The Amphibious Jew project builds on a friendly argument with the Talmudist Adin Steinsaltz. Steinsaltz observed that some Jews lead marine Jewish lives. They totally immerse themselves in a complete Jewish environment (Israel, camp, etc.) Other Jews are more selective and use values-based decision-making to shape their Jewish life. Like a mammal searching for water and shelter, she consciously seeks out specific Jewish environments.
The Amphibious Jew honors both these orientations and looks for the ways full attention to the marine and mammalian aspect of Jewish life leads to richer, more meaningful Jewish living and learning. The iconic figure, then, of this alternation between immersive and more analytic modes of Jewish living, is the amphibious frog.
I invite you to take two deeper dives into the world of the Amphibious Jew:
Three projects I direct (or on which I partner) which draw inspiration from the Amphibious Jew concept are:
- Text Me: Ancient Jewish Wisdom Meets Contemporary Technology; visit the Text Me project’s webpage
- The 100 Languages of Children Meet the 70 Faces of Torah (part of Deb Schein’s Growing Wonder work in professional development for early childhood educators)
- The 21st Century Kaplanian Vision for Jewish education (with the Kaplan Center for Jewish Peoplehood)
- A set of new resources about raising spiritual children in the digital age
Want to learn more?
Please contact me to discuss your further interest in these learning opportunities or your organization’s educational needs.
Learn more about Rabbi Jeffrey Schein.
Learn about Rabbi Jeff’s upcoming appearances and workshops.
You can also visit The Kaplan Center for Jewish Peoplehood, TextMeJudaism.com and Growing Wonder for other examples of Jeff’s work related to the Amphibious Jew Project.