New York, NY – September 23, 2024 – The Covenant Awards Celebration was held at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City this evening. The Celebration honors three Jewish educators annually for their outstanding contributions to the field.

RABBA YAFFA EPSTEIN, senior scholar and educator in residence, The Jewish Education Project, New York, NY; SHIRA KLINE, co-founder and spiritual leader, Lab/Shul, New York, NY; and RABBI JUDD KRUGER LEVINGSTON, Ph.D.,  instructor of Jewish studies and advisor to the Derech Eretz Honor Council and Hesed/community service organizations, Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy, Bryn Mawr, PA, are the recipients of the 2024 Award.

“We believe that a strong and healthy Jewish community requires a talented and dedicated pool of Jewish educators,” said Barbara Goodman Manilow, President of The Covenant Foundation Board of Directors, during her remarks at the Celebration.

“And we remain confident that Jewish education is the most important way to ensure that our children, our community, and the Jewish people continue to thrive well into the future.”

The Covenant Foundation is a program of Crown Family Philanthropies and members of the Crown Goodman family, including Steve Crown, Jordan T. Goodman, and Danielle Rudas Goodman introduced the three recipients and presented the Awards, while Kasey Crown announced the names of the 2024 Pomegranate Prize recipients.

Each of the 2024 Covenant Award recipients received $50,000 and each of their institutions, $10,000.

Established in 1991 to honor and celebrate those who have made a profound impact on Jewish education, the Covenant Award is given to three educators every year after a rigorous selection process. Recipients have advanced the field of Jewish education in myriad ways, including environmental education, social justice, inclusion, early childhood education, technology, professional development, and much more.

 

RABBA YAFFA EPSTEIN is the senior scholar and educator in residence at The Jewish Education Project, where she has worked since 2022. In this capacity, she provides Jewish textual guidance and support both to colleagues at the agency and to Jewish educators in the field by developing innovative educational programs and trainings to deepen Jewish textual knowledge and experience. Rabba Epstein earned rabbinic ordination in 2015 from Yeshivat Maharat.

Accepting the Award from Steve Crown, Rabba Epstein said, “The Jewish people are in immense pain right now. Torah can be our balm. It teaches us that we are not alone, or drifting aimlessly – we have roots and a past, we have ancestral wisdom about how to cope with the pain we are feeling. Torah gives us a communal language, allowing us to build bridges and focus on our shared legacy.”

 

SHIRA KLINE has served as the spiritual leader and director of family education at Lab/Shul in New York City since she co-founded the institution in 2013. At Lab/Shul, Kline assumes responsibility for both ritual leadership and the visioning, design, and implementation of all of Lab/Shul’s family education initiatives. In her role as director of family education, Kline has designed and facilitated dozens of family programs.

As she accepted the Award from Danielle Rudas Goodman, Kline shared, “All of Judaism is a practice of play, of great imagination, and of emet—truth. And whether you think of it as archetypal play, symbolic play, or plain old make-believe, I have come to understand that our Jewish way of being is a creative practice. Our tools are Jewish radical imagination. This may not give us answers, but it gives us pathways.”

 

RABBI JUDD KRUGER LEVINGSTON, Ph.D., serves as an instructor in Jewish studies in the middle and upper schools while advising the Derech Eretz Honor Council and Hesed/community service organizations at Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy Bryn Mawr, PA. The author of two books on moral education, he served for 15 years as Director of Jewish studies, supervising and mentoring teachers and overseeing the Jewish life program.

Upon acceptance of the Award from Jordan T. Goodman, Levingston shared, “This is my prayer for us this evening: whether we work in a synagogue, an agency, a day school, or in any other Jewish educational setting, may none of us grow weary. Let us soar like eagles and rejoice in our shared sense of purpose. May we walk, bike, swim, ride, or run with hope, gratitude, and love for our students, for our colleagues, and for our tradition.”

***

To view full biographies of current and past Covenant Award recipients, watch original films about the Awardees and their institutions, and find guidelines for nominating an educator for the 2025 Covenant Awards, please visit www.covenantfn.org. The deadline for nominations is November 14, 2024.

 

The Covenant Foundation is a program of the Crown Family Philanthropies.