Chabad takes on the Bullies

How nice!

Before the Bullying Begins: Chabad Educators Explore Character Development
NEWARK, NJ -- (August 6, 2007)
R.C. Berman

Not a topic normally associated with nice Jewish kids, bullies have garnered a lot of attention lately. According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, nearly a third of children grades 6 to 10 have been bullied or bullied others.

Coupled with the finding that bullying affects children’s mental health, academic performance, and, for the bullies themselves, a future criminal record, it’s one of the hot school issues d’jour.

Last week, 100 educators from Chabad-Lubavitch’s 140 elementary, middle and high schools across North America spent two days in the classroom, devoting more than ten hours of lectures and presentations at the conference to character development, with a focus on positive ways to take on bullies.

The rabbis took notes, leaning forward to listen to the group of experts assembled by Chabad’s educational division, Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch, at Newark’s Robert Treat Conference Center.

Following the approach of Chabad-Lubavitch, the topic was flipped to a positive angle at the conference. Dr. David Pelcovitz, a psychologist, author, and professor, pitched his pointers for helping students develop positive interpersonal communication skills as a stopgap before bullying begins.....