Tikvah Wiener, at The Blogs

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May 31, 2018, 11:10 PM

Talking about race and class in the classroom

During the course of this school year, I’ve had the opportunity to attend a number of conferences that dealt with how we should talk about race and class in Jewish education. Having these conversations is a welcome development, since these issues don’t get a lot...

Mar 22, 2018, 6:10 PM

In defense of the humanities

Illustrative: Harvard University (Wikimedia Commons via JTA)

The humanities remind us that we’re people, not outgrowths of our phones

Jan 25, 2018, 11:54 PM

What I Want to Offer God

New York Times op-ed writer Charles Blow tweeted fairly recently that if it weren’t so awful, you’d have to laugh at racism: the notion that we think less of people based on skin color is ridiculous. Except that its effects are all too real, and...

Nov 30, 2017, 11:52 PM

Encountering Truth, Complexity, and Memory

“Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory, there would be no civilization, no society, no future.” — Elie Wiesel We’re in the time now between Thanksgiving and Chanukah, a time when American Jews sense two histories behind us, an American and a Jewish one....

Sep 29, 2017, 10:53 PM

Philosophy and Doodling for the New Year

At the 2016 West Coast Summer Sandbox, one of the professional development conferences on educational innovation that I run, artist-in-residence Ruthie Matanky-Skaist introduced me to the work of Lynda Barry, an interdisciplinary professor of writing and the visual arts at University of Wisconsin-Madison (Barry doesn’t...

Aug 3, 2017, 8:05 PM

Creating Something Holy

We’ve just completed an intense period of mourning culminating in Tisha b’Av, a day that forces us to contemplate the wreckage we create if we fail in our religious, moral, and ethical duties. I know! Light stuff! But Judaism overall is not a religion of...

Jun 2, 2017, 8:08 PM

Asking the Right Questions

Have You Asked a Good Question Today? In mid-May I was at the JEIC Innovators’ Retreat in Boston. The Mayberg Foundation’s JEIC — Jewish Education Innovation Challenge — funds, unsurprisingly, innovation in Jewish education, and in addition to seeding new initiatives in day schools, also...

Apr 14, 2017, 1:05 AM

Slavery and freedom

April is a giddy time for those who love Passover, poetry, and Shakespeare: the month ushers in the holiday, National Poetry Month, and the Bard’s birthday. As I scrape a year’s worth of detritus off of my kitchen shelves and layer aluminum foil over my...

Mar 26, 2017, 4:53 PM

California Dreaming: From Disney to Soloveitchik

I was raised in California, and anyone who knows me can tell you I remain a California girl at heart. I visit the state often, have pictures and mementoes of my favorite beaches and haunts all over my house, and will still sometimes get honked...

Dec 30, 2016, 12:00 PM

Living and Learning in a VUCA World

A VUCA World Educators, policymakers, businessmen, and politicians are talking about the fact that we’re living in a VUCA world. That’s a world that is Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous. As 2016 draws to a close, it’s clear they couldn’t be more correct. The roller...

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About Me

Tikvah Wiener is Head of School of The Idea School, a co-ed Orthodox high school opening in Bergen County, NJ, September 2018. www.theideaschool.org. She lives in Teaneck, NJ, with her husband and children.