One of the major challenges facing Jewish education today is to provide learners with ready access to a seamless continuum of learning opportunities.  Meeting this challenge will require new levels of cooperation among educational institutions and across various educational domains.

To help advance this process of "linking silos," the Lippman Kanfer Institute has facilitated a “community of practice” for central agencies seeking to create more accessible, engaging, and integrated Jewish educational systems for learners and their families in thir communities.  Senior professionals from more than two dozen agencies have participated in conference calls and webinars, and contributed to the Institute's research on "silo linking."

Webinars on Leading Systems Change

An important series of webinars for this community of practice featured presentations by Ellen Kagen Waghelstein of Georgetown University on "leading systems change," "adaptive challenges," and "skills for 21st century leaders."   These webinars are available for listening and viewing by clicking on the following links: Webinar Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

During 2009-10, the Lippman Kanfer Institute joined with JESNA's Learnings and Consultation Center to offer an additional series of webinars applying these concepts to the redesign and transformation of our systems for delivering supplementary Jewish education.  These webinars are available through the Sosland Online Resource Center.

Case Study

Together with JESNA's Berman Center, the Institute also undertook a case study of the Los Angeles Bureau of Jewish Education's Concierge for Jewish Education program, a model effort in encouraging expanded educational participation.

Browse the publication online or
Download the Research Brief Making Connections: A Case Study in Linking Silos

In 2009, the Lippman Kanfer Institute was commissioned to identify and analyze a variety of ways in which day schools that face persistent enrollment, financial and/or educational challenges can continue to provide the kind of quality Jewish learning and socialization experience that day schools have delivered for thousands of Jewish children and families.  Under the guidance of a Design Team made up of top day school professionals and other educational leaders, the Institute prepared a policy report, "Day School Education in Challenging Times: Examining the Strategic Options," that analyzes a number of strategies that schools can pursue in order to increase enrollment and financial viability, as well as a number of alternative models that schools and communities may wish to consider if and when a high quality conventional day school cannot be sustained.


Browse the publication online or
Download the Working Paper: Day School Education in Challenging Times: Examining the Strategic Options (1.34 MB)

Read the blog on issues facing day schools and give us your feedback.

Some of the most exciting and innovative Jewish learning taking place today is happening in settings beyond traditional educational institutions.  Vibrant Jewish learning is happening as part of social justice environmental and service learning programs, through the arts and culture, on line, in minyanim and other emergent spiritual communities, and as part of new forms of Jewish community - both "real" and "virtual."  During 2009-10, the Lippman Kanfer Institute, in partnership with the PresenTense Institute, brought together innovators in Jewish learning from a number of these settings to share insights, look more closely at the future of these new models and venues Jewish learning, and consider their implications for Jewish education in mainstream settings.