Background

The Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards for Excellence in Jewish Education™ are designed to recognize teachers in communities across North America who have made a commitment to the field of Jewish education. The Awards honor outstanding classroom-based teachers in formal Jewish educational settings (early childhood through grade 12). Awards Winners are chosen through their central agency for Jewish education or, where no central agency exists, through their federation. The Awards were first established by the Grinspoon Foundation in 2000 and joined by The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life in 2002.

Eligibility

Nominees for the Awards must:

• Demonstrate exceptional achievement and serve as a role model in Jewish education

• Have a minimum of 3 years experience in the field

• Teach at least 6 hours per week in Jewish education with a minimum of 4 hours per week in a Jewish day school or other formal Jewish educational settings and 2 hours in another Jewish educational capacity (educators can fulfill the hour requirement in more than one institution)

• Be classroom-based Jewish educators in one of the following categories:

  • early childhood educator

  • day school teacher, grades K-12

  • congregational school teacher, grades K-12

Local communities may add additional criteria for eligibility; they may also include their own similar criteria from a pre-existing local award. Nominations of previous Grinspoon Awards and Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards recipients will not be considered.

Procedures

Nominations from local communities (excepting the Greater New York and Los Angeles Metropolitan areas) are limited to one (1) outstanding educator. Consideration of nominees will proceed on a first-come, first-reviewed basis to a maximum of 55 Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards winners.

Teachers may be nominated ONLY by their principal or school administrator. Nominations are then submitted to the local Central Agency for Jewish Education or, where no Central Agency exists, to the local Federation. Once the local community has selected their nominee(s) their final applications should be forwarded via email to  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it where a National Awards Panel will confirm selection of the final recipients. While this Committee may seek additional information about a candidate before confirming his/her nomination, the judgment of each local selection committee is the most important criterion. Please note: JESNA will not compare candidates to one another.

Awards Benefits

The 2011 Awards offers national recognition and opportunities for professional development to its recipients, each of whom will be awarded a minimum of $2,000. There are several important and exciting changes to the Awards Program from years past.

The Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards professional development stipend in 2011 is $1,000. Each Winner must use this stipend for his or her own professional development within two years of receiving the Award.The remaining $1,000 is for use at the recipient's discretion.

In addition, the Awards winners, both past and present, will be invited to engage in a new, North American Community of Practice (CoP) established through the generosity of the funders that replaces the national Awards Seminar and ceremony. The CoP will provide ongoing opportunities for Awards winners to participate in high-quality, ongoing of professional development through webinars with a cadre of outstanding educational professionals. These events will help Awards winners to network, to expand knowledge and skills, and to share expertise.

The Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards bring national recognition to local communities and their outstanding educators. JESNA will share guidance, ideas, and best practices with local communities to strengthen local awards ceremonies in the absence of the national ceremony.

2012 Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award Application Materials

Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards Instruction Sheet (54 kB)
Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards Application, Part A (84 kB)
Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards Application, Part B (84.5 kB)
Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards Application, Part C (66 kB)
Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards Application, Part D (136.5 kB)

Click the document below to see the communities that participate in the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards.

Map of Participating Communities

Harold Grinspoon, Grinspoon Foundation

In 1993, Mr. Grinspoon established the Harold Grinspoon Foundation to enhance Jewish life in Western Massachusetts and beyond. Local initiatives include a tuition incentive program for any child to attend a Jewish day school in the region, family education, teen life and the creation of a Resource Center for Jewish Education.

In 1995, the Foundation established the Awards for Excellence in Jewish education in Western Massachusetts as an expression of Harold Grinspoon’s commitment to quality Jewish education and his belief that teachers are at the heart of the educational process. In 2000, the HGF expanded the award program nationally in order to reward Jewish educators and to encourage communities and other Jewish philanthropists to join in honoring teachers and spearheading their professional growth. The Foundation is a founding partner in PEJE and a funder of the Hillel movement.

