The Bi-Cultural Day School in Stamford and Carmel Hebrew Academy in Greenwich are among five tri-state area day schools chosen to participate in a new pilot project focusing on tefilah (prayer) in Jewish middle schools. The two-year program, coordinated by the Pardes Center for Jewish Educators (PCJE) and funded by a grant from the Avi Chai Foundation, aims to address the challenges of tefilah and tefilah education in the schools.

The schools – which also include Golda Och Academy in West Orange, New Jersey, the Heschel School in Manhattan, and Luria Academy in Brooklyn, N.Y. – will send a team of educators to a series of workshops throughout 2016-17. In year one, educators will focus on the participants as prayers, learning about a range of approaches for tefilah education, how to set goals and how to introduce changes to tefilah in school. The following school year, each school will choose a project to develop, with the guided support of a PCJE coach.

“While tefilah and tefilah education are at the core of the Jewish school experience, it is undoubtedly one of the most challenging aspects of the curriculum. Through our recent efforts to professionalize the field through training tefilah leaders, developing sound approaches and realistic, measurable goals, we have seen how schools can positively impact their tefilah experiences,” commented Dr. Susan Wall, co-director of the project, and Director of Professional Development for the Pardes Center for Jewish Educators.

Michal Smart, head of Judaic Studies at Bi-Cultural in Stamford, CT, remarked, “We are very excited to be partnering on this initiative. Having committed ourselves to rethinking tefilah education in our school in a bold and deeply thoughtful way, we are looking forward to moving ahead with the benefit of the wisdom of experts on tefilah education.”

For more information contact Dr. Susan Wall at susan@pardes.org.il.