Overland Park resident Rabbi Monica Kleinman has been promoted to director of learning operations at the Padres Institute of Kleinman has been promoted of learning operations at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, a Jerusalem-based Jewish educational institution offering programs worldwide.
Her responsibilities will include managing major initiatives, overseeing educational technology and systems, coordinating with partners and colleagues across departments, and mentoring fellows as they develop and implement their own educational projects.
Kleinman joined Pardes in 2023 as programs associate for its Mahloket Matters project and most recently served as assistant director of programs.
She has managed recruitment, promotion, program facilitation, and mentorship for Mahloket Matters, an initiative that uses Jewish teachings to encourage constructive dialogue across ideological differences. Since Kleinman began administering the program, 300 Jewish clergy members, educators, communal professionals, and laypeople have participated in its fellowship.
The Mahloket Matters Fellowship began in 2019 and has expanded into a range of educational opportunities for Jewish learners and leaders around the world. Drawing on Jewish traditions emphasizing constructive disagreement and the preservation of community relationships, the initiative teaches participants how to communicate across differences, identify common ground, and strengthen relationships.
Kleinman's work with the Mahloket Matters methodology has been featured in eJewishPhilanthropy and The Jerusalem Post. She also helped launch the Mahloket Matters Fellowship for Israel Educators, supported by a grant from The Covenant Foundation.
In addition, Kleinman has mentored congregational educators through Pardes' Senior Educator Learning Fellowship (SELF), which helps synagogue educators cultivate a culture of mahloket l'shem shamayim, or disagreement for the sake of heaven, in their schools and communities.
"Anyone who works closely with Monica knows just how much she holds — and how much of what we do works because she makes it work," said Aviva Lauer, Pardes' chief education officer. "Over the past couple of years, Monica's responsibilities have grown far beyond program support and management. She has become a central force in making our educational work in North America and online happen, connecting people, programs, systems, technology, partnerships, and departments across Pardes."
Kleinman remains active in Kansas City Jewish education. She teaches fifth grade in the Yalla! religious school at The Temple, Congregation B'nai Jehudah, and previously worked as a Hebrew specialist at Congregation Beth Shalom's Rose Family Childhood Education Center.
She has also participated in local Jewish educational programs, including Kansas City's Day of Discovery. In February 2024, she led a professional development workshop for nearly 40 area religious school faculty members at Congregation Beth Shalom, focusing on social-emotional learning and competing values within Jewish communities.
As part of her expanded Pardes responsibilities, Kleinman will oversee the administration of programs for Pardes alumni, known as Pardesniks, and Torah L'Chayim ("Torah for Our Lives"), a new initiative exploring the relevance of Jewish learning to contemporary life.
Pardes describes itself as an open, inclusive, diverse, and intellectually challenging Jewish learning community that encourages lifelong engagement with Jewish learning and Israel.
For more information about Pardes' virtual and in-person programs, visit www.pardes.org.il or contact Kleinman at .