Rabbi Gershom Tave had always expected more of the education system. When he couldn’t find schools that fit his vision, Tave, a student at Touro’s Graduate School of Jewish Studies (GSJS), decided to get involved in a new one. Da’ehu expects to open in Passaic as a Montessori preschool in Fall of 2021.

Touro’s Graduate School of Jewish Studies now offers its master’s degree in Jewish Studies with concentrations in Jewish History and Jewish Education both in-person and online. All online classes will be taught by the distinguished scholars and experts who teach at Touro’s New York City campus. Students will become part of the Graduate School of Jewish Studies community whether they are participating from locations in the United States or around the world.

Dr. Stuart Klammer, professor of Jewish Education at Touro Graduate School of Jewish Studies and dean of Touro College Israel, is a leading expert in education. A former teacher and principal, Dr. Klammer has developed recommendations for achieving excellence in virtual teaching to help educators adapt to the realities of the COVID pandemic. “There are three key elements of excellent teaching that every educator needs to include, whether in person or online. They are: checking for understanding, goal setting, and skillful use of multimedia,” he said. Dr. Klammer offers advice for incorporating these elements into virtual classrooms.

Touro Graduate School of Jewish Studies (GSJS) M.A. student Rabbi Ronen Neuwirth is a leading scholar as well as a student. His book, The Narrow Halakhic Bridge: A Vision of Jewish Law in the Post-Modern Age, was published in May to great acclaim. The book presents a comprehensive exploration of the components of the Halakhic system.

Studying the Holocaust is Dr. Aleksiun’s calling. “On the one hand,” she explains, “It’s a horrific tragedy. To the extent to which it can be used for learning, however, it is imperative to examine what enabled it to happen.” As a professor of Modern Jewish History and the Holocaust at Touro Graduate School of Jewish Studies for the last 14 years, Dr. Aleksiun specializes in the social, political and cultural history of modern East European Jewry. She has written extensively on the subject. Her book, Conscious History: Polish Jewish Historians before the Holocaust, will be published as part of the Littman Library of Jewish Civilization series in 2020.

Touro College Graduate School of Jewish Studies welcomed its first Ph.D. program candidates in September 2018. In doing so, Touro furthers its commitment to academic excellence in Jewish Studies and ensures that there will be scholars and teachers available to fill future vacancies for Jewish academics in high schools, colleges and graduate schools. The new doctoral program will build upon Touro’s highly-regarded master’s program in Jewish Studies, and augment Touro’s already considerable contributions, through published writings and scholarship, to the collective knowledge of the intellectual, social and political history of the Jewish people in the past millennium.

Akiva Eisenstadt wears many hats: husband, father, businessman, and community leader. For the past 15 years, he has served as Assistant Rabbi and Rosh Kollel of Congregation Shaarey Torah, affectionately known as "The Shtieble," in his community of Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn. He also oversees business development for his wife’s interior design business. And perhaps his most important role is father to his five children, ages 7 to 15.

On any day, you may find Rivka Schiller translating historical documents for a filmmaker, researching  a celebrity’s genealogy for a TV show or tracking down and translating an article about a Jewish artist who perished in the Holocaust.  

When Julie Golding’s grandparents decided to visit the local Holocaust museum in Miami Beach, they arrived at the exhibition, reflected at the memorial outside and both began to cry. They got right back into their taxi and returned to their hotel.  Explains Julie, “My grandmother told me that museums were not for those who had experienced the horrors of the Holocaust, but for the next generation that needs to learn and remember.” Julie often thinks about this incident when she’s designing exhibits and programs at several Holocaust museums where she has worked. “I’m always trying to ensure that the information is relevant and accessible to the next generation. Today there are very few living survivors. We are at a crossroads between lived memory and historical memory and the work of museums is becoming even more important.”

Touro College’s Graduate School of Jewish Studies (GSJS) will launch a Ph.D. program in Jewish Studies in September 2018. The program will be Touro’s first doctoral level course of study in the arts and sciences, and will build on Touro’s highly-regarded master’s program in Jewish Studies.