Schechter Stories: Fall/Winter 2022-2023

ןכות הזיאל תורשקתהה

, םײחהל ביתנ תסלפמ איה

הלענ אוה ןכותה םא

ויהי ותדמ יפכ בגשנו

, םיבגשנו םילענ כ״ג םײחה תוביתנ לפשו ךומנ אוה ןכותה םאו

כ״ג והיפל ויהי ךרע

.ךרע ילפשו םיכומנ םײחה תוביתנ

םײחהל ויהי תוביתנ לבא

עובק רשק שיש םוקמ לכב

.ןכות הזיאל

קוק ןהכה קחצי םהרבא

WHEN A PERSON IS CONNECTED TO SOMETHING OF SIGNIFICANCE, THAT PAVES THE PATHWAY OF HIS/HER LIFE IF THAT SIGNIFICANCE IS ELEVATED AND EXALTED, HIS/HER PATHWAYS OF LIFE WILL ACCORDINGLY BE ELEVATED AND EXALTED BUT IF THAT SIGNIFICANCE IS LOW AND IGNOBLE, HIS/HER PATHWAYS OF LIFE WILL ACCORDINGLY BE LOW AND IGNOBLE. AT ANY RATE, WHENEVER A PERSON HAS AN ENDURING CONNECTION TO SOME MATTER OF SIGNIFICANCE, THAT WILL CREATE THE PATHWAYS OF HIS/HER LIFE.

AVRAHAM YITZCHAK KOOK

Happy winter!

This year seems to be flying by particularly fast. Now in my seventh year as Head of School, I marvel at how quickly time is moving for me as well. I have been part of Schechter for four decades, and I can say with clarity and extraordinary gratitude that Schechter molded my Jewish identity and so much of who I am today. As different as Schechter is from when I was a kindergartner, it is equally the same.

As an institution, we are in a constant state of looking back and looking forward all at once. We must honor and retain beloved traditions while adapting and innovating to ensure that we are relevant to American Jewish life today, and we must consistently deliver an exemplary education and uplift ing social/emotional environment that is second to none. We must continue to provide unparalleled Hebrew language instruction while infusing in our students an abiding love of Israel. We are an increasingly diverse community, made all the stronger by the different ways in which we are Jewish, and in which we learn, teach and live.

In order to meet each student’s pathway at Schechter, we recognize that we have our own journey as a school community. Since Schechter’s founding in 1961 to the most recent fi rst day of school this past September, we continue to evolve. Our mission statement, refreshed in 2020, promises that, together, we will create a Jewish educational experience in which every student will be known, belong, be engaged, be inspired and be prepared. We also turn these words inward to support the pathways of our faculty, staff and institution as a whole. It is only through intentionality, healthy and thoughtful self-examination, alongside our commitment to our students and each other, that we are able to realize our goals. This magazine represents just a small cross-section of stories, profi les and updates in the life of our ever-changing, always growing school.

,

This Is Schechter

5

December Concerts by Student Singing Groups

Shir Chai performed Banu Choshech at the Vilna Shul’s Community-Wide Hanukkah A Cappella Concert

Grade 3 Band made an appearance at Monday morning Havdalah

Nafshi and other Schechter singers performed at the Copley Square Hanukkah menorah lighting

3-1 Score for the preThanksgiving Faculty vs. Student Soccer Game in which students bested faculty and staff members

Every school choir participated in the All-School Hanukkah assembly

Grade 3 Makhela Choir sang Hanukkah songs at the State House in Boston

$1,611,615 funds raised through the 2021-2022 annual campaign from over 735 donors

We welcomed

79 new students for 2022-2023

6 floats and marching groups in Gan Shelanu's Thanksgiving Day Parade named:

Sweet Potato Casserole

Turkey Dinner

The Turkey Ran Away

Cornucopia

Organic Farming

Thanksgiving Turkeys

181 students signed up for a total of 312 enrichment/music classes

52

coats, snow pants and snow boots collected in a drive organized and run by students in Grades 4 and 5 for Cradles to Crayons

The Big Parachute Drop!

In Grade 1 Science in November, 56 parachutes were launched out of the second floor window and fell 18 feet to the blacktop below

Students performed a rap song to celebrate the birthday of their teacher, Dan Savitt, Grade 7 Jewish Studies Teacher/Grade 8 Beit Midrash Teacher

56 Grade 1 students collected them when they landed

Each parachute had a 50-cm diameter canopy, 10g payload of LEGOs and 6 strings

The average flight was 4.5 seconds

The longest “normal” flight was 14 seconds

The longest flight was 21 seconds

Scan to catch the performance!

The longest distance a parachute traveled was 180 feet

Schechter Scoop

From an Old Community to a Young One

Grade 2 Judaic Studies Teacher, Orly Bejerano, traveled to India this past summer with her husband, Barak, and daughter, Gal. Among their stops was a visit with members of the Kochinim Jewish community whose roots date to the days of King Solomon. Orly and her daughter visited two synagogues including the Paradesi Synagogue, built in 1568, located in Mattancherry Jew Town, a suburb of the city of Kochi, Kerala. They learned of the Jewish community's strong relationship with the King of Cochin, and admired the glorious Clock Tower, built in 1761, that stands to this day. The tower’s four dials are marked in Hebrew, Malayalam and Latin with a fourth blank façade.

In return for Orly’s donation in support of maintaining the synagogue, the temple members gave her a leather booklet with facsimiles of the copper plates commemorating the synagogue’s quarter centenary of 400 years in 1968. After showing the ornately etched plates to her class, Orly, in turn, donated them to Schechter to remain on display. She adds, “Members of the town are friendly to the synagogue and are proud to share its history with travelers.”

Helping Emerging English Speakers

For decades, Schechter’s classrooms have been the new home for students who are not native English speakers. Most often, these children come from Israeli and Russian families, some of them having relocated to the area just weeks before school begins. Students benefit from being in an environment with classmates, teachers and community members who can converse with them in Hebrew and Russian. They generally make steady progress in English comprehension and the acquisition of vocabulary through daily interaction with friends and the constant osmosis of hearing English throughout the school day.

This year, Schechter has added formal English Language Learner (ELL) instruction at school for the first time. This essential teaching gives emerging learners the critical structure and consistent support needed to be able to access academic content and interact in English more quickly. Students meet with ELL faculty member, Yana Pyuro, either individually or in small groups several times each week.

Yana, whose first language is Russian, has a personal connection to this work that she believes helps her empathize with children who are newcomers. “I learned English as an adult myself, so I have walked in their shoes. It can be overwhelming and isolating if you cannot understand a language.” Yana holds a B.S. in Special Education from Cleveland State University and an M.A. in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from Tel Aviv University. She also taught ELL in Israel and so is well poised to work with a variety of new English learners.

Yana currently meets with 10 new Israeli students at Schechter whose families arrived in the United States over the summer and early fall. “We focus on speaking and listening through repetition, naming pictures and practicing basic sentences. I speak some Hebrew to them, but less and less as time goes on.” Right away, students master common, functional language such as, “I don’t understand,” or “I’m hungry.” Less than a month into the school year, students were even able to let teachers know if they needed help or a bathroom break. From the classroom to the playground to the ELL space, students are amassing the building blocks of English faster and more successfully than ever before.

