The Jewish Education Experience Podcast

Rabbi Yehuda Adelist was born and raised in Melbourne, Australia in the Yeshiva College school. He studied in the Rabbinical College of Australia & New Zealand and the Central Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim of Crown Heights. He received a Rabbinic Degree from Rav Mordechai Shmuel Ashkenazi in 2004 and graduated with a Master's degree in Education & Special Education in 2009. He has been in the field of education for over 20 years and is the founder of Torah For Children www.torah4children.com, publishers of Applied Kodesh Curriculum in core textual subjects including the Children's Chumash, Children's Gemara and Seder Kriah. He can be contacted at [email protected] or at 3477436132.

Gems: 

• Take the time to help students master the skills, and don’t take for granted that they’re going to get it as they go along.
• Students need to become independent learners by a certain age.
• It’s rare to have a child who is an independent learner as it requires multiple skill sets.
• First a child needs to be able to read in a language, then make the connection and understand what they’re reading, and then they need to learn how to apply it.
• We need to be intentional about how we’re teaching and help our students develop all three skill sets.
• Teach in a way that every child will pick up what we’re teaching.
• When we teach so that we’re thorough in multiple skills we’re able to reach all of the students in the class and picks up the speed.
• The time to reach students is in the prevention, not the cure, meaning from day one in the learning process.
• The teacher is not supposed to be the architect. They’re the ones who know how to build up the child properly.
• Teachers must give over a love of learning.
• Every school ought to have a handbook with goals clearly mapped out and what the outlook is.
• Chinuch is like having a little sapling and when you make a mark on it, that mark grows bigger and bigger as the plant grows bigger.
• The education we give children makes a difference to them and also has a ripple effect on future generations.
• The Torah is a lesson for how we ought to live life.
• Make sure we’re reaching the children where they’re holding.
• We don’t need to teach everything all at once.
• Be flexible. 

Listeners of the podcast will receive 20% off your first purchase of Hebrew worksheets by using the code JEE20. Visit HebrewWorksheets.com. 

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Rabbi Glenn M. Black is a passionate Jewish educator and mentor dedicated to inspiring teens through meaningful Torah learning and community building. He has played a significant role in strengthening Jewish identity and engagement through his leadership as CEO of NCSY. For more than 30 years, Rabbi Black has devoted his career to creating transformative opportunities for Jewish youth and helping thousands of teens build a lasting connection to their heritage. His leadership, vision, and unwavering commitment have helped shape stronger Jewish communities and inspired countless young people to carry their Jewish identity forward with pride, ensuring a vibrant Jewish future for today and for generations to come.

Gems:

• Care about Yiddishkeit.
• Help young people learn who they are.
• There must be consistency in the home.
• Investing in NCSY helps with all three major difficulties facing our nation today are the safety of Israel, assimilation and intermarriage, and antisemitism. 
• Jewish identity is crucial to teach.
• Multigenerational learning is monumental today.
• Be role models for children.
• Children need rules and guidance.
• Parents need to be parents.
• Look at each child and ask yourself what does this child need from me today?
• Give children a sense of belonging.
• Make Torah relevant to our children’s lives today.

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Rabbi Avi Horowitz grew up in Scranton, PA. He studied in Baltimore in Yeshivat Ner Israel where he received his Semicha. He has a Masters in Philosophy from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. He studied at YU at Azrieli where he received a Masters in Education. Rabbi Horowitz was a community rabbi and school principal for 23 years in Santiago, Chile. In 2019, he made Aliyah and started an elementary school in Israel. Now he’s a tour guide and works for Moreshet Hakotel in the Old City. Rabbi Horowitz is also completing a Masters in Jewish History. He’s married with six children and many grandchildren. He loves biking and tennis. 

www.rootsandroutesisrael.com/home-1-2

https://www.maagalot.org

Gems:

• If you can’t explain complex ideas to laymen, then you can’t understand what you’re learning.
• Make sure to get a mentor.
• Knowing Hebrew as a Jew is completely different.
• Help students feel comfortable with the basics of the language and Tanach.
• Expose students to Israeli culture.
• Jewish education is about building relationships.
• Students need us to be the “guide on the side”. 
• Education is passed down parents to children first.
• Return to the basics.

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Rabbi Noach Muroff was born and raised in Ottawa, Canada. He studied in Yeshivas Bais Yisroel in Yerushalayim for six years. While in Israel, he received his semicha from Rav Zalman Nechemia Goldberg. He then earned a Masters of Education in Administration and Supervision from Loyola University in Chicago and completed the Ohr LaGolah Teacher Training Program. During a six-year tenure as a high school Rebbe in Connecticut, Rabbi Muroff made international headlines for returning $98,000 that he found in a secondhand desk. He started at Torah Day School in 2017 as the 8th Grade Rebbe and joined the administration in 2019, now serving as the Boys' Principal. Rabbi Muroff is passionate about educating the next generation to lead their lives with Torah, middos tovos, and Kiddush Shem Shamayim.

