The Heschel Blue Print

Issue #8

The Heschel High School: Creating a New Template

What seemed a dream a few short months ago became a reality this September when 42 very enthusiastic students, with great expectations, crossed the threshold at 20 West End Avenue. A world, years in planning and packed with potential, awaited them; our community eagerly watches as it unfolds…

“High school should not be just a precursor to something else; it is its own experience. The underlying goals at The Heschel High School are to encourage students to live through their high school years fully, to find meaning in their lives, and to experience daily the pleasure of intellectual endeavor and social interaction.”

So explains Ahuva Halberstam, Head of High School. The sparkling new facility, located on West End Avenue between 60th and 61 st Streets, serves as a metaphor for the culture created by the administration, staff and students of the newest division of our school. The building is flooded with sunlight, warm and joyous and welcoming. In recalling the first time that the students entered the building, on Monday, September 9th, staff members describe a striking scene in which our 42 students ran about in amazement, awed by the school’s bright newness, its huge windows framing waves of sunlight reflected in the shiny new floors.

This feeling of openness and unlimited potential is woven into the school’s curriculum, into the interaction between teachers and students, into the processes set into place from the start.

“ What sets the Heschel High School apart is that mechanisms were created whereby the child-centeredness of the lower school — the very hallmark by which we are known — could be affirmed and continued in the high school,” said Peter Geffen, Founder of The Heschel School. “This child-centeredness characterizes each division of the school and is at the very core of all that happens at the high school.”

The quality of relationships and the nature of “beginnings” are approached from multiple perspectives within the curriculum that was developed for the high school and in the ways that staff and students are encouraged to interact.

“Students feel they have a voice and they are engaged, with the faculty and with each other. There is a virtually seamless meshing of the 19 on-going Heschel students with the 23 students who joined our school in ninth grade. The atmosphere of openness is a joy to watch,” said Roanna Shorofsky, Head of School.

The climate of the school is infused with respect for the individual. At the start of the academic year, each student was presented with a contract in each class, between teacher and student. The contract delineated the class policies and the rationale for each policy. In addition, each instructor listed his/her responsibilities to the students. Students started the year knowing exactly what would be expected of them as well as what they could expect from their teachers.

Students and teachers have an informal, comfortable relationship and, following the lower school model, they are on a first name basis. The teachers are available to the students throughout the day and the teachers often eat with the students, at lunch time.

On a more formal basis, each teacher serves as advisor to five students and advisor and advisee meet periodically with the student’s parents to set specific academic, social and behavioral goals for the child. These goals are revisited mid-year and are reviewed at the end of the year and are used as a tool to assess the student, as well as to evaluate the school’s progress in helping students to achieve these goals.

The complexity of relationships among humans as well as between humans and the Divine will be studied in great depth this year within the context of both the Jewish studies and general studies curriculum. A ninth grade course in Limude Qodesh (Study of Sacred Texts), entitled “Creation and Covenant” – is a topic especially appropriate to the “creation” of a new high school and the development of a new set of covenants between student and student, student and teacher and teacher to student. The class will study texts that describe the processes of creation as well as the relationships between people, God and the world in the first generations of humanity in order to illuminate the characteristics and complexities of the covenantal ideal. The first semester is devoted to investigating what core values are built into the way God created the world while the focus of the second semester will be what it means for Jews specifically to be in a covenantal relationship with God.

In English and History, the students are also studying beginnings – by learning about the ancient world and how the ancients saw their gods and understood their relationship with them. The students explore many different literary genres, including mythology, epic, poetry, drama, dialogue, narrative and history, with an emphasis on better understanding their cultural ancestors. In social studies, the Heschel ninth graders will learn about the great, early civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Israel, Greece and Rome, and the place and treatment of the individual within these societies. Identifying central organizing principles of ancient societies enables students to stand back and gain perspective on the organizing principles of our own society.

In order to create a just society, or “kehal tzedek”, within the high school — a culture where every person is treated with dignity and respect — the students can expect to have a real voice within the context of their Student Senate, which comprises five student representatives and a teacher and which meets on a weekly basis to discuss concerns of theirs, fellow students or faculty. These issues, once researched, are then presented for discussion and vote at Town Meetings held every Friday and attended by all students and teachers of the high school. Votes are private, with each student and staff member holding one vote and a two-thirds majority needed to pass any issue presented to the Senate.

To address personal issues of perceived unfairness, a Vaad Tzedek (Fairness Committee), has been implemented. It comprises two students and a rabbinic representative. The Vaad will hear complaints, which are kept confidential, and then will attempt to mediate the dissatisfaction so that both parties feel they have been heard. If one party does not feel satisfied, the issue may then be brought to a Town Meeting for discussion.

The school’s commitment to enabling each student to find his/her own voice is reflected in its daily prayer service where, according to Rabbi Dov Lerea, Dean of Judaic Studies, there are three objectives underlying the high school’s development of tfilah (prayer) groups: establishment of a core minyan (named the “Beit Midrash”minyan) which is egalitarian and run by students; an ongoing attempt to support a range of diverse and authentic expressions of other minyanim; and, most important of all, a commitment to creating a unified community that transcends all of the diversities.

To further reinforce the principle underlying a Heschel High School experience, the school celebrates the impact each individual may have on his or her world through its “People Who Make a Difference” Rosh Chodesh speaker series. For the high school’s first Rosh Chodesh celebration, Dr. Barry Coller of Rockefeller University spoke about the unique challenges inherent in combining science with humanism. All students and their parents were invited to the special program that included tfilah and breakfast.