Union Members

Eighth-graders Justin Korn and Uri Zalkind were sitting at a Middle Division Town Hall Meeting early this fall, listening to announcements about the following week’s schedule when school photos would be taken. “We had an idea that we thought would be special and a lot of fun: all the eighth-graders would wear onesies or union suits for picture day.” The boys spread the news of the plan among their fellow classmates. “We had to convince some people. There were a few people who didn’t have onesies, but other kids lent them a spare.”

Some students switched into regular clothing for their individual photos, but the results of the group photo are clearly memorable. The class’ camaraderie and light-hearted take on the annual school photo shoot is beautifully evident in their smiles. Perhaps this was just the first year in what will soon become a Schechter tradition unless the current seventh-graders have other ideas up their sleeves.

Heads Up!

Kippot are a longstanding tradition at Schechter that have received a lot of attention recently from a change in school policy to a kippah design workshop and even, yes, a theme song. As always, all students who identify as male wear a kippah throughout the day, and students who identify as female are encouraged to do the same. Beginning this year, however, baseball caps and other hats received a promotion of sorts and are now acceptable head coverings at school.

Many members of the community, from alumni to current and prospective families, are interested to understand the thinking behind Schechter’s stance. Director of Jewish Life and Learning Rabbi Ravid Tilles created a homegrown, down-to-earth, one-man video to explain it all. As if Rabbi Tilles’ quick costume changes and affable approach were

not enough, the informative video features a spunky, original theme song, “Keep On Keeping It On,” written, performed and sung by Jonah Hassenfeld, Schechter’s Director of Teaching and Learning.

This past Election Day, November 8, saw huge, enthusiastic voter turnout on both campuses and remotely as the Schechter community had yet another opportunity to weigh in on head coverings by casting ballots for new kippot designs. Paper ballots, polling stations, dropboxes and a tallying of the 1,307 votes simulated the real Election Day while also yielding very real winners. Community members checked off their top three choices for new kippot designs from among a number of options, all of which feature Schechter’s official color palette. (Read more about it below!) The winning, new kippot are available for purchase through Schechter’s Spirit Shop.

Families also attended a Sunday morning kippah design workshop, “Keep On Keeping Your Kisui Rosh On,” in which Rabbi Tilles facilitated discussions on the different types of head coverings worn by family members. The family program included a chance to design a personal head covering to wear.

Scan here to watch Rabbi Tilles' video and listen to "Keep on Keeping It On"!

Schechter’s Eye-Popping Color Palette

Have you noticed the new colors throughout this magazine and online in Schechter’s Spirit Shop? As part of a rebranding initiative begun in 2020, Schechter revamped its logo, fonts and signature colors. Each tone conveys a youthful, warm, modern vibe that imbues our materials and spiritwear with fresh energy.

CloCkwise, top left: Orly BejeranO and daughter gal; COpper plates faCsimile frOm the KOChinim jewish COmmunity Of india; ell faCulty memBer yana pyurO and student; sCheChter BOstOn grade 8: 2022–2023; sCheChter BOstOn's new COlOr palette; Kippah vOting

Excellent schools seek to know their students deeply.

Naturally, this is true of Schechter. Where we diverge, however, is our definition of “know” and the unparalleled, unwavering standards we have set for ourselves to know – really know – each student.

It is our stated mission to guarantee that together, we create a Jewish educational experience in which each student will be known, belong, be engaged, be inspired and be prepared. These concepts – lovingly known as the Schechter Be’s – do not just live on a wall, but are, instead, dynamic and indivisible processes that animate everything we do in practice.

Each of our 430 students has a different pathway to becoming their best selves. There is no one-size-fits-all at Schechter and we like it that way. Our student body is a beautiful and multi-faceted kaleidoscope of personalities, strengths, challenges and opinions. All of our students live out their Jewish identity and backgrounds in distinct ways. They are unmistakably, indelibly individual from their learning styles to their social and emotional needs, growth and goals. Reaching and teaching each student in a way that is personalized for that student is the task to which Schechter’s faculty is committed.

Each “Be” is an idea which is realized through concrete action. There are many examples and evidence of the Schechter Be’s at work, but it is only through the school’s singular devotion to an exemplary and intentional program, both in Jewish and secular learning, and dependable, institutional support for every member of the community, that Schechter is able to deliver this mission.

To understand how each path is paved and how the Schechter Be’s become lived realities, requires taking a step back and examining the conditions that are put in place fi rst and before and from the beginning.

Schechter has many goals that are educational, social, emotional and spiritual all at once. Separate one of these interdependent levers from the other, and the ability to identify and nurture each student’s pathway holistically and successfully is diminished, if not impossible. As a Jewish day school, we add another ingredient to this already rich and complex formula, namely each student’s spiritual exploration. In fact, we place such value and emphasis on understanding each student through these many lenses that we use the term “Schechter experience” to describe our work and to transcend the notion that education is purely academic.

Sharon Greenholt, Director of Student Experience for Pre-Kindergarten-Grade 5, is in constant motion. She goes from morning drop-off at the curb to one classroom after another, from visiting tables in the lunchroom to helping students bundle up for outdoor recess, from conferencing with teachers to connecting with parents, from giving out endless high fives in the hallways to sitting on the floor “criss-cross applesauce” with students during Shabbat Shira singalongs, and she does all of that with a brisk cheerfulness

and her trademark undivided attention. Sharon quickly gets to the heart of what it means to know students and why Schechter is specially poised as a Jewish day school to do this work.

“Schools used to be institutions for establishing order and hierarchy,” Sharon says, “but they have shifted away from this concept of having students sit and be lectured. School is participatory and students have agency over their own learning and how they access curriculum.” She characterizes the Schechter Be’s as social/emotional values themselves, developed specifically to create a grand outline that buttresses and guides life at Schechter. “Our uniqueness comes through in our mission statement which refers to a climate for what we do,” Sharon adds.

At every grade level, faculty participate in weekly student experience meetings in which they talk through each student individually. This time is essential and is built into the master schedule to guarantee that teachers have a standing touchpoint each week. “We talk about each student’s pathway as a person and a learner. Might one teacher be observing particular behaviors,

So, how do we do it?

What we do is a team sport. sharOn greenhOlt, direC tOr Of s tudent e xperienCe fOr pre-Kindergarten— grade 5

and what can we put in place to support the student or might one teacher have noticed that a student needs enrichment or modifications or would benefit from a particular hevruta (partnership)? Collaboration among teachers is also social/emotional in nature, so we are all practicing and learning at the same time. What we do is a team sport.”

Sharon adds that as a Jewish day school, “all of this work is inseparable from the beautiful Jewish spiritual connection which interlocks with social/ emotional learning at a completely different level to support the academic piece. On Monday mornings, the entire Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 3 community comes together for Havdalah which launches our collective week from a place of being together.” Students and teachers sing and sway arm in arm before the fi rst bell rings. “When fi ft h-graders learn to lead tefi llot,” Sharon continues, “it is an individual goal for which they are responsible, but they belong to a larger group and their participation is essential to the group experience.” Havdalah and tefi llot are just two of many interactive “anchors” in the schedule that impart Jewish practice while also integrating the Schechter Be’s.

