Teachers Who Inspired Me

The Jewish Home | JUNE 16, 2022 Teachers Who Inspired Me

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A Passion for Torah

Written by rebbetzin Malka truMp

Though a lot of junior high school gets muddled in my mind, I can still clearly see my eighth grade Chumash teacher entering our classroom each morning with elegance and grace unsurpassed. Her face was aglow with excitement, and her heels were perfectly matched to her classy outfit. Her energy awakened us, her dreary-eyed students, from our morning daze. We could not help but be amazed each day by her vigor and genuine delight she brought each day to the classroom.

The first thing she would do after greeting us with her radiant smile would be to scan the room and quickly start running around (in her heels) cleaning up discarded papers from the floor, straightening books, and aligning desks. “Girls,” she would say warmly, “Torah cannot be learned in a mess. When we learn together, we must make sure our surroundings are prepared to house the words of Hashem.” Of course, seeing our teacher bending over to pick up our scraps of paper, we hurried out of our desks to help. We soon got the hang of it and would (for the most part) tidy up the room before she came in. She always noticed when we did and complimented us on creating a space worthy of the Torah.

I still have committed to memory many of the Rashis we learned together on Parshas Shlach. They were learned with such excitement and passion without compromising on hard work. My teacher would say, “Girls, the words of Torah are life. They should become part of you.” All these years later, when Parshas Shlach is read in shul, I see her standing in front of me. Walking, actually. She was always moving around the classroom with passion she could not contain.

Though I haven’t seen my teacher in years, her energy is something that affected me as I continued to high school, seminary, and beyond. She transformed Torah from something I recognized simply as being important to a life-giving entity. I am forever grateful for those few months I had in her classroom. They set a foundation on which to build an authentic love for Torah and a commitment to creating spaces worthy of housing the words of Hashem.

Distinguished Yet Approachable

Written by rebbetzin Sara Hopkovitz

Afew months back, my seventh grade daughter was studying for her Chumash exam. I recognized the material and to my amazement, I started reciting one of the Rashis by heart. Wow! I couldn’t believe I remembered it from so long ago (big shout-out to Morah Weiss, 7th grade Chumash teacher at TAG for many years). This knowledge reinforced what I already knew: that I had a fantastic education at TAG/Torah Academy for Girls for 14 years, nursery through 12th grade, with many wonderful and talented teachers throughout the years.

Seminary year was also invigorating, with world renowned educators at Darchei Binah in Bayit V’gan, Yerushalayim. The highlight of my year was attending lectures by the legendary Rav Nachman Bulman, zt”l. He was an absolute powerhouse, associated with many yeshivas and Jewish institutions, and I knew it was a great privilege to attend his classes. I personally felt I had a connection with him since he was the rav of my parent’s shul at the Young Israel of Far Rockaway – and Rav Bulman also had a very close relationship with my Uncle Nat Kurtz, a”h, when he was stationed in the army not far from Danville, Virginia, where Rav Bulman was the rav at the time.

Towards the end of my seminary year, I had a very important matter to discuss with Rav Bulman. It wasn’t a quick question to discuss in haste after a class. He invited me to his home to speak further, and I was graciously welcomed into his warm Sanhedria apartment by him and his rebbetzin. Gaining an audience with such a busy, distinguished, yet very approachable rav, and being a recipient to his sound advice, was an experience that was truly exceptional for me and will forever be imprinted in my mind.

An Authentic Communicator

Written by rebbetzin liSa SeptiMuS

Ihave had many amazing teachers in my life. Some of them I remember for what they taught me, some for the energy and excitement of the learning, and some teachers whose care and concern stood out. But one teacher stands out and impacted me in countless ways, Dr. Yael Ziegler. When I met Dr. Ziegler, she introduced herself to the class at Midreshet Moriah as Yael.

Yael was the first teacher who made Tanach exciting for me. She transformed Tanach from being a series of psukim and mefarshim that I had to translate, understand, and memorize to an invitation to ask my own questions on texts and discuss different ideas.

But it’s not just the learning that makes Yael stand out; it is who she is. Yael is completely authentic, relatable, and accessible. In addition to being spiritual, scholarly, and a great communicator, and a devoted Zionist, she is also human. She can get frustrated, has her struggles, and makes mistakes. But Yael is willing to share her very human perfections alongside her incredible strengths with her students. In doing so, Yael subconsciously motivates her students to reach for their best selves but only while truly loving and accepting themself. Yael made religious growth and Torah learning seem attainable to me.

In the middle of my year in Israel, Yael gave birth to her first child. We found out that she would not be returning second semester to Midreshet Moriah. I was devastated and considered switching seminaries. However, a week later, Yael decided to let a sheirut with eight girls come to her apartment in Alon Shvut one night a week to learn with her for the rest of the year.

I continue to have a relationship with Yael and continue to learn from her when I can.

