PowerPoint images of artifacts, color-coded timelines, illustrated maps and links to relevant websites are all part of an enhanced Me’ah graduate curriculum piloted at Temple Shalom of Newton this winter—co-created by Me’ah Graduate Institute student Joel Baron. Former publisher of the New England Journal of Medicine, Baron is one of several students in the Master of Jewish Liberal Studies (MJLS) program who have developed independent study projects that give back to the community.

“I have found during my studies here that I love to teach and I love the academic life, so this has been great work for me,” says Baron. “Our goal has been to create a program that responds to Me’ah graduates’ interests. It’s an attempt to build a richer, continuing Me’ah program.”

The pilot project, consisting of four five-week modules, is shorter than the traditional Me’ah program and costs less to enroll. Classes still follow Me’ah’s structure of reading core Jewish texts and grappling with concepts that represent the historical, cultural and political movement from four eras—biblical, rabbinic, medieval and modern. Yet the presentation will be infused with a new, graphical method of teaching and learning that involves high tech visuals to show primary materials.

“It’s one thing to talk about findings on King David,” says Baron, “and quite another to show an actual archaeological finding from the ninth century BCE that is the first-known mention of the House of David.”

Baron, 64, graduated from Me’ah in June 2006. It was his first serious commitment to Jewish studies since college, and he was hungry for more. That summer, he worked with a Hebrew tutor to strengthen his Hebrew skills and entered HC’s MJLS program at the Me’ah Graduate Institute in the fall. Also that summer, Dr. Avi Bernstein-Nahar, Dean of Educational Planning and Development, conducted an in-depth study with MJLS student Jeff Kichen on the 2006 graduating class of Me’ah to find out what they wanted to continue learning.

The study revealed that Me’ah graduates wanted “more Me’ah.” They also wanted more graphics and technology in the classroom, and a clearer sense of time and place. With these factors in mind, Baron dedicated his MJLS independent study toward creating the ideal continuing Me’ah program.

Before he began his studies at HC, Baron was head of publishing at the Massachusetts Medical Society where he was publisher of Journal Watch, Hippocrates and HealthNews in addition to the New England Journal of Medicine. Previously, he spent 13 years at Little, Brown and Company in a number of positions, including publisher of medical journals. He is currently a principal and co-founder of Knowledge Solutions LLC, a consultancy serving the scientific and medical publishing industry.

“Joel is an accomplished, successful businessman in the area of publishing, with a strong graphic sensibility,” says Bernstein-Nahar. “The new Me’ah program at Temple Shalom is a tremendous testimony to his work and the power of the MJLS program.” Other MJLS students have also shown their own community commitment by collaborating with HC educators to bring about new programming, including the JP Salon Project, organized by Leslie Belay and Bernstein-Nahar.

Says Bernstein-Nahar, “Civic involvement is becoming a motif of the program.” For more information on the MJLS program, visit hebrewcollege.edu/mjls.

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