By 5TJT Staff   
on Wednesday, August 01, 2007

This November will mark the sixth year that the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute will provide courses of Jewish interest in the Five Towns. Local residents who attend JLI courses will be joining a community of Jewish learners that spans the globe. This year, JLI has added 68 new centers, bringing the total number of JLI chapters to more than 250 worldwide. The Jewish Learning Institute has centers in over 30 states and more than 15 countries, including Uruguay, South Africa, Sweden, and Australia. The largest institute of Jewish learning in the world today, the JLI expects to enroll a total of over 30,000 students during the coming academic year.

In preparation for the upcoming academic year, the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute held its ninth annual conference on June 17-18 at the Robert Treat Hotel in Newark, NJ. This two-day symposium was attended by over 300 directors and instructors from around the world, including Rabbi Shneur Z. Wolowik from Chabad of the Five Towns. It proved an opportunity for institute partners to explore new courses being offered, hone their skills with master educators and experts, and to further develop the collegial network that is the institute's abiding strength.

The conference gives instructors an opportunity to become familiar with the content of the upcoming curriculum and to collaborate in honing effective teaching strategies for this year's featured courses. The focus of this year's conference was the upcoming fall course, The Land and the Spirit, an examination of our connection to the land of Israel. Preparatory sessions were presented in a variety of formats, including panel discussions led by authors, small group discussion of texts, lectures by master presenters, and roundtable forums.

A central focus of the conference was providing instructors with special highlights including an extraordinary workshop on teaching techniques led by pedagogical expert Rabbi Berel Bell; teaching demonstrations by veteran instructors Rabbi Moshe New of Montreal, and Rabbi Elchonon Lisbon of Baltimore; an overview of The Land and the Spirit, by author Rabbi Aaron Herman; a presentation of the issues surrounding the land of Israel by Rabbi Manis Friedman; and information from Rabbi Moshe Bryski about JLI's upcoming Israel mission which will take place in March 2008. Attending instructors were also addressed by Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, vice chairman of Merkos Le'Inyanei Chinuch and principal patron of the Rohr JLI.

The JLI annual professional conference ensures that every Jewish Learning Institute site will provide the same high standard of quality and professionalism that has marked the JLI since its inception. The JLI conference also serves to build excitement for the course content that the participants bring home and share with past and prospective students. The public is invited to join all three of this year's course offerings, and see for themselves what makes the Jewish Learning Institute a world-class source of Jewish inspiration and knowledge.

According to Rabbi Shneur Z. Wolowik, director of Cedarhurst's local JLI chapter, "This conference was another major step in establishing the JLI as the premier institution of adult Jewish learning today."

The Rohr Jewish Learning Institute was established in 1998 in order to develop cutting-edge adult education for today's sophisticated and searching Jew. Rabbis, academics, and lay people from around the world have pooled their strengths and dedication to assure the kind of experience that will educate and inspire an ever-increasing commitment to Jewish learning and practice. The Rohr Jewish Learning Institute is a branch of Merkos Le'Inyanei Chinuch, the educational arm of Chabad-Lubavitch, and a project of the Rohr family foundation. For further information about the Jewish Learning Institute, log on to www.myJLI.com or contact the local JLI chapter at 516-295-2478 or [email protected] .