Position Paper: Jewish Education Beyond the Formal
Ever since John Dewey highlighted the need for relevant experience as a foundation for growth based learning, educators have been striving to find and define the nature of such relevant experiences. Jewish educators have looked at youth movements, camps, trips, social outings, and, even, classic educational offerings removed from the constraints of requirement (or, as it is known in Jewish tradition: Torah lishma) all as possible modalities that could infuse relevancy into the education experience and help learners grow in their Judaism and in their Jewish identity. The language that has been bandied about this type of education includes:
Nonformal education: intended to be complementary to that which happens in the mainstream systems of education; it is typically unconstrained by requirements; adult education is a great example of nonformal education. (Bryfman, p. 5)
Informal education: classically defined as out-of-school educational activities that are voluntary on some level. Chazan has eight criteria for informal education including: person-centered, experience-oriented, curricular (in that there is a blueprint that guides the educational experience), interactive, collective (the group places a vital role in the learning), immersive, playful, and led by Jewishly literate educators who are able to “harness their innermost self and allow it to give voice to its commitments, beliefs and feelings as a model of the engaged person.”. (Chazan, pp. 17-20)
Experiential education: “purposefully engages learners in direct experiences and focused reflection… in order to create knowledge, develop skills, clarify values and develop the individuals’ capacities to contribute to their communities.” (Bryfman, p. 6) Experiential education is built around educational goals but, also, socialization goals - through the use of peer groups, experiential education aims to have the learner integrate the experience into their life in a more meaningful way and speaks to the human need to be a part of something larger than themselves. (Reimer, p. 33)
Time and time again, the educational scholars insist that language matters and, of course, it does. Nevertheless, more often than not the distinctions that they are making between one designation and another seem unnecessary, at best, and, at worst, petty. There is no actual clear distinction between Bryfman and Reimer’s use of the term “Experiential Education” and Chazan’s use of the term “Informal Education.” Chazan even constantly uses the term “Experiential Education” in parentheses, suggesting that, in his estimation, there is an interchangeable quality to the two terms!
Where they actually differ, is in some of the details of how we bring to life this form of education that seems to be beyond the formal. For example, while Chazan insists that the Holistic Educator is vital to creating high quality informal education, Reimer waxes poetically about the counselors who were able to create the highly successful experiential education at Ramah through tradition, choice, and encouragement. It is doubtful that many of these counselors would have passed scrutiny if the camp had been looking for Chazan’s ideal Holistic Educator and, yet, they are able to create, year after year, a truly educative experience for the campers. Another example would be the role of challenge amongst the different educators. Reimer asserts that challenge “needs to become a cornerstone for designing learning-based experiences in the Jewish community.” (Reimer, p. 34) Neither Bryfman nor Chazan highlight challenge or speak to its power to capture the participants’ interest.
To be fair, though, these differences are minor compared to what they agree upon. All three agree that this complimentary form of education should be learner-centered, experience-oriented, and interactive. Both Chazan and Reimer agree that it should inspire joy in the moment and/or in the memory of the moment. And, both Chazan and Reimer consider a communal aspect to be necessary in creating a meaningful experience with lasting impact.
In thinking about how to name an educational field that moves beyond the formally assessed, frontal classroom (and, therefore, how to put it into practice), it is important that we consider some of the problems with both the term “informal” and the term “experiential”. As Reimer rightly points out, “Informal Jewish education is poorly named because “informal” suggests both a high degree of informality and an opposition to formal education.” (Reimer, p. 31) Yet, as Pekarsky argues, “‘experiential education’ is a misnomer because it tacitly suggests that some education is not experiential, whereas in fact, like every moment of our waking lives, every educational transaction – be it good or bad – is experiential.” (Pekarsky, ❡ 1)
What we do may be informal in many aspects and it may be experience-focused, but neither informality nor experience is the goal. Rather, the goal is an inviting educational experience that immerses the participant into Jewish life and practice in a fully sensory way and piques their interest to learn and/or experience more. My first inclination is to use the term “Immersive Education” although it has already been co-opted by those who have married education with virtual or artificial reality. Perhaps we could call this field “Invitational Education” in reference to the initial connections we make with the participant that lays the bedrock for the learning experience. Or we might consider “Integration Education” as our goal is that the participant will integrate the experience into their psyche in a meaningful way.
Whichever term we use, these are the components that we need in our informal/experiential/integrative educational experiences:
Accessibility for learners wherever they are. As Reimer referenced with the use of choice in the production of the musical at Camp Ramah, someone with a self-described, low level of knowledge or understanding needs to have a way in as well as someone who feels well versed in the moment at hand. (Reimer, p. 36)
An immersive quality. Judaism, at its core, is an immersive experience. It was never intended to be a part-time identity or practice but, rather, fully integrated into who we are and how we live our lives. We need to create experiences for people that afford them the opportunity to see how the Judaism that they are experiencing could be a part of their life beyond the moment at hand.
A sensory experience. If an experience is going to permeate the mind, it must connect to the body in some way. Our strongest memories are the ones that include a smell or taste. Music that connects us to an experience activates our amygdala (the seat of our emotions) and our hippocampus (the memory center). When we build a sensory experience for our participants, they are more likely to carry a part of that experience with them.
An impetus to do more. The one-off experience may be fun or, even, interesting but it will not create growth or offer a truly educative experience if it ends where it stands. That being said, we, as educators, should not leave it in the participants’ hands alone to create this impetus to do more. We need to offer them moments of reflection to find the bits that they will want to continue to unravel. And, we need to offer them the next informal/experiential/integrative educational experience.
These components would be well served by a change of venue; although, I would challenge educators to consider how we might create an inviting educational experience that immerses the participant into Jewish life and practice in a fully sensory way and piques their interest to learn and/or experience more without having to go to camp or on a trip or to the local JCC. I worked with a teacher who, once a year, while they were studying the story of Abraham and Sarah, would hang tapestries from the center of the ceiling out to the walls to create a desert tent in her classroom. She would then place pillows on the floor and when her students would come, she would have them take off their shoes and she would give them sweet tea and cake. She would turn her classroom into a completely different place and immerse her students in the biblical narrative. Every student would talk about that class for years after; how yummy the tea was; how much fun it was to sit on the floor; if asked, they could all talk about the importance of welcoming people into our “tents”; and many of them wanted to know more about what it was like to be Abraham and Sarah, living in the desert. Creating a sense of “Wow!” goes a long way to inspire an impetus to more!
I have thought a lot about how to make Judaism more sticky for my learners. I am torn up by the number of students that go through my program who I fear will shed their Jewish identity as soon as they walk out the door. I believe that if I were to better integrate the components above, and sprinkle in a sense of “Wow!” every now and then, I could help foster a more lasting and meaningful Jewish life for many of my learners.
D. Bryfman, ed. (2014). Experience & Jewish Education. Chapters by Bryfman; Chazan; Reimer.
D. Pekarsky (2014), "From 'Experiential Education' to 'Experience-Savvy Education,'" eJewishPhilanthropy.
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