Fostering and strengthening Jewish identity is an important purpose of Jewish education. Some would argue that it is the overriding purpose. But what definitions of “Jewish identity” inform the research and practice of Jewish educators? How can we conceptualize, study, document identity formation in Jewish Education in diverse national contexts, across varying ages and located in different educational settings? How do multiple identities interact in the contexts of formal and informal Jewish education? What implications follow from our particular conceptions of Jewish identity for the field of Jewish education? 

These issues were considered by the nearly 250 people who attended the conference on Multiple Identities in Jewish Education that took place on January 7, 2009 at Oranim Academic College of Education, Kiryat Tivon and on January 8, 2009 at the Mandel Leadership Institute, Jerusalem.

The conference invited conceptual, empirical and programmatic research on the topic of “Multiple Identities in Jewish Education.”

The theme of the conference was examined through four thematic lenses:
• Cultural Identities (including Gender)
• Political Identities
• Language Identities
• Religious Identities

One of the major objectives of the conference, according to its organizers, was to develop a research agenda in Jewish education that takes the concept of Jewish identity formation seriously.

Dr. Jen Glaser, co-director of the conference and a MLI faculty member, explains that such a conference, on multiple Identities, comes to "help build a broad and nuanced understanding of Jewish identity – what it means; how it is fostered; how it can be studied; how identity development relates to other educational goals such as Jewish literacy, social activism and religious practice; how different aspects of Jewish identity relate to one another and what this implies for Jewish education." 

To read more about the conference:
Article in Kol Ha'ir Newspaper
Blog entry by conference participant