a central concept of Yated, and as a historian, Eran Shlomi related to its emphasis on nurturing resilience through storytelling. As the Director of Education at the Birthright Institute for Tour Educators, he saw Yated as an opportunity to delve into his own experience, and reflect through experiential learning techniques.

By the time the program was over, Shlomi had a new understanding of what storytelling means in the context of October 7th. “For Israeli educators, it’s very challenging to communicate a painful experience when you’re still dealing with the pain,” he said. “Storytelling is first and foremost a therapeutic process.”

Finding the words to process the unspeakable

In the absence of language to describe their experiences, people struggle to make meaning of their new realities. Yated provides educators with a space and community to confront complicated questions about their shared Jewish future.

The opportunity to find the words appealed to Lior Argaman, Educational Strategy and Partnership Director at The Jewish Agency for Israel’s Adelson Shlichut Institute. In her role, Argaman is part of a team that supervises the training and mentoring of Israeli Shlichim (emissaries) from the moment they assume their role abroad until their return home at the completion of their service.

Each year she helps train and send over 2,000 Shlichim around the world. Argaman says some things in the Shlichut world have changed and become more visible and present since October 7th, including the needs they meet. “It’s been emotionally hard for all of us, and that includes our Shlichim who are overseas, far from their families and support,” she said. “At the beginning of the war, some felt like they could be contributing more from Israel.”

Being part of a diverse peer group of both formal and experiential (‘non-formal’) educators was also appealing to Argaman, and she felt the program organizers created a thoughtfully curated, comfortable atmosphere for participants. Today, she helps Shlichim realize that they are most needed in Jewish communities across the world, and Yated has supported her in developing strategies to communicate that.

“It’s been hard to find the words to describe what I’m experiencing,” she said. “As someone who leads educational strategy for so many people, I needed to get in touch with how I felt, put it into words, and then help others do the same.”

Argaman has already implemented methods she learned at Yated in her own work. Specifically, she wants the Shlichim to learn from one another and feel supported the way she did during Yated. “We’re still living this painful reality, but I often think about how we’re going to remember this time in our lives 20 years from now.”

“I hope that we will remember how we felt, how it influenced us, and how it changed us, and I think that Yated has played a part in helping me frame the experience,” she said.

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Three cohorts in Israel have already benefited from the Yated experience and several more are planned in North America over the coming months. With the renewed resilience and practical pedagogical tools fostered by the program, educators are better equipped to articulate their own experiences in meaningful ways while helping learners navigate these challenging times.

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From June 24-26, 2024, M²: The Institute for Experiential Education brought together 100 influential Jewish educators from around the world for this immersive three-day experience.

Shuki addressed attendees during the opening session: “The 18×18 Summit is creative, deep, meaningful – and most of all, fun,” said Shuki. “I hope that over the next three days, you will have not only recommitted yourself to your profession as a Jewish educator, but you will have fallen in love with Jewish education again.”

During this challenging time, the summit invited attendees into an immersive learning laboratory to re-examine their educational visions, reaffirm their commitment to engaging Jewish experiences, and bring relevant new strategies to their organizations and communities.

The design of the space featured interactive and multisensory elements, enhancing attendees’ learning journey. A particular favorite was the floral archway in the entrance to the summit, where a daily question prompted attendees to write their answers on a piece of wood. They then slid these blocks into the arch’s scaffolding – collaboratively completing the structure and imbuing the space with intention and meaning. Across the hall, members of M²’s seventh Senior Educators Cohort simultaneously gathered for their second seminar, which presented opportunities for connection and networking.

The 18×18 Educational Dimensions for Jewish Life served as map and compass during the summit. Originally developed by Dr. Benjamin M. Jacobs and Dr. Barry Chazan, the framework offers 18 distinct categories for experiencing, celebrating, observing, expressing, and participating in Jewish life. At the 18×18 Summit, these 18 categories became a framework through which participants could set new professional goals and orient their organizations’ programming.

To determine which dimensions most interested them, participants were encouraged to ask themselves three questions:

What are you already doing that you are interested in doing better or deeper?

What is something you are not currently doing, which you’re interested in expanding towards?

Which dimensions are you interested in exploring that you may not otherwise have considered?

Each of the 30+ vibrant, varied sessions – grouped into invigorating morning sessions, deep dives, and collaborative workshops – fit into one or more of the 18 categories, offering participants an intuitive way to design their own “track” through the experience.

Led by M² faculty members and subject matter experts, each session offered creative, relevant ways for Jewish education to meet this moment. They included new approaches to traditional text study, opportunities for social justice and community building, embodied prayer and meditation, meaningful artistic and creative outlets, explorations of identity through food, and more.

Session highlights included an exploration of Mizrahi assimilation and discrimination through music and media with anthropologist, musician, and culture creator Dr. Galeet Dardashti; the creation of new Havdalah and Yizkor rituals for a post-October 7th world with Elyssa Moss Rabinowitz, the co-founder and Executive Director of Kol HaOt; and a refresh on the Shema prayer from Rabba Yaffa Epstein, Senior Scholar and Educator in Residence at The Jewish Education Project and winner of the 2024 Covenant Award. Chef and educator Nissimmi Naim Naor used foods from the Jewish past and present to clarify our own stories and the stories of others.

M² is grateful to the Maimonides Fund, our committed and generous partner in the development of the 18×18 Summit in 2023 and 2024.

Explore the 18×18 Summit landing page for more details.

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