The Lookstein Virtual Jewish Learning Center has kept our children educated under lockdown.

(Courtesy of The Lookstein Virtual Academy) The “new normal” has been upon us since the middle of March. Just days after we gathered to celebrate Purim, our worlds were turned upside down and even backward. This unprecedented “shelter in place” quarantine has kept nearly all of us at home, shuttering our schools, turning bedrooms into virtual classrooms and parents into learning facilitators.

Here in the tri-state area, where the lion’s share of the coronavirus cases have been diagnosed, this lockdown from everyday activities has now been officially extended until at least the end of this school year. In fact, even if our day schools are permitted to reopen come September, the possibility of future random outbreaks—especially in the major metropolitan areas—threatens to again land us in a perhaps another temporary shutdown. Being prepared for disruption is critical.

Thankfully, for many of the Jewish day schools across America, the transition of educating our children from physical classrooms to virtual ones has been seamless due to a vital academic institution from Israel.

The Lookstein Virtual Jewish Academy was established at Bar Ilan University back in 2014. In their six years of existence, they have been pioneering programs to educate students and teachers across the globe with unique e-learning. Up until now, it has been especially beneficial to families living remotely from major Jewish areas who still wish for their kids to receive a Jewish educational foundation.

Since the start of this health epidemic, the Lookstein Virtual Academy has been working daily with approximately 50 yeshivot and day schools in all corners of the U.S., including Hillel Yeshiva in Deal and Yavneh Academy in Paramus, to complete the academic year virtually. They also provide online Jewish learning to over 2,500 students worldwide. Lookstein Academy has been in contact with administrators from all of their partner schools and synagogues to dialogue with them about the current situation and to brainstorm about opportunities to support their online classrooms moving forward.

The schools that have appointed Lookstein are finding that it provides a semblance of stability in this turbulent time. Almost overnight, the Lookstein Academy has been transformed into a major player in teacher preparation.

“Our team is setting up training sessions as well as other ways to continue to support teachers and administrators,” says Naomi Schrager, the academy’s director of education. “We are putting out short videos with tips and tools to use in online classrooms, and we are making ourselves available for consultations with schools and teachers.”

Just after the lockdown began, Lookstein Virtual Academy offered a free session for educators about the basics of online teaching and engaging students in the virtual classroom. The session drew over 100 teachers from around the world, most of whom were not previously in the Lookstein network. “It was all about engaging students virtually and using tools online,” says Schrager. “We have been sending out content for teachers to use in their virtual classrooms, both for the Jewish holidays and everyday material.”

The program has had a profound impact on how so many teachers and schools have been able to make the transition to a daily online curriculum in a time of crisis. The parents of day school students have maintained a high expectation for the continuance of a quality Jewish education, even with these dramatically different circumstances. And with the guidance of the Lookstein Academy, they have been able to deliver impressively.

“Lookstein Virtual is the one and only thing in my children’s lives that has been consistent during this crisis,” says Dara Horn, a mom and bestselling author from New Jersey. “My kids have already been ‘distance learning’ with these imaginatively designed materials and these caring professional educators for years, and during the pandemic my kids’ terrific courses have simply continued as usual. In this crazy time, I only wish that the rest of their education was more like Lookstein.”

While it has taken Lookstein nearly a decade to build up its current following, it has recently expanded its capacity to welcome another 1,000 students just after Passover ended, as schools across America sought new solutions to the lockdown.

“History teaches us that, over the centuries, Jewish education has thrived in unlikely scenarios,” says Chana German, executive director of the Lookstein Center. “It is flourishing in this unexpected period as well. We are blown away by the boundless dedication of our heroic teachers and moved to see the raw need of our children to learn and grow Jewishly, despite the pandemic around them. We can keep this momentum going if we plan effectively for the future, a future that is brimming with promise.”