JEWISH DAY SCHOOL

A farm-to-school garden to fuel bodies and minds

JDS is a beneficiary agency of the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley

Why JDS?

By Ivy Bernstein, class of 2013

It’s rare to find a school that manages to both feel like home and also offer an excellent education that prepares you for life. JDS was that school for me. It was at JDS where I first learned to think critically and creatively. It prepared me for high school, college, and beyond.

I went to the Jewish Day School of the Lehigh Valley for nine years. The care and consideration that I received there served as my life’s foundation. After JDS, I embarked on a journey into high school. My first year there, I was ahead in most of my classes. “How did you learn to write so well?” people asked. Of course, I didn’t say much. But, in my mind, I thought of Mrs. Piesner who encouraged me in second grade, who wrote “KEEP WRITING” in bright colors on all of my journal assignments. I thought of Mrs. Kidd, who had us writing term papers in sixth grade. I thought of Mr. Goldman who encouraged me to run the middle school newspaper, who wrote in my eighth grade yearbook something about wanting a shout-out in the book I’d write some day. The beautiful thing about JDS is that these teachers truly believed in me. I thrived from the personalized attention and encouragement. It taught me to believe in myself, to believe that I really would succeed in life.

After graduating high school, I studied legal history at Brown University. Even there, I felt prepared to write, to study, and keep up with my peers. I can definitely say that JDS helped me get to Brown. A good education teaches you the fundamentals. But an excellent education, like the one I received at JDS, pushes beyond that. It teaches you to think critically, to wonder about the world. It teaches you to dream big. JDS teachers make you feel like that’s really possible.

Over Thanksgiving 2022, I walked around JDS for this first time since 2017. All of the chairs in the multipurpose room felt so small. Lots of things had changed; the infamous tire swing was gone, and now there’s a hydroponic plant in the science lab! But it still felt the same. It smelled the same.

Now I’m 23 years old, working as a Civil Legal Advocate at a public defense office in New York City. I have no doubt that I will carry the skills that I learned at JDS with me for the rest of my life, as I embark on a career in public interest law. Yes, JDS taught me how to write, but it also taught me the value of Tikun Olam, to care for the world around you, to repair it. JDS was where I first learned to be a strong advocate for my beliefs.

Walking the hallways of JDS a few weeks ago, I was reminded of where I started. It still felt like home. The JDS was awarded the Farm-to-School Grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. This $15,000 grant provides schools with funding to purchase fresh, healthy food from Pennsylvania agricultural producers. The goal is to help students become more aware and engaged with their local food system as well as to help them leverage their own consumer influence to support Pennsylvania farms. The funds will directly support the JDS’ five-daya-week healthy hot lunch plan and the nutritional awareness of the students. Money will be allotted to double the garden from four to eight garden beds, create a compost area, and purchase ingredients for the daily salad bar from local farmers. In addition, the JDS will add a curriculum that bridges gardening, nutrition, and science using standards-aligned lessons focusing on student inquiry and investigation into health, earth and life sciences, math, literacy, and social science.

Remembering Rabin

As the JDS celebrated 69 years during the Evening of Tribute, the major fundraiser of the year, they paused to reflect on Israel turning 75 years old and Yitzhak Rabin’s visit to the JDS in 1978. The state of Israel was 30 years old when 55-year-old Rabin, a Labor Party member of Israel’s Knesset and the nation’s prime minister from 1974 until his election defeat a few months before his visit to the school, asked questions in Hebrew to JDS students.

He came to the Lehigh Valley to brief Jewish community leaders on the Middle East situation and help kick off the Jewish Federation of Allentown’s 1978 campaign for United Jewish Appeal, Israel Emergency Fund, and 40 other local and national humanitarian agencies receiving support from the Allentown Jewish community.

During Rabin’s visit to the JDS, the deep-voiced Rabin commanded the attention of students in kindergarten to 6th grade. One funny moment was when Rabin asked a second grader, “How long do you go to this school?” The student started counting on his fingers and Rabin asked him, “Do you need a calculator?”

The school’s principal then briefed students about Rabin’s difficult decision to rescue Jewish hostages at Entebbe in July of 1976. Although Rabin noted there was a “heavy burden,” he said he was not nervous about making the decision.

Forty-five years since Rabin visited the JDS and in memory of the 27 years since his passing, JDS students studied Rabin’s legacy and the impact he had on so many. They shared their reflections: Ariana Padin: He was a Prime Minister. He was in the army and wanted to help the world with peace. Lyla Golding: He was the Prime Minister and how he set an example for me is he showed me that, we can make the impossible possible. Ellie Rosenblum: One of his accomplishments was being a Prime Minster two times. This means people must have liked him a lot and he must have done an excellent job Bailey Sherman: He taught me not to give up on my dreams. Gabriel Marlin: He taught me if I stick to something then I can accomplish that. The connection the JDS students make to Israel lasts a lifetime. For 69 years, JDS students have formed a deep connection to the Jewish people and to the state of Israel. From Yom Ha’Atzmaut parades to boarding a plane to Israel from the multipurpose room, they bring Israel to life.