Contemporary Jewish Education is faced with a fundamental challenge in the form of pluralism, a defining characteristic of postmodern Western reality. The absence of a widely accepted and well formulated definition of pluralism in general, and specifically in the context of Jewish education, increases this challenge. A comprehensive Jewish philosophy of pluralism and a pedagogy derived from it are needed if pluralism is seen as a value, rather than merely a utility. Furthermore, these constructs must be rooted in traditional Jewish concepts and structures in order to be an integral part of the ever-evolving culture of Jewish tradition.

This article draws upon extensive research conducted on an adult “Leadership Course” offered in one of the prominent pluralistic institutions of education in Israel. Utilizing the grounded theory approach of qualitative research, the research examined an inductive process by which the two senior educators facilitating this adult leadership course distilled a Jewish pedagogy of pluralism from their educational worldviews. Content analysis provided the conceptual frame of reference for the analysis, conceptualization and articulation of the rich data compiled over more than two hundred hours of field work which included action research, interviews and document analysis.