Building Bridges

Abstract

Hello. As the new editor of the Journal of Jewish Education, it is my honor and pleasure to offer this brief introduction to this issue. First, though, I want to extend my profound gratitude to our previous editor, Dr. Helena Miller, who served as the senior editor of the Journal for the past 6 years. Dr. Miller cultivated new authors, sustained the journal’s commitment to high-quality research in the field, worked tirelessly to include voices that represent the global dimension of our scholarly community, and expanded the range of research areas through a series of special issues. The field is richer, broader, and better because of her efforts, and I share with both researchers and practitioners a deep appreciation for Dr. Miller’s contributions to and enthusiasm for our shared work. Transitions are always an occasion to look both back and forward, so indulge me for a moment to look even further back than Dr. Miller’s time at the helm. This journal made its debut in 1929, under the editorial leadership of Alexander Dushkin, who formulated two intentions for this new undertaking. First, the journal was to become an organ for the professionalization and modernization of Jewish education. As a “record of Jewish educational experience and opinion, and a review of existing activities and trends,” the journal would foster the growth of a “scientific, professional attitude” in the field. Second, the journal was to provide “current literature on Jewish education to which teachers, rabbis, and laymen (sic.) can turn for information and guidance” (Page 2). The journal launched with the explicit intention to provide “information as well as inspiration” by both building up the field from within and expanding its reach. Now, 102 years later, the journal has succeeded, largely, in becoming the primary organ for the publication and circulation of new research in the field. Theories and methods have undergone multiple changes over the decades, as has our definition of the field of Jewish education, which, when the journal began, focused largely on what we would now call “supplementary schools.” Our field is far more diverse, far broader, and far better established than it was in Dushkin’s day. On that measure, the journal has certainly succeeded. The other measure, however, remains a work in progress. Researchers still complain about being ignored by practitioners, and practitioners often critique researchers for not providing them with knowledge they can readily apply in their daily work in schools, camps, adult learning groups, and elsewhere. Dushkin and the early leaders of the journal understood these two aims to be inseparable. The enterprise of Jewish education, as they understood it, JOURNAL OF JEWISH EDUCATION 2021, VOL. 87, NO. 1, 1–3 https://doi.org/10.1080/15244113.2021.1877949