Elementary School Mathematics is written for elementary school teachers as well as parents who wish to be involved in their childrens first steps in mathematical education. The reading of this book will benefit educators - whether at home or at school - by consolidating their content knowledge, while exposing them to both complexity and beauty of elementary mathematics.

The book focuses on the deviant behaviors of troubled Israeli youth, including juvenile delinquents, their accounts for their behaviors, and the steps taken by the agencies responsible for their treatment. The articles were written by experts in the various fields and academics who have an intimate familiarity with the reality of the subjects about which they write.

The use of the term “pluralism” has become widespread in the context of Jewish education. The articles in this volume are a contribution to our understanding as researchers and educators, and to the development of a language which can deepen educational and research discourse. The volume seeks to mark out some of the educational dilemmas, possible educational aims as well as some of the costs and benefits that arise from the encounter between Jewish education and pluralism. A number of articles contain reflections on the idea of pluralism, making conceptual distinctions between pluralism and related themes such as tolerance and relativism. Articles in the philosophical section of the book propose a basis for the connection (or opposition) between Jewish education and pluralism. The book’s next main section – one that focuses on theory and pedagogy - proposes educational theories concerned with pluralism and discusses their pedagogical potential. It also includes the reflections of practitioners whose work, in a variety of educational settings, is animated by a commitment to pluralism and, at the same time, is challenged by it. The last section of the book brings together empirical studies that describe and analyze the practices of pluralistic Jewish education. Bringing together these studies, which represent a wide range of disciplines and approaches, brings into focus the multiple ways of describing and analyzing the expression of, and responses to, pluralism in Jewish education in Israel and abroad .

The family and the community, which were in a very real sense the core institutions of east European Jewish society, underwent very rapid change in the nineteenth century. These essays look at the past through the prism of the lives of ordinary people, with results that are sometimes surprising, but always stimulating. The topics they treat are varied, but the concern to explain what lay behind the visible reality is common to all of them. The realities of Jewish life in eastern Europe that concerned the average Jew meant the way their children grew up, the way they studied, how they married, and all the subsequent stages of the life cycle--including the problems of divorce, remarriage, and elderly parents. The family and the community were in a very real sense the core institutions of east European Jewish society. These realities were always dynamic and evolving but in the nineteenth century, the pace of change in almost every area of life was exceptionally rapid. This collection of essays deals with these social realities objectively and analytically. Some of the essays presented here are classics that have been widely acclaimed, earning their author a well-deserved reputation for authoritative research; all have been comprehensively revised for this book. They avoid both sentimental descriptions and judgmental attitudes. The result is a picture that is far from the stereotyped view of the past that is common today, but a more honest and more comprehensive one. Topics covered in the studies on education consider the learning experiences of both males and females of different ages. They also deal with and distinguish between study among the well off and learned (not surprisingly, the two went together) and study among the poorer masses. A number of essays are devoted to aspects of educating the elite. Here too, the reconstruction of the realities of the past, as opposed to the stereotypical popular image, reveals the remarkable creativity of what is often mistakenly considered a highly conservative element of society. Several essays deal with aspects of marriage, a key element in the life of most Jews. Using both quantitative and qualitative sources, the author has been able to identify and document characteristics of both first and subsequent marriages and to highlight and explain trends that have hitherto been misunderstood. The problem of aged parents and the changing nature of the nuclear family is also considered. The attempt to understand the rabbinate in its social and historical context is no less revealing then the studies in other areas. The realities of rabbinical life ˆ the problems of getting appointments, job security and insecurity, changing responsibilities and the difficulties of dealing with fragmented and modernizing communities -- are presented in a way that explains rabbinic behavior and the complex relations between communities, ideologies, and modernization. These essays look at the past through the prism of the lives of ordinary people, with results that are sometimes surprising but always stimulating. The topics they treat are varied, but the concern to explain what lay behind the visible reality is common to all of them.

The Holocaust is an unsolved problem for humanity. We are still trying to explain the causes and the origins of the hell of Nazi Europe and its impact on our understanding humanity and concept of Western civilization. For Jewish thinkers, the problem is even more urgent as it brings forward difficult questions about Jewish identity. The book In the Beginning There was the Holocaust brings a panoramic picture of the responses of Jewish Philosophy to the Holocaust, Theodicy, the meaning of Jewish existence after the Holocaust, struggle with nihilism and despair, and questions concerning Holocaust education and the culture of remembrance. The major claim in the book is the Holocaust is a major crossroad in our world; if we want to understand ourselves we have to explore the roads that go out of it.

