This book looks at the philosophical consideration of Jewish existence in our time, as reflected in Jewish education, its alternative visions, its purposes and instrumentalities, the values it should serve, and the personal and social character it ought to foster. Prevalent conceptions and practices of Jewish education are neither sufficiently reflective nor thoroughgoing enough to meet the multiple challenges that the world now poses to Jewish existence and continuity. New efforts are needed to develop an education of the future that will honor the riches of the Jewish past and grasp the opportunities of fruitful interactions with the general culture of the present. To promote such efforts, six leading scholars in this book formulate their variant visions of an ideal Jewish education for the contemporary world. This book also translates these visions into educational practice and, finally, articulates a vision abstracted from a case study of a school's ongoing practice.

'The publication of a book on Jewish education by Cambridge University Press is a milestone to be celebrated in the emergence of Jewish educational studies as a field of disciplined academic inquiry. This book will be of interest not only to Jewish educators but to a much wider audience concerned with the role of values and vision in the complexities of today's curriculum discussions … a fascinating collection of essays …'.

Hanan A. Alexander - University of Haifa