Gems:

• To be an effective teacher there are two parts: you have to master and be comfortable with the material that you’re teaching, and you must be able to effectively give over that material.
• It’s important to have the basic skills of classroom management, etc. 
• Allow yourself time to grow in your role.
• Make the material relatable, it makes all the difference.
• Make sure our students feel that they’re loved, cared for, and that you want them to succeed.
• Technology is one of the biggest challenges we’re facing today that makes teaching harder.
• There’s nothing a teacher or Rebbe can do to compete with the fast-paced technology.
• Find ways to teach in an engaging and exciting way.
• Talk about different scenarios that come up in our daily lives.
• You can’t force it.
• Educate the parents and make sure they fully understand the dangers of technology.
• Too much exposure to videos on the internet sets up our children for a harder time learning.
• If children are not bought into the decision, they will find a way around it.
• Help them understand and appreciate the benefits of living a Torah lifestyle.
•  Teach them how to use technology responsibly.
• Gather other parents to sign an agreement to not allow cell phones for the children.
• Parents need to be the parent and stand their ground on important issues.
• Make sure students can read well.
• We need to constantly adapt to reach our students.
• You have the opportunity to make a real impact and change people for the rest of their lives.
• Usually it’s the way that a student is taught is what they remember. 

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Rabbi Ezra Elstein grew up in Philadelphia, went through the local Jewish day school system, and somewhere along the way lost his connection to Torah. It wasn't anyone's fault — it just wasn't the right fit. Years later, learning in Eretz Yisroel through open conversation and genuine curiosity, he rediscovered what Jewish learning could feel like. That experience changed everything.

When he and his wife started raising their own children, they dreamed of a school where Torah felt alive and personal — where every child felt seen. So they built one. With guidance from Rav Shalom Kamenetsky, TIDE began in their basement with four kids. Today it's a thriving school at Keneseth Israel serving boys in grades 1–8.

With over 15 years in education, Rabbi Elstein leads TIDE around one simple belief: every child deserves to discover that learning Torah can be joyful and meaningful.

Gems:

• Work on solving problems, don’t ignore them.
• Avoid/limit screens.
• Be with our children every step of the way.
• Hashem gave us our children because we’re the right people to help this particular child grow to be who they need to be.
• Help your child along their path.
• Trust that we’ve raised our children properly.
• Our generation needs more training in life skills than previous generations.
• It’s not about providing a certain template or format but finding the child’s path that he can grow up with.
• Find out what the deeper thing is that they’re struggling with.
• Build the relationship with the child first, before beginning curriculum.
• Think long term.

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Rabbi Yehuda Winder, previously a Rebbi at the Bais Medrash Chofetz Chaim in Israel, returned to America and found himself presented with an opportunity at Yeshiva Tiferes Moshe: a position as a first-grade Rebbi. He learned that the curriculum being used was one in which students memorized phrases and repeated what their Rebbe said. He believed that there must be a different way, one that focused on fostering skills and comprehension regarding the origins of words, and this is how Lshon Hatorah was born. Rabbi Winder’s method invovled students learning the “shoresh” or root of a word separately and then understand how prefixes and suffixes could modify its meaning. Each of the words came directly from the Torah which provided students with a solid foundation of language skills. Gradually, students progressed with learning Hebrew more easily through each grade level. Rabbi Winder’s method has become standard in many Jewish schools. The primary objective of the Lshon Hatorah series is to empower students with the proficiency needed to translate Hebrew text with precision and ease.

Gems:

Give students the ability  to learn by themselves.

Develop independent learners.

Help students figure out what the words in Hebrew mean.

The basic skills children learn will carry them throughout their lives.

Encourage students to figure things out by giving them the tools they’ll need and as a result, they’ll want to learn more.

Teach as much as you can through song.

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Blank stares after a thoughtful question can make even great teachers doubt themselves. We have all been there: one student answers, everyone else checks out, and a rich Jewish text turns into a worksheet. So we focus on what actually changes the room fast practical classroom techniques you can try tomorrow to spark real thinking and real conversation.

We start by reimagining chavruta, not as “turn and talk,” but as a structured partnership with roles like Questioner, Connector, and Challenger. That simple move turns reading into dialogue and gives every learner a clear way to contribute. From there we shift into inquiry-based Jewish learning: treating Torah and Talmud like problems to solve instead of facts to recite. We lean into tension, contradiction, and moral complexity, and we practice the hardest skill of all not rescuing students too quickly so they can discover meaning for themselves.

Then we widen the lens to experiential Jewish education. We talk about embodied learning through acting out biblical scenes, using movement to build memory, and helping students locate themselves inside the ideas. We also share reflection prompts that move from learning about Judaism to living Judaism, plus ritual as pedagogy: experiencing Shabbat with candles and quiet before explaining what it “means.” You will walk away with concrete tools for student engagement, deeper comprehension, and stronger Jewish identity.

If this helps, subscribe so you do not miss what we are trying next, share the episode with a colleague, and leave a review so more Jewish educators can find it. 

