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Our Mission

At Hebrew at the Center, we work to revolutionize Hebrew language education and engagement as we advocate for Hebrew as a more prominent and intentional feature of Jewish life.

Our Vision

Our vision is a world in which the Hebrew language profoundly enhances the joy and richness of Jewish identity and connects Jewish communities around the world.

Our History

Hebrew at the Center was established in 2007. The initiative to establish a center to advance Hebrew teaching and learning was given its first real boost in 2002, when The Covenant Foundation and the Winshall family provided JCDS, Boston’s Jewish Community Day School with a grant to systematically pilot a proficiency and assessment-based approach to Hebrew teaching and learning. Inspired by the results and by additional work with educators from an expanding number of schools across the country, Hebrew at the Center began its formal work to develop an educational leadership team with the expertise to provide in-service professional development programs focused on Hebrew language educators in both formal and informal settings.

Our goals are to professionalize the field, develop tools that enable educators to empower students, set goals, and assess programs, educate institutional leadership, and support Hebrew language advocacy. In the last few years, Hebrew at the Center has expanded its work into the informal Jewish education space with the development of a new approach to Hebrew engagement. Developed jointly with the Jewish Agency for Israel, this pedagogic approach, innovative materials, and effective training have brought Hebrew into more than three dozen camps, Israel experience programs for teens and young adults, and is now being rolled out to year-round settings. The outcome of this work aims to demonstrate what is possible, raise expectations, and to bring increased effectiveness, joy, and excitement to Hebrew teaching and learning.

Since Hebrew at the Center’s inception and through its influence, the field of Hebrew language education has experienced increased professionalization and the addition of new players, including MA and PhD degree granting programs at Middlebury College, development of Avant STAMP ™ online assessment tool, the launch of Hebrew Public, the Kayitz Kef day camp initiative, entrée of new curriculum initiatives, and the establishment of the Council for Hebrew Language and Culture in North America. Hebrew at the Center now works with the key players in the Hebrew language education field in leading Hitkdamut, the annual Hebrew educators conference, and collaborates with local federations and educational sector leaders in advancing the Hebrew agenda. In addition to these efforts, Hebrew at the Center is currently in active collaborations with Prizmah, TalentEducators, CASJE, Hebrew College, Jewish Interactive, UnitEd, and peer organizations through DEEP. Hebrew at the Center remains in dialogue with the major foundations supporting Jewish education in order to continue to guide further Hebrew engagement.

Founders

ARNEE WINSHALL
CO-FOUNDER & PRESIDENT
SHARONA GIVOL

CO-FOUNDER

VARDIT RINGVALD
CO-FOUNDER

Join Hebrew teachers, Hebrew leaders, and other school leaders for an intensive, virtual conference November 16-17, 11:00 am – 4:00 pm EDT. 

Click here for more information and to register

ARNEE WINSHALL

President

Ms. Winshall is the Founding Board President of Hebrew at the Center and Founding Chair of JCDS, Boston’s Jewish Community Day School.  Arnee serves as an advisor to the Mayberg Foundation Jewish Education Innovation Challenge  and the Council for American Jewish Museums. Most recently she helped to guide the formation of DEEP , a professional learning community of Developing Embedded Expertise Programs that serve Jewish day schools. Through the years she has served on the board of numerous Jewish education organizations. She was the first recipient of Hebrew College’s Sidney Hillson/Rose Bronstein Award for distinguished leadership in Jewish education, Hebrew language, and the advancement of Jewish culture and civilization. In 2015, she was named as an Honorary Fellow of the Academy of Hebrew Language in Jerusalem. Having pursued graduate studies in developmental psycholinguistics and studied 7 languages, Arnee is passionate about the power of learning languages and, in particular, Hebrew as the language of the Jewish people.

SHARONA GIVOL
CO-FOUNDER
Sharona, in her capacity as the Director of the Hebrew Language Program at JCDS, Boston’s Jewish Community Day School, served as the JCDS Project Manager for the Covenant Foundation Grant which helped to underwrite the pilot phase that led to the launch of HATC. After joining JCDS Boston in 2002, she began working with Dr. Ringvald to develop and refine the Hebrew language acquisition tools, teacher workshops, and mentoring programs that are now being shared with Hebrew language and Jewish educators around the world. While teaching grades 5-9 in Israel, Sharona was responsible for helping foster children adapt to their new families and communities. She managed a center for children with learning disabilities, working with dyslexic Middle School students. Later she co-founded the Community Day School of the Northern Golan Heights. From 1986 to 1997 Sharona worked for the “Logal” educational software company in Israel, as Director of Reading Comprehension and Language Arts.
VARDIT RINGVALD
CO-FOUNDER
Vardit Ringvald, Ph.D., is a CV Starr Research Professor of Languages and Linguistics. She is the founding Director of the Brandeis-Middlebury School of Hebrew, established in 2007. Prof. Ringvald recently concluded nearly three decades at Brandeis University, most recently as the Director of the Hebrew Language Department. Along with her colleagues, she published Brandeis Modern Hebrew, Vol. 1, which has become North America’s most popular college Hebrew language textbook. Vol. 2 was published in June, 2013. She is an expert in the application of the proficiency approach to foreign language instruction and the development of competency-based curriculum for teaching Modern Hebrew in all educational settings at all levels, implementing authentic materials and methods for integrating Hebrew culture into the classroom. She is a founding member of the Hebrew Language Council (HLC) of North America and in 2013, she was appointed to the Committee for Teacher Certification Examinations of NYSED (The New York State Education Department). She led the Hebrew language initiative of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and served as the chairperson of the SAT II for Hebrew. She is a founding board member of JCDS, Boston’s Jewish Community Day School.
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Adina Kanefield
Director

Adina Kanefield is the Chief Executive Officer of the National Library of Israel, leading efforts to build support through strategic partnerships, dynamic programming, and community outreach across North America.

Previously, Adina founded a consulting practice focused on strategic growth and resource development, serving as a lead consultant for Hebrew at the Center. She has held leadership roles at the Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center, the Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School, and the Center for Israel Studies at American University, and earlier practiced regulatory and employment law.

A graduate of The George Washington University School of Law, she also holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees, summa cum laude, from Emory University. Adina lives in Washington, D.C., and serves on Hebrew at the Center’s Board Development Task Force.

Adina lives in Washington, D.C., and is active in Jewish communal life. She serves on the Board Development Task Force for Hebrew at the Center and is a frequent presenter on the intersection of Jewish heritage, cultural preservation, and the mission of the National Library of Israel.

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Sanford “Sandy” Cardin

Director

Sanford “Sandy” Cardin is the founder of Global Jewry. A graduate of Harvard University, Sandy is a member of the bar of DC, Florida, Maryland, and the United States Supreme Court, as well
as the Senior Consultant for Philanthropy and Impact at Cresset Capital.
After a short stint practicing law, Sandy shifted into the NGO world. He started as the Mid-Atlantic Director of the Jerusalem Foundation before moving to Tulsa, OK in 1994 to become the first executive director, then first president, of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family
Foundation.
Sandy spent 25 years guiding the CLSFF before leaving to become the CEO of Our Common Destiny, a global effort to
bridge the widening gap between the Jews in Israel and those living elsewhere.
Sandy has served on many Jewish boards (including as chair of the board or Leading Edge) and is currently involved in the JCC Association of North America. He has also held leadership posts at the Council on Foundations and National Center for Family Philanthropy.
Sandy lives with his wife, Melody, in Queenstown, MD.

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Walter A. Winshall

Director

Walter A. Winshall is a founding member of the board of Hebrew at the Center. He is a Principal in Collaborative Seed and Growth Partners, LLC, an investment firm specializing in the commercialization of early-stage technology. He is also a director at a number of early-stage companies. In addition to HATC, he is a board member of the National Yiddish Book Center and MIT Hillel. He was a founding board member of JCDS, Boston’s Jewish Community Day School and the Institute for the Advancement of Hebrew.
He graduated from MIT in electrical engineering and from Harvard Law School. Walt lives in Weston, Massachusetts with his wife, Arnee, chair of the Hebrew at the Center Board.
Walt serves on the Finance Committee and the Advocacy & Strategic Task Force Committee.

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Daniel Serfaty

Director

Daniel Serfaty is currently Chair of Aptima. As Aptima’s Founder and CEO, Daniel Serfaty has led Aptima to become the premier Human Performance Engineering business in the world. His work optimizes the integration of humans with intelligent technologies in defense, healthcare, aerospace, and education. His keynote addresses around the world are encouraging his audiences to imagine a future in which human and artificial intelligences work together in the service of humankind.
Daniel’s interdisciplinary background includes degrees in mathematics, psychology, aerospace engineering, and international business from the Université de Paris, the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, and University of Connecticut. His doctoral work has pioneered the study of distributed command teams. He is the recipient of the UConn Distinguished Service Award and has been inducted in its Engineering Hall of Fame.
Daniel is the co-Chair of the New England Israeli American Council (IAC), the board of the Friends of the Academy of Hebrew Language and, in addition, serves on the boards of several business and philanthropic organizations in both the United States and Israel, with an eye towards building bridges between these communities. Daniel serves on Hebrew at the Center’s Yom Iyyun Task Force and is co-chair of the Board Development Task Force.
Daniel lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with his wife Irene.