Two of HGF’s signature initiatives are The PJ Library, which sends Jewish children’s books and music into the homes of families with young children each month; and the Grinspoon Institute for Jewish Philanthropy, which works primarily with Jewish overnight camps to help them become more effective organizations. One of the Foundation’s goals is to create local programs which can be replicated by other Jewish communities. Harold’s wife Diane Troderman is his active partner in all of his philanthropic activities.

Michael Steinhardt, the Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life

In 1995, after a legendary career, Michael H. Steinhardt retired to devote his time and fortune largely to the causes of the Jewish world. As founder and chairman of The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life, he works toward revitalizing Jewish identity through educational and cultural initiatives that reach out to all Jews, with an emphasis on those who are on the margins of Jewish life, as well as to advocate for and support Hebrew and Jewish literacy among the general population. These initiatives include Birthright Israel; Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative (JECEI); the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education (PEJE); Makor; the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development; the Hillel Foundation of the University of Pennsylvania; and Hillel International, through which he created the Steinhardt Jewish Campus Service Corps.

In 2001, Mr. Steinhardt published his memoirs, No Bull: My Life In and Out of the Markets (John Wiley & Sons, 2001). He and his wife, Judy, are the parents of David, Daniel, and Sara, and the grandparents of Jacob, Joshua, Kira, Talia, Tora, Nathaniel, Theodore, Lila, Aetien, and Infinity.

JESNA

In order to ensure that the Jewish people thrive and its values flourish, we must first ensure that Jewish education is the best that it can be in all of its variety. JESNA's role -- to strengthen communities and their educational offerings by providing tested solutions, leveraging partnerships, promoting synergies, and building the connections that strengthen us all - has not changed, though the strategies by which we accomplish our goals have been refined and strengthened over the past year. We are currently engaged in a number of new projects and collaborations. In partnership with education leaders, funders, and dreamers, JESNA draws on its years of institutional experience and its expert staff to focus on a continuous cycle of improvement, progressing from learning to dissemination to active application in geographical and topical communities and back again. Building the capacity of Federations and their Central Agencies to improve Jewish education in local communities is a key means of accomplishing our mission.

We employ a wide range of tools and methodologies in order to support our partners and clients in communities and institutions as they seek to accomplish their individual and shared goals in Jewish education. We convene, network, evaluate, advocate, consult, and encourage. We apply innovative ideas, cutting edge technology, proven models, data and practical know-how. We work in teams across disciplines to ensure that we manage internal and external knowledge to maximize the impact of every project. We know that our agenda is ambitious. We also know that this work is critical if Jewish education is to fulfill its promise for North American Jewry in the 21st century and beyond.

Local Communities

The Harold Grinspoon Foundation, the Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life and JESNA encourage the participation of as many communities as possible. Any community that has a central agency for Jewish education or a federation is eligible to participate in the Awards. If your community is not participating, and you have a teacher of excellence you would like to nominate, please work with your central agency or federation to take part in the Awards. Please contact your local central agency for Jewish education or federation to find out if your community is participating in the Awards and how you can assist in the Awards process.

Click here to see a directory of central agencies

Central Agency for Jewish Education/Federation Executives
School Principals and Administrators
Community Members

Central Agency for Jewish Education/Federation Executives
The community administers the local Awards process. Each community (for the purpose of these Awards, a community is defined as the area served by a federation) will provide at least $1,000 towards each Award.

Central agency and federation executives are responsible for disseminating the Awards materials to their local educational institutions. These materials can now be found on this website. Click here for the 2011 Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards application forms. JESNA recommends that you publicize the Awards throughout your community. If you need assistance with publicity materials, please contact JESNA.

Agency executives should create a local deadline for the Awards applications. Please note that this local deadline should be early enough so that the final application is returned to JESNA by May 13, 2011. Once the applications have been submitted, please form a selection committee to decide on your community's nominee(s). Nominations from local communities (excepting the Greater New York and Los Angeles Metropolitan areas) are limited to one (1) outstanding educator. Consideration of nominees will proceed on a first-come, first-reviewed basis to a maximum of 55 Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards winners.

