Welcome to ReJudaism, the only Substack dedicated to supporting authentic, high-quality teaching of Judaism in Religious Education. --- Find us on Substack: https://rejudaism.substack.com/ --- In a world that often feels divided, good Religious Education gives students the tools to understand different ways of being human: not just as abstract belief systems or as worldviews, but as living civilisations. For Jews, authentic representation in RE is existential. It affects our safety and our children’s ability to have a future as part of British society. It is not an exaggeration to say that RE is the single most important influence on how British children come to understand Jews and Judaism. Taught right, it can act as a preventative against antisemitism. Taught badly, it can reinforce anti-Jewish tropes and stereotypes. What you’ll find here Our goal is to help RE teachers (and anyone interested in thoughtful religious education) teach Judaism more confidently, accurately, and meaningfully, especially when time is limited. You can expect: * Clear explanations of what is most important to communicate about Judaism, and why. What are the core ideas, practices, and ways of thinking that give Judaism its distinctive character? * Guidance on crafting better inquiry questions: moving away from Christo-centric framings that don’t fit an ethnoreligion like Judaism. * Practical advice on resources: what’s worth using, what to approach with caution, and why. * Podcast episodes featuring interviews with specialists in Judaism RE, classroom teachers sharing their experiences (and challenges) teaching Judaism in non-Jewish settings, and honest discussions of what works (and what doesn’t). * Philosophical and professional discussions: * Can we truly understand a religion without practicing it? * How do we teach about faiths that don’t seek converts in a world where many others do? * How can RE move beyond the popular Worldviews framework, which often over-emphasises individual philosophy and theology at the expense of understanding religions as coherent civilisations that contain diversity? * How does Judaism relate to other faiths, particularly to Hinduism and Sikhi, which, as ethnoreligions, have more in common with Judaism than is often acknowledged. * And crucially: How can teachers help students to explore big questions without trespassing on the domain of parents in guiding their children’s religious upbringing? * Future video content: Short, classroom-usable explanations of key aspects of Judaism. These will be made freely available where possible, subject to sponsorship support. In summary, we aim to support accurate religious education that honours Judaism as the living ethnoreligion and civilisation of the Jewish People, so children learn about Jews as the living Children of Israel (Am Yisrael), rather than reducing Judaism to a set of beliefs, or to a set of answers to questions that don’t quite fit. What’s happening? Why this matters now Currently, the UK sits at a crossroads. For decades, RE has been a statutory subject in UK schools, but yet not part of the National Curriculum that guides teaching in all other statutory subjects. Instead, each local authority has determined its own RE syllabus by holding an Agreed Syllabus Conference (ASC) approximately every five years. Some locally agreed syllabi have been quite good, but Judaism coverage and authenticity has been patchy. The quality of Judaism teaching is therefore highly variable and often driven by national RE advising companies and bodies, with Judaism lessons and learning objectives typically produced by non-Jews, based on their outsider perspectives on Judaism. This leads to distorted teaching, and distorted priorities. In November 2025, a momentous decision was made by the current UK Government, to explore bringing RE into the National Syllabus for the first time. This decision is widely seen as necessary, since with the rise of academy trusts, many schools now are not under the auspices of any local authority and therefore have no statutory RE syllabus at all. Some schools use this freedom effectively to be creative, but practice is variable. Moreover, many local authorities struggle to find minority faith representatives to attend an ASC, or to sit on the associated SACRE (Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education). Notwithstanding the positives, a potential national curriculum in RE is also fraught with dangers. Will the content of Judaism RE match what is needed so that children learn what Jews need others to know about us, or will this content again be driven by external priorities, as has too often happened locally? Who will write specifications for the teaching of Judaism? In Berkshire in 2024, Jews were forced to file an Equality complaint against a Worldviews syllabus, written by highly esteemed RE experts, that erased our identity as the Children of Israel. Moreover, Jews and Hindus were forced repeatedly to raise the alarm about Critical RE exercises in which primary school pupils developed their personal worldviews of by evaluating which religious beliefs were more “likely” or reasonable. These events demonstrate that good intentions are not enough without authentic community voices as full partners. We must face up to the real possibility that the same sorts of mistakes that were attempted in Berkshire could occur on a national scale, hampering authentic teaching of Judaism to non-Jewish children, and thus undermining work to prevent antisemitism. Authentic expertise is needed now more than ever. In November 2025, in order to rise to this challenge, the Association of Jewish Religious Education Professionals (AJREP.UK) was formed, including the team at REJudaism.org. AJREP brings together two types of people: (1) those who teach Judaism in non-Jewish schools or assist such teaching, but who are not currently classroom teachers and (2) Jewish RE teachers in non-Jewish schools (not Jewish studies teachers). We need both types of people as they bring different skills to the table. Coming back to the broader RE world, from December 2025 through March 2026 a process known as sector engagement took place to explore whether consensus could be reached on a general framework for a national syllabus for RE. This was managed by an Expert Advisory Group (EAG) led by Vanessa Ogden CBE. Various groups were included in these conversations, and with some difficulty, AJREP was able to have it’s voice heard. This resulted in “Draft Programmes of Study”, a short document which was presented by the EAG to the Secretary of State for Education at the end of March. Then on July 3, the UK Government responded to the Draft Programmes of Study (still unpublished), announcing that a public consultation on RE in the national syllabus will commence in September. You can find the response of AJREP here. So we stand now on the threshold of this national consultation, which may very well lead to a national syllabus in RE: a true watershed moment for the discipline. As a matter of urgency, the sector clearly now needs a national content standard for the teaching of Judaism in RE. This must be written by RE Judaism specialists, rather than outsiders who may have their own external agendas related to Judaism. This page will be there to support and publicise such content as it develops. Join the conversation We’d love to hear from you. Whether you’re an RE teacher, a subject leader, a Jewish educator working in schools, an academic, or simply someone who cares about better religious literacy, please let us know: * What challenges do you face when teaching Judaism? * Which topics feel hardest to get right? * Which resources have let you down… or genuinely helped? Your insights and questions will shape what comes next. Subscribe (it’s free!) and you’ll receive new posts as soon as they are published. Find us on Substack: https://rejudaism.substack.com/ Share this Substack with colleagues who teach RE. The more teachers who have access to high-quality support on Judaism, the better the experience for thousands of students. Thank you for being here. We look forward to learning and exploring together. B’vrachot (with blessings), The ReJudaism.org team Get full access to Judaism Religious Education from ReJudaism.org at rejudaism.substack.com/subscribe