In a school with 430 students, there is an equal number of pathways. With her characteristic zeal and unconditionally accepting nature, Penina Magid, Director of Arts, Innovation and Enrichment, takes the concept of individuality one step further. Penina’s purview spans creative arts, electives, afterschool and enrichment, touching on the whole Schechter experience. The concept of choice underpins enrichment classes after school as students delve into chess, sports, robotics, arts, movement and other opportunities, but Penina points to a much more expansive view of self-expression from the moment the bell rings in the morning.

“We believe in exceptions at Schechter. There are schools in which they say, ‘We can’t do that. It would be an exception,’ but if there are 10 students, there are 10 different exceptions and there are 10 different things happening. At Schechter, we must know how every kid is an exception,” she says. She stresses that the toolbox of a master teacher must include the

ability to maintain the larger group structure in a classroom while understanding each student’s unique way of thinking, learning and creating.

Penina explains that “[t]eachers not only have to be flexible about each student’s pathway, but also pay close attention. It’s more than being supportive. It’s about understanding that a student doesn’t fit into a box.” Honoring each student’s singular way of creating and learning is the opposite of viewing adaptations from a deficit perspective, namely that a student needs help or lacks skill. Penina views skillbuilding as an essential pitstop along the way to self-expression, but the skill s themselves are not the ultimate goal, in and of themselves.

“Our work is to design and continually assess what skill s we offer everyone and what choices there are for kids who are interested and want to go further in a particular area. It is less important that theater happens after school than the fact that we are a school that offers theater,” Penina shares. A major contributor to students’ sense of belonging and inspiration is Schechter’s “no cuts” philosophy. Penina explains that “[w]e have music as part of everyone’s weekly schedule, and also regular, studio and jazz bands that are good for different levels. We don’t do cuts in music, sports or theater. If you want to be part of something, you can be. We’ll fi nd the correct level for you and give you the support you need, but you have a right to be here.” She continues noting, “There are expectations at different levels, but everyone belongs the way they are, at the level they are, doing what they enjoy. If you like playing music, there should be a place for you to play music that we offer in our school. If you like doing theater, there should be a place for you to do theater that is part of our school.”

The toolbox of a master teacher must include the ability to maintain the larger group structure in a classroom while understanding each student’s unique way of thinking, learning and creating.

penina magid, direCtOr Of arts, innOvatiOn and enriChment

The fi rst weeks of school and the fall, in general, are a time of beginning each year. Rabbi Ravid Tilles, Director of Jewish Life and Learning, points to the beautiful synergy between Judaism's ancient lunar calendar and the rhythms of a modern Jewish day school. “We think about the

midah (behavior; norm) of ‘seder,’ namely putting yourself in order in September and October which aligns with the month of Tishrei. We are preparing for the year ahead, so we reflect and identify the ways in which we want to put our best selves forward. We master our schedules, set goals for ourselves and adapt to classroom routines. Older students make sure they are set up on SchechterHub, for example, which is the portal for everything including assignments. As we get into winter, we focus on resilience when it’s frigid outside and dark at 4:00 in the afternoon. This idea of fortitude is central to the Hanukkah story.”

Much of this self-reflection and focus on preparedness is done through the student’s small group advisory and one-on-one monthly meetings between each student and advisor pair. Rabbi Tilles and colleague Millie Kateman, Director of Middle School Student Experience and Grade 6 Head Advisor and Math Teacher, are frequent thought partners and the main architects behind the Middle Division (Grades 6-8) havurah program. Each havurah functions as a

We need kids to get out of the car in the morning or get off the bus and say, ‘I’m here! I love this place!’

small group or “home base” for roughly a dozen grade-level peers who develop a close bond with their faculty advisor and each other.

Kateman,

As the Grade 6 Math Teacher, Millie teaches roughly 40 students each year, some of whom are abstract thinkers ready to engage in high school math while others need more concrete teacher support to move forward. “When I first started teaching, I would have said that my primary goal was to make sure students understood and could use the quadratic equation. That’s an important goal, but we also need kids to get out of the car in the morning or get off the bus and say, ‘I’m here! I love this place!’ I put myself on arrival duty every day because I want to see their faces before they walk in the building.”

Weekly meetings among the havurah leaders themselves serve as models for the student experience as faculty members participate in an open circle with prompts. “We know how it feels to sit in a circle and share, and what it should look like when we do it with students,” explains Millie. “Havurah is a highly intentional weekly

millie

direC tOr Of middle sChOOl s tudent e xperienCe and grade 6 head advisOr and m ath teaCher middle divisiOn students have regular One- OnOne CheCK-ins with their havurah advisOrs. phOtO: millie Kateman



period that gives students the space and time to be known and heard. It’s not a homeroom in which we have a fi xed agenda. It’s much more student-driven and organic than that. In order to create a system in which kids are really able to add their own voices and decide what they need socially and emotionally, it takes a lot of hard work by the teachers who are advisors. We build this conscious understanding that ‘I want to know you and I want you to know me, and I want to figure out how we can have this relationship so that, if there is a time that you need to talk to an adult, you have somebody.’”

Middle Division students have regular one-onone check-ins with their havurah advisor during which the conversation can flow from how a student is feeling about academic subjects to how to handle a bump in the road with a friend. Mill ie describes the unique view during these tête-àtêtes. “If you’re standing at one end of the hallway, you will see a teacher sitt ing outside a classroom and meeting with just one student. It’s neat and quite lovely to look all the way down the hall and see pair after pair.”

Colleague David Srebnick agrees. As the Grade 8 Head Advisor and Math Teacher, David says that the most important topic during faculty members’ weekly grade-level meetings is drill ing down into each student in the grade through different lenses. “It’s valuable because we get information about the students in different contexts every single week. I only see students in math, so it helps me understand someone better to learn how he or she is shining someplace else.”

David goes on to describe how teachers leverage small class sizes to benefit students. “There is time that I am spending teaching the whole class or starting the class off on something. Then, there’s time when they’re working individually and I walk around, checking in with each student. Sometimes the questions they ask are easy, but sometimes, I sit down and explain the problem in a different way. I can specifically ask, ‘Would a picture help? Show me where you’re stuck, so I can talk about it with you in a different way.’ This class is not about turning everyone into the proverbial rocket scientist. This class is about taking you from where you are, to some place where you know more.”

Establishing a sense of safety and belonging in the classroom is non-negotiable. “We celebrate mistakes,” explains David. “There is research that shows that your brain is most active when you’re doing math if you make a mistake. I tell the kids that if I give them math problems that they can do immediately, and they just ratt le off the answers, they have learned nothing. You can practice, you get better at something, but it’s only when I give you something you don’t immediately know how to do, that real learning takes place. In fact, when somebody points out a mistake on the board that I’ve made, that’s a compliment. It means they’re paying attention and engaged with the material.”

