Shabbat Weekly Dvar Torah

Let’s set the scene. Jacob is on his way home after twenty years with his trickster father-in-law, Laban.The exile is over. Jacob has wealth, wives, children, and — perhaps for the first time — a sense that life might finally be settling into something like normalcy. And then, reality intrudes. Jacob remembers that he has unfinished business. Namely: Esau — the brother he cheated, the brother who vowed to kill him, the brother whose anger has echoed in Jacob’s mind for two decades. Jacob sends his entire family across the Jabbok River. He is left alone on the far bank — a man with nothing but the night and his thoughts.

If you’re looking for a leader who is reshaping how Jewish life and learning meet the world of tomorrow, no one is more worth watching than David Bryfman. As CEO of The Jewish Education Project (JEP) — a national organization that helps educators and communities reimagine and innovate Jewish learning for the modern age — he is not simply preserving Jewish education; he is boldly rewriting what it can be in the 21st century. Soon you’ll have an opportunity to hear from him in-person (see below). A Global Educator with Big Ideas - Bryfman holds a Ph.D. in Education and Jewish Studies from New York University, where his research focused on how Jewish adolescents build identity.