In order to aid in the local selection process, nominators are asked to identify a teacher of excellence in one of the following categories:

• Day school teacher (grades K-8)

• Day school teacher (grades 9-12)

• Congregational school teacher (K-8)

• Congregational school teacher (9-12)

• Early childhood educator

Once you have selected your nominee(s) please forward their applications via email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it where a National Awards Committee set up by JESNA, the Harold Grinspoon Foundation and the Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life will confirm selection of the final recipients. While this Committee may seek additional information about a candidate before confirming his/her nomination, the judgement of each local selection committee is the most important criterion.

School Principals and Administrators
It is the job of school administrators to select one classroom teacher from their school to nominate for these Awards. Principals and administrators are asked to select the teacher who they feel most exemplifies a teacher of excellence. The teacher must be from one of the five approved categories. You may form a selection committee of people to help you or make the decision yourself. The next step is to complete Part A of the application and have the nominated teacher complete Part B. In addition, you will need to have a supporting nominator complete Part C. Once you and/or your committee have chosen someone to nominate from your school, you must forward Parts A, B and C back to your central agency for Jewish education/federation contact by the date which they have chosen. These materials can now be found on this website. Click here for the 2011 Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards application forms.

For more information, please call your local central agency for Jewish education. If your community does not have a central agency, please call your local federation. Click here to see a directory of central agencies. Click here to see a directory of federations in each community.

Community Members
If you are a community member who is interested in either encouraging your community to participate in the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards or underwriting the community portion of these awards we encourage you to contact both your local central agency for Jewish education or a federation if your community does not have a central agency. You may also contact Dena Stein at (212) 584-7341 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Teacher Recognition Ceremony

JESNA, the Harold Grinspoon Foundation and the Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life encourage the recognition of all teachers in each community. It is a meaningful experience for teachers to be recognized by the parents, students, administrators, colleagues, and community members who know their important contributions to the community first-hand. We encourage you to plan your teacher recognition ceremony not only for your Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award winner, but also for all Jewish educators in your community.

Frequently Asked Questions - Teacher Recognition Ceremonies

1. Where should we hold our ceremony?

2. Who should be invited to attend the ceremony?

3. What is a good structure for the ceremony?

4. How many teachers should be honored at the ceremony?

5. How should we honor teachers? What if my community has limited funds with which to present teachers with gifts?

Where should we hold our ceremony?

Each community has different feelings about what works. For example:

• At the central agency or federation. Most members of the community are comfortable with this common space. In addition, utilizing this space saves the cost of renting a room.

• Each year the event rotates to a different synagogue or school. Many communities will hold their ceremonies in the home school or synagogue of the Educator of the Year.

• In a hotel ballroom or hall. This is a neutral, special location and allows for flexibility with respect to different programs and different size groups.

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Who should be invited to attend the ceremony?

The answer to this question depends on the size of the space and the number of people in your community. However, it is always best to invite as many people as possible to give teachers the widest recognition. Be sure to invite all teachers and principals, agency executives and board members, and any guests of the teacher being honored. If possible, open the event to the entire Jewish community, including parents, students, and synagogue lay and professional leadership.

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What is a good structure for the ceremony?

The structure depends mainly on community preference, size, and budget, but some structures work better than others. Whether held at an annual agency meeting, a luncheon, dinner, banquet, or reception, the following are key components of a recognition ceremony:

• A d’var Torah offered by a local rabbi or community leader

• Speeches by colleagues and/or students of the award-winning teacher

• A keynote address by the award-winning teacher

• Presentation of certificates/gifts/award money (donors often make the most appropriate presenters)

• Food!

In addition, some communities have conducted successful workshops or professional development seminars following the ceremony so that many teachers attend the ceremony and so that all benefit.

• Don’t be afraid to try new ideas when creating a plan for your ceremony. Communities have done everything from picnics to afternoon tea with great success because of the uniqueness of the ceremony. The keys to a good ceremony are focusing on honoring the Awards Winner and having fun!

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How many teachers should be honored at the ceremony?

