The London School of Jewish Studies welcomed more than 180 Jewish Studies primary school teachers to its fourteenth education conference today.
Attendees from the UK were joined by teachers from schools in countries including Turkey, Sweden and Poland.
Expert educators from abroad included Dr. Daniel Rose, director of education at Koren publishers, Jerusalem and the director of education at the Rabbi Sacks Foundation, and Vivet Sparkes from Turkey.
On offer was a choice of 19 sessions, ranging from the ‘Mezzuzah scroll’s message for making Tefillah meaningful’, with Edgware United Synagogue’s Rabbi David Lister; ‘Israel education in tough times’, with educator Robin Moss and ‘making lessons accessible for all students’, with Bradley Cooper, head of Kodesh at Gesher school.
To mark Jews’ College and LSJS’ 170th anniversary this year, participants took part in a Torah factory workshop, with Rabbi Yossi Simon from Brooklyn, USA based Chabad-Lubavitch group, Tzivos Hashem
In his opening address LSJS President Chief Rabbi Mirvis said: “Every year, I have the zechut (honour) to address the builders of the future of British Jewry. I am in awe of what LSJS achieves as the educators of educators. We have just started the book of Shemot which has so many lessons, including the fact that we need to recognize each new generation is different to previous generations. It is the ultimate privilege to build the next generation and I thank all you teachers and a big thank you to LSJS.”
Pic: LSJS
Selen Yildirim from Ulus Jewish school in Instanbul said: “This is my first time at this conference, and I am so excited to be joining. This is such a great opportunity to meet other teachers from all over Europe and I am learning so much from such interesting sessions.”
LSJS executive director Joanne Greenaway said: “It is so telling that in the Torah, a Bayit, a house is both a physical place and a household, a group of connected people. It is more than just a place. It is who we are and what binds us and what we are striving for together. This is your house and we are the educational family of the UK and beyond. The connections and relationships we build here have tremendous value.”
Dr Helena Miller, director of degrees and teacher training programmes, senior research fellow at LSJS and conference co-chair with Esther Colman, said: “We are thrilled to see how many dedicated Jewish students come from all over the world to join us for such an impactful and practical day of professional development and networking with such a great range of talented educational leaders.”
- The conference was dedicated to the memory of primary school teacher Ann Sinclair.
