35 comments

• Comment Link Friday, 09 April 2010 06:50 posted by Jodi Shames

  I wish to nominate Nellie Harris, Principal, Solomon Schechter School of Westchester, for her vision of community at home and in Israel

  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  
• Comment Link Thursday, 08 April 2010 19:09 posted by Jonathan Zasloff

  I'd like to nominate Rabbi Judith Abrams of Houston, the founder of Maqom (http://www.maqom.com/) and one of the leading teachers of Talmud in the United States. While there are many great Talmud teachers, none as far as I know have done what Reb Judith has done in bringing Talmud to a broad audience of previously unlearned Jews. Whether it is in her books or in her innovative learning institutions, Reb Judith has done as much as anyone today in making the Jewish people a "nation of Priests" -- or at least a nation Hachamim. Talmud was not designed to be brought to the masses -- it was (and is) at times purposefully convoluted, to require the attention of an individual teacher. Reb Judith does that masterfully, but she has also developed ways of teaching that break out of the old paradigms. Who else could be more deserving of the award?

  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  
• Comment Link Thursday, 08 April 2010 19:05 posted by Shayna Hefetz

  I agree that Nechama Leibowitz should be included.
  
  Also, the list would certainly be incomplete without mentioning Sarah Schenirer, founder of the Bais Yaakov (Beth Jacob) movement. She revolutionized Jewish education for girls and women in the Orthodox community. Here is a link to an inspiring article on her: http://www.tzemachdovid.org/gedolim/jo/tworld/schenirer.html
  
  She also has a wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Schenirer

  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  
• Comment Link Thursday, 08 April 2010 18:15 posted by Susan Shevitz

  Great question. A few come to mind, in no particular order:
  Nechama Leibowitz, teacher of Torah, midrash
  Rebecca Gratz, Sunday schools
  Henrietta Szold, Hadassah, Young Judaea, Youth Aliya
  Paula Hyman, pioneer in getting people to focus on Jewish women from historical perspective
  Judith Hauptman, Talmudist and rabbi
  Mamie Gamaron, A Benderly "Boy"
  Sadie Weilerstein, Katanton taught so many of us about the holidays
  Rose Schneiderman, labor organizer/educator
  Blu Greenberg,helping people reconcile Orthodoxy and feminism
  Sylvia Ettenberg, founder of Ramah, Melton research center
  And so many more.....

  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  
• Comment Link Thursday, 08 April 2010 17:41 posted by Fran Levey

  Avima Lombard z"l, Professor Emeritus at the Hebrew University School of Education and Senior Research Fellow at the Research Institute for Innovation in Education and Director of its Early Childhood Programs. At the Institute this remarkable woman and her colleagues developed the flagship HIPPY program (originally known as the Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters). HIPPY is a school-readiness program that helps parents prepare their 3-to 5-year-old children for success in school and beyond. HIPPY won acclaim from the Israeli government and was implemented nationally in 1975. Since then, it has expanded to operate in 167 sites around the world, including
  the United States.

  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  
• Comment Link Thursday, 08 April 2010 16:01 posted by Mark Guterman

  I nominate Sue Parker Gerson, of Denver, Colorado. She has done so much in so many different places I could not even begin to list them.

  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  
• Comment Link Thursday, 08 April 2010 15:33 posted by Seymour Epstein (Epi)

  I nominate Evelyn Peters z"l, an unsung heroine of the 20th century. Mlle Peters (as she was known in all the Francophone countries she worked in) was a JDC worker of many years. She was an early childhood educator hired by the Joint in the 50's and sent to Iran, Germany, France, Morocco, Tunisia, some scary secret places, and India. Kindergartens under her supervision had a special mix of order and fun that only Evelyn could put together. She was also a JDC country director in Tunisia and India for many years and worked past retirement age until a quick cancer took her life in the first years of the 21st century. Hundreds of ECE teachers and thousands of Jewish children had their Jewish lives enhanced by this quiet woman who must not be forgotten.
  Seymour Epstein (Epi) - one she guided.

  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  
• Comment Link Thursday, 08 April 2010 15:12 posted by yitzchak horvitz

  I nominate my wife, DINA HORVITZ, a pre school teacher at Lubavitch Education Center, N. Miami, Fl. for over 15 years.
  Besides teaching the students, she has also been a mashpia for many of the parents on how to deal with problems their children have. Once, she noticed a child who seemed to be bright and also a bit spaced out. After repeatedly watching his actions (in a class of 25 preschoolers), my wife suggested to the parents to take him to a neurologist to determine his problem. They said that he was just a child and it is "ok". My wife insisted to the Principal that the child must be tested. The principal understood that my wife was thinking of the child's best interest and insisted to the parents. The tests proved that the boy had a large tumor pressing against his brain. After the operation, the boy has been a pleasure and shown so many beautiful qualities that may have ended very abruptly if the operation was not done in a timely manner. This is just one of the many examples of her 27 years of teaching.

  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  
• Comment Link Thursday, 08 April 2010 14:55 posted by Ira Wise

  I second the nomination of Sara Lee.

  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
  
• Comment Link Thursday, 08 April 2010 14:55 posted by Ira Wise

  Nechama Leibowitz brought midrash and a love of Eretz Yisrael to generations. And through her students like Ben Hollendar her legacy was passed on and continues to grow. She has connected to students from all denominations and backgrounds and brought Torah and Midrash to modern Israelis.
  
  Nechama Leibowitz was born to an Orthodox Jewish family in Riga two years after her elder brother, the philosopher Yeshayahu Leibowitz. The family moved to Berlin in 1919.
  
  In 1930, Leibowitz received a doctorate from the University of Berlin for her thesis, Techniques in the Translations of German-Jewish Biblical Translations. That same year 1930, she immigrated to Mandate Palestine. She taught at a religious Zionist teachers' seminar for the next twenty-five years. In 1957 she began lecturing at Tel Aviv University, and became a full professor eleven years later. She also gave classes at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and other educational institutions around the country. In addition to her writings, Leibowitz commented on the Torah readings regularly for the Voice of Israel radio station.
  
  In 1942, Leibowitz began mailing out stencils of questions on the weekly Torah reading to anyone who requested them. These worksheets, which she called gilyonot (pages) would be sent back to her, and she would personally review them and return them with corrections and comments.
  
  They became very popular and in demand by people from all sectors of Israeli society. In 1954, Leibowitz began publishing her "Studies", which included many of the questions that appeared on her study sheets, along with selected traditional commentaries and her own notes on them. Over time, these studies were collected into five books, one for each book of the Torah.
  
  
  When asked to describe her methods she replied, "I have no derech... I only teach what the commentaries say. Nothing is my own.”
  
  She was noted for her modest demeanor coupled with wry wit, and always preferred the title of "teacher" over the more prestigious "professor." In accordance with her request, "מורה" (morah, "teacher") is the only word inscribed on her tombstone.

  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it