This varies depending on the size of the community. Most communities have an "Educator of the Year" award and also honor retiring teachers. Some communities present creative teaching awards and recognize teachers who have reached “Chai” (18 years teaching) or double “Chai” (36 years teaching). Some communities honor one teacher from each school, while some single out one teacher of excellence from among the whole community. Teachers who have participated in significant continuing education or professional development opportunities are often recognized.

Your community may honor as many teachers as it wishes. Please note, however, that 2011 Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards nominations from local communities (excepting the Greater New York and Los Angeles Metropolitan areas) are limited to one (1) outstanding educator. Consideration of nominees will proceed on a first-come, first-reviewed basis to a maximum of 55 Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards winners.

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How should we honor teachers? What if my community has limited funds with which to present teachers with gifts?

Many communities will present the Educator of the Year with a significant cash prize either for his or her own personal use, a trip to Israel. or professional development. Gifts of Judaica, books, or some kind of plaque are all meaningful ways to honor teachers who have reached a milestone year. A small cash prize to buy materials or a trip to an in-state educational conference is an appropriate and affordable way to honor creative teachers. Each teacher being honored should receive a certificate and a copy of that certificate should be sent to his/her school.

In order to assist communities with gifts for recognition, the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life, and JESNA will provide communities with an engraved plaque, a Face Book with information on all of the year's winners, and other gifts.  Another relatively inexpensive way to honor all teachers is to provide them with corsages or boutonnieres to wear during the ceremony.

It is important to make this ceremony personal for the teachers being honored. Have people who know the teacher give speeches and present the award, inscribe books, engrave Judaica, present a slide show of the teacher. Ask students to write letters to their teacher and present the book at the ceremony.

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The Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards bring national recognition to local communities and their outstanding educators.

The 2010 Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards will not include an Awards Seminar and Ceremony as in years past.

JESNA will share guidance, ideas, and best practices with local communities to strengthen local awards ceremonies in the absence of the national ceremony.

If you have questions about your local community's awards ceremony, please contact Marcie Yoselevsky at JESNA: 212-284-6897 or  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

In 2007, the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards program instituted a new procedure for requesting Professional Development Stipends. Following are updated processes and procedures for 2011 Awards Winners:

1. A teacher proposes professional development opportunities that meet the guidelines of the Awards Program to their local contact person (in the central agency or federation).

2. The community contact submits requests that meet the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards Program guidelines to JESNA.

3. Upon receipt of the Professional Development Stipend request and all applicable receipts, JESNA will forward the stipend funds to the professional development provider (e.g., conference provider, organization sponsoring a class, etc.), or reimburse the community or individual teacher for expended funds.

The new procedures have raised a number of questions regarding guidelines for appropriate use of the stipend. In response to this, JESNA has created this FAQs document in order to clarify the new procedures for teachers and community contacts.

How much is the professional development stipend?
$1,000

Who provides the professional development stipend?
The funders of the stipend are the Harold Grinspoon Foundation and The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life. JESNA does not provide the stipend; we simply administer and monitor the process.

I am a teacher. How do I request my stipend?
Contact the coordinator of the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards Program at your central agency or federation - they have a form that you and the coordinator must fill out together detailing how you wish to use the stipend. The coordinator will then submit the form to JESNA. Subsequently, JESNA will review the form to validate that the request fits into the funder’s guidelines for the award.  You can also access the form by downloading the Professional Development Stipend Reimbursement Form found below.  Please consult with your community coordinator before sending in this form.  If you do not know your community coordinator, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for this information.

Professional Development Reimbursement Form (37 kB)

What are the funders' general guidelines for the stipend?
The funders of the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards intend for the stipend to be used to further the Award Winner's professional development. Examples of professional development opportunities that are in line with the funders' guidelines include: academic courses, ulpan classes, national or local conferences for Jewish educators, and organized trips to Israel. Please see below for further details regarding each of these categories.

How many years after winning the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award can I use my stipend?
You may use your stipend for up to two years from the time that you were notified of the award. For example, if you were notified in June, 2010, you have until June, 2012, to use the stipend. Please contact JESNA if you have questions about professional development opportunites available only during the summertime.

