What is the future of Jewish education? Who is the future leadership?

ATID has been established in order to enable talented men and women, young professionals from all fields, who have a rich background in Torah study, to develop the ability to make informed decisions about the education of the next generations. We have established ATID to help shape and develop the future of educational leadership in our community.

These future leaders and visionaries will be the teachers and builders of educational institutions, members of the boards of directors, and the forces in setting the educational agenda within the community.

Those working in the culture of schools and formal education are forced to develop sophisticated positions on a range of educational issues. Individuals who may not serve as professional educators find themselves obliged to make educational decisions of great significance. They are often charged with the burden of their children's education in the wider sense, and affect the state of the community enterprise in a decisive way. ATID Fellows will develop the sharpened insight and broad vision to face this crucial and holy challenge.

ATID deals with problems in the philosophy of education, and education in an ideologically charged Jewish world. ATID exposes its participants to both the well-known and rarely contemplated problems of education—all the while endeavoring to create a meaningful dialogue and serious inquiry between the participants and our staff.

Educating the Jewish people is a holy task, and the complexities of doing it correctly in the modern world demand that those entrusted with the task develop the sophistication to succeed, and to lead this enterprise to new levels of improvement, development, and accomplishment. We believe that if junior professionals and future lay leadership develop the ability to face the complexities that will stand before them, we will be entrusting the future of our community to the ablest of hands.

The theory of education which ATID examines helps each Fellow develop an educational vision for themselves and the community they will lead. But that is not enough—ATID also focuses on the strategies necessary to actualize and implement the theory and vision. Jewish tradition serves as a crucial resource in molding a young educator’s understanding of his or her profession, and ATID returns to the sources to mine the classical texts for insights to educational policy. Unfortunately, these sources often merely serve as slogans, and have not been fully processed to offer the deepest insight into pedagogy. ATID Fellows develop the ability to engage the texts, and draw deeply from these insights. Additionally, we turn our attention to the world of general education and educational meta-theory for its ability to enrich and inform our work.

Furthermore, we are committed to the idea that the systemic reform that is needed in Jewish education can only be activated by combining all of the players—teachers and administrators and lay leadership, formal and informal educators, academics and elementary school personnel, students of yeshivot and of universities—all brought together in ATID to map out the future, creating a new generation of educational decision makers, practitioners and designers.

"From Zion shall go forth Torah..."

Perhaps the most dynamic, impactful educational phenomenon for Diaspora Jewry happens in Israel. This is true for North American and Anglo Modern Orthodoxy, and in an increasing way for other segments of the Jewish community at-large. The year (or more) of study in Israeli yeshivot and seminaries is having a decisive impact on the thousands of students who come to learn Torah and then return to the Diaspora bringing Torat Eretz Yisrael with them. By focusing on young professionals who are largely working with these students, ATID affirms its commitment to the impact Torah study in Israel has on world Jewry, and the role that Torah can and must play as a link between all Jewish communities. By helping these educators reach higher levels of professionalism, ATID helps improve the education of Jewish students in Israel and throughout the world.

A broad conception of Jewish education

ATID is founded on a broad conception of Jewish education. By including a select number of outstanding professionals from outside of the world of formal education, we show our commitment to the notion that the players in Jewish education are found in many varied arenas—from the classroom to the boardroom, schools and homes, yeshivot and universities. By exposing future school-based leaders to lay leadership we help to foster a sophistication and the rigorous, broad vision crucial to a successful educational setting. By exposing the future laity to deep educational inquiry, thinking, and decision making we enable them to be more effective in the positions they will assume—and foster the sense that they too are educators.

Through the mentor relationships that are established, we provide a meaningful, growth-orientrelationship which (on one level) expands the participant’s level of professional contacts, and (on a deeper level) provides the mentoring which is necessary for bringing someone into contact with the deep, significant thinking that is necessary for the personal growth that the participants experience. The senior educators guide the Fellows as they enter state-of-the-art practices and thinking, and will remain partners and colleagues with the Fellows throughout their careers.

ATID is an independent, privately funded institution which aims to foster new and significant thought on the crucial issues facing Jewish education among future leaders in the field—students, young educators, and other professionals who will serve as lay leadership.