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Makom to Hold Annual Conference
SASHA ROGELBERG | JE
STAFF M
akom Community, a
Jewish enrichment
center for children,
will host its second annual con-
ference from Aug. 8-10 to lead
training in their pedagogy of
Jewish placemaking.

Fifty to 70 attendees from
more than 20 educational and
religious organizations will
attend the virtual conference,
funded in part by two grants
from the Jewish Federation of
Greater Philadelphia, in hopes
of finding ways to apply Jewish
placemaking to their religious
and after-school programs.

Makom Community provides
after-school programs, b’nai
8 mitzvah training and summer
camps to children from
pre-kindergarten through
seventh grade in Center City
Philadelphia through the
lens of this pedagogy, which
emphasizes the application of
Jewish texts to how children
move through their lives and
interact with others.

“It brings our engagement
with Jewish wisdom and with
Jewish texts into our physical
space,” said Beverly Socher-
Lerner, Makom’s founding
director and conference
co-organizer. “It gives kids
and families lots of agency
to be interpreters of Jewish
tradition.” Among the conference
attendees is Beth Tikvah-
AUGUST 26, 2021 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
COURTESY OF MAKOM COMMUNITY
Beverly Socher-Lerner (center) is Makom Community’s founding director and conference co-organizer.