There were tears and laughter at World ORT’s first Jewish Educators’ Seminar, a four-day event that tackled issues including Jewish education in a post-October 7 world, Jewish approaches to dealing with environmental crisis and change management in the community’s schools.

Twenty educators from around the world met in Barcelona, Spain, for an enriching and, at times, emotional seminar, which was coordinated by World ORT Education Project Manager Jennifer Saber. The packed schedule took in classroom activities and a tour of Jewish Barcelona and, importantly for ORT, publicized the organization’s innovative Jewish curriculum.

Educators were welcomed from schools across the ORT network including from Spain, France, Italy, Bulgaria, Israel, Peru, Mexico, Costa Rica, Singapore and South Africa. Four educators from war-torn Ukraine also attended, travelling for at least two days to get to Barcelona – a journey that should normally only take around five hours.

Speaking about the location of the first day of the seminar, one delegate said it was fortuitous to be at Colegio Hatikva, the only Jewish school in the city. The delegate added: “It is very important that there is tikva – hope – and schools are giving hope.”

Colegio Hatikva Principal Ari Messer delivered a session on the benefits of analysing the demographics of a school to understand the needs of, and better integrate, its pupils. Gaynor Collins, World ORT’s Education Project Manager, and Leor Harel, its Learning Development Manager, ran a session on SWOT analysis and strategic action planning and prompted the educators to reflect on their departments’ areas for development or their own individual practice.

ORT staff also shared information about the organization’s B’nei Mitzvah twinning program and how AI can be used in a teacher’s school life, such as in planning and assessment. They also gave an introduction to World ORT’s Thinking Skills Curriculum and demonstrated a lesson.

Raquel Cohen, a teacher at Colegio Olamí ORT in Mexico, said: “I aim to introduce the skills of chevrutah in all the other subjects so pupils will know how to build respectful and meaningful dialogue with others without arguing.”

Haya Prys, Teacher of Jewish Thought and History at Lycée ORT Daniel Mayer, in Montreuil, France, said: “It was amazing. I made a lot of connections and am already talking about sharing materials with other educators. It was eye-opening to meet all kinds of people who work in all kinds of schools, with Jewish and non-Jewish pupils.”

Victor Sorenssen, the Director of the European Association for the Promotion of Jewish Heritage and Culture, led an “anti-tour” of Barcelona’s Jewish quarter, exploring an innovative approach to Jewish heritage. Moving beyond traditional tours, educators reflected on the opportunities urban spaces offer as extensions of the classroom. This was cemented by Dr. Goretti Luis Cobreros, Project Manager of Jewish organization Toldot, who took those delegates who were interested into sections of the Cathedral of Barcelona that are not accessible to the general public, including its original 15th century archive, where she gave a private viewing of Hebrew documents that have been hidden for centuries.

There were also discussions on the diverse Jewish attitudes towards the relationship between humanity and nature, ways to enrich classroom teaching experience with Sefaria, which provides a ‘living library’ of Jewish texts, and a poignant exploration of Jewish heritage and identity through food from art therapist and chef Monica Buzali.

A hands-on session at Casa Adret in Barcelona’s old Jewish quarter by Nathalie Kertesz, Co-Founder and Artistic Director of LABA BCN, took some delegates outside their comfort zone by encouraging them to create their own Midrashim (pictured top right). They explored classical Jewish sources using artistic mediums such as watercolours, clay and collage.

Joanne Greenway, chief executive of the London School of Jewish Studies, gave an overview of the Jewish Lives longitudinal study research project as well as LSJS’s Project Innovate, aimed at developing new ideas.

The seminar gave educators a chance to connect with their counterparts across the world and hear about the highlights of working in the field of education alongside the challenges. The latter included students who are disengaged from their Jewish heritage, problems of integration and large numbers of pupils with special needs.

Approaches that improve communication and connection among students of different ages were discussed, including Colegio Hatikva’s initiative of reading buddies, whereby older pupils read to those in the kindergarten or early year classes, and its termly class sleepover held at school.

Anna Tarasiuk, a teacher from Bila Tserkva Private Lyceum ‘Mitsva 613’ in Ukraine, said: “I had hoped to get ideas for new projects and to implement them, along with cooperation with other colleagues from around the world. I really liked the seminar. It was like a knowledge bank for me – you went to bed with a lot of ideas. I especially liked the art workshop. I will think about how I can implement a lot of things. I am also thinking about creating a Jewish Tradition course in English for High School in order to upgrade students’ knowledge and to give them opportunity to communicate with other Jewish schools all around the world.”

Delegates described the seminar as “enriching” and were grateful to be able to step away from the classroom to forge connections with colleagues and discuss their work.

One educator said: “The seminar inspired me to enhance our educational process by combining creativity and meaningful content. The ready-made lessons will significantly speed up lesson preparation. I plan to give students more responsibility, such as larger-scale project work connected to Judaism, as well as incorporating interdisciplinary integrations. Additionally, I’d like to create lessons on the Jewish history of our city, possibly in collaboration with the Museum of Jewish History. Another idea is to develop a custom board or mobile game related to Judaism.”

Closing the event, Daniel Tysman, World ORT’s Head of Education, said: “We’ve tried to show you that there are many ways to reach the minds and hearts of our students. We commemorated our pain together, but also shared beautiful music and food, and we’ve created many happy memories. Our main goal was to demonstrate our appreciation for the amazing work you do in Jewish education, and that you would leave knowing that ORT is here to support you.”