Gila Ogle is the Head of School at The Silver Academy in Harrisburg, PA where she is committed to fostering a thriving, mission-driven learning environment built on strong community partnerships. A social studies teacher at heart, Gila began her career in charter and public schools in New York and Miami before transitioning to Jewish education. She is passionate about empowering students with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to navigate an ever-changing world with integrity and purpose. Through her leadership, Gila strives to create a school culture that nurtures curiosity, critical thinking, and a deep sense of responsibility for the future. She is, most importantly, a proud wife and mom of three amazing kids.

Gems:

• Keep your mind open about what you can become and what you can share with the world.
• Think about what we would like our students to get out of what we’re teaching.
• Make efforts to allow students to interact with each other.
• Help children examine the world and find their place in it.
• One of our roles is to examine what we learn from children and find ways to guide them with the knowledge they already have.
• Empower the child to understand what they bring to the world.
• Find the spark in the child.
• Focus on building the relationship with the child first.
• Find colleagues and mentors.

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Rabbi Jonathan Rietti – a descendant of the Sephardic leader the Ben Ish Chai and son of the famous British actor Robert Rietti, known as ‘The Man of a Thousand Voices’ and ‘King of the Dubbers’ – received his rabbinical diploma from Gateshead Talmudical College, England, after which he helped establish the now flourishing Kollel in Gibraltar. Having received a master’s in education, he has practiced for over thirty years as an educational consultant to parents of gifted children and those with ADD. With Montessori training, he has developed a curriculum which dovetails a Torah education with Montessori methodology. He has authored over two hundred lectures on topics including inner growth, health, parenting and Jewish identity, and draws upon his background in the film and advertising industries to entertain the listener while sharing powerful insights on love, happiness and ‘emotional intelligence. Rabbi Rietti founded Breakthrough Chinuch in 2009 with the goal of offering a “hands-on” curriculum to compliment the traditional Chinuch system for teachers, parents, schools, and homeschooling parents. https://www.breakthroughchinuch.com/

Gems:

• It is critical to learn Chumash through the prefixes, suffixes, and shorashim (root) letters.
• Allow ample time for review of what your students are learning.
• If you don’t learn sequentially from beginning to end based on actual skills, then there won’t be a strong chance of covering ground and knowing what you learn.
• The first thing we as educators have to recognize is that we must observe the child first, and then we can educate according to their strengths.
• Once a child masters the shorashim, and prefixes, and suffixes commonly found in Tanach, it makes it much easier to learn.
• Children have the ability to figure things out for themselves.
• We are causing the wisdom that’s already within the child to come out.
• The greatest teachers are ones who facilitate learning.
• A Rebbe has to have a lot of ways to reach his students.
• The Torah is written so that we ask questions, and the answers are in the Torah She’Be’al Peh (Oral Torah).
• When you know the Shorashim, prefixes and suffixes, you gain access to most of Bereishit.
• Find the strengths of the child and use that to teach any subject you want to teach.
• There needs to be constant back and forth in the classroom.
• Provide the skills and the connection to Torah.

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Rabbi Alexander Coleman is the Director of the Institute for Jewish Ethics in Philadelphia, a Jewish educational platform offering seminars and classes on contemporary ethical dilemmas. The Institute features international rabbinic and secular scholars, and its programs are CLE-accredited for attorneys fulfilling their continuing legal education requirements.

In addition, Rabbi Coleman teaches a wide range of classes for both groups and individuals on topics including spirituality, Talmud, Jewish law, Parashah, Mussar, and Tanach. A trained therapist and life coach, he integrates these skills with his teaching to help people grow in both their spiritual lives and personal development. His classes and services are available in person, via Zoom, and on demand across various platforms, including the internationally renowned TorahAnytime.

Rabbi Coleman was born and raised in Liverpool, England. After a brief period at Yeshiva Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem, he spent seven years at Yeshiva Chaim Berlin in New York, where he formed a close bond with its rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Aharon Schechter zt״l. After leaving yeshiva, he worked in Jewish outreach with the Etz Chaim Center for Jewish Studies in Philadelphia, and later went on to establish the Institute for Jewish Ethics. He resides in Philadelphia with his wife and family.

Gems:

• Engage your students in interesting discussions.
• Bring people back to their self-identity.
• Our learning is made up of a system of Jewish education, inspiration, and enlightenment.
• As educators, we can think of ourselves as spiritual custom tailors for the soul.
• Torah has the power to radiate out.
• Jewish education is not about data.
• The biggest and most impactful form of education is the influence, inspiration, and connection.
• What really changes a person is the connection between the teacher and the student.
• The academic knowledge is essential, but the connection to the teacher is essential for the transmission of Torah.
• Chinuch is launching someone on their path to be self-sufficient.
• Be mindful of the student in front of you.
• Help others understand what life is about and what our purpose is in this world.
• Work on changing ourselves.
• If it’s inside of us, it will organically flow out.
• Admit when you don’t know something.

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