A 100 years after the Zionist congress decided to establish the university in Jerusalem (Vienna, 1913), this volume, the 4th in the series, is being published. The first three volumes were dedicated to the roots of the idea to establish a cultural and spiritual infrastructure of a national entity in the state of Israel and the founding of the university and it's progress during the steps towards an Israeli state. The first chapter in the history of this establishment ended when it was brought down from Mt. Scopus in 1948. The first volume of this series revealed to the reader the complexity of establishing this university through detailed and in-depth studies that dealt with the scientific, organizational and political aspects of the process. Only a small part of these studies were dedicated to the people behind the process. This volume lays before us the biographies of the first founders and professors of this university to make their mark on the establishment and development of the university during the mandate years. There are three parts to the book. The first part tells about the founders and designers of this institution and includes the people of action who accompanied it's setting up and enabled it's functioning. The second part is dedicated to the theoretical sciences: Humanities, Jewish Studies and the first researchers in the law and society fields. The third part brings us the biographies of the teachers and researches in the Mathematics and Experimental sciences fields. This book is dedicated to the people who arrived in Jerusalem under different circumstances from around the world. Thanks to their cooperation on Mt. Scopus, they enabled the fulfillment of an idea, first conceived in the second half of the 19th century, and turned into a successful reality during the settlement period.

This volume of essays is dedicated to the memory of Moriah Libson, an outstanding woman and gifted teacher, a true lover of the Hebrew language, whose untimely death was a great loss to her family, students, and friends. The book’s seventeen original articles relate to Hebrew literature, to Jewish sources and to the different strata of the Hebrew language. Authored by the finest scholars and teachers of Jewish Studies and the Hebrew language, they address such varied topics as the different strata of Mishna Sanhedrin, the poetic style of the paytan Samuel the Third, Judeo-Arabic in Maimonidean works, reading translated Hebrew literature—theory and practice, reciprocal structures in Hebrew, and clarification of different words, terms, and formulas found in the sources, such as “Hoshava,” “adbereh,” “Nechemata,” “Levarech et Amo Yisrael Beahava,” and “Iqvot Meshicha.”

One measure of the economic and cultural strength of a country is the level of its citizens' literacy since literacy is important for integration in the occupational and social world. In Israel, about one-third of the students exhibit literacy difficulties. Furthermore, literacy level gaps between the upper and the lower percentile are among the largest of 43 OECD countries. Israeli children, therefore, need support in literacy acquisition. Several public committees have discussed ways supporting education on these issues, basing their conclusion on current research. However, only two Hebrew books were published on the subject since the 1990's. This book attempts to address this scarcity. The book focuses on learners' literacy development and includes suggestions for intervention programs for supporting the literacy of children. It presents recent studies and programs of the best Israeli researchers on mono and bilingual learners, on children with normal development and those with special needs. This book is suitable for policy makers, psychologists, school teachers, kindergarten teachers, educational counselors, language and learning diagnosticians and therapists, teachers for reading rehabilitation, university, and college researchers, teachers and students. This book was written in honor of Prof. Iris Levin's (Tel Aviv University, Israel) retirement. Prof. Levin is a renowned and influential researcher, has studied early literacy for over 35 years, and has published in leading journals. She is among the leaders of the early literacy policy in Israel. The editors of the book, Dr. Dorit Aram and Dr. Ofra Korat, were Prof. Levin's students and are now her colleagues.

Religious traditions are intrinsically tied to educational systems and their pedagogical methods. The linkage between them is among the most important cultural and historical subjects that bear on human societies in general and Jewish society in particular, and questions pertinent to that linkage arise in both the religious and the educational spheres. On the religious side, such questions might involve the way in which religiousvalues can be transmitted from one generation to the next. What institutional, cognitive, and emotional mechanisms are employed by a given society in bequeathing its religious concepts and values to the younger generation? On the educational side, one might ask about the dynamics of change with respect to values, modes of thought, and forms of conduct. What role does the educational system play in implementing changes or reforms of this nature? Is there truly a clash, as is often assumed, between religious norms and critical thought, between emphasizing discipline and educating for autonomy, or between reliance on a tradition and openness to innovation? Who are the religious authorities that devise and formulate the educational process, and in what ways do disputes over the educational process reflect a struggle between competing authorities? What is the relationship between religious and “secular” authorities (such as magistrates, officials, or governmental bodies) in a given society, and to what extent do these relations affect the nature of education within that society? And, finally, atwhom is the system of religious education aimed gender perspectives.

The basic assumption in the studies presented in this book is that you can reveal teachers thoughts about learning processes by watching them teach. Therefore, these studies are based on observing lessons and practice sessions.