Becoming a Soulful Educator: How to Bring Jewish Learning from Our Minds, to Our Hearts, to Our Souls—and Into Our Lives
The time has come for a new GPS in education. The goal is no longer to teach a good class, to convey information or even to have the students enjoy the learning. Soulful education is about enabling another—child, adolescent, adult—to discover how to become his or her best self through learning. In this bold revisioning of effective education, renowned educator Rabbi Aryeh Ben David recalibrates the focus of teaching from the acquisition of knowledge to the transformation of the soul. He presents six steps to help educators of all kinds teach to the heart, engage students in knowledge gathering without preaching or controlling, and enable students to authentically and personally integrate Jewish wisdom into their lives. He offers guidance for how teachers can share their own vulnerabilities and yearnings to become a better force of harmony to help students gain new clarity on their own infinite potential for positive change. This is the essential guidebook for everyone from educators and rabbis to parents and grandparents—anyone working in formal or informal education, whether for children, teens, emerging adults, adults or seniors.
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Book details
- Author
- Aryeh Ben David
- Imprint
- Jewish Lights, an imprint of Turner Publishing Company
- Published
- Formats
- Paperback
- Subjects
- Religion › Judaism › Rituals & Practice
- Topics
- Jewish education · soulful teaching · transformative learning · spiritual growth · teaching philosophy · educators and parents
- ISBN-13
- 9781580238731
About the author
RABBI ARYEH BEN DAVID is a Jewish educator and rabbi with over 30 years in Jewish education and the founder and director of Ayeka: Center for Soulful Education, established in 2008. His books include Becoming a Soulful Educator, The Ayeka Haggadah and The Godfile.
Ben David previously served as senior faculty member and director of spiritual education at the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem, and has been an educational consultant for Hillel International. He has delivered keynote addresses at national conferences of Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox rabbis.
When not writing, Ben David trains educators of all denominations—including campus professionals and staff of middle and high schools—to teach Jewish subjects with greater soulfulness and personal meaning.
Aryeh lives in Efrat with his wife, Sandra.