Research Encounter: What Is Rabbinics, Really?

How do rabbinics teachers conceptualize, implicitly or explicitly, the nature of the material that they teach to their students? Starting with a paper titled "Three Conceptions of Rabbinics: Understanding Teachers' Thinking" by Joshua Ladon, a chapter in the recent collection Teaching & Learning in Jewish Day Schools, this conversation allows seasoned teachers to explore the ways that they think about and teach the heart of Jewish studies in their classrooms.   Rabbi Dr. Joshua Ladon is the vice president for the West Coast and senior faculty for the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America.   Rabbi Aaron Horn is the High School Principal at Kohelet Yeshiva right outside of Philadelphia where he has taught Gemara and Biology, ran student activities and served as the Dean of Students.  Grace McMillan is a graduate of Harvard Divinity School who later spent a year learning Nishmat. Grace has been teaching Jewish Text for over a decade at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School and is currently the Nancy and Paul M. Hamburger Jewish Text High School Department Chair.   Rabbi Yechiel Shaffer is the Campus Rabbi of the Jewish Leadership Academy in Miami and the director of its novel Service Entrepreneurship Program. He is also the Founder of the new platform PdThatworks.com and has served as a community Rabbi in 3 cities.