We gathered outside Yad VaShem, a memorial dedicated to preserving remembrances of the Shoah(Holocaust), and split the group into two.  I have been here before with many 8^th grade groups from The Epstein School.  We don’t have much say in how our time there is spent.  The tours are typically too structured; too rushed; and the facility is often too crowded. The students want more time and we have tried to accommodate as much as we are allowed. We want this experience to be embedded in their minds but we are never sure. Continue reading »

At The Epstein School, a private K-8 program, we prepare students to excel in high school and beyond. If we do not maintain standards of academic excellence, we would not have the opportunity to fulfill our other mission which is creating well-balanced, committed Jews who will continue in the traditions of our people while interfacing with a changing world.

With a deep sigh, we turn our innocent, middle school graduates over to high schools who will prepare them for colleges that don’t exist. You can translate that as heavy homework loads, AP courses, honors classes, multiple extra-curricular activities, and the stretch for the highest GPA possible. I have watched my own daughters stay up endless hours and fall asleep at their desks exhausted from their day of classes, extra-curriculars, and an occasional youth group event if time permits. Summertime is often filled with long lists of books to be consumed that are required reading prior to the beginning of the next school year. I have listened to countless teens talk about holding down jobs, padding their resumes, and trying to figure out HOW to get into their preferred STATE school. While many still strive to go to the Ivy’s and prestigious institutions, it has become a stress getting into the University of Georgia. Continue reading »

Six weeks after Super Storm Sandy, most people have gone back to living their normal lives as the memory of the inconveniences that they experienced recede.  It is so important to keep in mind that there are still thousands of families whose lives remain disrupted, who have lost their homes or their businesses and whose losses entail huge expenses.

It has been heartwarming to read the e-mail exchanges between Dr. Cindy Dolgin, Head of School of the Schechter School  of Long Island and a number of other schools in the Schechter family whose students sent letters, cards, and donations in support of their brothers and sisters on Long Island.  The sense of belonging to an extended family has never been more palpable. Continue reading »

Though we are closing our doors this year to give way to economies of scale among Schechter schools and day schools in our area, we take pride in all that we have accomplished. We are about to celebrate forty years of incredible accomplishments, and reflecting upon experiential education at our school may allow us to continue the light of our learning community past 5772.

Two new experiential educational endeavors at Reuben Gittelman Hebrew Day School – a Schechter Network school – had students break new ground in ways that artists and writers do. Over the last three years, both the pursuits of prayer and spiritual life education, as well as Rabbinics text education were determined to be subject areas that could be informed by experiential educational practices and philosophy. Continue reading »

Pirkei Avot asks us, “Who is wise?” The answer is, “He who learns from everyone.” In order to maximize our learning, we are urged to take advantage of every resource available to us.

The new KSDS Science Enrichment Committee was given the task of proposing a program that would take advantage of the vast resources in our own community in the area of science. Do you know how many of our KSDS parents and grandparents, and how many of our alumni work in science-related fields? Dozens and dozens work in medicine, engineering, computer technology, and science education and research. Continue reading »

Rava sent a gift to the local governor, Bar Sheshach, on one of the pagan feast days. He went to pay a visit, and found Bar Sheshach sitting up to his neck in rosewater petals, with harlots standing before him. Bar Sheshach said to him: “Do you have anything as pleasing as this in your world to come?” Rava replied: “We have something better than this!” Bar-Sheshach said: “What could be better than this?” And Rava said to him . . . (BT Masechet Avodah Zarah 65a)

We pride ourselves on graduating students with a superlative “how-to” skill set to put in their proverbial toolbox – our students demonstrate comfort as well as leadership on the bimah by reading Torah, leading services, and serving as gabbaim; they exhibit strong public speaking skills by putting on presentations and even plays in Hebrew; they are able to open up a Hebrew Humash, identify the parasha, and decipher the Rashi script. But when it comes to the “why” of Jewish practice, do we adequately make the case for Jewish living? Continue reading »

It’s an oft-heard subject of complaint among those of us who work in American K-12 schools, in both Jewish day schools and non-sectarian private schools: that beast we call today’s parent. So many are consumeristic, accusatory, hard to please. Is there any room for really promoting core Judaic values? Forget it. School is not about developing humanistic values; it’s about where you go next—to the most highly selective college [or middle or upper school, whichever is next up]. And school is not about what curriculum is published on the website or what you read about in the teacher’s weekly newsletter; it’s about vying to get what you really want—that unique, exclusive curriculum created singularly for your child alone. And if your kid is experiencing social scrapes? No prob—you can always play the bully card and spend the year harassing the teachers and administrators. Continue reading »

Having recently returned from the outstanding North American Jewish Day School Conference in Atlanta, a number of ideas and thoughts have crystallized in ways that they had not previously. Here are some foundational thoughts: There are a number of Schechter Schools who are oversubscribed, and who maintain waiting lists. Those schools are limited by location or space, and cannot expand. One challenge for these schools is to “select” the best recruits for their long-term sustainability. However, these school are the vast minority of Jewish Day Schools in North America. For a majority of us, growing our schools by increasing new student enrollment combined with better returning student retention is the key to the future. Yes, like you, I spend a lot of my time doing fundraising (both annual campaign and major gifts), Board of Trustees partnership and committee work, and managing our administrative team. But, in the end of the day, I am convinced that growing our school is the key issue to be addressed over the next five years. Continue reading »

Most of us have heard the expression, “A pintele Yid,” literally means the dot of a Jew. What it really means is that there’s a spark of Jewishness inside. I find that working with parents, I need to find that pintele and ignite it. I want to ignite it so that they may feel the passion of being Jewish as I do. I’ve taught many classes to parents in which we go on a (metaphorical) journey to uncover long-lost positive feelings of Jewishness from childhood. Reclaiming the childhood memories is sometimes painful, but usually leads to self-disclosure about how that part of themselves got closed off later in life for a specific reason.

“I hated my Hebrew school teacher.” “My parents stopped talking to me because I was dating a non-Jew.” “I experienced anti-Semitism in college,” and so on. But now Continue reading »

They visit on my facebook newsfeed – playful, thoughtful, thriving – middle and high school friends with whom I have little contact beyond their status updates, but who were once an integral part of my daily life. While I have not reconnected with my teachers, I still often think of them and of my principal, Mr. S. Hirsch Jacobson (May His Memory Be a Blessing). They guided and nurtured me through my adolescent years, ultimately serving as role models for the career I would later embrace. In tribute to them, I choose to write this post not primarily in my capacity as a rabbi, a Ph.D. in Jewish education, or even as Lower School Principal of Schechter Westchester, but rather as a graduate of a Schechter Day School – shaped by an exemplary education for which I am profoundly grateful. Continue reading »