Community News

We are pleased to announce the inauguration of the RAVSAK Small School Professional Development Scholarship. This scholarship will make the training, networking and professional development opportunities of the RAVSAK Annual Leadership Conference accessible to educators from small Jewish day schools and small Jewish communities across North America.

Job Market

Title: Head of School
School: The Akiva School
City: Nashville, TN

The Akiva School is the only independent elementary community day school of its kind in the region and has earned both local and national recognition as an outstanding academic institution. The school is located minutes from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, a culturally vibrant city...

Featured School

The Paul Penna Downtown JDS

The Paul Penna Downtown Jewish Day School appreciates the diversity of contemporary Jewish life. Our Senior Kindergarten to Grade 8 curriculum presents children with a holistic view of the world, weaving together the Jewish and general facets of their lives. In this highly enriched learning environment, students develop excellent academic skills and a meaningful Jewish identity.

Associate Member

The David Project
is a non-profit organization that is leading an educational movement of effective Israel supporters. We aim to inform and inspire strong voices for Israel through our dynamic and comprehensive educational curricula, workshops, and seminars.

Training Institute in Jewish Social Justice

We’re looking for a few good schools! Thanks to a generous grant from the Jewish Funds for Justice, RAVSAK has created an exciting program in social justice programming and leadership for middle schools.

This program will empower classroom teachers with the skills, tools, knowledge and dispositions requisite to imparting meaningful social action education. Teachers will gain valuable resources, guidance, and insights enabling them to strengthen the connection between classroom learning and social action. This program represents a significant, exciting opportunity for teacher development, all expenses paid.

The centerpiece of the program is a two-day teacher training institute, scheduled for November 5th-6th. Here are some of the benefits that participants will receive at the institute:

  • Explore the scope of Jewish sacred texts which attend to matters of social justice
  • Discuss the wide range of Jewish responses to social and economic justice issues
  • Connect Jewish community day school educators from across North America with the resources of the Jewish Funds for Justice
  • Provide educators with a curricular framework upon which to build units or a course for middle school students
  • Inspire teacher- and student-led social action projects and ongoing relationships with non-profit organizations dedicated to social justice

Besides the teacher training institute, schools will also receive the following support for strengthening their middle-school social justice programming:

  • Monitoring teacher and school progress through institutional action plans
  • Providing educators with a full year of support and guidance as well as peer mentoring and networking

Schools with enrollment under 150 students are eligible to send 1 teacher to the training; schools with enrollment over 150 students are eligible to send 2 teachers. All participating teachers will receive a certificate in social justice education.

Click here to download the application form. For more information, contact Elliott Rabin at erabin@ravsak.org.