�� irky real life math conundrums and David’s legendary abstruse POTWs (Problems of the Week) are just the sort of demanding puzzles that regularly await students. He adapted Three Act Problems from a TED Talk by Dan Meyer, a well-known educator focused on reforming how students are taught to think about math. David lays out the approach. “ACT I is a teaser at the beginning that piques interest. Act II provides students with the information that they need to solve the problem. Ultimately, Act III is a short video that shows the solution to the problem. For example, in 2012, Apple was close to sell ing its bill ionth app, and the person who bought it would win a $10,000 gift card. How do you calculate when to buy if you want to win the prize? The kids never ask, ‘When am I going to use this?’ They work on the problem, come up with an answer and then I say, ‘Yeah…but which time zone?’ It’s a lot of fun and shows the kids that there are many ways to get a solution.”

When somebody points out a mistake on the board that I’ve made, that’s a compliment. It means they’re paying attention and engaged with the material.

david sreBniCK, grade 8 head advisOr and math teaCher

Long before students are talking to their havurah advisors about high school on the horizon, they are navigating preschool, kindergarten and the newness of school itself. In her role as Grade 1 General Studies Teacher, Marla �� inn’s time is split between her own class of 14 students and supervising faculty members as Team Lead for Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 1. Schechter’s unique organizational structure is designed to maximize direct engagement among supervisors

and faculty members. Instead of campus principals who typically oversee dozens of teachers while also scheduling fire drills, being available to parents, hiring faculty and managing day-to-day operations, Schechter deploys a system of distributed leadership. Team Leads supervise 10-12 faculty members which allows for ample time to observe, coach, brainstorm, meet one-on-one and in small groups every week.

Marla explains that “we are all responsible for each other’s students. In our meetings, we are very focused on children. Sometimes, we bring a case study to our groups in which we might conceptualize how to provide enrichment for a student in a way that another teacher could also use.” A throughline among faculty members in their work, is the importance of interacting with students in different contexts beyond the direct classroom in order to get to the heart and soul of what engages, inspires or stresses them. “I am in other teachers’ classrooms every day which means the kids see me as another adult who interacts with them and is responsible for them.”

In addition, the multiple What I Need (WIN) blocks each week provide grade-level faculty members the opportunity to mix their classes, regroup students from different sections for enrichment or remediation, and to create a variety of hevruta in which two students are paired with a text, problem or special project. Richly social/ emotional in nature, the uniquely Jewish concept of hevruta-style learning is infused throughout all subject areas at Schechter. Sharon Greenholt reflects on the key skills that develop from pairs of students’ having to rely respectfully and actively on a fellow classmate during hevruta learning. “Students must learn that we know who you are, but you are also part of a larger classroom in which you must all belong and engage with each other. How do you work with someone who has hearing differences or finds one subject easy or another hard?”

“We really ‘get’ every kid here as a whole child,” Marla adds. “I know who hates macaroni and cheese, who is excited to go to the library with their grandmother this weekend, whose confidence could use the boost of being line leader for the week and who should have math

enrichment during WIN Block.” If a student needs extra time to shore up early literacy skills or to join a book club of similar readers, WIN block is a consistent and flexible scheduling period during which they can meet with Schechter’s reading or support specialists. Likewise, students ready to leap into more complicated math or number concept theories meet with Schechter’s STEM educator, Claire Caine. For example, accelerated students in Grade 2 and 3 examined the Collatz Conjecture and coded solutions in Scratch to look for patterns in the results. WIN blocks are also dedicated to Hebrew language instruction allowing native speakers and Hebrew novices alike to be in highly tailored learning groups.

Schechter’s Pre-Kindergarten-Grade 3 Physical Education Teacher, James Wheeler, known as Coach James, recognizes that physical education class is an opportunity for social/emotional learning. He describes this time “[as] so much more than shooting hoops and playing dodgeball. It’s really important to me to facilitate an environment in which there is no stigma around failure. Kids must feel a rock-solid sense of support and safety to be able to be challenged and challenge themselves.” He jokingly characterizes students’ personalities as “dialed up to 11” during gym. “I get ‘all of them’ for the full 40 minutes which I love because it shows they’re comfortable in the environment and it helps me get to know them better, and it helps them get to know themselves better. Not only are we trying to work on tactical and technical skill development, but this is also a setting in which we practice our social and emotional skills. How do you be a good leader, how do you be a good teammate, how do we resolve conflict for ourselves, how do we celebrate, how do we encourage?”

Each person is equipped with a key value in the class whether it is being the most adept in a clutch game or the most supportive when a classmate needs consoling or cheering. Coach James views physical education as powerful preparation for knowing how to behave in a variety of settings and situations. “In no other lesson on a kid’s schedule are you going to get this real-time, organic mixing and learning how to integrate with people. Physical education lives in this unique social construct which I am

I am not coming to the class as if I know everything or I am smarter, but to teach them the things I already know and to help them to know it also. I look them in the eyes to see what is the best way for them to learn: alone, in hevruta, in a group, by reading, by writing, by playing some Hebrew games, computers?

g

ali OffenBaCher, grade 5 heBrew teaCher

super interested in and passionate about. One of the goals is to build skill s so that you're a better sibling at home, you’re a better friend in the classroom, and a better teammate for your club sport.”

The concept of creating a classroom community informs every aspect of Michelle Folickman’s approach as a Grade 4 General Studies Teacher, Learning Specialist and Grades 4-5 Community Coordinator. She uses the very visual and colorful metaphor of a house to describe how she teaches. “Every piece of content that I give my students is like a house with multiple different windows and doors. It is my job to know each student and make the content, or the house, as accessible to every single student as possible. Picture a boarded-up house and the content is on the top floor. I could just make one door and I could teach in one way. I could shove everybody through that door and hope for the best. Some would fall, some wouldn’t make it and some would get to the content on the top. Or, I can take a bunch of different shape cutters and make different doors and windows and ramps, fi refighter poles and rope ladders, and I can have many ways that they can get in. Which house is more engaging? The one with the single door or the one with the fi refighter pole and the heart-shaped window and the square-shaped door?”

Michelle and her colleague, Gali Offenbacher, Grade 5 Hebrew Teacher, emphasize to students that they do not know everything. Gali sees herself “םייניעה הבוגב (at eye level)” with her students. “I am not coming to the class as if I know everything or I am smarter, but to teach them the things I already know and to help them to know it also. I look them in the eyes to see what is the best way for them to learn: alone, in hevruta, in a group, by reading, by writing, by playing some Hebrew games, computers?”

Michelle agrees, adding that her goal is not to proffer “magical knowledge” that she possesses and simply imparts to the class.

A student’s pathway to the Schechter Be’s is not solely the goal of the teacher. To that end, Michelle stresses, “Most important to me is teaching the kids how to fi nd the rope ladder or slide down the fi repole or scooch up the ramp. I tell the kids all the time that not doing something is not an option. Doing it in a different way is an option and I am here to get to that place with them. I need my students to leave my classroom knowing themselves: how they learn best, what does and does not work. This is how they are prepared to be good self-advocates, so that they can enter the world as confident individuals able to be their best selves, get what they need without being afraid of challenges, and make a real, true difference.”

