Cohort 1 CASJE Fellows, Dr. Tal Vaizman, Dr. Talia Hurwich, and Dr. Esther Friedman, have begun work on applied research studies in conjunction with Jewish institutional partners. A cornerstone of the CASJE Applied Research Fellowship, this work is designed to foster fellows' capacities and orientations necessary for ensuring robust and successful partnerships between researchers and practitioners.
Building Jewish community online: Using online chats to trace community formation and identity practices
Dr. Talia Hurwich with Lost Tribe
Jewish social networks function as modern spaces for Jewish connection, learning, and community building. They reach hundreds of thousands of users and their lives, but it is unclear how Jewish users grow and interact in such virtual spaces and how the Jewish professional landscape can further support Jewish social networks. This study uses digital research methods, focusing on Lost Tribe's Discord community as a case study. Discord is a voice, video, and text chat app used by millions of people aged 13 and older, organized into semi-private servers like the one run by Lost Tribe. In addition to addressing questions such as how users define Jewishness and reflect on their own and others' Jewish identities, this study will also ask the ways that Jewish digital spaces such as the Lost Tribe Discord have met users' shifting needs in the wake of October 7, the resulting Israel-Hamas war, and subsequent campus protests
Jewish Education and the Israeli Connection in Jewish Summer Camps: Youth Culture and Initiatives among Counselors and Campers.
Dr. Tal Vaizman with Foundation for Jewish Camps
This study explores everyday youth culture as expressed in Jewish summer camps and how the Israel connection is implemented into the camp experience, particularly post-October 7th. Using ethnographic observations and short interviews, this study would offer a view of youth socialization in camps around mutual cultural aspects, using cultural expressions such as music, dance, political views, second language, and slang, in an era characterized by the expansion of media-based socialization. Attention would be given to events led by the youth, receiving the freedom to choose content and discussion topics, like Shabbat-dinner songs, collective dancing, and political discussions, as well as to the “buzz” they create and any after-effect they have on youth interaction.
Student Voice: What Children Want in Congregational Learning Programs
Dr. Esther Friedman with Jewish Education Center of Cleveland (JEC)
Dr. Esther S. Friedman (CASJE), in partnership with the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland (JEC), is researching the factors that would make young people want to attend congregational learning programs. The JEC’s internal research uncovered that children are the primary stakeholders in deciding whether or not they attend these programs, indicating the importance of engaging student voices in co-creating learning experiences. The research inquiry investigates children’s views about Jewish learning to determine what interests them, what they enjoy in a learning environment, what pedagogies they find engaging, and what learning activities they would select. The qualitative study will take a design approach, using two rounds of focus group interviews; the first to determine student interest, and the second, to present students with a prototype of a learning experience based on the first findings to probe more deeply.