OUR NEW EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Mark Levine

Dear Friends,

I’m thrilled to announce that Rabbi Mark H. Levine has joined Behrman House as our Executive Editor.

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Almost all of us know Mark through his work. For nine years Mark was Editor-in-Chief of Babaganewz, the award-winning magazine used in so many congregations and schools throughout North America. Babaganewz is known for its rich Jewish content, engaging and edgy presentation, deep educators’ resources, and the high-quality staff and contributors Mark attracted to the magazine. Not to mention a fantastic website—www.babaganewz.com—filled with lively resources, games, and other materials.

Prior to Babaganewz, Mark spent 13 years as an Educational Consultant with the Board of Jewish Education of Greater Washington, working with more than 30 area schools. There he led a variety of curricular projects, including a teacher supervision program which won NATE’s Emanuel Gamoran Award, the Lilmod Lelamed Video Library; the high school curriculum Jewish Civics: A Tikkun Olam Manual; a K-6 enrichment curriculum recommended by Prince Georges and Montgomery County Public School Systems; and the Jewish Family Life Educator Training Program—a graduate course offered by George Washington University.

In addition to numerous religious school teaching engagements, Mark has taught at the Florence Melton Mini-School, and as an Adjunct Professor at Baltimore Hebrew University and at George Washington University.

Mark has a B.A. in History from the Virginia Military Institute, an M.Ed. in Curriculum Theory and Development from Temple University, and an M.H.L. and Rabbinic Ordination from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.

Most importantly, and you can’t tell this from his impressive resume, Mark has a curious and restless imagination, a dedication to engaging children with Judaism, and a strong creative streak. His talents span a wonderful command of the written word, an understanding of the power of metaphor and imagery to support educational goals and outcomes, and a keen awareness of the growing importance of the digital world in bringing our children into their Judaism and into our community. And keeping them there.

As many of you know, Behrman House conducted a national search for our new Executive Editor. Many of you helped us identify a stunningly wide range of candidates; they came from within the Jewish educational community, the secular educational community, and the broader secular publishing world as well. It was an exhaustive process, among the most time-consuming things I’ve done in my nearly 20 years here at Behrman House, and we were thrilled and honored by the wide range of talented people who expressed an interest in working with us. After all those conversations, it is especially gratifying to find someone who is so perfectly suited for our Firm, someone who will help our entire community—those of us at Behrman House and educators throughout North America—envelop our children in a Judaism which is engaging, fun, relevant to them in the moment, and enduring for them throughout their lives.

With best wishes,

David
David@behrmanhouse.com