On the first day of school, Michelle Folickman introduces the concept of a classroom microsociety in which every person belongs and has a job that is necessary for the society to function. In a prominent place on the wall hangs the Midrash of a group of people who are traveling in a boat together when one person begins to drill a hole beneath himself. His companions immediately question his actions to which he responds, “What concern is it of yours? Am I not drilling under my own place?” The others in the boat exclaim,“But you will flood the boat for us all!”

Michelle’s voice fi ll s with ardor. “I tell my students that if you are sabotaging the boat, the rest of us are going down with you. You, as an individual, have an impact beyond yourself.” The duties of the classroom microsociety reinforce accountability while serving as a powerful representation of life beyond Schechter. Students quickly learn that belonging is a two-way street. “If you forget to do your Book Club reading,” says Michelle, “your whole group suffers. We talk a lot about our ripple effect on the classroom. After the fi rst round, kids might forget their own homework, but nobody forgets their Book Club assignment because the rest of their group is let down and they see that.”

As with any society, there are obligations and privileges. Each week, students write Smart Goals for themselves which they record in an old-fashioned paper checkbook register in order to earn the maximum weekly virtual “salary” of $100.00. Michelle asks herself how she can build

a ramp or pulley or rope ladder to help students reach a Smart Goal such as practicing math facts for 15 minutes every night. If students meet their goals four out of five days, they earn $80.00, but if students are earning $100.00 every week, then the Smart Goals are not appropriately challenging. Conversely, if a student gets below $80.00 on a specific goal, Michelle says, “then it’s a great idea to repeat that goal the next week because goals often require more than a week to accomplish.”

Students are responsible for paying $50.00 in virtual rent each week in order to utilize the resources of the classroom community which leaves a potential net of $50.00. Other expenses occur, however, such as a $10.00 charge for forgett ing class materials or a pencil. Michelle points out to her students that she cannot show up to work unprepared because she would be unable to perform well for them. Twice a year, comes the much-awaited Economy Day, an afternoon during which students can purchase special activities such as a craft project or playing an improv game with their savings.

“I don’t allow kids to tell me they forgot their homework because their parents didn't put it in their backpack. I will always help them to reframe it. Maybe you fi nished your homework and left it on the dinner table. Your parents are not in this classroom, so whose responsibility is it? It’s really fun to watch their att itude shift. After a few weeks, the kids will say, ‘Michelle, I forgot to do X and my plan is Y.’ As we create the next generation of leaders, our kids need to understand that they’re not just at school because it’s babysitt ing and their parents send them here. They must engage with their own learning and responsibilities.”

In the Early Childhood Program, Gan Shelanu, the concept of a classroom community naturally includes the teachers and faculty, but also the parents in a more immediate way as some of the students are too young even to speak. We often say that we “do life together” at Schechter for, after all, choosing a school for a student means choosing a school community, and even more specifically, a Jewish community, for the whole family. Director Debbie Moukit explains that Hebrew and the Jewish calendar overall ground the curriculum as well as the preschool’s social fabric, with many

opportunities for families to connect through holiday programs at school or through the Parent Association.

“We have so many Israeli families, some of whom have just arrived here,” she says. “The students are immersed in a Hebrew language experience every day, many of our teachers are native speakers and the parents often gather after drop-off which means that this has really become a home for them. The shared language of Hebrew and the rhythms of the Jewish year have made it easier for us to know these very young students and their families.” Opportunities such as Havdalah, special Shabbat and other holiday celebrations are especially helpful in bringing Israeli families into the Schechter fold while reinforcing a sense of belonging.

When we talk about Jewish identity at Schechter, we transpose the question into a play on words that best describes our approach and our championing of individual inspiration, engagement and meaning: it is not how Jewish are you, but how are you Jewish? Rabbi Ravid Tilles is proud of the evolution of tefi llot and Jewish student life at Schechter. “We work very hard to make sure kids have a sense of the matbe’ah tefi llah which probably translates best as the ‘mold,’ basically core tefi llah. Our ultimate goal is that kids be prepared to participate in any synagogue in the world, while making sure that their prayer experience at Schechter celebrates self-expression.”

Pantomimes, hand motions and special choreography during tefi llah have caught on among the students. Each grade, in essence, develops a specific, trademarked experience together that is blended with core tefi llot. “There is incredible creativity and joy, but the kids are also laser-focused on traditional davening when they should be. On Friday mornings during Ruach Minyan for Grades 4-8, Rabbi Tilles beams when he describes the kids. “I believe you can only begin to get creative in prayer when you not only have the core of the matbe’ah tefi llah, but also

I believe you can only begin to get creative in prayer when you not only have the core of the matbe’ah tefillah, but also have a rooted sense of belonging in your own prayer community.

have a rooted sense of belonging in your own prayer community.”

When Rabbi Tilles recounts his daily, innumerable conversations with students, he describes the content as elucidating without being outright direct. He has a fondness for the sometimes roundabout way in which students approach him. “Never does a kid come up to me and say, ‘Can we talk Jewish life? Can we talk Jewish identity?’ Instead,” Rabbi Tilles says, “kids’ eyes light up at different moments or during different lessons. They might ask questions with a particular tone. Sometimes the tone is genuine curiosity, sometimes the tone is cynicism. Sometimes, the tone is, ‘I really want to do this the right way.’ Kids don’t generally say, ‘Rabbi Tilles, do you really think that because I'm trying to figure out what I think.’ They give me one sentence and it tells me a whole story.”

Like her colleagues, Rabbi Rebecca Weinstein, Mashgicha Ruchanit, is eager for students to engage in Jewish life on their own terms. “Teaching at Schechter is not about indoctrinating our children with Jewish tenets. As a rabbi and as an educator, I think about which texts resonate with our students in different ways. Halakhah has become synonymous with ‘law,’ but it really means ‘path’ or ‘way.’ I’m not a GPS or Google Maps who says, ‘This is what the text says. Go in that direction. Do this with the text.’ I am a guide who can help students decode the text and make

informed choices so they can have conversations with their peers or faculty or parents.”

Rabbi Rebecca, as she is known at school, views relationship-building as truly pastoral. “It is my job to understand that each child’s pathway is going to be a little different and to know each child deeply and meaningfully, so I can help them think through their journey.” She is clear that if she does not take the time to connect with students on a social/emotional level, she will fall short on academic and spiritual levels. Grit, a healthy dose of sticktoititveness and a visceral sense of trust are the essential underpinnings of studying texts in Hebrew and Aramaic, as well as pondering Jewish identity. Rabbi Rebecca views the Schechter Be’s as essential for puzzling through hard work and big topics. She notes that “because we have built, and constantly reinforce, an atmosphere of safety and belonging, and because we really get to know each other, students have a natural willingness to ask for help and accept challenges or express themselves Jewishly.”

One way Rabbi Rebecca inspires honesty in her students is by modeling openness and transparency herself. “Yes, I’m a rabbi and I love tefillah, but it is important to show kids that, even as a rabbi, I can have a hard time engaging with prayer. Maybe I’m distracted or sleep-deprived.” When Rabbi Rebecca’s students make the con-

continued on page 39

hand mOtiOns and speCial ChOreOgraphy during tefillah

r aBBi r avid tilles, direC tOr Of jewish life and learning

Looking Forward...