Chapter Markers

• 0:01
• Welcome And Sponsor Message
• 2:04
• From Blank Stares To Dialogue
• 2:55
• Chavruta Roles That Spark Talk
• 4:19
• Treat Text Like A Mystery
• 5:31
• Learn By Moving And Acting
• 6:45
• Reflection That Makes It Personal
• 7:35
• Ritual As A Teaching Tool
• 8:13
• One Small Shift Challenge
• 8:54
• A Closing Question For You

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Rabbi Moshe Kurtz serves as the Rabbi of Congregation Sons of Israel in Allentown, PA. He is the author of Meoros Moshe (Aleh Zayis, 2025), a Pirkei Avot anthology of scholarship and stories about HaGaon HaRav Moshe Feinstein zt”l. Rabbi Kurtz writes about contemporary and Halachic issues in forums such as the Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society (RJJ Journal), OUTorah, The Lehrhaus, Torah Musings, and Jewsih Action. He hosts the the As I Walk Through the Valley podcast, and is currently working on writing a book based on unpacking the Iggerot. 

Gems:

• Education is an area of Halacha that is very important that nobody asks questions about.
• Never give up on a child!
• When there is a child who is disturbing the class, remove him from the class and pair him with an older student, if possible.
• Jewish education is not just about giving over information, and it also can’t just be experiential. 
• Jewish education needs to be conveyed through a Rebbe/Talmid relationship, this is how the mesorah is passed down.
• There needs to be respect for Rebbes.
• Learning Torah and Jewish education needs to be first and foremost, and everything else revolves around it.
• Educators must exude that the Torah is our life and length of our days, we must feel it deeply that we live for.
• Is the Torah driving our agenda, and are we being that example to our students?
• Parents have an obligation to educate their chilren.
• Though keeping Torah and Mitzvot are hard, it shouldn’t be a question whether parents are going to observe them, and children pick this up.
• What’s the message we’re telling our children?
• Impress upon children the importance of being an honest, upright Jew.
• There are certain things we do even when we don’t feel like it, or don’t like to do it.
• What is the will of Hashem? 

*Rabbi Daniel Korobkin

*Joanna Powers

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Gila Ogle is the Head of School at The Silver Academy in Harrisburg, PA where she is committed to fostering a thriving, mission-driven learning environment built on strong community partnerships. A social studies teacher at heart, Gila began her career in charter and public schools in New York and Miami before transitioning to Jewish education. She is passionate about empowering students with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to navigate an ever-changing world with integrity and purpose. Through her leadership, Gila strives to create a school culture that nurtures curiosity, critical thinking, and a deep sense of responsibility for the future. She is, most importantly, a proud wife and mom of three amazing kids.

Gems: 

• Keep your mind open about what you can become and what you can share with the world.
• Think about what we would like our students to get out of what we’re teaching.
• Make efforts to allow students to interact with each other. 
• Help children examine the world and find their place in it.
• One of our roles is to examine what we learn from children and find ways to guide them with the knowledge they already have.
• Empower the child to understand what they bring to the world. 
• Find the spark in the child.
• Focus on building the relationship with the child first.
• Find colleagues and mentors.

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Rabbi Jonathan Rietti – a descendant of the Sephardic leader the Ben Ish Chai and son of the famous British actor Robert Rietti, known as ‘The Man of a Thousand Voices’ and ‘King of the Dubbers’ – received his rabbinical diploma from Gateshead Talmudical College, England, after which he helped establish the now flourishing Kollel in Gibraltar. Having received a master’s in education, he has practiced for over thirty years as an educational consultant to parents of gifted children and those with ADD. With Montessori training, he has developed a curriculum which dovetails a Torah education with Montessori methodology. He has authored over two hundred lectures on topics including inner growth, health, parenting and Jewish identity, and draws upon his background in the film and advertising industries to entertain the listener while sharing powerful insights on love, happiness and ‘emotional intelligence. Rabbi Rietti founded Breakthrough Chinuch in 2009 with the goal of offering a “hands-on” curriculum to compliment the traditional Chinuch system for teachers, parents, schools, and homeschooling parents. https://www.breakthroughchinuch.com/

Gems:

• It is critical to learn Chumash through the prefixes, suffixes, and shorashim (root) letters.
• Allow ample time for review of what your students are learning.
• If you don’t learn sequentially from beginning to end based on actual skills, then there won’t be a strong chance of covering ground and knowing what you learn. 
• The first thing we as educators have to recognize is that we must observe the child first, and then we can educate according to their strengths. 
• Once a child masters the shorashim, and prefixes, and suffixes commonly found in Tanach, it makes it much easier to learn.
• Children have the ability to figure things out for themselves.
• We are causing the wisdom that’s already within the child to come out.
• The greatest teachers are ones who facilitate learning.
• A Rebbe has to have a lot of ways to reach his students.
• The Torah is written so that we ask questions, and the answers are in the Torah She’Be’al Peh (Oral Torah).
• When you know the Shorashim, prefixes and suffixes, you gain access to most of Bereishit.
• Find the strengths of the child and use that to teach any subject you want to teach.
• There needs to be constant back and forth in the classroom.
• Provide the skills and the connection to Torah.

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