Portraits of Adult Jewish Learning: Making Meaning at Many Tables brings together the work of a dozen Jewish education scholars and practitioners who present colorful narratives about a highly diverse range of adult Jewish learners. 

Book editor Diane Tickton Schuster and moderator Miriam Heller Stern (Hebrew Union College)  discussed the book with a panel of esteemed experts – Shira D. Epstein (Jewish Theological Seminary), Rabbi Josh Feigelson (Institute for Jewish Spirituality), and Miriam Raider-Roth (Mandel Teacher Educator Institute) – who are interested in how adult learners learn and the evolving conceptions of Jewish literacy in the 21st century.  The panelists shared what they learned from the book, how this work influences the development of Jewish education as a field, and what the larger community of researchers and practitioners – and learners themselves – can glean from dynamic accounts of adult Jewish learning in an era of change.

Diane Tickton Schuster is an independent scholar in Jewish education who has served as an affiliated scholar at the Mandel Center since 2016. She has conducted research about the changing world of Jewish adult education for the past 25 years. Diane’s first project with the Mandel Center culminated in the book, Portraits of Jewish Learning: Viewing Contemporary Jewish Education Close-In.  In her second project, Diane brought together researchers and practitioners who were studying the Jewish learning experiences of adults in diverse settings. Diane’s groundbreaking book about Jewish adult education, Jewish Lives, Jewish Learning: Adult Jewish Learning in Theory and Practice, provided context for this new inquiry. Portraits of Adult Jewish Learning: Making Meaning at Many Tables, edited by Diane, points to the need for new and broader conversations about the adults at the many “tables of adult Jewish learning” today.