Sinai and Synapses is proud to announce the recipients of the grant “Deepening Jewish Education in the Digital Age,” a project focusing on the ways in which new digital tools can deepen values and virtues in the Jewish community. With applications coming from thirteen states and seven countries, rabbis and educators across the Jewish world sought ways to deepen values such as curiosity, humility, and community-building. These communities’ projects will help the Jewish community navigate new waters on subjects ranging from the use of LLMs, to new ways of studying texts, to what Shabbat may look like for teenagers in Israel.
“Schools, educators, rabbis and students are constantly grappling with new advances in technology, and yet the questions they are exploring are ones that Judaism has focused on for millennia,” says Rabbi Geoffrey A. Mitelman, Founding Director of Sinai and Synapses and lead on this initiative. “How do we connect with others? What is the relationship between ‘learning’ and ‘studying’? How does language impact our actions? The interest, excitement and thoughtfulness we saw through these applications show how much hunger there is in the Jewish educational space to help young people see how Judaism can help them become more equipped to live in our digital world.”
The selected communities, leaders and projects are:
- Control + Shift, Bronx, New York (Rabbi Avi Bloom)
- “Control+Shift: Educational Technology”
- Central Reform Congregation, St. Louis, Missouri (Rabbi Daniel Bogard)
- “Strange New Tools: Torah for the Next Generation”
- Alexander Muss High School in Israel, Hod HaSharon, Israel (Lisa Biton)
- “Rebooting Shabbat: Helping Teens Find Joy and Presence Offline At Muss”
- The Lefell School, Hartsdale, New York (Sarah Weissman)
- “Farm Togethers vs. LeFarm: Cultivating Jewish Values in the Digital Age”
- URJ 6 Points Sci-Tech Academy, Byfield, Massachusetts (Rabbi Dan Medwin)
- “Digital Mensches Initiative”
- Scheck Hillel Community School, Miami, Florida (Rabbi Avi Greene)
- “The Mitzvah Workshop: From Text to Tech”
- Beth David Reform Congregation, Gladwyne, Pennsylvania (Rabbi Elisa Koppel)
- “The Torah of Tech”
- Jewish Educational Services – The Associated Jewish Federation, Baltimore, Maryland (Rabbi Aaron Levitt)
- “AI & Middot: Cultivating Jewish Values in the Digital Age”
“These projects collectively exhibit a growing enthusiasm for thinking critically about technology in Jewish education spaces,” said Dr. David Zvi Kalman, senior advisor for technology at Sinai and Synapses, and co-lead on this project. “With the aid of this fellowship, we hope to see the emergence of a new field of Jewish thought that is desperately needed at this moment.”
Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, president of Clal – The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, notes that “It is remarkably exciting and actually quite important to invest in those who fearlessly warmly embrace the synergy between emergent technology and sacred tradition, especially when that intersection causes so many other religious leaders fear and even despair.”
The winning recipients will receive funding for their projects, as well as regular guidance and support by participating in a regular working group of rabbis, educators, academics and technologists. They will be producing podcasts, developing curricula for schools and summer camps, and working with other rabbis and Jewish thinkers to deepen the conversation surrounding Judaism and technology.
This project is run in partnership between Sinai and Synapses and Clal, and funded by the John Templeton Foundation, along with individual donors. For more information about these projects, and how you can learn about and participate in these discussions, please visit Sinai and Synapses’ website, or contact us here.
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