August 2006

The 21st century has brought with it an explosion of Jewish learning. More people are choosing to study for personal enrichment – Torah l’shmah. Many are interested in changing careers to work in the Jewish world, either in Jewish education or Jewish communal service. Others are on a journey to reclaim their Jewish roots. Today’s Jewish adults have become increasingly aware of how much we do not know and yearn to learn more.

The chance to pursue serious study is complicated for many Gratz Online students. With families and jobs, there are significant geographical constraints. We do not have the luxury of moving to another city to obtain an advanced degree in Jewish studies. Some live in cities with prestigious Jewish academic institutions, but cannot commit to attending class at a particular time each week. Our students access their course materials 24/7 allowing them to study whenever it fits into their busy lives.

Gratz students live all over the world and range in age from 22-60+. In this e-newsletter issue, there are profiles of four Gratz students: Stuart Weiss from Arlington Virginia, an alumnus who did the vast majority of his courses on campus; Reuven Kalifon from Kibbutz Tzuba, Israel, a student in the MAJS online program; Dan Horwitz from Charleston, South Carolina, a student in the MAJS online program; and Tamara Cohen from Miami, Florida, who has completed the Certificate in Jewish Education and is continuing to earn a Master of Arts in Jewish Studies.

Our professors live all over the world, too. This issue includes a profile of one Gratz full-time professor and one adjunct professor: Dr. Ruth Sandberg, Leonard and Ethel Landau Associate Professor of Rabbinics at Gratz College and Dr. Katherine Aron Beller, Archive Officer at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and Adjunct Professor of History at Gratz College. Dr. Sandberg launched the online program teaching our first course in 2000 and has championed the program ever since. Dr. Beller has taught several online courses over the last two years for Gratz College and receives rave reviews from her students.

One of the unique aspects of Gratz’s online graduate and undergraduate programs is that we learn from our professors and we also learn from our classmates. Our students bring such rich and varied experiences to the program. The Gratz College virtual classrooms foster the teaching from Ben Zoma: Who is wise? One who learns from all persons.

Warmly, Ronni Ticker Director of Online & Distance Learning

Rabbinic Teachings on Teachers and Students
by Ruth Sandberg,
Leonard and Ethel Landau Associate Professor of Rabbinics
One of the most significant of all relationships in classical Rabbinic writings is that between teachers and students. This is because the teacher and student are engaged in the sacred task of studying Torah, and this sacred text makes the relationship between the teacher and the student a sanctified one as well.....

Jews on Trial
by Kathy Beller
From the 1960s historians began to study trial records in various archives by using sophisticated methods of historical and anthropological analysis. Many of these records provide compelling insights into the behaviour and mindset of....

Student Profile: Reuven Kalifon,
Master of Arts in Jewish Studies
by Paula Jacobs
Jewish history is very much alive for Reuven Kalifon, a Jewish educator who made aliyah from Cleveland, Ohio after graduating from high school in 1971. His home at Kibbutz Tzuba in the Judaean hills outside Jerusalem, where....

Student Profile: Tamara Cohen, Master of Arts in Jewish Studies/Certificate in Jewish Education
by Paula Jacobs
Tamara Cohen of Miami, Florida never planned to study for a Master of Arts degree in Jewish Studies. But courses at Gratz Online fueled her passion for Judaism that had been nurtured during her college years as a Hillel Board member....

Student Profile:
Dan Horwitz, Master of Arts in Jewish Studies
By Paula Jacobs
“I enrolled at Gratz Online in order to ensure I continued my own Jewish education, while serving as an educator for the community,” says Dan Horwitz, 22, a synagogue professional in Charleston, South Carolina....

Subscribe