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NEW BOOK GUIDES TEACHERS OF ADULT JEWISH LEARNERS As adult Jewish learning expands as an integral part of contemporary Jewish life, the URJ Press has published Jewish Lives, Jewish Learning, a new resource about teaching the increasingly diverse and intellectually demanding population of adult learners. The book is meant for anyone who works with adults or plans adult Jewish learning programs. Using personal stories of students who have come to pursue Jewish learning as adults, author Diane Tickton Schuster explores the reasons why more and more Jews are taking advantage of adult learning opportunities, and how these opportunities can be tailored to respond to the learners' needs. Schuster, who holds a Ph.D. in human development and education, is the director of the Institute for Teaching Jewish Adults at Hebrew Union College -- Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. In Jewish Lives, Jewish Learning, she draws extensively on insights from the fields of adult development, adult learning, religious education, and the sociology of American Jewry. One of the book's main components is the stories of men and women who have come to participate in Jewish learning programs. These stories provide insight into how Jewish adults learn and grow -- why Jewish adults begin to study Jewish texts, and what obstacles need to be overcome for adult learners to feel safe and confident in their pursuit of Jewish knowledge. "As a field of study, Jewish adult religious education is in its infancy," Schuster writes. "Teachers have indicated that they know little about who Jewish adult learners are, what they bring to their learning experiences, what they find rewarding in their teachers, or what happens to them intellectually, spiritually, or behaviorally as a result of their learning...This book contains suggestions for effective practices, forming the basis for discussion about...what makes a difference in the fostering of adult Jewish growth." Each chapter ends with specific suggestions for Jewish professionals involved in education, stating concisely what they can do to better meet the needs of their pupils. In addition, a series of exhibits and appendices provide rabbis, cantors, educators, lay leaders, and learners themselves with key strategies for ensuring inclusion, enhancing meaning in learning activities, and more, while also providing them with examples of successful Jewish learning models. "This is a book filled with telling stories, incisive analysis, and practical wisdom. It offers both a philosophy of adult Jewish learning for the twenty-first century American Jew and the detailed guidance that educators and institutional leaders need to create inspiring and impactive learning programs," said Jonathan S. Woocher, President of the Jewish Educational Services of North America. "Diane Schuster has provided contemporary adult Jewish learning with a gentle but powerful manifesto and a resource that teachers will treasure." Jewish Lives, Jewish Learning is available in paperback from the URJ Press and retails for $14.95. For more information on this and other titles, visit the URJ Press website at www.URJPress.com. The URJ Press is the book-publishing arm of the Union for Reform
Judaism (formerly the Union of American Hebrew Congregations), the synagogue
arm of the Reform Movement in North America. Uniting more than 1.5 million
Reform Jews in 900 congregations across the United States and Canada,
Union programs and services include music and book publishing, adult education
opportunities, outreach to unaffiliated and intermarried Jews, and the
Religious Action Center in Washington, DC. ### 2/04
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