Mourning a Mentor - Dr. Jonathan Woocher, z"L

The Jewish Education Project is collecting stories from educators, lay leaders and other professionals who have been inspired by Jon’s work. We invite you to share your reflections here.

The Jewish Education Project joins the community in mourning the loss of Dr. Jonathan Woocher, z”L. Jon was a champion of all forms of Jewish education, and a driving force behind many innovations in the field. One would be hard pressed to find an educational institution whose work was not advanced, let alone improved, by Jon’s visionary leadership and uncanny ability to transform theory to practice. This is certainly true for The Jewish Education Project.

A decade ago, Jon wrote the vision statement that inspired our organization to fundamentally transform how we perceive and inspire Jewish life and learning. Jon was also an integral collaborator, both intellectually and as a philanthropic partner, in signature initiatives such as DigitalJLearning and our annual Jewish Futures Conference. His work has inspired countless of Jewish educators and transcended all denominations and learning environments.

An accomplished social scientist, Jon was selfless in inspiring others to bring their big ideas to fruition in service of Jewish education, serving as a personal mentor to many educators and lay leaders, including many of our own Staff and Board .

In the Jewish Education world, he was truly a giant. Amid the sadness, we take some measure of solace in the fact that his ideas and his spirit of innovation will live on.