Jewish Education between crisis and growth
Yated:
Cultivating Resilience
October 7th served as an inflection point in Israel and for the Jewish community worldwide. Rising antisemitism, the war and its impact, the pain that has transpired and increasing social polarization have resulted in emotional, ideological, and political fragmentation.
What is the role of Jewish educators in these times?
And from where do we draw our strength?
Yated is a two-and-a-half day program providing Jewish educators with tools and skills for cultivating resilience in the face of uncertainty, so that they can help their learners to do the same.
Evanston, IL
In-Person | Nov 13-14, 2024
Virtual | Dec 3, 2024 | 1-4 pm ET
$200 USD
Miami, FL
In-Person | Dec 9-10, 2024
Virtual | Jan 7, 2025 | 9-12pm ET
$200 USD - US-based participants
$300 USD - Israeli participants
Hockley Valley Resort
Hockley Valley Resort
In-Person | Feb 5-6, 2025
Virtual | Feb 27, 2025 | 9am - 12pm ET
$200 CAD
Cultivating Resilience
Since October 7, 2023 our values, beliefs, and assumptions have been shaken.
To help educators navigate this crisis – within themselves and for their learners – Yated provides tools for cultivating resilience and emotional flexibility, using approaches drawn from narrative theory to promotes individual and group agency.
Crafting a Story
In the absence of language to describe our experiences, we are unable to make meaning of our new realities.
Blending concepts in psychology, education and storytelling, Yated provides educators with skills for crafting new narratives that help them and their learners experience growth and find meaning in chaotic times.
Clarifying Purpose
To make meaning of this moment, we must also consider the future we are working towards.
Yated provides educators with a space and community to confront complicated questions about our shared Jewish future. M² unique values-based approach infuses participants with a sense of renewed purpose and healing.
PROGRAM STRUCTURE
Yated gathers groups of 20 Jewish professionals to form a cohort that supports and challenges in service of personal and professional growth. The program is comprised of a two-day overnight seminar in an immersive setting, followed by a half-day workshop several weeks later.
Resilience for Today
Accessing approaches grounded in narrative theory alongside creative methodologies and trauma-informed techniques, participants will experience the role of storytelling in building resilience for themselves and their learners.
A Vision for Tomorrow
Leveraging lessons learned from Day 1, participants will be exposed to methods and tools to formulate and articulate new visions and values for what our learners, our communities and our people can become.
Taking Action
Taking place 2-3 weeks following the seminar, this half-day workshop lays the foundation for where participants share how they can use – and build on – the approaches that they were exposed to and the skills that they acquired.
IF YOU WANT TO…
An educator with demonstrated impact
A professional who works with learners in pervasive and sustained ways
In a professional and personal position to make a difference
AND IF YOU ARE…
Build personal and community resilience
Gain tools and new approaches to help you contend with the educational ramifications on your learners of antisemitism and antizionism in your community
Guide your learners on a journey from confusion to growth
Meet the fellows
Faculty and Staff
Ayal
Beer
Israel Program Director, M²
Ayal Beer is the Israel Program Director at M². An experienced Jewish educator, Ayal has been managing a pre-Army leadership educational program focused on Jewish Israeli identity and social change since 2017. Prior to that, he participated in training educational staff for a variety of Jewish organizations in the U.S and Canada for over 5 years. Ayal earned a B.A in Social Work at Bar Ilan University and a Masters degree in Talmud and Religious Law from Shechter Institute. A licensed tour guide, Ayal lives with his wife and four kids in Kibbutz Hannaton in the Lower Galilee and is a graduate of SEC 1.
Rabbi Lisa
Goldstein
Facilitator
Rabbi Lisa Goldstein is a teacher, consultant, and certified practitioner of NARM, a modality of healing complex trauma. She teaches a wide variety of online courses with an emphasis on spiritual wisdom, prayer and meditation, and the teachings of R. Nahman of Breslov. She also works one-on-one to support people in their journeys of healing and spiritual growth.
Educated at Brown University and Hebrew Union College, Rabbi Goldstein has almost 25 years of executive experience, having served as the director of Hillel of San Diego, and the executive director of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. She is a mentor for M2’s Senior Educator Cohort and a Teaching Assistant for NARM’s Online Basic Training.
She lives in New York City with her husband, Igal Harmelin, and their foster son, Seydou.
Clare
Goldwater
Chief Strategy Officer, M²
Clare Goldwater is a Jewish educator and leadership coach with expertise in professional and organizational development and experiential education. Working in close partnership with a wide range of organizations, Clare oversees the development, dissemination of M²’s approach and ideas about experiential Jewish education, through consulting projects to Jewish organizations, publications, curricula materials, and more. Clare has a BA in English Literature from Oxford University, an MA in Jewish Education from Hebrew University, and a Certificate in Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University. She also holds passports from those three countries and lives in Jerusalem with her family.
Jessica
Lott
Campus Rabbi, Northwestern Hillel
Jessica Lott is the Campus Rabbi at Northwestern Hillel. She has worked in the Hillel world for fifteen years – both on campus and at Hillel International – specializing in Jewish education, student engagement, student wellbeing, professional development and curriculum development. She was an M² 18×18 Fellow and focused her work on how we talk with college students about God. Jessica’s interest in stories, how we tell them, and what we learn from hearing and telling them is what led her to the rabbinate. A deep investment in pluralism and the relationship between tradition and innovation led her to a career in Hillel.
