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Rachel Raz
Rachel.Raz [at] aju.edu
Education
BA from Bar-Ilan University (Israel)
MJED from Hebrew College (Newton, MA)
Bio
Rachel Raz has extensive experience in the field of early childhood education, education in general, and Jewish education nationally and globally. She is an educator, entrepreneur, creator, and consultant. Rachel joined AJU as a mentor in 2021.
For over a decade, Rachel led the Hebrew College Early Childhood Institute. During this time, she initiated and chaired the Annual Educators’ Conference. She directed the Boston Haifa Early Childhood Educators’ Connection, a program sponsored by Combined Jewish Philanthropy (CJP) and the Haifa Municipality, department of early childhood education. Likewise, Rachel designed and led educational seminars for educators and professionals in Israel and Boston. In 2015 she founded the national Jewish Early Engagement Forum (JEEF), a platform to share the state of the field with professionals in the field and inform strategic actions needed to ensure a stronger foundation for young children and their families.
Rachel has published multiple articles about early childhood education, education in general, and the Jewish ecosystem. In 2023, she started a podcast titled "Education in a Time of War" on YouTube to document and share the impact of the war and best practices on education in Israel and the USA. She authored two children's books, "ABC Israel" and "The Colors of Israel". both of which were selected as PJ Library books. Rachel founded the Space Torah Project to preserve and share the uplifting and inspiring Jewish journey of NASA astronaut Dr. Jeff Hoffman (spacetorahproject.com).
Rachel earned her BA from Bar-Ilan University (Israel) and MJED from Hebrew College (Newton, MA). Learn more about Rachel's work at rachelraz.com.
Elana Naftalin-Kelman
Elana.Naftalin-Kelman [at] aju.edu
Bio
Elana Naftalin-Kelman has been working at the intersection of special education and Jewish education for over 20 years. She was inspired on this path by her time as a camper at Camp Ramah in Ojai, where she currently works as Tikvah consultant after directing the program for 18 years. These programs include a camper program, a vocational program for young adults and a camp for families that have children with disabilities. Elana is an adjunct professor of Special Education at San Francisco State University where she teaches in the Special Education Department. She has taught in the Education Department at the AJU for the last 3 years and consults with Jewish institutions of all types to aid them in thinking about how to be more inclusive of Jews of all abilities. She has taught professional development courses in differentiated instruction, behavior management, accessibility, universal design for learning and teaching Hebrew. She lives in Berkeley, California with her husband and three sons.
