Resolution Honoring the National Association of Temple Educators on its 50th Anniversary

Background

The National Association of Temple Educators (NATE) has been a valued and productive partner in the family of Reform Judaism since 1955. The Reform Commission on Jewish Education (now the Joint Commission on Lifelong Jewish Learning) acknowledged NATE's importance in June 1956 by welcoming it as a collegial, professional affiliate, and the Union for Reform Judaism instituted NATE representation on the Union's Board of Trustees by amendment to its bylaws in November 1959.

NATE created a high-status professional organization for Reform Jewish educators that has been a model for the wider field of Jewish education for 50 years. It has raised standards of professional excellence, provided for the professional development of Reform Jewish educators, promoted educational accountability through school accreditation, fostered curriculum innovation, established research databases and fashioned a placement system to serve its members and our schools. NATE has helped shape the changing landscape of Reform Jewish education through long-range planning, conferences, scholarships to recruit college students to the profession and establishing the Fellow in Religious Education title in 1968. Along with the American Conference of Cantors, Central Conference of American Rabbis, Joint Commission on Jewish Education, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and the Union for Reform Judaism, NATE created the Reform Jewish Educator title in 1980. For more than 50 years, the members of NATE have published valuable school administration and curriculum materials used in our Movement's educational programs.

Therefore , the Union for Reform Judaism resolves to:

1. Congratulate NATE on the celebration of its five decades of educational leadership; and

2. Thank NATE and its members for their many and varied undertakings on behalf of the Reform Movement, Reform Jewish learning and the Jewish people.