Howard in the News

Congratulations to Westville Shul member Howard Blas who is one of fourteen individuals selected from over two hundred applicants for the new Jim Joseph Foundation fellowship program created at Bar-Ilan University.

The fellowship seeks to identify, train and empower leading educators in both formal and informal Jewish educational settings to develop and lead virtual communities in their professional fields.

After completing a training program over the course of two years through a series of seminars in the United States and at Bar-Ilan, the fellowship recipients will return to their homes to work on the creation of online communities. These will be designed to make more resources and opportunities available for Jewish educators around the world. Howard plans to use the fellowship to create an online community for Jewish families who have children with special needs.

Howard holds masters degrees in social work and special education. This is his tenth year as Director of Camp Ramah’s Tikvah Program for children with developmental disabilities. He also works as a private teacher in Judaic studies for children with special needs, preparing them for their bar and bat mitzvahs.

Over the past few years, Howard has been instrumental in bringing to the Westville Shul Shabbatonim of Yachad, the Orthodox Union’s organization for individuals with disabilities. Howard writes for a number of periodicals, and is the Senior Correspondent for our own Westville Shofar publication.

We all wish him success in his important new endeavor.