One reading I would like to share in the conversation of this master's program is the concept of the educational vision developed by Seymour Fox (1929-2006), founder of the Melton Centre for Jewish Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In his introduction to the volume Visions of Jewish Education, Fox uses a historical perspective to examine Judaism and Jewish education in their paradoxes and challenges: from past communal oppression to the modern-day assimilation of Jews. The author coherently argues that educational discourse, as a domain not exclusively reserved for educators or academics, should be stimulated and built upon alternative visions of Jewish education.

Fox's references to the educational experience of the Camp Ramah movement appear in the philosophically oriented portraits based on the Jewish day schools Beit Rabban and Magnes, located on the Upper West Side of New York and in a suburban community in the American Midwest. The current Master's in Jewish Education at the Melton Centre also presents Fox's theoretical ideas in the optional virtual course aimed at exploring philosophical visions of Jewish education in educational practice.

This systematic conceptual opening of educational philosophy, reflected in the U.S. and Israel, does not address the Latin American geographic space, leaving aside experiences of educational innovation projects and philosophically oriented portraits of school institutions in Argentina and Mexico, advised by Fox, M. Rozenac, D. Hartman, and B. Chazan from the Melton Centre in the last century.

In Latin America, recognized Jewish communities and sociologically and historiographically systematized educational spaces stand out; also, the narratives of homogeneity promoted in contemporary nation-states and an extreme cultural diversity in their regional and/or local borders. Here, an emerging popular Judaism and historical-cultural configurations of multiple modernities are described, whose antecedents are found in the scrutiny of variables of ethnicity, religiosity, and demographics: connection with lineages of Jewish ethno-national genealogical continuity, theological links aligned with forms and contents more faithful to the letter of the Old Testament, and spiritual, experiential, existential, or instrumental relations with Israel and Jewish communities in the diaspora.

These narrative areas move through the coordinates of belonging and otherness that traverse Jewish identification in different types of spaces: academic and educational, face-to-face and virtual. Therefore, it would seem necessary to rethink Latin American Judaism in the relationships between multiple borders and decentralize the spaces where knowledge is generated.

As a professor of the course "Visions of Jewish Education," one of my educational and research objectives is to analyze the extent to which students, personally envisioning education from their experiences, amplify the theoretical-conceptual, methodological, and practical issues presented by Seymour Fox, and how the study perspectives of the course develop the idea of an interpretive community about the past and present of Judaism, stimulate alternative visions of Jewish education in dialogue with the philosophy of education and Jewish thought, and suggest changes in the discourses and programs in Jewish schools.

The personal educational vision of each student is developed through the encounter and dialogue with the educational visions produced by the Jewish philosophers studied, the class students, and graduates of previous courses in English and Spanish, whose texts are selected as study material. Their ideological orientations correspond to the typology of Latin American Jewish educators: Haredi and Orthodox, Conservative/Masorti, Reformist/Liberal, Traditionalist, Secular Humanist, and Pluralistic, with the main dividing variable being the role of religion and religiosity in their community or country: Mexico (18), Argentina (11), Brazil (10), Chile (4), Colombia (3), and Costa Rica (1), along with Portugal, Spain, and Italy (3).

The students share the language and Latin culture, predominantly reside in Latin America (47), mostly in their countries of origin (43), are mostly women (38), educators (34), and come from the Ashkenazi Jewish tradition (28). A minority is distributed among Sephardim, non-Jews, and non-educators (22). All are part of the total population of 123 graduates of the courses in English and Spanish, the majority being women (99).

Among the class students, there is a minority of contemporary Mexican and Brazilian Judaism (2), recorded in the 16 students with dual nationality, mostly American (10) in Israel. A minority in the United Kingdom (1) and Italy (1) make up the European student body (8). The third minority, of U.S. residence/nationality (2), is part of North American Judaism, from which 49 students come, with a predominance of Israelis (33) in the U.S. (45) and Canada (4). The last two minorities are connected with the modern past of Jews in the Iberian and Italian peninsulas. The total is completed with students from Asia (4) without links to Latin American Judaism.

These socio-demographic variables, of spatiality and transnational mobility, establish a relevant radiography and cartography in understanding the visions and practices in the field of Jewish communal education in Latin America and its borders, and in the possibilities of analyzing regional and national differences with other educators in the Jewish world from a comparative perspective.

The systematization of this course enables the academic recognition of the geographic territory of knowledge. And, on the other hand, an opening of Jewish educational philosophy toward the history and modern Latin American thought on the borders of contemporary Judaism.