Introducing Shirah Rosin Development and Engagement Manager

Schechter is delighted to announce the creation of a new position focused on both grassroots and high-level engagement throughout our entire Schechter community.

As a parent of three current students and a longtime professional and volunteer in Jewish communal work, this D.C. native brings a deep love of Schechter and rich experience in community organizing to her new role. Shirah’s background touches on many aspects of the enhanced focus that Schechter is placing on alumni and communal engagement. She recently shared some of the philosophies, planning and big dreams that will inform this reimagined position.

What are some of the highlights of your work prior to this?

My first job out of college was as a Hillel Jewish Campus Service Corps Fellow at the University of Washington. There I worked on community engagement and program development to create dynamic Jewish experiences for undergraduate students. After two years in Seattle, I studied at Pardes and volunteered with troubled teens and homeless youth in Jerusalem. Next, I did a stint at Nesiya, an Israel summer educational experience that brings together American and Israeli teens from across different economic, cultural and religious backgrounds.

What is your philosophy of community engagement? How do you see community as critical to a thriving school?

I see engagement as the core of building a strong and dynamic community, and I believe the foundation of that is having people who are invested. The Schechter orbit is so rich.

Both the people at school every day and those who are beyond our walls have an impact on Schechter. This engagement work is very much in line with our goal to continue to be inspired by Jewish life and learning; to make meaningful connections; to tap into the creativity of the community in creating opportunities; and to know what people want, in general, and from Schechter.

How does Schechter fit into people’s lives beyond the school day?

There is this idea of a “third place.” You have your home, your work, and you have this third place. For a lot of people, Schechter is a third place, a center for community. I want to think about how Schechter can continue to be a third place for people even after graduation, throughout their lives.

Our goal is to keep people plugged in. For example, Schechter can be a resource for alumni settling into college or returning to Boston. There are grandparents who are relocating to the area and are looking to build community on the local level, and we have grandparents all over the world. They need opportunities to connect so that when they talk about their grandchildren’s experiences, they are able to feel as if they are part of the school themselves.

We are at an exciting point in the development of this idea and working towards making this goal a reality. Schechter is a place and a community, but it is also this really important educational moment. It’s a feeling that stays with people as they move on through life. As people continue to move

beyond the Schechter years, they can use the school to access other educational or social opportunities.

How has community engagement changed and where do you see new potential for growth?

Engagement is not just about programs. It might be phone calls or volunteering or getting together. Some people want professional opportunities. Other people have this warm, fuzzy feeling about Schechter and might want to connect with people who remember the building or had the same teachers even if they’re in another city across the country. We want to help people expand their Schechter network.

There are several grandparents who recently started hanging out with each other and going to museums together. They did not even know each other before, but their mutual connection to Schechter laid the groundwork for a new friendship. Another example is that the library space is available on Mondays and Fridays at the Lower School. Could there be a Mah Jongg group that meets there? We can offer the space—in other words, be the third place—for people to come and get to know each other.

This January, we are kicking off a partnership with OneTable, a great platform that helps people find Shabbat dinners in their area. The idea is bringing people together around the table to have a shared experience. Scehchter is the baseline connector that everyone shares. We hope these dinners will become an annual event paving the way for local connections.

How do you envision partnering with other groups as thought partners around Jewish life and culture?

My dream is that Schechter partners with other institutions in the area for opportunities in which we are opening ourselves up as a service to the entire Boston Jewish community. It might be a talk or panel discussion that is really intriguing. It would be fantastic if one of the speakers has some affiliation with Schechter, but it doesn’t have to be the case, and the content does not have to be Schechter-based. When people see us in partnership with another organization, our goal is for them to feel as if it is high quality and something that they want to participate in.

What are the goals for this school year?

This is a learning year to find out what people want and how we can be a resource to them, no matter where they are on their Schechter journey. Current students, alumni who are college age, alumni who are 21+ but do not have kids, prospective parents, young parents, those who are older and want to connect if they do not fit into those other buckets. If people are looking for something in their lives, how can Schechter be there for them? We were committed to people when they were here, and we are still invested. We want them to know they are valued members of the community for a lifetime.

How about a coffee, a phone call or a meet-up over Zoom with Shirah! Have an idea for a program? Want to host a get-together in your city? Interested in being a thought partner?

Please email her at shirah.rosin@ssdsboston.org

The things you know and love about Schechter are still here, but there are so many changes.

Email info@ssdsboston.org to schedule a visit!

...Looking Back

Is this you back in the day? Anyone you recognize? Let us know!

Do you have time to look through old photos?

Come help us with the mixed blessing of having numerous boxes and photo albums filled with unlabeled photographic treasures and sentimental memorabilia.

We’ll provide the snacks and a comfy place to sit back while you pore through black and white snapshots, class photos

and candids from milestones. You’ll probably have a few laughs and might even get a little misty. This is the first step in creating a digital Schechter archive that will catalog six decades of the Schechter experience.

To sign up, please scan this code or visit ssdsboston.org/archive. Thank you!

The Good Word

an interview with:

Emily

Jaeger ’03

Ask Emily Jaeger, When did you realize you wanted to be a writer? and she responds with a recollection from her childhood. “I have been a writer since before I could even write. When I was two, I would sit with my Abah at the computer and I would tell him, ‘This is a poem!’ and he would transcribe what I said. I don’t even know how I knew what a poem was.”

All these years later, Emily’s preternatural ability to render everyday life in a poem or to find a story in need of telling, or retelling, has remained a powerful constant and a deeply rooted calling. Emily indeed works as a fulltime professional writer whose sprawling oeuvre ranges from poems to opinion pieces, newspaper articles and content writing to social commentary and letters to the editor, on top of which she tutors and teaches writing classes.

Even when Emily has not worked expressly as a writer, putting pen to paper professionally and personally has risen to the fore. “I was afraid that I could not figure out how to make writing a career. There were definitely moments when I would try to step away from it, to try to find something else that would make more sense, but, ultimately, nothing else makes more sense. A lot of writers to whom I speak say, ‘This is the only thing I can do.’ I would say, ‘I can do a lot of things, so maybe I should try those first, but writing always pulled me back.’”

From the start, Emily loved Jewish Studies at school. “The creativity was really happening in Judaic Studies. The curriculum had to be invented, so there was a lot of warmth, nurture and cultural sharing, and all that stuff that I love.” She laughs when she recounts lugging her beloved BDB (Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament by Brown, Driver and Briggs) from Gann Academy to Brandeis University in her freshman crate of books. “Clearly that was where I should be if I had my BDB with me in a forced triple!” At Brandeis, she majored in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies which she describes as “the archaeology of language.” Emily adds that it “[w]as a type of writing from a different perspective.” Unsurprisingly, she eventually gravitated towards creative writing courses, tacking on a minor in Creative Writing as well.