Other extra-curricular activities reflect the students’ own interests. Several clubs have already been formed, all at the students’ initiative, including a knitting club, as well as choreography, newspaper, guitar, jazz band, choir, and boys and girls basketball teams. The school also encourages the students to make use of resources in the area – such as the JCC of Manhattan, Lucy Moses School, area synagogues –and posts flyers notifying them of clubs and community service opportunities that might be of interest.

“The reality of the High School already exceeds my expectations,” says Roanna Shorofsky. “I am confident that our students will come away from this school with a connection to our texts and appreciation of the arts that will enrich their lives and the lives of those around them. Fifteen years from now, I envision that the Jewish community and the community at large will gain enormously from these students who will contribute to the world in a myriad of ways – as simply as in the way they think and act and by virtue of who they are.”

Donors to the Capital Campaign

- As of October 21, 2002

Parents, Alumni, Trustees and Administration

Carolyn Murray and Bradley Abelow

Alexandra and Joel Ackerman

Suzy and Michael Appelbaum

Roy Bahat

Lori and Harley Bassman

Virginia Bayer and Robert Hirt

Jill Kowal and William Benjamin

Georgette Bennett and Leonard Polonsky

Dina Rosenfeld and Howard Berkowitz

Janet Scharf and Nathan Berman

Roni Rubenstein and Barry Berson

Juliana Neiman and Marcello Bronstein

Beth Caunitz and Daniel Budofsky

Ulrika and Joel Citron

Karen and Jacob Daar

Sarah Sternklar and Marvin Davis

Alisa and Dan Doctoroff

Ruth and William Ehrlich

Valerie Feigen and Steven Eisman

The Anne and Saul Finkelstein Foundation

Pearl Beck and David Fisher

Eve Birnbaum and Lawrence Goldberg

Elizabeth and David Goldburg

Sharon and Richard Goldman

Trudy and Robert Gottesman

Marcy and Bennett Grau

Michelle and Paul Grobman

Rachel Neumark Herlands and Jonathan Herlands

Bethamie Horowitz and Barry Holtz

Rae and Richard Janvey

Linda Gerstel and Edward M. Joyce

Vicki and Samuel Katz

Isabelle and Jeffrey Kahan

Beth and Jonathan Kern

Vivian and Joshua Kestenbaum

Joy and Benno Kimmelman

April and Paul Klausner

Andrea and Harry Krakowski

Terry Ann Krulwich and Paul Posner

Rachelle and Alan Laytner

Shira Nadich Levin and James Levin

Jaffa and Eyal Levy

Marjory Becker Lewin and John Lewin

Phyllis and Barnet Liberman

Lisa and Michael Lippman

Lili Lynton

Sharon Shorofsky Mack and Alex Mack

Tamar and Irwin Major

Dawn and Arnold Markowitz

Amy Udell-Mauskopf and Thomas Mauskopf

Anne Heyman and Seth Merrin

Harriet Saltzman and Robert Meyers

Dorlee and Jonathan Michaeli

Rebecca Chaplan and David Nathan

Andrea Greenman and Amos Neufeld

Ora and Charles Ramat

Carol Goldstein and Robert Raskin

Sharon and Michael Rebell

Craig Reicher

Nina Reicher

Enid and Randall Ringer

Janet and Fred Rosenberg

Julia and Joshua Ruch

Marcella Rosen Sacks and David Sacks

Angela and Selig Sacks

Susan and Bruce Schlechter

Schwarz Family Foundation/ Wendy and Jeffrey Schwarz

Dina Markson and Andrew Seidman

Yona and Steven Serota

Harriet and Joel Shaiman

Rebecca Shahmoon Shanok

Roanna and Morris Shorofsky

Betsy and Richard Shuster

Rachel Ringler and Yossi Siegel

Alan B. Slifka

David B.Slifka

David Smilow

Carole Baker and David Solis-Cohen

Katja Goldman and Michael Sonnenfeldt

Carol and Jonathan Spanbock

Mei Wu Stanton and Ronald P. Stanton

Jacqueline and Robert Stein

Judy and Michael Steinhardt

Stephanie Rein and Edward Stern

Ellen and Ronald Summer

Robyn and Mark Tsesarsky

Patricia and Mitchell Udell

Liz Neumark and Chaim Wachsberger

Carol and Allen Weintraub

Batia and Howard Wiesenfeld

Joan and Barry Winograd

Merle and David Wolff

Susan Etra and Michael Yoeli

Susan and Henry Zilberman

Cathy and Seymour Zises

Alice Gottesman and Larry Zuckerman

Judi and Yakov Zvi

Anonymous (2)

Grandparents

Ruth and David Gottesman

Jerry and William Ungar

Lili and William Goldberg

Kern Family Foundation

Amy and Howard J. Rubenstein

Eva and Maynard Solomon

Ralph and Clara Shuster Foundation

Sylvia Slifka

Anonymous (1)

Friends

Avi Chai Foundation

Marion and George Blumenthal

Edgar M. Bronfman

Leon Charney

Carolyn Cohen

First Albany Corporation

Leo & Julia Forchheimer Foundation

Fund for Jewish Education

Milton Gottesman

Caroline and Joseph S. Gruss

Life Monument Funds

Jack Haddad

Samuel Jemal

Jesselson Family

Floy and Amos Kaminski

Kingsbridge Heights Jewish Center

Longhill Charitable Foundation

Bernie Mermelstein

Jamie and David J. Mitchell

Nash Family Foundation

Estate of Rosalind Posner

Potamkin Foundation

Protégé Partners

Amy and Mark Robbins

Evelyn Kenvin and Arthur Rosenbloom, John Ruskay

Ellen and Jerome Stern

Anonymous (1)