Turn It and Turn It Again ─ Studies in the Teaching and Learning of Classical Jewish Texts

The study of classical Jewish texts is flourishing in day schools and adult education, synagogues and summer camps, universities and yeshivot. But serious inquiry into the practices and purposes of such study is far rarer. In this book, a diverse collection of empirical and conceptual studies illuminates particular aspects of the teaching of Bible and rabbinic literature to, and the learning of, children and adults. In addition to providing specific insights into the pedagogy of Jewish texts, these studies serve as models of what the disciplined study of pedagogy can look like. The book will be of interest to teachers of Jewish texts in all contexts, and will be particularly valuable for the professional development of Jewish educators.

Jon A. Levisohn is Associate Professor of Jewish Education in the Department of Near Eastern & Judaic Studies at Brandeis University, as well as the Assistant Academic Director of the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education. He holds a doctorate from Stanford University and is an alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship program. He is the author of The Interpretive Virtues: A Philosophical Enquiry into the Teaching and Learning of Historical Narratives (Wiley-Blackwell, 2013). Susan P. Fendrick received rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship program. Her writing has appeared in The Women's Torah Commentary and The Women's Haftarah Commentary, The Women's Seder Sourcebook, the haggadah A Night of Questions, the journals Sh'ma and Living Text, as well as numerous online publications. She previously served as Senior Research Associate at the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University.