Asher Lindenbaum 1

10/13/2013
Foundations of Jewish Education

The Seven Principles of Modern Orthodox Jewish Education
The following are in order 1-7, with 7 being the most important.
1. The as the possession of all Jews.
2. The value of all segments of the Jewish community.
3. The primacy of moral virtue and ethical integrity in personal, business, and professional
life.
4. The need for excellence in both General and Jewish Studies.
5. The centrality of the State of Israel to the religious and national existence of the Jewish
people.
6. The need to set common educational goals for boys and girls.
7. The preeminence of and the fulfillment of mitzvoth according to Halakhah.


A lesson in limudei kodesh that can include the seventh principle would be a similar task to what
we just did in this class. Students would be asked to create a town of ideal jews and choose
values for those Jews. Some of those values would be tied to Halakhah, others would not. This
would allow the students to think about halakhah as a life value and would foster classroom
discussion regarding why they made their choices.
Common educational goals for boys and girls would best be demonstrated through the students
experience. Teachers should have very similar, if not identical, expectations from boys and girls
in their learning. However, if I needed to create a specific lesson plan which would demonstrate I
would create a history lesson on the development of womens education and leadership,
imparting the message that it would be foolish to assume that women can assume all the roles
that they can in the modern era yet they must still be limited in the area of education.
The centrality of Israel in Jewish life can be demonstrated by connecting Israel directly to textual
lessons. For example, students can travel to mishnayot and gemarot which mention areas of
Israel using google earth or image searches.