The Chronicle
Fall 2012
Page 7
From “Next
Dor
”
to “
L’Dor V’Dor
”
Barrett Harr, Ed Cert ‘12;
Director of
High School and Youth Programs, Temple
Shalom of Dallas, TX
Barrett Harr recently completed the Certificate
Program in Jewish Education for Adolescents and
Emerging Adults, which opened her eyes to different
ways of interacting with others at her congregation,
from teens to parents to colleagues, in order to in-
crease the likelihood of garnering support for her
youth program’s initiatives.
I have gained a stronger sense of what ‘intentional
planning’ looks like in experiential settings, and the
need for evaluation of programs to help determine
success. These two aspects of the program, as well
as classes on family dynamics and adolescent
development, have impacted me and my work greatly.
As my final project for my studies in ‘navigating
organizational dynamics,’ I developed a proposal for
a new program that would fulfill the wishes of parents
in our synagogue, who for the past three years had
expressed a strong interest in taking the classes their
teens were taking in the “Next
Dor
”
post-
b’nai mitzvah
program. Modeled after this teen program, “
L’Dor V’Dor
-
Adult Jewish Learning from Generation to Genera-
tion” would run concurrently with the teen program.
The proposal was accepted by the congregation and
gained full financial support through a partnership
with the Union for Reform Judaism’s generous Incu-
bator Grants, enabling us to make this program a
reality this year. The program will be open to all adults
in the congregation (and other members of the
greater Dallas Jewish community). Adult learners –
just like our teens – will get to choose from a variety
of classes offered simultaneously and accrue credits
toward graduating from the program by participating
in education, worship,
tikkun olam
,
and community
experiences. The ‘intentional planning’ work that I did
as part of the Certificate Program taught me how to
enact this process.
“
Next
Dor” and “L’Dor V’Dor –
Adult Jewish Learning
from Generation to Generation” offers classes in:
•
Seven Habits of Highly Effective Jewish Parenting
•
Comparative Religion
•
The REAL Stories of the Jewish Holidays – Taking
a Deeper Look into the Stories of our Tradition
•
Packing for College – Helping to Prepare Your Family
•
Sex Ed in the Jewish Tradition
•
Jews Around the World
•
Jewish Archeology
•
No, Your Teen is Not Crazy – A Crash Course in
Adolescent Development
•
Jewish Cooking – Traditional and Innovative Recipes
for Busy Families
•
What Is the Big Deal about Israel...and Why Should
We Care?
•
Beginning Hebrew – No Prior Experience Required
I
n the fall of 2009, HUC-JIR conducted a survey
of members from the National Association of
Temple Educators (NATE), youth professionals,
and Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) camps’
staffs. Many noted that in order to succeed in
their work and be viewed as serious Jewish
educators, they felt a need to upgrade their skills
in Jewish educational leadership and increase
their learning and specialized knowledge regarding
adolescent development, experiential learning,
new media, service learning, and social justice
leadership.
The desire and need for a program such as this
became evident quickly, with over 80 inquiries
by Jewish youth professionals received in the
first few months of this survey. While all were
successful youth workers, they felt that they
were missing the serious Jewish background and
academic training needed to do their work more
successfully and to be seen among their colleagues
and peers as true educators and professionals.
In response to these findings and an invitation
from the Jim Joseph Foundation, HUC-JIR’s
Schools of Education developed the new
Certificate Program in Jewish Education for
Adolescents and Emerging Adults. Generously
supported by the Jim Joseph Foundation, this
program is part of a greater educational initiative
designed to increase the number of highly qualified
Jewish educators creating compelling Jewish
learning experiences with Jewish youth and
young adults. This Certificate Program specifically
aims to enhance the skills, knowledge, and
personal capacities of youth professionals
who already serve those populations.
The inaugural cohort of fifteen students, nearly
all serving Reform congregations, recently
completed the nine-month course of study.
These students, ten of whom work in congrega-
tions, three in organizations, and two in camps,
focus their professional lives on engaging Jewish
teens and young adults. A new cohort of sixteen
students will start the program this fall. While
continuing to work and live in their hometowns,
the students will meet face-to-face three times
at intensive seminars and a ten-day institute as
well as join each other online for study and
coursework. The institute and intensives will
take them to HUC-JIR campuses in addition
to URJ camp sites.
Their studies focus on four main rubrics and
electives in three additional areas. The rubrics
include Adolescent Development and Emerging
Adulthood; Jewish Experiential Education, includ-
ing theory and curricular planning; Judaic Studies;
and Dynamics of Organizational Change. The
electives teach skills needed to employ social media
and new technologies, explore engagement through
the arts, and teach Jewish values through service
learning. With the guidance of a mentor through
ongoing communication, the students integrate
this learning into their professional practice. The
mentors help the students translate theory into
practice while challenging them to explore more
deeply how they think about their work of edu-
cating and engaging teens and young adults.
For more information: email
or visit
huc.edu/academics/education/certificate
Teens at Temple Shalom of Dallas engaging in the “Next
Dor
”
program.
Engaging Teens and
Young Adults
Rabbi Melissa Zalkin Stollman ‘10, MARE ‘08, MSW,
Director, Certificate Program
in Jewish Education for Adolescents and Emerging Adults, HUC-JIR