Following graduation, Emily found herself underwhelmed by job opportunities in the humanities, and opted for two years in the Peace Corps. While traveling and working in Paraguay, she was writing every day, and began to envision writing more seriously. “It’s an important part of who I am, what I want to do. After the Peace Corps, I got my M.A. in Fine Arts at the University of Massachusetts Boston and immediately began a fellowship at Colgate University teaching poetry.”

Without the backing of an academic position, however, Emily found the challenge of being a full-time, financially solvent writer to be

unsettling, yet working as a freelance writer tempted and gnawed at her. “I knew a freelance writer who was a good friend and a cantorial soloist at my wife’s last pulpit, and she offered to help me. I was interested in getting paid to write, but it just seemed so risky without a full-time contract. I couldn’t fathom how it would work.” At the time, Emily was steadily submitting poems to magazines, but the staggering rejection rate was unbearable. “To get a poem into a magazine takes months, even a year. At my best submission rate, I would get one of 20 pieces accepted and not get paid for it. So, I stepped back a little bit. I had written a book and it got finalist five or six times from different presses out of thousands of entries, which is almost more painful. Close but not quite. I was hitting a wall and it was hurting me. I had to find a different way in.”

The “way in” revealed itself somewhat perversely amidst the mix of teaching virtually during COVID, a hard drive crash that destroyed all of Emily’s curricula, and the fragile balance of new motherhood, childcare woes and a need for more flexibility.

Emily and her wife, Rabbi Chaya Bender, welcomed their daughter, Shlomtzion Miryam Dvora—Shlomi for short—in March 2021. “I was teaching remotely. Shlomi would get sick or the babysitter would get sick, and I would be scrambling to figure out how to teach my classes on time. I wasn’t super happy. So, I thought, maybe if I try freelance

writing, I’ll have more flexibility.” Emily was further intrigued by the opportunity to voice some of her opinions about parenting. “Shlomi is very inspiring!” she laughs.

The first month exclusively freelancing, Emily oscillated between terror and excitement. “As an LGBTQ parent, having a child is a very intentional process. As a fallible human being and first-time mom, it is very important for me to be the best I can be for Shlomi, since I chose to bring her into this world. The risk and stress of taking a career leap was more intense having a child and feeling fiscally responsible for her. I am so aware that who I am—my emotional state, my career and motherhood choices—all have a great deal of effect on her. Who did I want to be in her eyes? I realized that I didn't want to be a person who loved writing, but gave up on it. I didn't want to be bitter around her. I needed to take the leap, scary as it was, to become a person she would want to be around and grow up with. I also want her to learn from my example about cherishing and realizing dreams.”

By February 2022, Emily was authoring articles about important, timely subjects, pitching the pieces and getting a lot of acceptances. She explains that editors have “[huge] stacks of articles and basically have to figure out if you’ve landed on the right flavor, but they’re not coming up with story ideas.” Emily was producing and being paid at a clip more akin to writers who had been  emily

with her daughter, shlOmi, and their mastiff-rOttweiler mix, isaiah

A lot of writers say, ‘This is the only thing I can do.’ I would say, I can do a lot of things, so maybe I should try those fi rst, but writing always pulled me back.

phOtO: meredith andrews

freelancing for years. She quickly got to a desirable, and financially sustainable, sweet spot. “I could show my expertise with clips that I had written and just pitch a paragraph for each story. When you do that, if the editor doesn’t want it, you don’t write it. If it gets accepted, you have to figure out how to write it.”

Emily’s career pivot to freelance writing, once as fraught as it was exhilarating, has proven to be the perfect admixture. Regular clients such as Cardinal & Pine, the North Carolina branch of News Courier and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency look to Emily for local and Jewish arts and culture pieces, respectively. She has other clients who turn to her for content creation for podcasts or rebranding. Five of Emily’s regulars are professionals with learning differences. “I help them get the brilliance on the page,” she says of her work with them. She also partners with a number of rabbis throughout the year or for High Holidays speeches, specifically. All the while, Emily conducts interviews and continues to keep her eyes and ears open to stay on top of trending topics and human interest stories to determine if she has her own “take.”

Though the core of journalistic writing is unbiased reporting, Emily inverts the medium, using it as a type of activism to tell stories that are normally overlooked. During the summer, she penned a quirky piece, best described as cultural travel, on the graveyards of North Carolina. “It was important to me to research diverse graveyards and talk about what it means to be a North Carolinian beyond the Confederate or Civil War or Revolutionary War.” Emily’s original inspiration was the 19th-century Jewish graveyard at the Bnai Israel Congregation in Wilmington where Chaya is the rabbi, but she expanded her research to include Scottish, Black and First Nation graveyards, many of the latter having been forgotten, overgrown or hidden and devalued in some way. “To write for News Courier, a mainstream place, and use it as a vehicle to talk about the story of people or groups of people who might have been discounted or not even thought about in North Carolina is exactly

how I reconcile my activism with journalism. I am honest and unbiased, but I choose to put stories like that front and center.”

Likewise, Emily recently shined a spotlight on the Gullah Geechee community who are the descendants of West and Central Africans who were enslaved and brought to North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Georgia to work on rice, cotton and indigo plantations. Emily explains, “During the 1700s, European colonists wanted to cultivate rice in this area, but they didn’t know how to do it, so their solution was to kidnap and steal people and their labor. European colonists brought people over who were technologically advanced rice farmers and forced them to make the foundation of the economy here. Working here required specific skill and the region is also somewhat isolated, so the Gullah Geechee maintained their own culture.” In 2006, the United States government recognized the Gullah Geechee Heritage Quarter that runs from Jacksonville, North Carolina to Jacksonville, Florida.

weekly newsletter, The Shavuon.” Emily was outraged. “This was before I was fully conscious of my own sexuality or even ‘out’ to myself,” she says. “It brought me back to Pirkei Avot and what Judaism has to say about human dignity which is something we had learned about at Schechter. Mr. ZarKessler wasn’t making a political statement. He was treating human beings with respect and that is a Jewish value that is as important as anything else.”

At just 14 years old, Emily sent a rebuttal to the newspaper. “The idea that I had something important to say, a unique perspective, and that I had the ability to mobilize any talent of mine to make my teachers’ lives better meant a lot to me and to them. I think it was very powerful to be able to use my writing for that.”

When Emily talks about writing, she is really referring to a throughline in her life. “The words are always there,” she says. Words are a reservoir for her that is filled with equal

“I am writing an article about what North Carolinians are doing to preserve Gullah Geechee sites and how they try to fund these projects. It’s interesting in the face of all these plantations and mansions that have federal funding. The Gullah Geechee perspective is important. The people who are trying to bring these sites to life are not historians or archaeologists, but just local people who feel a calling to do this.” These are hardly the first examples, though, of Emily’s using her eloquent voice to speak up about a weighty issue.

Emily thinks back to her freshman year at Gann Academy. “It was around the time that same-sex marriage was legalized in Massachusetts. Two of my previous Schechter teachers got married to their partners. My family had a subscription to a local newspaper, and I read a letter to the editor that criticized our Head of School at the time, Arnold Zar-Kessler, for publicly congratulating these teachers in Schechter’s

parts artistry, advocacy, profession, and, of course, love. “When I was in eighth grade, everyone would always be bugging Ruti Peled, our Hebrew teacher: ‘When are we having the vocab test?! When’s the vocab test going to be?!’ Ruti would smile and answer in her thick Israeli accent, ‘Every day is a test.’” With fondness and appreciation, Emily looks back and says, “She was being playful with us, but I always take that with me. As a journalist, it means not falling asleep at different moments of your life.”

