The Mintz Family Foundation for Creative Jewish Education

Rabbi Ruth Gan Kagan is the 2007 Award Recipient for the

Mintz Family Foundation for Creative Jewish Education

Jerusalem resident, Rabbi Ruth Gan Kagan has been awarded the $5000 Mintz Family Foundation for Creative Jewish Education Award for 2007. The prestigious award was presented for her cutting-edge work in creating a warm and welcoming egalitarian prayer community bringing together Jews from all backgrounds in a spiritual space unlike any other in Jerusalem. Nava Tehila, a Jewish Renewal Community, infuses its services with song and dance and a joyousness that is reaching out to a diverse demographic. Upon receiving news of her having won the award, Rabbi Gan Kagan expressed her joy and immediately asked if it could go for the recordings or web-site or into the community. Her selfless pursuit for excellence in the Nava Tehila community is apparent to all.

Rabbi Gan Kagan set out with a three-tiered approach: to present a new template for Kabbalat Shabbat that would be gender-inclusive, spiritually uplifting, and serve Israeli from spiritual secular to Orthodox; to create a forum for leadership training for lay leaders, musicians, and rabbinical students to be able to facilitate and replicate this kind of environment elsewhere; and to create original, soulful melodies and songs that fit various settings and needs. The outcome has been surprising, rewarding, and meaningful. While she had set out to make a comfortable environment for secular Israelis by using musical instruments, it turns out that over 40% of her community is orthodox. “We wanted to make a spiritually sophisticated environment for adults,” says Rabbi Gan Kagan, “Yet our service attracts a growing number of children and teen-agers.”

Rabbi Ruth Gan Kagan is an active member of OHALAH, the Association of Rabbis for Renewal Judaism, an international organization of rabbis, cantors, and rabbinical and cantorial students from across the entire spectrum of Jewish denominations.

For further information on Nava Tehila – A Jewish Renewal Community in Jerusalem, please contact Rabbi Ruth Gan Kagan at navatehila@gmail.com or call her directly at 011-0720206716636.

We wish Rabbi Ruth Gan Kagan continued success and applaud her for her innovative work. We thank all who applied for the 2007 award and invite them and all involved in Jewish education to apply for the 2008 award. Donations towards further awards are also gratefully accepted and are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.

JoAnne Gaudynski is Recipient of 2006 Mintz Family Foundation for Creative Jewish Education Award

Milwaukee resident, JoAnne Gaudynski has been awarded the $5000 Mintz Family Foundation for Creative Jewish Education Award for 2006. The prestigious award was presented for her innovative teen outreach programs “Jewish Teen Day of Discovery” and “Jewish Teen Day of Social Action.”

Ms. Gaudynski is Teen Enrichment Programming Coordinator for the Coalition for Jewish Learning and teaches 8^th grade at Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun in Milwaukee.

The Jewish Teen Days programs were designed to enlist teens to be a part of the planning that would, in turn, help teens to strengthen Jewish identity. With over 200 teens from the greater Milwaukee area gathering for each day, the youngsters experienced learning within an informal, affective and highly effective environment.

When asked what receiving this award has meant, Ms. Gaudynski replied: “It is difficult to adequately express in words how much this means to me. For the past few years, we at the Coalition for Jewish Learning have been striving to create innovative and effective educational programming for teens. Your recognition is a resounding indication that we are moving in the right direction. In the past two years, we have created two stand-alone programs, Jewish Teen Day of Discovery and Teen Day of Social Action, with the hope that these events would not only become annual occurrences, but also spawn other events and programs. This year, while continuing to offer these two Days, we have initiated two new projects, Jewish Teen Day of the Arts and the Young Jewish Filmmakers’ Project. Your recognition and financial support will allow us to build on these initial efforts and to develop them into a new paradigm for working with the Jewish teens who are our very future. Thank you for your holy work; it is so important to Jewish continuity.” For further information on the Jewish Teen Days projects, please contact Ms. JoAnne Gaudynsi at joanneg@milwaukeejewish.org or call her directly at 414/962-8860.

We proudly recognize JoAnne Gaudynski as the most innovative teacher of the year, and thank all who applied for the 2006 award. We invite them and all involved in Jewish education to apply for the 2007 award. Donations towards further awards are also gratefully accepted and are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.

Rabbi Shawn Fields-Meyer is Winner of First Mintz Family Foundation for Creative Jewish Education Award

On Lag B’Omer 5765, Friday, May 27, 2005, Rabbi Shawn Fields-Meyer received the inaugural award for Creative Jewish Education. The $5,000

check was presented to her, at a brunch in her honor at the Loew’s Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles, before more than fifty friends, family, and other individuals directly impacted by her work with project “Ozreinu,” a Torah-text based support system for parents of children with special needs.

Ozreinu’s monthly sessions involve personal reflections on selected Torah texts as they relate to the challenges of special needs’ children. Four groups are currently meeting in Los Angeles; and Rabbi Fields-Meyer is forming more groups in cities across the United States. For further information on Ozreinu, please contact Rabbi Fields-Meyer at ozreinu@yahoo.com or call her directly at 310/920-5443.

We proudly recognize Rabbi Fields-Meyer as the most innovative teacher of the year, and thank all who applied for the 2005 award. We invite them and all involved in Jewish education to apply for the 2006 award. Donations towards further awards are also gratefully accepted and are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.