Did you attend the Pushing the Boundaries conference in Toronto or the Inclusion and Belonging Summit in Baltimore in May? Perhaps you were at the NewCAJE conference in June! If so, you probably met Rabbi Ruti Regan, a Rabbinic consultant for Matan, or Meredith Polsky, Matan’s founder and brand new Executive Director. Maybe you grabbed an “I Support Inclusion” ribbon, or proudly displayed your “Matan Institute Alum” badge! Matan was well-represented on a panel about inclusion and the leadership pipeline, a presentation in Toronto in partnership with Gateways, and a session at NewCAJE that explored how to create school communities that are welcoming and supportive of diverse learners. It was a busy spring season!

In just a few weeks, Meredith will commence her role as an adjunct faculty member at American Jewish University, where she will be teaching a semester-long class to graduate students pursuing a Masters degree in Early Childhood Special Education. The beginning of the 2025-2026 school year marks Matan’s busiest professional development season to date and we are so excited to meet (or re-connect with!) so many Jewish educators seeking to make Jewish education accessible to all learners. In the next few weeks we’ll be criss-crossing between Philadelphia, Connecticut, Westchester County, Brooklyn, Manhattan, New Jersey, and Boston and will see many more of you on the zoom screen!

Finally, we are grateful to Carter Wernick, who proudly supported Matan for his bar mitzvah project. Thanks to Carter, we hosted a free webinar on teaching Hebrew to students with dyslexia – with close to 250 people in attendance! That’s a Matan record!

As busy as we are, we are never too busy for you. We are currently booking professional development sessions into January and beyond! Reach out, and we will develop a session that best meets the needs of your team!

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