Assaf is the Director of Education at UnitEd. He works in the fields of Jewish Education, Museum Education and Comics and Graphic Novels. Prior to joining UnitEd, Assaf served as the first director of the Jewish renewal Division at the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs. He was Director of Education at Anu-Museum of the Jewish People (Tel Aviv). He served as curator of the Israeli Cartoon Museum, where he curated international and local exhibitions on editorial cartoons, comics and graphic novels. He teaches courses on Jewish Education, Museum Pedagogy and Philosophy of Education at Tel-Aviv University, Shenkar College of Design and Seminar HaKybutsim Teachers' College. His co-edited book "Comics & Sacred Texts” (with Prof. Ken Koltun-Fromm), has won the 2018 Best Edited Volume Award from the American Popular Culture Association (APA/PCA).

Gems:

• Help students appreciate our Torah, history, and culture on a more meaningful and profound level.
• Instill curiosity within your students.
• Ask students the big questions to help them figure out who they are.
• Create an environment in the classroom of acceptance of where each student is.
• Inspire students to connect with who we are as a nation and where we came from.
• Build a foundation of trust.
• It’s Ok to bring humor to education.
• Hebrew is a central pillar of Jewish education.
• Engage with Hebrew and don’t be afraid to make mistakes; have no shame.
• What are the most urgent needs of other educators and students?
• Talk with children about what’s going on in Israel.
• Prepare students for what they may face on university campuses by talking with them and giving them the resources they will need to thrive.
• Show our students that Jews around the world are linked to Israel.
• Teach children our history and its relevance in their everyday lives.
• Education is about knowledge, but also about having a deep connection to our history, faith, and culture, and establishing relevance to our lives.
• Chinuch should be learner centered.
• Don’t think that the entire fate of the Jewish world rests on your shoulders.
• Focus on what you can do!
• Remember why you became an educator in the first place.

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Rabbi Dovi Nadel has been the coordinator of the Dr. Shimshon Isseroff USA Chidon Ha’Tanach since 2015. Dovi is on the faculty of SAR High School and currently serves as the grade dean for the senior class. Dovi is a proud alum of Farber Hebrew Day School, Yeshivat Har Etzion, and Yeshiva University. He has a Master’s degree in Bible from YU-Revel and received his Semikha from YU-RIETS. For three consecutive summers he served as the Rosh Chinuch (Head of EducationalStaff) at Camp Stone in Sugar Grove, Pennsylvania. Dovi credits his parents and two unique Middle/High School educators for inspiring his love of Tanach – Rabbi Eliezer Cohen Z”L and Rabbi Pinchas Amior.

Gems:

• Inspire your students to learn Pesukim of the Torah well.
• Make time for your students.
• The key to textual fluency is when the student decides that they really want to learn it on their own.
• Encourage students to take ownership of their learning.
• The real reward is when students work hard.
• Push the students more than they push themselves.
• The short route ends up being the long route, the long route ends up being the short route.- Talmud
• Be a steward through which to connect students to Torah and Hashem.
• Generate a love of Torah and make it part of every day conversation.
• Chinuch is about planting seeds, helping cultivate students in whatever way you can, and knowing you might not see the end result, however, we have an impact.
• Ask your students what they find meaningful.
• Be inspired by your students.
• Stay fresh and creative.
• Truly love your students and what you’re teaching.
• Each of us has a duty to teach others.

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Jessie Rothstein is a new olah and a high school Tanach and Jewish History teacher in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel, where she lives with her family. She received her BA in Jewish Studies and Anthropology at Emory University, in Atlanta, GA, focusing her undergraduate thesis on Holocaust survivor testimony from Argentina. She received her MS in Jewish Education from YU Azrieli and has been teaching in Modern Orthodox high schools for the past 8 years. Jessie is extremely grateful to Hashem that she has the privilege of teaching Tanach in Eretz Yisrael!

Gems:

• Point out what is important to Hashem within Tanach.
• Hashem loves us.
• The Torah shows us what Hashem cares about.
• Hashem cares about vulnerable people, and we ought to also.
• It’s our job to have empathy for people who are less fortunate than us.
• Show students the little moments that reveal Hashem’s presence.
• Help students learn to have gratitude.
• Kids must feel safe.
• Learn how to disagree with people, while still being a loving person.
• Help students recognize their potential and actualize it by giving them the tools they’ll need.
• Create a sense of belonging amongst your students.
• Each student has his/her own path.
• We have to acknowledge and accept who the child is.
• See each child not just as an individual, but as someone who is also part of a family.
• Parents and educators are on the same team.
• Put yourself in their shoes.
• Keep the big picture in mind.
• Learning how to be a teacher is done on the job.
• Every difficult experience makes you a better teacher.
• The Torah is our guide to life.

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