Between 2022 and 2023, the enrollment of 25 and 48 students in the Spanish and English courses respectively produced 13 theses. The 10 conducted in the Spanish courses focused on educational experiences in programs in schools, Shoah, History, trips to Israel, pluralism, community, art, and gender.

The classes reveal the students' commitment to dialogue with the philosophies, thoughts, discourses, and experiences of Judaism and Jewish education. This participation requires critical thinking, the promotion of educational resources, and changes in perspective. To develop reflection on these topics and the personal visions of the class, I propose the following educational vignettes:

Metaphor. To the architectural plan exposed in the class about the vision, a render is added of how the building will look once completed, from the beginning of the excavation of its foundations. The roadmap of the teaching task is represented as a journey from the concepts of Jewish peoplehood and senses of vision to the integral (sum of) infinity of route crossings. Vision as choice includes pluralism in the non-disqualification of what is not chosen (Gabriel, Bahía Blanca-Argentina). The issue of the vision's engineering plan is expressed in the introduction to the classic tale Alice in Wonderland. Alice asks the cat, "Which way should I go?" The cat answers, "That depends a great deal on where you want to get to" (Richard, Brazil/Israel).

Modern Judaism. The publication La Edad de Oro (The Golden Age), a monthly recreational and instructional magazine dedicated to the children of America, for the knowledge of the history and culture of their peoples and other regions of the world, is a proposal titled and financed by the Da Costa Gómez family of the Sephardic Jewish community in New York. This project of stories, essays, and poetry, which speaks in a universal language of humanism, love, and justice, with engravings and illustrations from French publications, is considered a "cornerstone" of the Latin American literary canon and part of an educational book plan. "My interest in Jewish education arose from my research on poetry written in Judeo-Spanish (...) My vision could be formulated in this way: To encourage participants to create a digital educational space: 1) that allows the generation of innovative learning of the Ladino language, the collaborative exchange of ideas about Sephardic culture, and the study and experience of Jewish traditions; 2) that allows the creation of a virtual community that seeks the personal and social development of its members and serves as a vehicle for expressing their Jewishness" (Fernando, Colombia - USA).

Latin American Thought. José Martí, philosopher, teacher, and creator of La Edad de Oro, compared to J. Dewey, develops a theoretical framework for a culturally sensitive pedagogy based on experience in the U.S. Martí and Paulo Freire create a philosophy of education from practice and critique of the traditionalist educational model. This pedagogy, which relates to emancipatory and liberating tasks, speaks of itinerant teachers and calls schools workshops. Martí asserted that being cultured was the only way to be free and that he worked as a teacher for the Society for the Protection of Instruction "La Liga" of Latin immigrant workers in New York. "I believe in education as a social elevator. I generally work with children who come from rather modest incomes. For them, education is the only thing that saves them from harsh lives on the streets, so I take my work very seriously. For 'to be happy, one must be free, and to be free, one must be educated" (Aaron, Canary Islands, Spain - London, United Kingdom).

Gender Discourse. Rebecca Zindler, Henrietta Szold, Miriam Kottler Freund-Rosenthal, Tamar Hirschenson, Jewish leaders, relate Zionism in dialogue with the Jewish world, migrations, modernity, and history from the perspectives of care, personal growth, and ethical responsibility: from practice to theory and vice versa. Through the Daughters of Zion, the Hadassah chapter, and Young Aliyah, they founded, enlisted, led, or sponsored the modern Yeshiva Etz Chaim day school, the night school for Jewish and Gentile immigrants, a Zionist education program in America and Palestine, Zionist publications, and welfare initiatives of the Yishuv. The recognition of female voices is valued by course students who write theses on Kottler's leadership in Hadassah (Carolina, Brazil) and the thought of Tamar Ross and Judith Plaskow (Tamara, Argentina).

Educational Experience. The Tarbut Jerusalem program, from the Tarbut Hebrew School of Mexico in collaboration with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, aimed to give greater relevance to Jewish studies from the methodological orientation of transitioning from practice to theory. This educational model sought a more dynamic and updated curriculum and the training of a new type of specialized teachers. In the current reflection on the school's vision, the adoption of a pedagogical model in dialogue with contemporary Jewish thought is explored, along with the application of historical perspectives for teaching and studying the Shoah from the viewpoint of the oppressed and the concept of rescuing the memories of the defeated by Walter Benjamin. Additionally, the educational vision of trips to Israel as an analytical tool of experience and the clarification of principles that should guide practice is discussed from the perspective of the coordinator of this area (Adela, Sofía, and Florencia, Mexico City, Mexico).