Can I use my stipend toward academic courses?
Yes, the stipend can be used towards courses at an accredited Jewish or secular academic institution. You can use the stipend for coursework that is being utilized towards a degree that will further advance your teaching career, or you may use the stipend to take courses as a non-matriculated student at an accredited Jewish or secular academic institution.

Following are some of the past Awards Winners' most popular choices:

COLLEGES:

Loyola: Jewish Education Leadership Program
Nova Southeastern University
Siegal College
Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies
Touro College
Yeshiva University: Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education

OTHER JEWISH EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES:

Pardes
Nishmat Summer Program

Can I use the stipend to hire private tutors to teach me a specific skill?
The stipend cannot be used to pay for private tutors or private lessons.

Can I use the stipend to pay for a course of independent study?
As a general rule, the stipend is meant to be used for study that is under the auspices of an accredited academic institution. However, you may submit a written proposal for independent study which will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Can I use my stipend to go on a trip to Israel?
Yes, as long as it is a trip for the purpose of attending an organized program that is geared specifically toward Jewish educators. Other Israel-based professional development plans will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Can I use my stipend to attend national conferences?
Yes, you may use your stipend to attended conferences designed for Jewish educators. Requests to attend secular educational conferences will be approved on a case-by-case basis. Here are some of the most popular conferences that past Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards Winners attended:

Yad Vashem Conference

NATE Conference (National Association for the Teaching of English)

BER Conference on Best Strategies to Teach Young Writing

National Association for the Education of Young Children Conference

CLAD Program for Language Acquisition Techniques

Where can I find a more comprehensive list of professional development opportunities?
For a more comprehensive list of professional development opportunities available, please download our Professional Development Guide.  This list will be regularly updated with new opportunities.  Please note, however, that this is NOT a comprehensive list.

 Professional Development Guide - Spring-Summer 2012 (463.4 kB)

You can also visit JESNA's Professional Development Center and Sosland Online Resource Center for more opportunities.

Can I use my stipend to buy materials for my classroom?
In general, the intention of the funders is for the stipend to be used for professional development rather than materials. However, you may use up to $100 for classroom materials. Requests for amounts greater than $100 will be denied.

Can I personally be reimbursed for the $1,000 if I have already used my own money to attend a seminar, academic course, etc.?
Yes, simply indicate on the stipend request form (that you will fill out with your community coordinator) that you are applying for a reimbursement. In order to receive the reimbursement you must submit a receipt from the professional development provider detailing the exact expenses to be reimbursed.

I have a question that is not addressed in the FAQS, who can I contact?
Please feel free to call Dena Stein at JESNA: 212-584-7341 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Questions:

1. My agency does not have money to spare. Where should the $1,000 come from?

2. My community already offers a named teacher recognition award. Are we still eligible to participate?

3. The new online Awards application is confusing to me. What are the new procedures?

4. How do I know if my community is participating?What can I do if my community has not been a part of the Awards in the past?

5. How are teachers nominated to receive this Award?

6. How can I choose just one teacher from my many outstanding employees?

7. When is the deadline for the awards?

8. When will I know if the teacher I nominated won?

9. How do I get more information?

10. Can I nominate a teacher?

Answers:

My agency does not have money to spare. Where should the $1,000 come from?

The money should preferably come from a local philanthropist. The title of the local award can be shared with the local donor, The Grinspoon Foundation and The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life. If you are having trouble identifying a local donor, please contact Dena Stein at JESNA: (212) 584-7341 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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My community already offers a named teacher recognition award. Are we still eligible to participate?

Yes! Communities that award a minimum of $1,000 with eligibility criteria compatible with those of the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards, may also submit their local recipient for nomination to the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards. If selected, the nominee will receive the matching $1,000 from the Harold Grinspoon Foundation and the Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life. When the local recipient also is selected for the national Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards, the title of the local award will be shared by the local donor, The Harold Grinspoon Foundation and The Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life. However, communities with existing teacher recognition awards are encouraged to establish a second educator award under the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards guidelines, by investing in an additional $1,000.
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The new online Awards application is confusing to me. What are the new procedures?

