Attuned Learning ― Rabbinic Texts on Habits of the Heart in Learning Interactions

Practice-oriented educational philosopher Elie Holzer invites readers to grow as teachers, students, or co-learners through “attuned learning,” a new paradigm of mindfulness. Groundbreaking interpretations of classical rabbinic texts sharpen attention to our own mental, emotional, and physical workings as well as awareness of others within the complexities of learning interactions. Holzer integrates pedagogical pathways with ethical elements of transformative teaching and learning, the repair of educational disruptions, the role of the human visage, and the dynamics of argumentative and collaborative learning. Literary analyses reveal that deliberate self-cultivation not only leads to ethical and spiritual growth, but also offers a corrective for the pitfalls of the contemporary calculative modalities in educational thinking. The author speaks to the existential, humanizing art of learning and of teaching. This book can serve as a companion volume for A Philosophy of Havruta: Understanding and Teaching the Art of Text Study in Pairs, adding a new dimension of its model of joint learning.

Elie Holzer is a practice-oriented philosopher of Jewish education who serves as Associate Professor at the School of Education, directs the Stern Institute for the Study and Advancement of Religious Education and holds the R. Dr. David Ochs Chair for Teaching Jewish Religious Studies, at Bar Ilan University. His research integrates text-based Jewish studies, philosophical hermeneutics, pedagogy, and ethical-spiritual traditions. His book A Philosophy of Havruta: Understanding and Teaching the Art of Text Study in Pairs (with Orit Kent, Academic Studies Press) won the 2014 National Jewish Book Award.