Gemara Berura, Computer Learning Tool, Jerusalem
Targum Shlishi continued its support of the innovative educational program Gemara Berura during 2005 through initiatives to promote interest in this radically new approach to teaching Gemara through technology. Targum Shlishi’s efforts included letter writing campaigns and organizing a successful effort with other foundations to subsidize the program’s implementation in five day schools in South Florida. In addition, Targum Shlishi has actively promoted Gemara Berura to foundations and schools throughout the U.S. www.gemaraberura.com

The Lookstein Center at Bar-Ilan University, Enhancing Jewish Education in the Baltic States, Baltics
There are four Jewish day schools in the Baltic region, none of which have effective Jewish Studies programs. Targum Shlishi is working with the Lookstein Center at Bar-Ilan University and partnering with the Greenfield Family Trust to improve the Jewish Studies programs at these schools by funding a training program to address curricular materials and pedagogical skills. Why the Baltics? In 1930 the region (Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia) was home to almost 200,000 Jews. Today, the Jewish population is approximately 23,500. The small Jewish population remaining in this once-thriving region is generally not well educated Jewishly, but is eager to learn. www.lookstein.org

Sippurim, Jewish Children’s Books Website, New York
Looking for quality children’s books on topics related to Judaism and Israel? This website, created by the new organization Sippurim, includes a searchable database to allow people to identify books by several criteria such as subject (Israel, Rosh Hashana, Jewish identity, Holocaust, etc.), author, title, and age range. The website also includes author information and links to websites for Jewish families. Targum Shlishi supported the site’s development and launch, after proposing the concept of the site to Sippurim, which is involved in several other initiatives to promote children’s books involving Israel and Jewish subjects. The website launched in summer 2005 and has already been featured in an article in LILITH magazine and in a presentation at the 92nd Street Y. www.sippurim.org

Skirball Center for Adult Jewish Learning at Temple Emanu-El, Artists’ Beit Midrash and Writers’ Beit Midrash, New York
The Skirball Center is a relatively new organization that offers continuing Jewish education in a pluralistic setting. Batei Midrash are learning communities (the translation is “houses of study”), a traditional model of learning in a study group that is a community circle. The Writers’ Beit Midrash and the Artists’ Beit Midrash allow creative individuals to explore Jewish sources within a community of peers and create new works inspired by the texts studied. In 2005-06 the theme explored is “The Hidden and the Revealed.” At the conclusion of each year, the groups have an evening of presentations with an exhibition and readings of their work. www.adultjewishlearning.org

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