The day of learning, discussion and thinking coincided with the annual presentation of the Covenant Award and Pomegranate Prize to longstanding Jewish educators and those in the first phases of promising careers in the field.

Among the speakers were Dr. Deborah Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University, and Rabbi Ed Feinstein, Senior Rabbi at Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, CA. Participants attended workshops and discussion groups on such topics as creating community through digital storytelling, engagement of teens and tweens, new models for learning communities, and the opportunities of emerging adulthood and aging.

The Covenant Foundation convenes grantees, award recipients, and outstanding Jewish professionals from throughout North America several times each year. These gatherings capture the imaginations of the participants, who – through frameworks created by the Foundation – witness art in the making and engage in dialogue about new ideas and approaches to Jewish education and collective work.

The Foundation enables and encourages participants to renew and build relationships with peers and to reach out, support and collaborate with one another. The hope is that participants return to their home communities with a renewed sense of urgency to create, adapt, innovate, and take risks that they may have not have previously thought possible.

“Our intention was to have everyone leave the symposium with an expanded vision of how, when, where, and with whom Jewish learning can happen, and with many more questions than answers,” said Harlene Winnick Appelman, Executive Director of The Covenant Foundation.

Pomegranate Prize recipient Maya Bernstein and Editorial Director Adina Kay-Gross published articles in Jewish media following The Covenant Foundation’s Annual Awards presentation and symposium in Chicago. Click here to read Maya’s piece and here to read Adina’s.

On the occasion of its 23rd year, The Covenant Foundation presented this video at its 2013 Annual Awards Dinner, celebrating impact and innovation in Jewish education.

Rabbi Ed Feinstein, Senior Rabbi at Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, CA, delivers a keynote speech – “Access and Wisdom: Lessons from the Field” – at the Accessing Jewish Wisdom in the 21st Century: New Frontiers symposium in Chicago.

Dr. Deborah Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University, delivered a compelling address exploring the relationship between the Holocaust and modern Jewish identity, a topic explored in the 2013 Pew Research Portrait of Jewish Americans.

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