Commemorating the life and work of a remarkable educator
Pedagogy and Curriculum in Contemporary Jewish Education: A scholarly Conference in memory of Dr. Seymour Fox at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America

“One could see from the number of participants and the ways in which they spoke, the breadth of Seymour’s influence,” said Dr. Eli Gottleib, Director of the Mandel Institute, summing up the two-day scholarly conference in November.  Attended by approximately 160 people, the conference focused on the issues and ideas associated with the late Prof. Seymour Fox, one of the founders of the Mandel initiatives in Israel. 
 
“From the senior presenters who had known Seymour for thirty or forty years, to those who had only a brief meeting with him, it was clear that they were influenced by his thought and that he touched people’s lives.”

The chance to commemorate Fox came hand-in-hand with scholars presenting their own work in fields he developed, such as curriculum, leadership, research, institution building and vision.

Prof. Barry Holtz, colleague and friend of the Mandel Foundation and one of the organizers of the conference, praised the “outstanding group of presenters.”

“Prof. Fox's presence loomed large over the conference and over the content of the conference’s deliberations.  The core ideas that were discussed were very much in keeping with the concerns of Professor Fox's career and he would have been gratified by the profound influence he had on the lives and work of so many." added Holtz.

Indeed, those who knew Prof. Fox well deemed the conference a fitting commemoration. Dr. Daniel Marom, Director of the Visions of Jewish Education Project at Mandel Leadership Institute described the conference as, “a very appropriate tribute to Seymour – both in terms of giving him the love and respect he deserves; and in terms of taking from him for the future; trying to draw on what to bequeath to all of us in the professional world of Jewish education.”

 “Seymour’s memory is his living voice in our work, and this is the commemoration of his memory. That’s what everyone at the conference experienced,” said Marom.

Annette Hochstein, President of the Mandel Foundation-Israel, was a panelist in a reflective session on Seymour Fox’s life and career, together with Alan Hoffman and David Finn.
“The conference was academically serious, warm, and elegantly-run,” praised Hochstein. “Participants found comfort in the congregation of so many people who loved, respected and learned from Prof. Fox.  Most importantly, there was powerful evidence that his teachings live amongst a generation of talented younger scholars and educators.”