Educators Meet for Annual Kinus

It was well after midnight when Rabbi Sholom B. Halberstam of Chicago ended the marathon nearly 13 hour meeting of menahalim – principals of “out-of-town” Mesivtas. They had convened as part of the annual “Kinus HaMechanchim” educator’s conference, sponsored by the Merkos Chinuch Office.

Other than brief breaks for tefillos and meals the group concentrated on the business at hand, improving their yeshivas and cooperating to help the many hundreds of students maximize the effectiveness of their yeshiva experience.

140 Torah educators from across North America convened at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Danbury CT, away from the hustle and bustle of their respective communities, away for the offices and classrooms but with their mind’s eye focusing on their students and their needs. The educators followed a similar conclave of women educators two weeks earlier.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe promoted the idea of summer professional development in letters dating back to the early 1950s. The idea that teachers need to both rejuvenate and hone their skills resonated well with the capacity crowd in Danbury.

The Kinus program was essentially divided into two sections which complemented one another. There was a strong focus on the development of better pedagogical skills and there was a deep concentration on the “Neshama”, the souls of Jewish education.

The general academic program was devoted to the study of the Danielson Framework, which helps teachers plan and execute their lessons in a more organized way and workshops on classroom management among others. One issue which generated a great deal of discussion was the need for each student to be guided in the development of a healthy self-image, at a talk by Dr. Shloimie Zimmerman, a psychologist in NY who specializes in the issue.

Rabbi Jonathan Rietti, an educational consultant who has developed a wide range of programs to ensure maximum participation and sustained outcomes, especially for younger students, presented on sustained reading skills development and on the fundamentals of teaching Torah to younger students. He also presented, to great acclaim, on a wide reaching approach to teaching Jewish history.

Rabbis Yoseph Minkowitz of Montreal and Mendel Schapiro of Los Angeles keynoted on the essence of the mission of those gathered, to reach the Neshama of their students and not only to teach but to inspire them.

One particularly inspirational moment occurred during lunch on Monday when a group of about fifty formed a round table to recap how their classroom had changed since the introduction of the Master Torah program highlighted at last year’s conference. They decided to hold similar discussions via Skype throughout the year.

“It takes months of planning and a lot of hard work, not to speak of the financial expense, but when at conclusion of the Kinus one can feel the tangible inspiration of hundreds of educators who will teach thousands of students next year, all the effort is a small price to pay,” said Rabbi Nochem Kaplan, director of the Merkos Chinuch Office, the umbrella of Chabad schools.

Rabbi Kaplan thanked his staff at the Chinuch Office, led by Rivkah Cohen, and a committee of mechanchim, particularly Rabbi Zalman Goldstein of Oholei Torah, who collectively spent countless hours the program. He added that all attendees are in their debt. In addition he said that his son, Rabbi Baruch Kaplan a shliach in Wallingford, CT and rebbe at the Southern New England Hebrew Academy in New Haven, was essentially the coordinator of all Kinus logistics along with Rabbi Menachem Kirschenbaum.