Scholar in Residence

 Dr. Deborah Miller is Associate Director of the Melton Research Center for Jewish Education at The Jewish Theological Seminary.    She is Project Director of JTS’s Jim Joseph grant for initiatives in Jewish Education.  She is also Project Director of a grant from the Covenant Foundation, to develop a 21^st century curriculum for congregational schools.  Debby was the founding Project Director and Editor of MaToK, the Bible curriculum for Solomon Schechter Day Schools.  

Debby has taught a variety of courses in the Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education at JTS:  Methods of Teaching Prayer; Methods of Teaching Bible; and the Day School Practicum. 

Debby has taught every age and grade from nursery through adults and headed the Solomon Schechter Day School of Raritan Valley in East Brunswick, NJ, for 14 years. She served as education director at synagogues in Minneapolis, MN; Clark, NJ; and Cranford, NJ.   

Debby earned her BA at Barnard College and her EdD and MA in Jewish education at the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education at JTS.   Debby is the author or co-author, with Karen Ostrove, of four Jewish children’s books, all published by Kar-Ben:  Only Nine Chairs: A Tall Tale for Passover; Fins and Scales, a Kosher Tale; The Modi’in Motel: An Idol Tale for Chanukah; and Poppyseeds, Too:  A Twisted Tale for Shabbat.  Only Nine Chairs was a PJ Library selection in 2010. She is also the author of My Siddur: A Prayer Readiness Book, published by Behrman House.

Debby lives in Bayonne, NJ, but is a native of Denver, Colorado, and misses the mountains every day.

• Bible narrative
• Moral development
• Jewish education
• Jewish values