Will significant numbers of young Jews ensure the vitality of the Jewish People or will many just drift away?
An outstanding teacher turns classroom learning into a transformative experience, impacting the student far beyond the school’s walls. Nothing else can have this transformative effect.
In line with the biblical maxim to “teach a youth according to their own path”, we know that no two teachers or students are alike. At WCJE, an educational non-profit, we combine a highly-personalized and empathetic approach to each teacher and school, with best practices from the worlds of entrepreneurship and data-based research.
While our vision is broad and strategic, we focus on practical steps. We integrate an in-depth and individualized analysis of each particular school, with insights based on data from a wide range of Jewish educational settings around the world. Our approach enables both an uncompromising commitment to the confidentiality of our relationship with each institution, and the application of lessons from years of experience working with different schools.
We work with each school to develop a proof of concept that quickly creates value, and that can be scaled across the institution. By focusing on the teacher, we can make a deep impact in a short time with reasonable costs.
Our strategic goals include the creation of a community of diverse schools around the world, sharing knowledge and best practices while maintaining independence. This provides several important advantages:
Creating an international network of educational institutions allows us to identify schools with similar challenges and goals, and facilitate the sharing of best practices and experiences. This allows us to suggest a broad range of practices and resources that have already been proven to be highly-successful, while giving you the flexibility to choose those that best fit your educational vision and agenda.
Schools are able to leverage their position and pool resources vis a vis suppliers.
In cases where existent offerings do not meet needs, the WCJE can map schools with similar interests, and facilitate a process of collective investment in the creation of new materials.
The WCJE’s hotline, staffed by our expert consultants in North America, South America, Europe and Israel, is available twenty-four hours a day to answers questions, provide guidance and address any pedagogical issue that may arise. We understand the busy schedules of teachers and administrators, and are committed to providing our educators with support around the clock.
offers you expert online assistance in all things connected to the learning experience, and showcases educational materials from the leading publishers.
The WCJE is an independent, non-governmental and non-denominational body and non-denominational organization. Our independence allows us to objectively evaluate and recommend materials from a diverse range of bodies.
The WCJE’s dedicated team has extensive experience in both formal and informal educational frameworks, including schools, supplemental education, adult education, camps and youth movements. Our expertise covers both the broad range of relevant subject areas and diverse types of educational settings, from traditional classrooms, to blended learning, to virtual and distance-learning. We are deeply passionate about the mission of transforming Jewish education and have dedicated our professional lives to this goal.
Our advisory board includes current and former day school principals and educators, professors from Israel and abroad, professionals with a diverse range of experience in governmental, formal and informal educational institutions, and experts in pedagogical evaluation.
Over the past twenty years, we have worked with over four hundred schools in fifteen countries to provide curricula that fit the unique needs of each school. Three years ago, we decided to sharpen our strategic focus after reaching the conclusion that providing the best educational resources was not enough to revitalize Jewish education. We realized that a broader teacher-centered revolution was necessary. Therefore, for the past 3 years, the WCJE has focused on empowering teachers, and giving them the pedagogical tools and training needed to succeed.
Michael has a rich background in Jewish education, strategic leadership and fundraising. Raised in the UK, he was an active member of a Jewish Youth Movement and also attended Jewish day schools. Shortly after completing a BA in Jewish History and Hebrew Literature, Michael made Aliya and embarked on a career in Jewish education. His previous roles include Director of Jewish Education at the Baltimore JCC, Executive Director of Melitz in Jerusalem and most recently, as the Chief Executive of UJIA (UK). Michael has an MA in Contemporary Jewry from the Hebrew University and is a graduate of the Mandel Jerusalem Fellows.
The WCJE is led by Mickey Katzburg, an educational innovator and entrepreneur with over twenty years of experience. For the past two decades, Mickey has worked with hundreds of educational institutions in Israel and abroad. His experience includes the establishment of a successful pedagogical resource center, the creation of Hebrew-language Ulpan programs, consultancy to one of Israel’s leading professional development companies, work with hundreds of youth groups from around the world on Israel Experience programs and educational tours, and service as a shaliach at Yeshiva University High School of Los Angeles and the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
To achieve our goals, the WCJE works in close cooperation with dozens of educational and cultural bodies that specialize in developing curricula on relevant topics, including Academon Books (the Hebrew University academic publishing house), CET—the Center for Educational Technology, TALI, Bonayich, Maaleh Film School and many others.
We are proud to partner with The Hirsch Foundation, which was established by Hedy Hirsch in memory of her family members who perished in the Holocaust. The Foundation’s objectives include deepening Jewish identity and enriching educational content for students of all ages, teachers, administrators, and academics around the world. The Hirsch Foundation supports formal and informal educational projects, and engages in preparing content, publishing books, and availing the content to learners in a variety of languages. From 2018, the Foundation has subsidized the cost of delivering educational resources to schools around the world, helping to defray one of the significant costs related to the acquisition of pedagogical materials.
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