Support Authentic
RE Judaism Teaching
At Teach RE Judaism (JCoB Education), we are experts in the Jewish element of the RE syllabus and have been teaching children in Reading and the area about Jewish life at home and in the synagogue for many years.
We have visited schools in person in a wide area around Reading, from Bristol to West London, and from Portsmouth to Luton. We have also visited schools virtually as far afield as Liverpool, Newcastle and Wales, and we know the positive effect our visits have on children. We provide children an authentic, nondogmatic understanding of Judaism and what it means to be Jewish and practice Judaism.
We offer assemblies, a synagogue workshop where we set up a classroom as a synagogue, and workshops on Shabbat, Sukkot, Passover (Pesach), Chanukah, Jewish life, any other topic related to Judaism, including training for teachers. Children get to meet a real Orthodox rabbi, or a Rabbi’s wife, or both. Our materials are modern and we cater for any age group.
This is the most important work one can do to combat antisemitism in the UK. Children who understand what it means to be Jewish, who have tasted Jewish food, who have connected with a Jewish teacher who can communicate our tradition authentically while showing (and teaching) the value of respect for the other faiths around us — such children will be better equipped to challenge the antisemitic narratives they will encounter in their adult lives.
Unfortunately, most schools have very tight budgets and cannot afford to book the visits that they badly need. Your support can change that, allowing us to offer free and subsidised visits to schools who need them.
We also work more generally to improve Judaism RE in the region and the UK. We need your support so that we can do this work, as the schools we visit cannot afford to cross-subsidise this other important work.
As representatives of four of the six SACREs in Berkshire, Rabbi Zvi and Rebbetzin Shira played a key role (as unpaid volunteers) in shaping the Judaism sections new RE syllabi across Berkshire, defending authentic Judaism RE in the face of radical proposals that threatened to undermine such teaching by treating Judaism as a belief system and by erasing the word Israel.
Many materials are used in the UK to teach about Judaism in schools that have not been properly vetted by Jewish education professionals. Schools (particularly in areas of the country with few or no Jews) need guidance so that they can locate materials they can trust. Now a consultation has begun on a national syllabus for RE, but who will decide how Judaism is framed there? We would like to allocate time to this important work, which we can do with your support.
Again, the schools we visit cannot afford to cross-subsidise our other work.
Support our work!
Many schools wish to utilise our services but lack the funds. We cannot afford to offer our services for free at the moment as we lack outside funding. You can change that.
If you would like to help, please fill out this form and you will be taken to our donation page.