Vision at Work: the Theory and Practice of Beit Rabban (Jewish Education)

In Vision at Work: The Theory and Practice of Beit Rabban, Daniel Pekarsky offers a philosophical portrait of a vision-guided school. In a series of engaging letters to his imagined correspondent, Pekarsky depicts a real Jewish day school, Beit Rabban, which explicitly incorporates into its educational design a vision of the kind of person and community that it aspires to promote. Beit Rabban is guided by a vision of Jewish life that puts engagement with classical Jewish texts and the alleviation of human suffering at the center. The school's practice embodies the conviction of its visionary leader that these and other activities should take place in a learning community that emphasizes intellectual openess, rigorous thinking and imaginative problem-solving. While describing the philosophy and practice of Beit Rabban, Pekarsky also addresses the problems faced by educators and others who wish to create and maintain vision-guided schools. Vision at Work will be of interest to educational theorists, to educators, and to anyone concerned with basic educational questions and with the challenges that confront both general and Jewish education.