Rabbi Judd Kruger Levingston understands the literal end goal of secondary education: Get a student to college or some other launch point toward a good job.
But for the teacher and director of Jewish studies at the Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy, it’s also about more than that. The 60-year-old can explain:
“It’s exciting to talk about ideas that can have positive consequences for the world. Introducing a student to ideas about charitable giving could have an impact on how they contribute some of the funds they receive for their b’nai mitzvah. Talking to eighth graders about speech ethics can impact how kids talk to each other in the hallways. And with 11th graders who’ve just come back from Israel, to talk about where’s God in their life. Use a class in theology to think about why do bad things happen and is there a purpose to our lives beyond going to college and getting a job.”
The rabbi developed this approach to education during several decades as an educator at the Perelman Jewish Day School, Barrack and other schools. And now it’s won him an award.
On May 30, the Covenant Foundation announced the three recipients of its Covenant Award for contributions to Jewish education. Levingston was one of them.
Each winner receives a $50,000 reward. Levingston was nominated by a mentor, Carol K. Ingall, a professor emerita at the Jewish Theological Seminary. The Barrack teacher wrote his application essay on moral education.
The Covenant Foundation is a national nonprofit that supports Jewish education, according to covenantfn.org.
“We see three exceptionally soulful, genuine, wise and enthusiastic Jewish educators. This is what the field needs: educators who seek to connect and build relationships with their students and their communities,” said Deborah S. Meyer, chair of the board of directors of the Covenant Foundation.
“I feel as if it’s an affirmation of my work,” said Levingston, a Mount Airy resident and a member of the Germantown Jewish Centre. “I also see the award as a vote of confidence in Jewish day schools and in what we’re doing at Barrack.”
Levingston published a book last summer for educators called “A Moral Case for Play in K-12 Schools.”
“You have this incredible laboratory to help support the students in their development as moral thinkers,” he said of the school setting in general. “Whether it’s moral dilemmas or deep moral issues around civil rights or existential questions of meaning.”
The rabbi sees “high levels of anxiety” in his students today, he said. They use smartphones. They face pressure to get into good colleges. They go to day school at a time when Israel is at war and antisemitism is rising.
It’s essential, according to Levingston, to get them out of those mental spaces.
“It could be role-playing or creative writing or artistic work. It could be debate. Just ways to get out of our fixed selves,” he said.
(Jordan Cassway Photography)
Levingston taught eighth, 11th and 12th graders during the 2023-’24 school year. He asked them questions such as, imagine you’re at the hospital bed of someone who’s wondering why terrible things have happened to them. What do you say?
He also gave them assignments such as, “Take this rabbinic passage and turn it into a song.” The rabbi also served as an advisor to the Derech Eretz honor council at Barrack.
Two students from each upper school grade (9-12) serve on the council. They occasionally hear disciplinary cases and make recommendations to the administration for restorative practices.
“The idea is kids should be accountable to one another and not just worry about getting caught by a department head or a teacher or the dean of students,” Levingston said.
