Celebrating Devin Schain’s 60th birthday alongside ShalomLearning’s 15th anniversary
Fifteen years ago, ShalomLearning began with a very unglamorous problem: the calendar. Practices, homework, carpools, long school days, then Hebrew school on top of it all. If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s basically the modern Jewish family’s unofficial fifth pillar (right next to text, tradition, community, and… Google Calendar).
Devin Schain didn’t set out to create a global Jewish education organization. He set out to solve a tension many families quietly carry: “We want Jewish learning that matters and we want our kids to be kids.” What grew from that spark is now a nonprofit reaching over 11,000 students across 200+ synagogues in 11 countries, supporting educators and families with curriculum, training, and technology that meet life as it actually is. (Washington Jewish Week)
And this year, we get to celebrate two milestones at once: ShalomLearning’s 15th anniversary and Devin’s 60th birthday. It’s the kind of “double simcha” that makes you pause and realize: the story isn’t only about what was built. It’s about why it was built, and what it has made possible for thousands of learners, families, and teachers.
A surprising origin story: the Hebrew school kid who didn’t love Hebrew school
In a Washington Jewish Week profile, Devin says something refreshingly honest: he “hated Hebrew school.” Not because Judaism didn’t matter to him, but because the model didn’t fit his life. He loved secular school and sports, and Hebrew school felt like an add-on after an already full day. His parents even let him stop attending for the last few years before his bar mitzvah, and he was tutored instead. (Washington Jewish Week)
That detail matters, because it shaped the kind of founder he became: not someone romanticizing the “way it’s always been,” but someone curious enough to ask: What if we stop blaming families for being busy and start designing Jewish education that can thrive in real life? (Washington Jewish Week)
Years later, when his own kids reached Hebrew school age, the problem returned, this time with higher stakes. A great tutor helped his children feel more engaged, and the flexibility worked. But then came a moment that, in hindsight, reads like the opening scene of a startup movie: a conversation with synagogue leadership about whether a rabbi would officiate at his kids’ b’nai mitzvah if they weren’t enrolled in the traditional Hebrew school program. (Washington Jewish Week)
Devin’s response wasn’t to shrug and accept the squeeze. He went home, looked at the reality facing families and enrollment, and did what entrepreneurs do: he built a better model.
What Devin built is bigger than a platform
ShalomLearning is often described in terms of its model—technology, content, professional development—and yes, those are essential. The organization was founded in 2011 specifically to create a Jewish education experience that is engaging, relevant, accessible, and built for how families live today. (ShalomLearning)
But if you zoom out, what Devin really built is a permission structure.
Permission for families to say: “We want Jewish learning that fits our life, not the other way around.”
Permission for educators to say: “I don’t have to do this alone.”
Permission for communities to say: “We can innovate without losing what’s timeless.” (ShalomLearning)
That’s why ShalomLearning has resonated across geography and circumstance and why, when traditional models have been disrupted, this approach has helped communities sustain learning and connection. (ShalomLearning)
A birthday wish (and a 15-year promise)
As we celebrate Devin at 60 and ShalomLearning at 15, it’s tempting to focus only on achievements: scale, reach, growth. But the most meaningful measure is something quieter:
A student who feels proud saying a Hebrew prayer out loud for the first time.
A teacher who walks into class confident instead of overwhelmed.
A family having a real conversation at the dinner table because a lesson landed.
A community that feels less alone. (ShalomLearning)
Devin’s story started with a kid who didn’t love Hebrew school and became an adult who decided Jewish education was too important to leave stuck in an outdated model. That choice has shaped thousands of Jewish journeys. So here’s to Devin—on his birthday, and always—for the vision, the grit, the generosity, and the insistence that Jewish learning can be both deeply rooted and brilliantly responsive to the world we’re living in now. (Washington Jewish Week