Arnold Dashefsky Collection on Suburban Jewish Education

Dr. Arnold Dashefsky, born in 1942, was hired by the Hartford Jewish Federation (1975 – circa 1992) as a consultant on adult Jewish education for the “Federation East” region. Dashefsky received a Bachelor of Hebrew Literature from Gratz College in 1963 (where he received a Distinguished Alumnus Award), a B.A. from Temple University in 1964, his M.A. from Temple in 1966, and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1969. In 1975, when he began is consultancy, he was an Associate Professor of Sociology at University of Connecticut at Storrs. He is currently Professor Emeritus at that school, founding Director of the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life, and Director of the North American Jewish Data Bank. He is also the co-author or editor of a dozen books and many articles and reports on Jewish identity, charitable giving, Jewish continuity, and interfaith marriage, etc. He has presented over 150 papers at international meetings and conferences and he is the recipient of a long list of honors, awards, grants, and endowments.

As a consultant to the Commission on Jewish Education, he organized lecture and film programs, did outreach, brought in speakers, and arranged for non-credit courses from Hebrew College and Gratz College to be offered to Hartford-area residents. Besides being instrumental in expanding the opportunities for adult Jewish education, he also helped to plan and organize Jewish education for middle school and high school students, established and improved programs for gifted and disabled students and was an author of the Jewish Education Master Plan (1992). He proposed budgets, predicted school age-level populations for the coming years, and worked with bus companies to transport students to Jewish schools. He oversaw the Suburban Institute of Adult Jewish Studies yearly course offerings and the expansion of CJE programs into additional towns. Additionally, he proposed classes for the professional development of Jewish-studies educators.

Fritzie Spaien was secretary of the Committee on Jewish Education. She also acted as registrar for many of its programs.