She enjoys singing, baking, puzzles, hosting, and gardening. Jessica lives in Chicago with her husband and children.
Abby
Mintz
Facilitator
Abby joined M² in 2022 as Program Director of the Center for Values in Action and spent her career prior to that working in a variety of settings including Jewish camping, academia, and as a clinical therapist. Abby is a graduate of M²’s Camp Educator’s Cohort and the current community coordinator for M²’s Chicago Educator’s Cohort. Abby lives in Evanston with her partner Zach, her 3 adorable kiddos Max, Ayla, and Asa, as well as her mini shih-tzu Badger.
SHLOMIT
NAIM NAOR
Facilitator
Shlomit Naim Naor is the Israel Program Director at M² and a published poet with over 20 years of international experience in Jewish education. Previously, she was a training and content specialist at Makom, the educational content unit of the Jewish Agency for Israel, and advised the Jerusalem Education Bureau. Shlomit has served as a Jewish Agency community emissary in London and as chair of the Israeli Batei Midrash Network. She is the author of two award-winning books of poetry, No End in Sight (2016) and The Things We Are Not Talking About (2020). Shlomit strongly believes in creative writing as an impactful tool in experiential education. Shlomit is a graduate of the Mandel School of Educational Leadership, holds a bachelor’s degree in Hebrew literature and philosophy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a master’s degree in creative writing from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
Kiva
Rabinsky
Deputy CEO and Chief Program Officer, M²
Kiva Rabinsky is the Chief Program Officer at M²: The Institute for Experiential Jewish Education, and lives in Jerusalem with his wife, Deb, and children, Nava and Yonah. Prior to working at M², he directed a range of Jewish Service-Learning initiatives and developed and taught in a series of Experiential Jewish Education training programs through his role at Yeshiva University. Kiva holds an MPA in Nonprofit Management and an undergraduate degree in Education and Archeology.
Ivy
Schreiber
Managing Director for Professional Learning
Ivy Schreiber is the Managing Director for Professional Learning and Growth at The Jewish Education Project. Her current work focuses on professional and leadership development for Jewish educators that drives learning that leads to thriving and is responsive to today’s learners and families. Prior to her time at The Jewish Education Project, Ivy worked at B’nai Jeshurun (BJ) in NYC for a decade, where she served as the Education Director, and also has experience in Jewish camping and as a consultant to synagogues. Ivy received an MA in Jewish Education from the Davidson School at JTS, a BA from Brandeis University, is an alum of the Leadership Institute, and is currently a Wexner Field Fellow.
Shuki
Taylor
CEO, M²
As the CEO of M², Shuki helps provide educators and organizations in Israel, North America, and Europe with knowledge, tools, and skills to advance the theory and practice of experiential Jewish education. Previously, Shuki served as director of Service Learning and Experiential Education at Yeshiva University, where he founded the Certificate Program in Experiential Jewish Education and a range of programs mobilizing college students to serve underprivileged communities worldwide. A Schusterman Fellow, Shuki studied Jewish philosophy, education, and scriptwriting.
Advisors
Sharon
Almougy
MA, is a Psychotherapist with a specialization in Trauma
Sharon is currently studying for a PhD in Social Work at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Sharon has a vast amount of experience working with numerous educational frameworks including; The Mandel Foundation, The Jewish Agency for Israel and the Shusterman Foundation. For over a decade her focus has been working in area of Mental Health concentrating on trauma, rehabilitation and resilience. Her home is in Modiin.
Inbar
Amir
Storytelling expert
Inbar Amir comes from two worlds: the world of stage and writing, and the world of education and management. In her work, she combines both. Inbar utilizes tools from the world of stage in communication workshops, audience engagement, and storytelling, which she leads in academic, business, social, and educational settings in Israel and around the world. She specializes in training speakers for conferences both in group and individual settings, with an emphasis on making academic content accessible to a wide audience. Inbar leadsShe is a screenwriter, playwright, and director. Inbar has participated as a speaker at TEDx Jaffa and currently trains speakers for Tedx events nationwide and worldwide.
Tuition: $
November 13-14, 2024, in person
December 3, 2024, virtually
Registration fee: $
200 USD
February 5-6, 2025, in person
February 27, 2025, virtually
Registration fee: $
200 CAD
This program is generously supported by the UJA-Federation of Greater Toronto
Eligibility
Eligible participants are Jewish engagement professionals who:
Financial assistance is available. For more details and questions about the program, contact Abby Mintz: abby@ieje.org
FAQ
Yated Cohorts are formed based on a number of criteria, including educational setting, professional experience, geographic location, and others. Ideal candidates work with students in sustained ways; are interested in building personal and community resilience, and gaining tools and skills to help them support their learners in an environment of antizionism, antisemitism, and increasing social and political polarization.
When applications are open, you can apply by submitting the registration form.
Once you register, you can expect to receive a welcome email 2 weeks prior to your seminar. The email will include a cohort announcement, schedule, and relevant details to help you adequately prepare for the learning experience.
Full attendance is required for the entirety of the program.
Graduates of Yated will complete the program with renewed resilience, and practical pedagogical tools. They will be equipped to use these tools and approaches to guide their learners through a process of building their own resilience, and cope with complex identity- based questions arising from current issues such as antizionism, antisemitism in their organizations and communities.