OUR COMMUNITY
Jack Beavers ’25 and Eli Rosenzweig ’25
A House
of Spirit
Frankel Jewish Academy introduces ‘FJA Houses’ to promote community-building and school spirit. DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER
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NOVEMBER 18 • 2021
t the start of the school year, Frankel Jewish Academy (FJA) began a new tradition — FJA houses. Houses in school settings may be familiar to many from the Harry Potter books and movies, but school houses are quite common in schools in England, says FJA’s new Judaic Studies Principal Rabbi Abi Taylor-Abt, a British native. Students, faculty and staff were split into three houses — Galil (north), Mercaz (center) and Negev (south) to represent the different regions of Israel. Students will keep their same house affiliation throughout their time at FJA. Currently, the school has 123 students enrolled. Taylor-Abt grew up in British schooling and wanted to implement the house model she
experienced, believing it’s a way to create bonds and community within the school. The house system was one of the first ideas Rabbi Abi TaylorAbt brought up when she started. “I was very aware of the fact that our students have missed out on the social-emotional learning over the past two years,” TaylorAbt said. “We did a great job with their academics and keeping them going and bringing them into school, but where we had to cut for health and safety were the lunches, the after-school activities — everything that creates these bonds and the community. To me, it just seemed like perfect timing to bring something in that would encourage team-building and forging friendships across the different year groups.” Some community-building
