October 29, 2026

Dr. Jonah Hassenfeld, Rabbi Charles E. Savenor, and Joey Weisenberg Honored at 2026 Covenant Awards Celebration in New York

Adina Kay-Gross

The Covenant Awards Celebration was held at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City on Wednesday evening, October 28. The celebration honors three Jewish educators annually for their outstanding contributions to the field.

DR. JONAH HASSENFELD, Director of Learning and Teaching, Schechter Boston; RABBI CHARLES E. SAVENOR, Executive Director, Civic Spirit; JOEY WEISENBERG, Founder and Director, Hadar’s Rising Song Institute, are the recipients of the 2026 Award.

“The contributions of Jewish educators enrich and strengthen our communities, this country, and the world,” said Barbara Goodman Manilow, President of The Covenant Foundation Board of Directors, during her remarks at the Celebration.

“At a time when we must counter the rising waves of antisemitism and bigotry, investing in education that is expansive—one that champions dialogue, fosters empathy, builds civic skills, and creates space for deep, meaningful connections—is more vital than ever.”

The Covenant Foundation is a program of Crown Family Philanthropies, and members of the Crown Goodman family, including Danielle Rudas Goodman, Jordan T. Goodman, and Sara Crown Star introduced the three recipients and presented the Awards, while Covenant Board Member Oren Kaunfer, who received the Pomegranate Prize in 2018, announced the names of the 2026 Pomegranate Prize recipients.

Each of the 2026 Covenant Award recipients received $50,000 and each of their institutions, $10,000.

Established in 1991 to honor and celebrate those who have made a profound impact on Jewish education, the Covenant Award is given to three educators every year after a rigorous selection process. Recipients are drawn into a stellar network of colleagues that provide support, encouragement, and resources. Using a national platform, Awardees champion their unique visions for the field in areas including dialogue across difference, civic education, inclusion, social-emotional learning, the arts, social justice, text-based learning, Israel education, and more.

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DR. JONAH HASSENFELD has served as Director of Learning and Teaching at Schechter Boston since 2020. In this role, Hassenfeld oversees the entire educational vision and program of the school, and teaches an 8th grade Talmud class and adult Israel education courses to parents. Hassenfeld strives to build an educational program that empowers young American Jews to become the authors of their own Jewish journeys by offering them multiple pathways to Jewish life at school. Alongside Jewish studies colleagues, he worked on the redesign of the school’s Hebrew program, including the establishment of tracks for transfer students, native speakers, and students with language-based learning differences. Through text study, personal reflection, and guided conversation, Hassenfeld works to foster a culture of respectful disagreement and shared meaning-making within the school community.

Accepting the Award from Jordan T. Goodman, Hassenfeld shared, “Our tradition is filled with images of an infinite Torah. For the Hasidic masters, the Torah was God’s own essence, concealed in the world, and to study was to reveal that divine spark. I always tell my students: however complicated you think something is, it’s a lot more complicated than that. Every time we think we’ve understood a child, or a text, we’ve barely scratched the surface. Every time we read again, we reveal a little more of that concealed divinity, and hopefully teach our students to find it themselves.”

RABBI CHARLES E. SAVENOR has served as Executive Director of Civic Spirit since 2022, a national organization that works to strengthen civic education through the lens of Jewish values in both Jewish day schools and other faith-based schools. In this role, he oversees all of Civic Spirit’s educational programming and operations. Savenor has broadened Civic Spirit’s reach and brought Orthodox and Modern Orthodox Jewish day schools into dialogue with other Jewish and non-Jewish faith-based schools. A foundation of Jewish values alongside three pillars of democratic fluency, civic skills, and civic belonging are integrated throughout Civic Spirit’s broad spectrum of programming for students and teachers in Jewish and other faith-based middle and high schools.

Upon accepting the Award from Sara Crown Star, Savenor remarked, “Through Civic Spirit, I bring my commitments as a Jewish educator to strengthening our shared democracy. At a time of intense political division and rising antisemitism, we must prepare young people to draw on Jewish values as they confront hatred, build relationships across differences, and take responsibility for one another. Our tradition teaches us to argue for the sake of heaven, respect the rule of law, and make reading sacred texts a fixture of our lives. These habits guide us in that work. The future we hope for depends on what we teach and practice today.”

JOEY WEISENBERG is the Founder and Director of Hadar’s Rising Song Institute (RSI), which he established in 2016. Weisenberg founded RSI to create a home for the Jewish music and educational prayer content and programs he had been developing since joining Hadar in 2004. The focus of his work is in changing how American Jews relate to prayer and community by transforming t’filah and song into a co-created communal act of spirituality and cultural expression. Weisenberg has performed and taught extensively around the world, and his music has reached hundreds of thousands of people. With each gathering, he aims to help participants experience a feeling of joint interdependence and bring that energy back to their home communities.

As he received the Award from Danielle Rudas Goodman, Weisenberg said: “Though I am often seen as a musician, I consider myself first and foremost an educator. My ultimate fulfillment comes from receiving the baton and passing it forward. It is an honor to be recognized alongside so many legendary educators, dating back to 1991 when my best friend’s grandmother, Ateret Cohn, z”l, received one of the three inaugural Covenant Awards. I am unendingly grateful to my mentors, who gave me something truly transformative: the vision to see myself as a musician, and ultimately, as a teacher and leader.”