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Todd Sukol

Director

Todd Sukol has worked in and around the nonprofit and philanthropic sector most of his career. At the Mayberg Foundation where he is Executive Director, he oversees the foundation’s strategic philanthropy, grant-making and development of the Jewish Education Innovation Challenge (JEIC) and the Incubator for Emerging Jewish Initiatives (IEJI). In addition, Todd is a founding board member of The Witness Institute. Previously, Todd was president of Do More Mission, a firm that increases nonprofit impact through philanthropic advisory services to high net worth individuals and foundations and management services to small and mid-sized charitable organizations.

Todd received his formal training in Journalism and Public Relations from Pennsylvania State University. He studied
at the University of Manchester in England and completed a two-year Yeshiva program at Machon Shlomo: Alexander and Eva Heiden Torah Institute in Jerusalem, Israel. Sukol graduated from the Executive Master’s program
at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University where he is currently enrolled in a doctoral program. Todd and his wife Amy (an active Hebrew at the Center volunteer) live in Silver Springs, Maryland. Todd was a member of the Strategic Reset Group, chaired the Strategic Transition and Planning Work Group, and is the current co-chair of the Governance Committee/Committee on Trustees and Board Development Task Force.

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Neil Kuttner

Treasurer

Neil Kuttner is the Chief Operations Officer of Cross Shore Capital Management, LLC, a registered investment advisor. He has worked in the financial services industry for forty years, previously at Sanford Bernstein & Co. where he was the CFO. Neil is a CPA and has also taught tax planning at Lehman College. Neil has BA in economics from City College of New York and a master’s degree in business administration from the Wharton School.
Neil lives in Manhattan and has two grown sons, Sam and Matthew, both of whom are involved Jewishly. Neil has long been active in the Jewish community has previously served as treasurer of Camp Ramah in New England, treasurer of the Foundation for Jewish Camp, board chair of the Academy for Jewish Religion, and synagogue president of Park Slope Jewish Center.
Neil views fluency in Hebrew as one of the important building blocks in positive Jewish identity, though his Hebrew language skills do need brushing up. He chairs Hebrew at the Center’s Finance Committee and is looking forward to continuing to contribute both his time and expertise.

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Joanne Blauer

Clerk

Joanne Blauer was formerly the Associate Dean, Secretary and Executive Vice Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College and Graduate School of Medical Sciences in New York City.
Joanne has a BA in Philosophy and Religion from Scripps College and a JD from the University of Washington School of Law. She spent her junior year of college at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She is the past COO of Hebrew at the Center and a founding board member of the Institute for the Advancement of Hebrew. In addition, Joanne has previously served on the board of Scripps College, the National Association of College and University Attorneys and is an inactive member of the Washington State Bar Association. She lives in New York City and Richmond Shores, Massachusetts. Joanne co- chairs the Governance Committee/Committee on Trustees and serves on the CEO Support and Evaluation Committee (CSEC).

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Arnee Winshall

President

co-founded Hebrew at the Center with Dr. Vardit Ringvald and
Sharona Givol. She is Founding Chair of JCDS, Boston’s Jewish Community Day School and sits on the boards of Jewish Interactive and Incubator for Emerging Jewish Initiatives (IEJI).
In addition, Arnee is a member of the JEIC advisory and co-founder of DEEP (a PLC of Developing Embedded Expertise Programs). In the past, she served chair of the RAVSAK board, on the Board of Overseers of Hebrew College, on the Executive Committee of JESNA, as the lay co-chair of the Lippman Kanfer Institute, and on the boards of The Harold Grinspoon Foundation, the JCC’s of Greater Boston, the Foundation for Jewish Camp, JECEI, and the Yiddish Book Center.

Arnee received her undergraduate degree in contrastive linguistics from Boston University and, after serving in the Peace Corps in Thailand, pursued graduate studies in developmental psycholinguistics at the University of Chicago.
Arnee has two adult children and lives in Weston, Massachusetts with her husband, Walt.