Interpretative Community. In the course "Visions of Jewish Education," the discussion of ideas by Rabbi and educator David Hartman reveals personal interpretations that give rise to plurality. The interpretative community of the Torah is considered the framework of an increasingly diverse study group, where various readings of the sources must coexist. Through academic activities, four types of sources are documented:

1. Rabbinic-Talmudic literature: Reb Yochanan and Resh Lakish, Rabenu Bachya, Rambam, and Rabbi Elazar Ben Azariah,
2. Contemporary Jewish thinkers: Judith Plaskow, Tamar Ross, Y.H. Yerushalmi, Bernardo Kliksberg, Franz Rosenzweig, Emmanuel Levinas,
3. Textual production of graduates from courses in English and Spanish,
4. Texts from the students in the class.

While the narrative of contemporary Judaism identifies the community as the classroom of our peoplehood, where coincidences and divergences regarding our texts coexist simultaneously (Gabriel, Argentina), emerging modern Judaism associates it with the table and the heritage from which everyone can participate: ideas and tools to increase and develop the possibilities of innovating and offering better channels and methods for teaching (Andrea, Costa Rica-USA). Both narratives establish a dialogue of fulfillment and shlijut, of motivation and action, in which the triumph of the community over fundamentalism and leadership is expressed (Luisa, Italy). The theses in this area argue how, through the processes of appropriating the conversation, the past becomes present and incorporates the community into an intergenerational and timeless "we." Through hermeneutics and identity, the "Community of the Text" or Oral Text Community expresses the commitment that each student can assume to be an active part of the community (Marisa, Argentina, and Silvia, Brazil), while at the same time, the dialogue with students from other courses and regions of the world is globalized.

Dr. Eduardo Torres is a lecturer of the course "Visions in Jewish Education" in the Spanish and Portuguese program of the International Master's in Jewish Education at the Melton Centre.

Sources:

• Basevi, Luisa. Amor vincit omnia (Caravaggio), Thesis, Course Visions in Jewish Education, Master's-Melton Center for Jewish Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, December 2022.
• Bergman, Marísa. Jewish Hermeneutics; An Antidote Against the Idolatry of the Text, Thesis, Course Visions in Jewish Education, Master's-Melton Center for Jewish Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, December 2023.
• Betech, Adela. Building Socio-Emotional Bonds, Based on SBLL Philosophy, The Key to Transforming the Education of the Future, Using the Philosophical and Educational Contributions of Martin Buber, Levinas, and Heschel, Thesis, Course Visions in Jewish Education, Master's-Melton Center for Jewish Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, December 2023.
• Betech, Sofia. Education About the Shoah. "Rescuing the Memories of the Defeated: The Perspective of Walter Benjamin,” Thesis, Course Visions in Jewish Education, Master's-Melton Center for Jewish Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, December 2023.
• Birenbaum, Carolina. Chagall Panels – Visions in Jewish Education, Thesis, Course Visions in Jewish Education, Master's-Melton Center for Jewish Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, January 2023.
• Bokser Liwerant J., Avni, H., and Daniel F. "Three Models of Educational Innovation in Mexico. An Analysis in Three Voices," Bokser Liwerant J. et al. (coord.) Belonging and Otherness. Jews in/of Latin America: Forty Years of Changes. Iberoamericana – Vervuert, Bonilla Artigas Editors, 2011, pp. 563-602.
• Bokser Liwerant, J., DellaPergola, S., and Siman, Y. "Latin American Jewish Educators: Multiple Identities and Identification with Israel." Judaica Latinoamericana VIII, Historical-Social Studies, AMILAT, Jerusalem, 2014, pp. 531-592.
• Kullock, Tamara. Reflecting on the Educational Vision from a Gender Perspective, Thesis, Course Visions in Jewish Education, Master's-Melton Center for Jewish Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, January 2023.
• Slesinger, Florencia. Trips to Israel: The Role of Educational Vision as a Vehicle to Connect Jewish Diaspora Students with Israel, Thesis, Course Visions in Jewish Education, Master's-Melton Center for Jewish Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, December 2023.
• Zajler Grinstein, Silvia. Identity and Identities: Perspectives and Limits for Inclusion and Pluralism and the Role of Jewish Education, Thesis, Course Visions in Jewish Education, Master's-Melton Center for Jewish Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, January 2024.