Elie Holzer

Series: Jewish Identity in Post-Modern Society

ISBN: 9781618114808 (hardcover) / 9781618116352 (paper)

Pages: 192 pp.

Publication Date: March 2016

Practice-oriented educational philosopher Elie Holzer invites readers to grow as teachers, students, or co-learners through “attuned learning,” a new paradigm of mindfulness. Groundbreaking interpretations of classical rabbinic texts sharpen attention to our own mental, emotional, and physical workings as well as awareness of others within the complexities of learning interactions. Holzer integrates pedagogical pathways with ethical elements of transformative teaching and learning, the repair of educational disruptions, the role of the human visage, and the dynamics of argumentative and collaborative learning. Literary analyses reveal that deliberate self-cultivation not only leads to ethical and spiritual growth, but also offers a corrective for the pitfalls of the contemporary calculative modalities in educational thinking. The author speaks to the existential, humanizing art of learning and of teaching. This book can serve as a companion volume for A Philosophy of Havruta: Understanding and Teaching the Art of Text Study in Pairs, adding a new dimension of its model of joint learning. 

Elie Holzer is a practice-oriented philosopher of Jewish education who serves as Associate Professor at the School of Education, directs the Stern Institute for the Study and Advancement of Religious Education and holds the R. Dr. David Ochs Chair for Teaching Jewish Religious Studies, at Bar Ilan University. His research integrates text-based Jewish studies, philosophical hermeneutics, pedagogy, and ethical-spiritual traditions. His book A Philosophy of Havruta: Understanding and Teaching the Art of Text Study in Pairs (with Orit Kent, Academic Studies Press) won the 2014 National Jewish Book Award.

“This highly original book offers readers an opportunity to study rabbinic texts on education with a gifted teacher and to experience a process of learning which touches the mind and heart. To help readers grow into attuned learners, Holzer presents a way of studying ancient texts that cultivates the ethical dimensions of learning. Anyone interested in dialogical approaches to education and empowering text study will benefit greatly from reading this book.”

— Sharon Feiman-Nemser, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Professor of Jewish Education, Brandeis University