Opportunities and Growth

Written by racHayle deutScH

When I sat down to answer this question, I thought it would be a simple task. I’ve been through pre-school, elementary school, high school, and two colleges. I figured the challenge would be how to limit my response to a single teacher.

As I went through my academic journey, however, I was surprised to realize that there wasn’t a single teacher who stood out for me. Not in an inspiring way but also not in a negative way. It occurred to me that I pretty much coasted through my school years uneventfully. No great mentors but no horrific experiences either. I know some people have terrible memories of being unhappy in one grade or another, and some recollect a special, lasting bond with an amazing educator. Try as I might, I could come up with neither.

I would have to say that most of the meaningful and relevant lessons I’ve learned have come from the key people in my life – bravery and survival skills from my father, a”h, unconditional love and the value of simplicity from my mother, a”h. My sisters have taught me about loyalty and kindness. From my friends, I’ve learned about dependability and generosity, and from my children, I gratefully continue to learn – about values, integrity and community.

I’ve had many inspiring teachers in my life. Just not in the classroom. The beauty of this is that I don’t need a school setting to build on my education. Opportunities to learn and grow are all around me.

The Jewish Home | JUNE 16, 2022 A Teacher Who Inspired Me A Fire Spreads from Chicago: Mrs. Sarah Murik, a”h

by rebbetzin faigie HoroWitz

Bais Yaakov for boys? If you were a Jewish Chicagoan in the early decades after the War, the answer was a resounding yes!

My brothers attended Bais Yaakov Hebrew Parochial School along with me. Housed in the Talmud Torah classrooms of two shuls a few blocks apart, there were both a boys division and a girls division after second grade in the fledgling school. Many classes were combined of several grades. These were the pioneering years of an outstanding school of excellence which is now known as JDBY, the Joan Dachs Bais Yaakov Elementary School, and YTT, Yeshivas Tiferes Tzvi.

Over a thousand children are currently enrolled in the school. However, it was an intimate environment in the sixties composed of children of survivors, American families who had stayed observant, and the staff of the Skokie Yeshiva and Telshe Yeshiva. Its principals inevitably moved on to other opportunities, and new principals were brought in from other cities. But Mrs. Sarah Murik, sometimes teacher, sometimes principal, and sometimes principal again, remained the educational standard bearer of the institution.

A short fiery Israel native who was seven generations Yerushalmi and educated in its classic institutions, Mrs. Murik nee Kahane was the brains

behind the education as well as its spirit. She could and would walk into any classroom and take over. Even the bigger boys listened and learned perakim of Tehillim from her. Spirited yet challenging in her approach, she made all student think, do, and grow, all in rapid fire Hebrew.

Her methods were unorthodox then and now. She taught us and drilled us on Chazals and quotations. She had the upper school students read the latest Hebrew biographies of gedolim and present on them at school assemblies. Eighth graders were drafted to practice kriah with weak first graders during the first half hour of the day, tucked into whatever nooks and spaces were available. But she didn’t hesitate to make us practice our Hebrew reading for a few weeks in eighth grade when she thought our skills weren’t strong enough. Which seventh and eighth graders were given Nechama Leibowitz’s gilyonos that came from the Torah Education Department of the WZO each week with a few Rashi questions to figure out?

Only Mrs. Murik’s talmidos! We learned directly from Rabbi Eliyahu Kitov’s Sefer Hatodaah and whatever new textbooks and workbooks came out in Israel. The local Hebrew bookstores had to get lists from Bais Yaakov to ensure we would have the books that Israeli students had – the little brown soft-covered volumes for Historia and Pninei Hadas. We learned the classic meforshim directly from the Mikraos Gedolos and struggled to answer her challenging questions and figure out answers. But we were never taught to take notes.

It wasn’t all about skills mastery and understanding. Mrs. Murik made sure that Torah values were instilled with a lively spirit. Every Friday, we had school-wide assemblies for which we came to school dressed in Shabbos clothes. After a student presentation in Ivris, we would sing Shabbos songs and old Israeli songs that I haven’t heard since. We said Tehillim and collected for Magen David Adom during the tense weeks of May and June 1967. It was explained to us why the girls prepared the signs for the boys who joined a protest downtown. We learned why the school celebrated Yom Yerushalayim and not Yom Ha’atzmaut. There was an active Vaad Hachinuch, of course, led by my late father, the Novominsker Rebbe, zt”l, which worked with Mrs. Murik and those other principals who didn’t last. The Vaad members respected her judgment, her commitment, and her energy. She was a young mother whose passion burned to raise bnei and bnos Torah and whose students won awards each year in citywide contests for day school students. We saw her heart, too, even though we were afraid of her sharpness. It was clear that she cared about everyone, the academic students and the weaker ones. And she drew out the best for us in terms of character development and opportunity. I remember waiting for the auditorium of the shul to be available for eighth grade graduation practice. Mrs. Murik used the time to inquire of each of us who are heroes were and discuss them with us. Mrs. Murik was the mother of a lively brood as well as the Bais Yaakov bunch. Her children were our friends and classmates. As a child, I would marvel at this busy lady who was frequently on the phone with my mother and separately with my father, ran a school, and had her own family. She hosted teas for the school. Her husband stepped away from his business to help. She and her sister scrubbed corners of the classrooms late at night before inspectors came. Bais Yaakov was the family’s project. Where did she find the time to bake an apple cake which accompanied her son whenever he came for Shabbos? Apparently, she manufactured energy to match her standards and goals.

