Harlene Winnick Appelman Courtesy of The Covenant Foundation

By Lauren Markoe August 19, 2022

Harlene Winnick Appelman, a Jewish educator who for more than 15 years led The Covenant Foundation, which promotes innovation in the field, died Thursday. She was 75.

Appelman mentored hundreds of Jewish educators during her career. At the helm of the foundation from 2005 to 2021, she created programs to spotlight and fund some of the best of them.

Those initiatives include “Sightline,” a digital journal of creative ideas in Jewish education, “ignition” grants to jumpstart and disseminate effective programming, and The Pomegranate Prize, which recognizes emerging leaders in the field. 

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

“Her fierce commitment to this work made an indelible mark on the field, and raised the bar for what outstanding Jewish education looks like,” read a statement released by the foundation’s board after her death. 

In 1991 she was one of the inaugural winners of the foundation’s Covenant Award for educators who have made an exemplary impact on Jewish life.

News of her death was followed by an outpouring of grief from Jewish educators on social media.

“I am heartbroken,” wrote Tikvah Weiner, head of an co-ed Orthodox high school in Tenafly, New Jersey. “Such a loss for the Jewish people, for the world.”

I am heartbroken over the passing of Harlene Winnick Appelman, former head of @covenantfn. A true lady, incredible visionary, leader, role model. Such a loss for the Jewish people, for the world. https://t.co/GQV25CGBlt

— Tikvah Wiener (@TikvahWiener) August 18, 2022

Born in Elmira, New York, Appelman graduated from Northwestern University and received a master’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley. She spent three years teaching in Jerusalem and was then appointed family life director at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield, Michigan. There she created programs adopted nationally, including “Shabbat in a Box” and “So You Want To Be A Jewish Parent.”

She went on to hold positions of leadership at the Fresh Air Society of Detroit, Detroit’s Jewish Community Centers, the University of Judaism, and the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.

She is survived by Henry Appelman, her husband of  38 years, a sister, five children and seven grandchildren.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount