About HG
David Harris-Gershon has been a day-school educator for 20 years, teaching Jewish texts while creating immersive learning environments. A National Grinspoon Award-winner for teaching excellence and curricular development, Harris-Gershon melds critical thinking and joy, creating learning experiences that engage students and families from all backgrounds.
Also an accomplished writer, Harris-Gershon has taught creative writing workshops at the university level, published essays and poetry in literary magazines, and is the author of the memoir What Do You Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried to Kill Your Wife? (Oneworld/London).
He earned an MA in Jewish Education from Hebrew University (Jerusalem) and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. "HG" lives in Pittsburgh, where his family sometimes tires of his Georgia Bulldogs swag and vintage Lego sets.
Jewish Educational Approach
My focus is guiding students as they think critically and engage intellectually with Jewish texts and ideas. In my view, too many Jewish educational spaces focus on content -- on transmitting as much information as possible -- as though learners are empty vessels needing to be filled. While I don't disagree that content-based learning is valuable, I'd argue that there is no subject where such a focus effectively engages and inspires students.
I'm more interested in how learners think and engage, as opposed to what they believe or know. In my learning environments, there are no theological agendas, no dogmatic approaches. Project HG honors every perspective from which learners come, and focuses on critical engagement with texts and ideas in which everyone stands upon an equal playing field.
Creative Engagement
I have set myself apart as a Jewish educator by creating unique structures within which Jewish learning becomes both critically engaging and fun, such as my renowned FBI Agency Simulation, which transforms the textual learning of Torah (תורה), Mishnah (משנה), and parshanut (פרשנות) into challenging FBI cases to be solved. (Familiar with Rashi? Many cases are built around the use of deductive reasoning to uncover underlying problems.)
Additionally, I've developed seminars that pair the close learning of biblical texts with contemporary films, literature and media that borrow from these narratives. By comparing rabbinic and artistic interpretations, as well as our own, students are able to appreciate how these texts reverberate not only in the Jewish imagination, but in today's society as well.
Writing Workshop Approach
I believe the most effective and meaningful writing workshops strike a balance between creating a safe environment which fosters risk-taking while also allowing for honest, kind critiques. When best intentions are assumed and honored, real creativity can occur in a community.
From multi-genre workshops to those focused on poetry, fiction or creative nonfiction, all Project HG writing workshops are built around three elements:
- Writing exercises and explorations
- The workshopping of participants' writing
- The reading and discussion of selected works
As indicated in the class offerings, workshops can either be one-on-one sessions or group classes.
On Politics & Israel
Domestic, international and Israeli political issues can often be polarizing. While I've found that our commonality often overshadows our differences when having dialogues about difficult issues, I've also found that many people today desire spaces where politics, particularly regarding Israel, are not placed at the center of their learning, which is why Project HG focuses on Jewish texts and ideas, not Israel education.
My personal view is that I'm grateful for Israel's existence, and I support freedom, dignity and security for all Israeli Jews and Palestinians in Israel and Palestine. While my particular perspective isn't relevant to the learning at Project HG, I find it beneficial to be transparent about a subject that many find deeply important.