We left Chicago over fifty years ago. She went on to raise generations of Chicago talmidim and talmidos for about sixty years as well as her own accomplished sons and daughters. When Rabbi and Mrs. Murik finally retired to Lakewood, her former students asked her to open a girls school so their daughters would benefit from her inimitable educational leadership. She agreed to do so together with her daughter Mrs. Rena Malinowitz, tlch”t. Hundreds of students came to learn under the octogenarian legend.

Mrs. Murik made sure that there was ruach as well as high level academics in her new school. There she instituted regular “shira” sessions led by her gentle partner, her smiling sister Mrs. Rivka Sender. The principal came to school each day dressed in the Bnos Brocha school uniform, just like her students. She modeled her values and wore them on her sleeves until the end. Vatischak leyom achra.

Mi yetain kimosa.

Mrs. Sarah Murik, sometimes teacher, sometimes principal, and sometimes principal again, remained the educational standard bearer of the institution.

From Third Grade Through College – and Beyond

Written by Suri daviS Stern

After high school, I was looking for my own personal path to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. The K-12 experience is what Orthodox kids expected from their parents and which we took for granted. I was searching for a way to make my spiritual practice, my relationship to G-d, personalized. I am so grateful to my parents for seeing my need to continue growing in Judaic studies and for sending me to Stern College. As a freshman registering, you get what you get and you don’t get upset. All the easy Chumash classes were taken, and I was warned about the remaining Chumash class with Dr. Mina Bunim Glick, but her class was the only one open. Yad Hashem! She spent ten months perhaps teaching us ten pesukim in Devarim. She introduced us to the Concordiance, which provides sources for all the words of Tanach, and taught me how each word of the Torah that I had ever learned means so much more, literally 70 faces of Torah. It is what is called Biblical Exegesis, and my world was never the same. She introduced me to my brain and taught me the joys of flexing it. Therein was one of my two favored paths to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, learning each and every word of Torah and its universal meaning.

Equally important to my avodat Hashem was my third grade Hebrew teacher in T.A.G., Morah Mina Holtz/Morah Kaganoff, who took my exuberance for davening and made me feel like a million bucks. I still have the siddur she gave me with the inscription in Hebrew: “To the precious Sara Leah, continue davening always with the correct kavanah. Love Morah Holtz.” I still very much enjoy davening and the opportunity to connect with Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

TAG’s secretary, Mrs. Siegel, was like the school mother and would let you sit with her and give you a breather, if the day was tough. For seventh and eighth grades, I had Naomi Levenbrown, a”h, who was a superior teacher, and pushed us to strive higher. Rebbetzin Tovah Fein, a”h, instilled fun in learning the Lamed Tet Melachot in seventh grade. I have a lot of gratitude to Dean Ann Thomas of New York Law School, who saw my potential in the Graduate Tax Program and asked me to join the faculty.

Those who see potential and put their energies and care into sharing their knowledge, education, experience and wisdom with others perform a unique act of chessed with whom they share their gifts. It is as the Lubavitcher Rebbe, zt”l, said, “If you know an Aleph, share an Aleph.” I am so very grateful to all the teachers in my years of studying who took the time to expound, elucidate, clarify, share, study, share and care enough to teach what they knew, the village that raised this child into my adulthood.

Significant, Lasting Impacts

Written by racHel pill, lcSW

During my years in school, there have been many teachers who have made an impact on me. In my younger years, these were the teachers who appreciated my style of classroom participation and adapted to it rather than just sending me out of class constantly. Thank you!

There are two teachers, one in college and one in seminary, who I can say changed my life in significant ways. The first is Penina Schram, my public speaking professor at Stern College. Professor Schram taught me the meaning of the spoken word and the responsibility we have as public speakers. She taught me to see each speech as a way to use a gift from Hashem and touch other people with my voice. She taught me to modulate my voice to send a message, and that is such a gift. I still think of her every time I give a speech, and I am so grateful to her for everything she taught me. The other teacher who truly changed my life is Rabbi Label Sharfman. I came to Sharfmans as an 18-year-old know-it-all – ready to argue about everything. I left with a real relationship with Hashem and observance that has led me through my life. This was all due to Rabbi Sharfman having the patience to discuss and argue back with me until one day he quietly said that I had the potential to have the most amazing relationship with Hashem, I just needed to decide to grow up and embrace it. Thank you, Rabbi Sharfman!