(Courtesy of Touro College) A one-of-a-kind program at Touro College celebrated its first graduating class. The Jewish Education and Special Education master’s program was created in 2019 to give rebbeim and morot who teach children with special needs the cutting-edge professional skills to provide their students with a proper Jewish education. The inaugural graduates were Freidi Hyman of the Idea School in Tenafly; Sarah Katz of Bais Yaakov of Los Angeles; Murray Mizrahi of Barkai Yeshivah in Brooklyn; and Chayim Zylbernagel of United Lubavitcher Yeshiva, also in Brooklyn.
“We are so proud of our first graduates,” said Dr. Jeffrey Lichtman, professor and Lucille Weidman director of the graduate program in Jewish Education and Special Education at Touro. “They represent the breadth of Jewish education across the spectrum, and they will now bring the depth of pedagogic skills that they have acquired from our program into their classrooms to benefit their students.
“These men and women represent the best of Jewish education and their love and enthusiasm for working with children, combined with their professional training, will enhance and transform the field of Jewish education,” Lichtman continued. “Program graduates are prepared to serve and educate typical children as well as those with special needs in a variety of settings, including mainstream and special education yeshivot.”
“I learned so many strategies to help me become a better and more effective teacher,” said new alum Freidi Hyman. “Creating lesson plans that motivate students, promoting higher-order thinking and making learning meaningful and engaging are a few of the highlights. Additionally, I was given the skills to promote classroom management while simultaneously creating a positive learning atmosphere. Dr. Lichtman’s program at Touro has so much to offer, and I am so grateful to have been part of it.”
For more information on the master’s program in Jewish Education and Special Education visit gse.touro.edu or contact Dr. Lichtman at [email protected].
