Richard D. Solomon's Blog on Mentoring Jewish Students and Teachers

Our hope is that this blog will become a forum in which people can exchange ideas on how to recruit, develop and retain exceptional Jewish educators through mentoring and e-mentoring students, teaching candidates, and teachers in our day and supplemental schools. The present focus of this blog is to empower Jewish teachers, administrators, teacher trainers, consultants, and staff developers to integrate web technology (i.e. web tools and apps) into their teaching and teacher training.

Friday, January 2, 2015

Rationale for the Jewish Legacy Project

In a previous blog post we discussed the Jewish Legacy Project. To get to that blogpost click here.

Rationale for the Jewish Legacy Project

As a people we distinguish ourselves by establishing holy time (z’man kodosh) through the following activities:

daily prayers (i.e. waking up in the morning, before and after meals, etc.)
weekly blessings (i.e. lighting the Shabbat candles, lighting the havdalah candle, smelling the spices, etc.)
seasonal prayers (i.e. lighting candles for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Chanukah, Tefillat haChodesh, the prayer for the new month, etc.)
celebrating the cyclical events in our lives (i.e brit milah, b’nai mitzvah, kiddushin etc.)
experiencing the precious moments of living (e.g. reciting the Sheheheyanu prayer at the Kotel)
supporting those who need healing (i.e. reciting the Mishabeirach prayer)
honoring those we have lost (i.e. reciting the Kadish prayer)

Accordingly, this author would like to propose a new Judaic project that sanctifies time; it is called the Jewish Legacy Project.

What is the Jewish Legacy Project?

The Jewish Legacy Project is one that elevates the time and life pursuits of its elders. It involves students and their parents engaging in the creation of web-based artifacts (e.g. pictures, albums, podcasts, video recordings, etc.) that tell the story, the experiences and the values of selected members of their families (e.g. parents, grandparents, guardians, significant others, etc.) This does not mean that students cannot begin to create their own legacy projects or e-portfolios.

In order to implement this project the following steps should be considered:

Discuss the Jewish Legacy Project with the rabbi, principal, school director or head of school.
Obtain the approval of the rabbi, principal, school director or head of school to implement to project.
Obtain permission of families to participate in the project.

If these preliminary steps are accomplished, the following implementation procedures are recommended.

Determine which member of the family will be selected and then invited to share their legacy.
Obtain the approval of that person to participate in the project.
Generate questions that will be posed to that person.
Invite that person to edit and add what questions he/she wants to answer.
Invite that person to share his/her answers on a podcast or video recording.