JTS honours former BJE head for ‘pluralistic education’

Seymour Epstein

TORONTO — Seymour Epstein, a man with more than four decades of experience in the field of education and community development in Canada, Israel, Morocco and Russia, has been honoured by his alma mater, the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in New York.

The Benjamin Botwinick Award, presented to Epstein on Nov. 18, “is an honour bestowed upon an exceptional individual who epitomizes the philosophy and practice of Jewish pluralism,” JTS said in a statement. “The award recognizes outstanding leadership and commitment to furthering interdenominational understanding and co-operation within Judaism.”

Epstein, who called the honour “a wonderful thing,” said he’s taken by the idea of the award itself, which has only been granted once before, to Michael Brooks, executive director of the University of Michigan Hillel, in 2010.

“It’s about pluralistic education, which is the story of my life, and I’m also very connected to the seminary. I have very fond memories of my time there as an undergraduate, and also there is no doubt that the professors I encountered there influenced my career, my life and just about everything about me,” he said.

“The largest part of my work has been in pluralistic settings, teaching at McGill [University]… I was training Jewish studies teachers, but in a secular setting, dealing with all kinds of schools and dealing with all kinds of students with a broad range of Jewish backgrounds,” he said.

His 18 years with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the following 10 years as senior vice-president of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto and head of its Centre for Enhancement of Jewish Education (formerly known as the Board of Jewish Education) gave him an outlet to continue working with Jews of all backgrounds.

“We were dealing with schools that were radically different from each other in many cases, and all kinds of different persuasions and beliefs. Most of my work has been in that kind of a setting, and that is what the award is all about,” he said.

In recent years, Epstein has been lending his time and expertise as a consultant to First Nations and Islamic educators.  

“I’ve been doing some work with Aboriginal First Nations communities in the field of education. There is a relationship between Jewish education and some of their concerns, like an interest in language acquisition,” Epstein explained.

“They have a language they would like to revive… and they are also concerned about maintaining a minority culture in an overwhelming majority. Jews know a lot about that… They are in the process of creating some schools and school boards, and I have a lot of experience with school boards, so I’ve been helping them out with some things.”

He is also on the advisory board of the Islamic Teacher Education Program, a one-year online professional development program for Islamic school teachers.

“This is not within the Jewish world, but like the Aboriginal world, it requires someone that can appreciate what pluralist education is all about,” said Epstein, a published writer with a memoir titled From Couscous to Kasha: Reporting from the Field of Jewish Community Work that details his international development work and history of community development in Russia as the Soviet Union collapsed. 

As for the current state of the Jewish day school system, Epstein there are some new trends in North America, and in Toronto specifically, that are part of an effort to attract more people to choose Jewish education.

“But there is a need for much, much more if we’re going to appeal to Jews… who are unconnected. The existing institutions are not necessarily going to attract them, which means that new portals and new institutions will have to be created by that sector itself with help from the strong centre. I think there is a need for different kinds of institutions that will attract different kinds of Jews,” Epstein said.