The Kinus haMechanchim has been renowned for the quality of its program. For 36 hours mechanchim are exposed to an array of presenters who represent the very best of today’s chinuch community thinkers and practitioners. As in the past, the 20th annual Kinus HaMechanchim will feature both professional and pure Chinuch presentations.
Rabbi Dr. Dovid Fox is a forensic and clinical psychologist, a graduate school and medical school professor, a published author and is the director of crisis, trauma and bereavement services for Chai Lifeline internationally. He is on the board of Nefesh International. He is the rav of the Hashkama Minyan of Hancock Park, Los Angeles, and has authored teshuvos on all four chalakim of Shulchan Aruch and his works have been published in Otzar HaPoskim.
Dr. Fox will present on the following two subjects:
K’sh’ani L’Atzmi: Reclaiming the Self In Working With Others Understanding and Nurturing The Torah Educator
The public persona of a rebbe requires his maintaining an image which models the role of a learned, stable and inspiring adult. Beneath the overt layer of his appearance, his conduct and his pedagogic style are the components which make up his essence, or character structure.
Tocho K’barro; Barro K’tocho: Tools for Developing a Professional Image: Aligning Your Subjective Self With The Demands and Challenges of Teaching
This presentation introduces important concepts and implementable skills for aligning one’s personal motivations and expectations with their overt image within their multiple roles as professional educators. Getting through self-doubt, reigniting confidence, directing passion, strengthening authenticity, promoting a command presence, utilizing power differential, and enhancing communication techniques will be covered.
Rabbi Dr. Hershel Fried is a psychologist in private practice and former professor at Stern College of yeshiva University. He is founder of the CHUSH (Limudei Hashem) school system, the first yeshivas to concentrate on student who learn differently and or have a learning disfunction. He has been a yeshiva principal, mentor to mechanchim and mosdos and is a prolific author. He will present on:
Gaining the Understandings and Skills to Meet the Challenges of Today’s Classrooms
It is widely accepted that the demands placed on Mechanchim today are more varied and more profound than in previous generations, at least in the recent past. More children come from broken homes, more are said to bring baggage from home; witnessing shalom bayis problems, wayward parents or siblings, experiencing abuse, and experiencing bullying. Some ask whether dealing with these issues is within the role and responsibility of rabbeyim and Moros. We will explore this question and try to define and expand on the role and responsibility of a mechanech/es through the words of חז”ל and our rabbeyim, and with a view to what is practically possible. And on:
Torah & Mitzvos Lishmah vs. Torah and Mitzvos for Prizes
There has long been a debate, as to whether children (and adults) should be required to do what’s right “because it’s right” or whether they may be encouraged to do what’s right “because it pays”. This debate has been argued both in the world of Torah and in the world of Psychology, with some staking out extreme positions on one side or the other. Those who have not studied the issue in depth, see contradictory sources in the words of Chazal, for example: אַל תִּהְיוּ כַעֲבָדִים הַמְשַׁמְּשִׁין אֶת הָרַב עַל מְנָת לְקַבֵּל פְּרָס, vs. לעולם ילמד אדם שלא לשמה שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה vs. הלומד שלא לשמה נוח לו שלא נברא, and also in the world of psychological research, and in the so-called “real world” of home and school experiences. Dr. Fried will try to introduce some clarity to this area; addressing what is correct and when.
Rabbi Noson Gurary received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Moscow State University, Russia, and his M.A. and B.A. from the Rabbinical College of United Lubavitch Yeshiva, from which he also received his rabbinical ordination and dayanius (Jewish Judge). Rabbi Gurary is an accomplished author, lecturer, and philosopher. He has published three books: (1) The Thirteen Principles of Faith: A Chassidic Viewpoint, (2) Chassidism, Development, Theology and Practice, and (3) Holidays in Chassidic Philosophy. In addition, he has authored numerous articles on disparate aspects of Jewish philosophy and Jewish law.
Rabbi Gurary served as an Adjunct Professor in Judaic studies at State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo from 1970 to 2008, an Adjunct Professor in the State University Law School in Buffalo in the 1990s and has lectured extensively on matters of Jewish thought and concern. He is the Founder and Executive Director of the Center for World Culture and Chassidism at Moscow State University, as well as of the International Institute of Chassidic Studies and the Women’s Institute for Jewish Traditions in Buffalo. In addition, Rabbi Gurary is the original founder of the Chabad Student Center in Buffalo, New York.
Registration for the conference is now open you can register here:
https://www.chinuchoffice.org/templates/articlecco_cdo/aid/4018241/jewish/Kinus-HaMechanchim-Registration-57812021.htm