The new online application was designed to make the Awards application process easier for all involved parties. Central agency and/or federation executives are responsible for downloading the application and forwarding Parts A, B, and C to schools administrators. The administrator then fills out Part A, and forwards Part B to the nominated teacher. The administrator also forwards Part C to a secondary nominator. Once the school administrator receives back the completed Parts B and C, he or she then returns them together with Part A (to be completed by the Executive) to the central agency or federation by the assigned deadline. The executive then forwards all four completed Parts to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . In addition to the instructions on this site, there are also individual instructions listed at the bottom of each Part. If you have any problems accessing these documents, please contact Dena Stein at (212) 584-7341or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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How do I know if my community is participating? What can I do if my community has not been a part of the Awards in the past?

To find out if your community is participating, please call your central agency or, if no central agency exists, your federation. Click here to see a directory of central agencies. Click here to see a directory of federations in each community. Any community that has a central agency for Jewish education or a federation is eligible to participate in the Awards. If your community is not participating, and you have a teacher of excellence you would like to nominate, please work with your central agency or federation to take part in the Awards.
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How are teachers nominated for the Awards?

JESNA, the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, and the Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life have sent out Awards packages to central agencies for Jewish education and federations across North America. Click here to see the entire 2010 kit.

In participating communities, parts A and B of the application are then sent to schools for the principal or administrator and nominated teacher to fill out. Each school may nominate one teacher. The completed application from each school is then sent back to the agency for consideration. A local selection committee will review all submissions and forward the winning application form to JESNA.
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How can I choose just one teacher from my many outstanding educators?

The Grinspoon Foundation, Steinhardt Foundation for Jewish Life, JESNA and your local agency understand that it can sometimes be difficult for a principal to single out one teacher of excellence from among a qualified staff. Some schools who participated in the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards have used the following methods to ensure that no teacher feels the selection process was arbitrary:

• Form a committee of school administrators and/or board members to help select the teacher. Ask teachers to vote for other teachers in the school who meet the criteria for the Awards.Solicit nominations from parents and students in the school community Consider recognizing multiple educators every year; each one receives something notable (a plaque, cash, public recognition, etc.) but only one will be a recipient of the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards.

• Have every school in your jurisdiction nominate a teacher and assure them all of an award. Recognize one teacher from each school annually. Then select one of these teachers who meets the local and national criteria to be the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards winner.

The Awards provide meaningful recognition for outstanding Jewish educators in your community, provides an opportunity for continued professional development and an opportunity for local and national Jewish communities to bring Jewish educator recognition and value to the attention of the general Jewish community.
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When is the deadline for the Awards?

Your local central agency or federation has determined a deadline for submission of applications. All completed Awards nominations must be emailed in their entirety to JESNA no later than May 13, 2011.
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When will I know if the teacher I nominated won?

A list of Award-winning teachers will be released in mid-June to your local agency, the winning teacher and the winning teacher's school.
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How do I get more information?

For more information, please call your local central agency for Jewish education. If your community does not have a central agency, please call your local federation. Click here to see a directory of central agencies. Click here to see a directory of federations in each community.
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Can I nominate a teacher?

Teachers may be nominated ONLY by their principal or school administrator. Nominations are then submitted to the local central agency for Jewish education or, where no central agency exists, to the local federation.
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For general information about the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards, please contact your local central agency for Jewish education. If your community does not have a central agency, please contact your local federation. Click here to see a directory of central agencies. Click here to see a directory of federations in each community.If you are a Central Agency for Jewish Education/Federation Executive and are interested in more information about the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Awards, please contact:

Dena Stein
JESNA
318 West 39th Street, 5th Floor 
New York, NY 10018
(212) 584-7341
(212) 284-6951 Fax
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The dawn of a new decade has brought with it a flurry of retrospectives assessing the first ten years of the 21st century. Clearly, there's been much to cause discouragement, anxiety, and concern. But, as we at JESNA look back on the past decade in Jewish education, we also find much to celebrate. In fact, it's been a pretty good decade for Jewish learning, not without its challenges and disappointments, but one marked by many exciting developments, new ideas, and promising directions.

