“DeLeT connects our Jewish values to our day school teaching, and I pass those values to my students every day in the classroom.”
Jewish day schools create dynamic Jewish learning communities for our children and families. DeLeT at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) prepares these schools’ greatest asset: their teachers. DeLeT Fellows are passionate about teaching as they integrate general and Jewish studies by infusing the classroom with meaningful connections between American values and Jewish heritage. As they foster their student’s love of learning and Jewish identity, DeLeT fellows ensure a vital future for the next generations.
DeLeT fosters teaching excellence by preparing innovative classroom teachers of Jewish studies, Hebrew language, and general studies. DeLet Fellows apply a content-rich, learner-centered, and inquiry-oriented approach to education. They imbue values in everything they teach, from math to Torah to physical education. Students learn how to embrace their dual heritage as Americans and Jews.
DeLet Fellows spend one academic year in a mentored internship in a Jewish day school in Los Angeles, San Diego, or the San Francisco Bay area while participating in weekly seminars taught by scholars and practitioners in the growing field of day school education. DeLeT Day School Partners for 2014-15 included the Abraham Joshua Heschel Day School, Brawerman Elementary at Wilshire Boulevard Temple, Ilan Ramon Day School, Rabbi Jacob Pressman Academy of Temple Beth Am, Sinai Akiba Academy, Stephen S. Wise Temple Day School, and Temple Israel of Hollywood Day School in Los Angeles; San Diego Jewish Academy in San Diego; and Brandeis Hillel Day School, Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Community Day School, and Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School in Northern California.
Upon successful completion of the program, Fellows receive a Certificate Jewish Day School Teaching and are eligible for a California Preliminary Multiple Subject Teaching Credential. HUC-JIR is the only Jewish institution accredited to grant California teaching credentials. For over a decade, DeLeT at HUC-JIR, along with its partner program at Brandeis University, has trained more than 200 classroom teachers for over 60 day schools – Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, and Community – in sixteen states and three countries.
In 2015, DeLeT introduced a new Hebrew language track, DeLeT L’Ivrit, to prepare future Hebrew Language and Jewish Studies teachers.
DeLeT is offered by the Rhea Hirsch School of Education at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion with the generous support of the Jim Joseph Foundation.
Your generosity enables HUC-JIR to provide the innovative DeLeT experience to new day school teachers every year. What will your gift do?
To learn more, please contact us at 212-824-2299 or deletgiving@huc.edu