Nili Simhai

“Twelve years ago, when I started as a Teva educator, we used to sit down and say, ‘Here’s a list of Jewish concepts and quotes that will support our cause.’ Now, we ask questions like, ‘What does it mean to be co-creators with God? How did God design the world (or the mishkan, or Shabbat) and what can we learn about creating (or building, or resting) in a similar way? How can we honor the principles of shmitta in a modern economy? Can we deepen our relationship with God by being closer to the rest of God’s Creation?’

“In ecology, there is a concept called the ‘edge effect.’ It refers to the fact that the area where habitats meet (where a forest meets a meadow, for instance) is the area of greatest diversity and fecundity. At Teva, we have our own edge effect. It is the place where the kids, the educators, and the land all meet. This interface, between student and teacher and Creation, is where we are discovering new Torah and rediscovering ancient Torah.”

Nili Simhai joined the Teva Learning Center as an educator in 1997, a few years after receiving her B.S. in Wildlife Management from The Ohio State University. Just two years later, she was promoted to Director. In the ten years since, the Teva Learning Center has gone from serving 1,500 to 6,000 students annually. Nili has pioneered Jewish experiential environmental education. She is proud of her role in creating Teva’s Achdoot, Yitziah, and “Bringing It Back to Our Schools” programs, as well as of her contribution to the development of several Teva curricula. Each year, she looks forward to teaching at the Teva Seminar on Jewish Environmental Education, a professional development conference for Jewish educators, rabbis, counselors, and lay leaders.

Nili believes that being tapped by a mentor at an early age gave her a thirst for more teaching and led to a string of congregational education positions throughout her early career. Today, mentorship of other educators is one of Nili’s greatest passions. She has personally trained over 100 Teva educators, many of whom have gone on to careers in Jewish education and some of whom have founded other Jewish environmental organizations.

“I didn’t plan a career in Jewish education. But over time, I heard a calling. I think about this when I see how many young people are attracted to Teva for reasons that have nothing to do with Jewish education. I see so much potential in them.”