The Covenant Foundation gave out its annual Covenant Awards for innovative Jewish educators Sunday night at the Marriot In Washington, D.C., wher ethe Jewish Federations of North America is holding its annual General Assembly.
The Covenant Foundation, which is funded by the Crown Family of Chicago, has given out the awards, which 1991 to honor Jewish educators who are taking a different, effective approach to Jewish educators,
This year, the awards went to Erica Brown, the director of adult education for the Partnership for Jewish Life and learning in D.C., Rabbi Stuart Selzer, the Dean of Judaic Studies at the Shoshana S. Cardin School in Baltimore, and Nili Simahi, the director of the Teva Learning Center in New York.
Each of the recipients will receive $36,00 as well as $5,000 for their institutions.
The Covenant gala has become a tradition at the GA, where each of the awards recipients is introduced by a member of the Crown family, each has screened a short documentary made about them by filmmaker Perla Gluck, and then gets the opportunity to give a short sermon about their award.
Brown is the author of several books on Jewish education and identity preaches community building and action thorough education. Selzer seeks to integrate the arts into Jewish education and builds family educational projects around his school curricula. And Simhai’s Teva teaches Jewish environmental studies in day schools, congregational schools synagogues and camps.
