Dean Shannon, Jewish Education Teacher at Sir Manasseh Meyer International School, Singapore, reflects on his experience of the 2025 Jewish Educators’ Seminar
Despite being a Jewish educator for more than 10 years, I have rarely had professional development opportunities that tackled specific needs and ideas relevant to this world.
Facing our own challenges and ideals, the field of the Jewish educator can be a lonely one. This has been exacerbated in a post-October 7 world. I needed this Jewish Educators’ Seminar.
I was a little sceptical about the seminar in advance. I questioned how suited I might be to an academic approach to Jewish education, but the seminar was filled with wisdom, depth, inspiration and even tears.
The speakers were excellent, the content was thought-provoking, and it was a privilege to share a room with all of the people involved. It was an incredible few days and the seminar exceeded all expectations.
The ORT team who organized and led the seminar catered to our every need (and literally). The four-day program was outstanding. We covered an incredible range of topics and were exposed to a vast array of practical ideas that we can now implement in our classrooms.
One of the highlights was an exploration of classical Jewish sources on ecology. The session started with the leader hanging texts on a washing line. We were encouraged to look at the sources from ‘different angles’ and then choose the text with which we most identified. This then led into a chevrutah-style learning session and demonstrated the extent to which Judaism contains powerful wisdom to face 21st century challenges.
Damián Weber of Colegio Hatikva reflects on Jewish identity post-October 7
Further invaluable opportunities included a guided online tour of Sefaria and the National Library of Israel. These practical sessions provided insights in how to enable students to discover and utilise primary sources to enhance their Jewish identity. We even explored how to best use AI in the classroom to facilitate our teaching.
We were in tears and in deep contemplation during a post-October 7 activity that explored identity through artistic postcards. A session on the symbolism of food had us considering how powerful ‘culinary stories’ can be in connecting to our Jewish identity.
The walking tour of old Jewish Barcelona provided insights into the importance of ‘urban space’ in education and the Xueta Island movie screening demonstrated the depth, breadth and tragedy of Jewish history. Despite being a terrible artist, the most memorable and enjoyable session was one on Midrash and art.
I am now more confident in delivering a similar creative lesson to my capable students. Each session provided me with insights and ideas that will not only enhance my teaching practice, but has further deepened my own Jewish identity.
The other educators, who were involved in Jewish education and hailed from all over the world, were truly inspiring people, each with an incredible story. We shared, we debated, we laughed, and we cried.
Despite our different nationalities, backgrounds, and opinions, the common denominator was that we all believed in the importance of supporting Jewish education and giving Jewish people the ability to connect meaningfully to their heritage and identity.
I am grateful for all the incredible work ORT does. The Jewish Educators’ Seminar demonstrated how deep, profound, diverse, and beautiful is Judaism. The team made us feel like superheroes who are here to deliver our message to the next generation and to help make the world a better place. Am Yisrael Chai!
