The arts are a powerful vehicle for engaging learners, for deepening their educational experience, and for developing important skills and dispositions that extend well beyond the realm of the arts themselves. Integrating the arts fully into education builds enthusiasm for learning, provokes wonder and reflection, unleashes creativity, broadens perspectives, draws new meaning from familiar experiences, and forges connections among students as they create and critique collaboratively. This proposition is now widely accepted in the general educational world. But, in Jewish education, the arts are utilized to their full potential only sporadically, and the infrastructure and financial support needed to expand the role and impact of the arts are by and large missing. To help Jewish education fully take advantage of this power and potential, Avoda Arts, the Foundation for Jewish Culture, and JESNA’s Lippman Kanfer Institute joined forces in 2009, with support from the Lippman Kanfer Family Foundation, to explore potential strategies for expanding and enhancing the role of the arts in K-12 Jewish education. This report summarizes their findings as of September 2010. Download the report here: Jewish Education and the Arts: Realizing the Potential (621.87 kB)