The Covenant Foundation

New York, NY, Jul 20, 2009—Four Covenant Award Recipients will speak at the Consortium for the Jewish Family's Summer Education Conference, Aug. 3 - 5 in New York. Joel Lurie Grishaver (1998), Jo Kay (2001), Vicky Kelman (2003), and Philip Warmflash (2007) are slated to appear at this major conference - titled "How Do Congregations Accompany Families on their Jewish Journeys" - that is attracting innovative and forward-thinking participants from the areas of spirituality and ritual, Torah learning, service learning and Jewish peoplehood. The Covenant Foundation Executive Director Harlene Winnick Appelman will give a keynote address at the conference. [More]

Washington, DC, Jul 9, 2009—"V'Khol Banayikh: Jewish Education for All, A Jewish Special Needs Resource Guide," designed for Jewish educators and others involved with students with special needs and written by 1991 Covenant Award Recipient Sara Rubinow Simon, will be published by Torah Aura Productions in the fall. The book describes various special needs and provides educational options, including program models, professional development, and materials and organizations that can serve as resources. "Despite the growth of Jewish special education programs in recent years, there was a dearth of readily available resources that provided Jewish educators with a familiarity with the language and perspective of special education so that they could adapt it to their particular Jewish religious and cultural settings," Simon, along with co-authors Linda Forrest and Ellen Fishman, wrote in the book's introduction. "We salute the Jewish communities who have responded so generously to the compelling mandate of which we speak, that of making it possible for every Jewish individual to learn about his heritage and to participate in all facets of Jewish life to the best of his ability." The Covenant Foundation supported development of the guide with a 2004 grant to the Partnership for Jewish Life and Learning in Washington, DC. [More]

Mill Valley, CA, May 5, 2009—Educators and other Jewish professionals will gather in San Francisco's new Contemporary Jewish Museum on May 21 to officially launch an outreach program providing educational and other organizations with a new curriculum and study guide package for "The Tribe." The critically acclaimed and award-winning film has sparked discussions around the world about contemporary Jewish identity. A new grant to The Moxie Institute from The Covenant Foundation is supporting educational screenings of the film and distribution of the new curriculum and study guide package to day schools, high schools, universities, libraries and other educational environments. [More]

New York, NY, May 5, 2009—Student delegations from the Jewish Community High School of the Bay (San Francisco), Kehillah Jewish High School (Palo Alto), Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto (Kimel Centre campus) and the Weber School (Atlanta) were the winning teams at RAVSAK's annual Moot Beit Din competition April 26 in Denver. Moot Beit Din, modeled on Moot Court programs in law schools, applies Jewish text to contemporary, real life-situations, as students take a case or scenario, research precedents in Jewish law, write a detailed decision and defend it to a panel of judges. In all, 59 students from 16 schools participated in the Moot Beit Din and an accompanying Shabbaton. A Covenant Foundation grant is helping RAVSAK to enhance this initiative and extend it to more schools. [More]

Waltham, MA, May 5, 2009—A forum at Brandeis University on May 19 will focus on an innovative "Induction" program developed by the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education to support new teachers at Jewish day schools. Educational leaders, school heads and Jewish professionals will join representatives of Boston-area Jewish day schools using the model program and discuss its impact. The conference will also focus on sustaining these successes and taking the model to schools outside of the Greater Boston area. The Mandel Center recently received a Covenant Foundation grant to expand the program to three communities nationwide, including Seattle, Detroit and Northampton, MA. [More]

New York, NY, May 4, 2009—Directors of two programs supported by The Covenant Foundation are recipients of prestigious fellowships. Aliza Kline, founding executive director of Mayyim Hayyim Living Waters Community Mikveh and Education Center in Newton, MA, and Daniel Libenson, executive director of the Newberger Hillel Center at the University of Chicago were recently named Avi Chai fellows by the Avi Chai Foundation. The fellowships will allow each to further fortify and expand their programs. Both organizations received 2007 Covenant Foundation grants totaling $150,000 each over three years. [More]

Mill Valley, CA, Mar 23, 2009—"The Tribe," a critically acclaimed and award-winning short film examining contemporary Jewish identity, has a busy screening schedule at film festivals around the country in April. The film, produced by The Moxie Institute, will screen at the Iowa Independent Film Festival in Mason City; the IndieSpirit Film Festival in Colorado Springs, CO; the Athens International Film Festival in Ohio; and the West Chester Film Festival in Columbia, SC. A new grant from the Covenant Foundation is supporting educational screenings of the film and distribution of a new curriculum and study guide to day schools, high schools, universities, libraries and other Jewish educational institutions. [More]

Melrose Park, PA, Mar 23, 2009—Professional and lay leaders from synagogues in the Philadelphia area attended a workshop in early March to learn how to improve and upgrade their congregation websites.  The workshop was one of series presented by the Jewish Outreach Partnership as part of its Reshet Network initiative, designed to strengthen synagogues as centers of Jewish life and education in their communities.  The Covenant Foundation is underwriting an expansion of the Reshet Network to other cities across the country. [More]