Student Life
PRIVATE TO A look into how BVN students who have come from religious private schools and transitioned to a larger public school. By Caroline Haines
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unior Avi Silverberg used to wake up and put on his khakis and polo shirt. He would partake in morning prayer, religion classes and prayers before and after meals. He is now able to pick out his own ensemble of clothing that gives him the freedom to express himself and take classes at Blue Valley North that go beyond religious views. From kindergarten through eighth grade, Silverberg attended Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy. HBHA is a Jewish day school located inside the Jewish Community Center that teaches grades K-12. The school places an emphasis on dual-language curriculum where students learn Hebrew and English, and general Jewish and Hebrew studies. Silverberg found the school to be restricting in what he wanted he wanted to get out of his education. He was interested in learning about other topics that were not offered in the curriculum, such as different languages, but that was not available. “It was a strict social bubble,” Silverberg said. According to Silverberg, few people sought out friendships outside of the school, and they were not exposed to people with different religious values or beliefs than them. After eighth grade, Silverberg and his family made the decision to transfer to BVN. “The absence of religion at BVN was such a nice change,” Silverberg said. “It was not restricting at all and let me think about things independently and didn’t interlude.” Once he came to BVN, he said he did not maintain the religious practices he had learned for the past nine years of his life. “I stopped being religious once I left the school because I saw it as a waste of time from the start,” Silverberg said. He said he does not see the value of
26 | The North Star | April 2021
organized religion and believing in an entity that he struggles to believe exists. Sophomore Agam Gur-Esh transferred from Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy to Overland Trail Middle School in eighth grade. Gur-Esh felt the school was too small for her and she was looking for a public school experience where she could diversify her social circle. At her time in HBHA, she said she would spend approximately an hour every morning doing prayers. She would also do a prayer before lunch, called the Hamotzi, and the Birkat Hamazon for after lunch. When
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I stopped being religious once I left the school because I saw it as a waste of time from the start
-Avi Silverberg
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Gur-Esh first transferred to public school her days felt incomplete without the religious aspect and like she was missing something. “I thought it was kind of weird, just like, oh my God should we be doing prayers right now? Because I’m supposed to be doing prayers right now,” Gur-esh said. Gur-esh said she now implements Judaism in her life through celebrating Shabbat and holidays, but does not practice it to the extent she used to. Within the midst of transitioning to online school, sophomore Miller Brown also transitioned into a new school environment. After spending
four years at HBHA, Brown transferred to BVN. Although he was nervous to start at a new school, the transition was not as difficult because most of his year has been spent online. He also knew some friends from HBHA and other experiences. Brown said his entire grade was 18 students, so he was unsure of what to expect when BVN students come back in person, when he may have a class with 30 or so people. According to Brown, the curriculum was rather similar to Blue Valley North, except they had Hebrew and Jewish studies. “My ninth grade year I had three Jewish classes, Hebrew Jewish studies and yoga which they ran as a Jewish class,” Brown said. Another difference at Hyman Brand versus public school is the flexibility in the food. At HBHA everyone was required to maintain kosher laws — essentially not to eat pork products or mix meat with dairy. Students were not allowed to bring meat to school, a rule that isn’t in place at BVN. Since leaving HBHA Brown does not follow the kosher laws when contemplating
