Dr. Jonathan Woocher, Chief Ideas Officer of the Jewish Education Service of North America (JESNA) and director of its Lippman Kanfer Institute (an action-oriented think tank for innovation in Jewish learning and engagement), engaged JSET fellows in a session which included not only the latest information about the current state of the Jewish educational system in North America but raised significant questions on how to improve upon it.

Following a brief introduction of his background and the mission of JESNA, Dr. Woocher hit fellows with a walloping statistic: 75% of Jewish children under the age of 13 receive some form of Jewish education, a statistic which has remained consistent throughout the years. However, after age 13, a large percentage of these students discontinue their Jewish education.

Insightful comments and heated debates with fellows ensued as to the root of this statistic, after which Dr. Woocher provided 3 basic principles we should keep in mind in order to make Jewish education work in the 21st century:

1) It must be learner centered
2) Infuse education with powerful relationships (mentorships)
3) It must be life centered.
He explains that we must change the thought process of organizations from "owning" the jewish youth to "stewarding" them in the right direction for themselves.

Dr. Woocher then provided a simple, scientific method-like strategy to organizing
one's thoughts when presented with a seemingly inconceivable issue.

1) State the problem/situation
2) Focus on "the who" - target "a" not "b"
3) What can we do to begin to address the problem
4) Hypothesis

Using this new tool, JSET fellows were divided into groups and given the task of solving the issue of the staggering drop off rate.

JSET fellows arrived at some creative new solutions in addition to putting some new spins on solutions already in place. Obviously, there is no one solution to such a substantial issue. However, as always with JSET sessions, it is not necessarily about the solutions but rather how efficiently we get there.

Contributed by Tamar Klein, JSET Fellow '08-'09