So, in the spirit of the new decade, with perhaps a touch of the Oscars thrown in, here is our JESNA "Top Ten" list of achievements, developments, ideas, and trends in Jewish education worthy of note and gratification (in no special order). And, since we're Jewish, we wanted to be generous and threw in an 11th just for good measure.

Please feel free to share your own list and let us know what you think of ours. [contact Rika Levin at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with your thoughts]

• Taglit-Birthright Israel - Taglit-Birthright Israel has demonstrated that big ideas can generate big successes: 200,000+ young people encountering Israel for the first time in an experience that for many has been life changing. The "home run" that all new program initiatives seek to emulate.

• Funding Partnerships to transform critical sectors of Jewish education - Beginning with the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education (PEJE), the decade saw the coming to the fore of funder-driven initiatives to bring new ideas and energy to arenas such as day school, early childhood education, complementary education, camps, and Jewish innovation.

• Consumer-centric education - This is the age of choice in Jewish education: individuals and families choosing among multiple options to find the most meaningful and appropriate educational experiences. This imposes new demands on our institutional infra-structure to place education's "consumers" at the center of their thinking and to put in place concrete mechanisms, like the Los Angeles BJE's Jewish Education Concierges, to assist and guide these consumers in making choices that work for them.

• The rise of the innovation sector - The past decade has seen an explosion of innovative people, projects, and organizations creating new modes and venues for Jewish learning and engagement. Equally important, endeavors like Bikkurim: An Incubator for New Jewish Ideas and a growing number of others have emerged to nurture and support this innovation sector.

• Congregational educational change initiatives - It's definitely not your father's (or mother's) Hebrew school any longer, as more than a dozen national, regional, and local initiatives involving hundreds of synagogues collectively have begun to transform the landscape of supplementary education, bringing new vision, energy, and leadership to an often disparaged arena.

• The revitalization of Jewish camps - Cognoscenti have long recognized the unique power of Jewish camps to nurture lifelong Jewish engagement. In the past decade this power was rediscovered, and new investment, spearheaded by organizations like the Foundation for Jewish Camp and the Grinspoon and Avi Chai Foundations, has elevated the prominence and performance of Jewish camps and spurred growth and innovation across the field.

• Online Jewish learning - Technology is transforming how we work, play, communicate, and learn, and Jewish learning is no exception. From MyJewishLearning.com to Twitter, the technological revolution is coming to Jewish education, empowering learners, challenging teachers, putting new resources at our finger tips, connecting far-flung classrooms, and bridging time and space.

• PJ Library - Educators have long known that the family is our first and most powerful teacher. With the simple idea of giving Jewish families books to read to young children at bedtime, The Grinspoon Foundation's PJ Library program has brought a seminal Jewish experience into tens of thousands of Jewish homes and spurred communities to invent new programs to help these families continue their Jewish journeys.

• Jewish service learning - Today's young people want to be "hands on" when it comes to repairing the world. Jewish service learning programs for teens and young adults have blossomed to build the bridge between Jewish activism and Jewish education. AJWS, Avodah: the Jewish Service Corps, Panim, Jewish Funds for Justice, Areyvut, Teva Learning Center and a host of others are helping young people to learn and apply Jewish values to make a better world.

• "Public Space" Jewish education - If some Jews are reluctant to come to Jewish institutions, why can't we bring Jewish experiences to them? That's the premise behind a growing number of initiatives that take Jewish learning and experiences to where Jews are, whether it's the aisles of supermarkets, the lounges of bookstores, the board rooms of corporations, or the campuses of public and private high schools.

• A focus on outcomes - In an era of limited resources, it's vital to make sure that all of our educational investments are as effective as they can be. But to do so, we need to look beyond the programs to the learners themselves and to be clear about the outcomes we seek and the results we're obtaining. Clarifying outcomes and developing measures to assess them is enabling us to make better programs and, we may hope, laying the groundwork for even greater investment in quality Jewish education.