In the end, being a writer is as much about technical skill as it is about recognizing moments, large and small, whose stories must be told. Emily isn’t missing a thing.

The words are always there.

Character Development

an interview with:

Lee Eisenberg ’91

How did Lee Eisenberg get his start in Hollywood? It’s right out of a movie and it goes like this:

When Lee was an undergraduate at Connecticut College, he knew a guy who moved out to Los Angeles to become a writer. Lee had never heard of anyone attempting that as a career. After graduation, he was unsure of what he wanted to do, so he decided that he would try to go down that road. In 2000, Lee was living in Los Angeles, unemployed and bouncing among temp jobs.

He gets a call from his former babysitter in Needham.

Former babysitter: I’m working on a movie and they need another production assistant. It’s just for two weeks. Are you interested?

Lee: Yeah! What do I need to do?

Former babysitter: They’re going to call you in five minutes.

Five minutes go by. Lee gets a call.

Someone from the studio: Do you have a car? Do you have insurance?

Lee:

Yes, yes.

Someone from the studio: Great. When can you come by?

Lee: Later today.

Someone from the studio: Come in a half hour.

Lee drove to the office and the two-week temp job turned to a four-month gig. The movie, Bedazzled, starring Brendan Fraser and Elizabeth Hurley, led to an initial “in” at HBO and the first optimistic inkling that Lee might make a go of it.

“I really wanted to be a writer,” recalls Lee. “I had been writing TV show samples, hoping someone would read them and realize what a genius I am, but it wasn’t happening. For years, I was fetching people coffee, picking up people’s prescriptions, and helping people move. I was really just doing a lot of grunt work. Then, finally, I started getting a little bit of traction. My first success came when I was hired on a show called JAG which was a military/courtroom drama.” The position turned out to be short lived which Lee describes as “devastating” after years of waiting for a true breakthrough position. Over the next several years, other jobs began to materialize giving Lee connections and accomplishments on which to build.

Lee’s story is quite different today. The catalog of his achievements, awards, movies, TV shows, podcasts and plans is as remarkable as it is eclectic. Lee shares, “I like to have a lot of plates spinning and have my hands in a bunch of different projects at once.” Lee founded his most recent company, Piece of Work Entertainment, in 2019. The team currently consists of a development executive, an assistant and Lee himself. “We’re always kicking around ideas and sharing articles with one another. We have big ideas and lots of projects under development. The more successful I’ve become,” he adds, “the more people come to

me with things. Our development executive is always reading like crazy. We look at books, magazine articles, podcasts.”

At the moment, Lee is knee deep in “a mixed bag” of multiple productions ranging from an imaginative account of Harry Houdini’s life replete with time travel, a fictional piece on Martha Stewart and an unconventional romance story about a man who opts for single fatherhood in his late forties. “I definitely do a lot of producing, whether it’s my own projects or other people’s,” Lee says. “I just love sitting in the room with other creative people, throwing around ideas and stories, making each other laugh, telling incredibly personal stories from our past and seeing how that might resonate with what we’re working on. My favorite thing is to brainstorm with writers and creatives, just trying to come up with something.”

First and foremost, though, Lee considers himself a writer. As a child, Lee wrote a lot of short stories. His parents saved much of his writing from Schechter. “I had something of an imagination. I was obsessed with TV and movies growing up. I did sports and all sorts of things, but I loved getting taken away and being transported to another world. As a kid, I didn’t even know that was an option as a career. I obviously understood that there were writers and there were actors. But, it seemed so abstract coming from Needham.”

This sense of spending time with an intriguing character or being whisked away someplace still drives Lee’s decision-making in choosing projects. He served as a cowriter and showrunner for Little America, a widely lauded Apple TV+ series highlighting the American immigrant experience in 30-minute-long segments that depict and humanize the unique lives of eight individual newcomers from different countries. As the showrunner, Lee was the lynchpin of the series, responsible for the management and creative content. “I just want to feel as if I live with someone for a while,” Lee shares.

Lee is focused on another new project for Apple TV+ based on the best-selling book Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. The

I just loved my teachers so much. I think the education at Schechter is unparalleled. It wasn’t until I came out to L.A. that I met as many smart, kind people who had such varied interests as I met at Schechter.

eponymous show starring Oscar-winner Brie Larson focuses on a female chemist in the 1950s and 1960s who starts a cooking show on television. “She is not taken seriously as a chemist because of misogyny and sexism, so this is the only way she is able to make money,” Lee explains. “The book has fantastic structure and charmed me all the way through. It’s a really fascinating story.” While Lee finds it compelling to tackle weighty topics, he resists restricting himself to a singular genre or type of writing and consistently turns to character as the main motivator in choosing and developing projects.

Lee spent five years as writer and co-executive producer of the beloved, award-winning series The Office which he labels “[one] of the greatest jobs ever, truly.” Along with four nominations for his work on the famed mockumentary, he popped up in two episodes as a mustached employee from the fictional Vance Refrigeration. Lee sheds light on the comic process, offering that there is always uncertainty in formulating jokes and crafting dialogue. “Sometimes, we would be stuck on a line or a short scene that would be 30 seconds on camera, but we would spend three hours on it,” Lee recalls, “You parse and debate every word and just try to figure it out. What if they did this? And what if they said that? And are we looking at it the right way? I’ve seen this joke before, so how do we make it fresh? The only way I know how to write, and how to rewrite, just takes hours. You might not always even get that affirmation that what you wrote was terrible or obvious or didn’t make sense.”

Devoted to a dynamic and symbiotic style of working and writing, Lee offers, “I am not precious with my words. I feel as if the best idea will win. Ten smart people can read my script, and I might like the line from you, and I might like something from this person, and that person came up with a title. I have no problem taking all of those ideas, even if they’re not mine, and I think that’s what it means to be a good writer or producer.” Lee stresses that writing for television requires a particularly collaborative approach. “The notion that you would do it all on your own

and that your idea is going to be the best every time is funny to me.”

Following The Office, Lee and his writing partner, Gene Stupnitsky, penned Bad Teacher, starring Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz, and next the coming-of-age rom-com Good Boys, both of which generated positive reviews and hardy financial revenue. Topping off these successes at the cinema, the prolific duo was churning out rewrites for studios, selling jokes to Larry David for Curb Your Enthusiasm and remaining heavily rooted in comedy.

Lee soon felt confident enough about his writing to jump in a different direction. “I love comedy and I will do another one,” reflects Lee, “but it’s really about what ideas are grabbing me. Sometimes, the only way to move out of a box is to tell people you’re no longer in a box and prove it a little bit. I’m challenging myself as a writer, and I also think that the comedy landscape has evolved a little bit. They are incredibly hard to pull off well. I don’t think anyone who worked with me on The Office assumed that I would do a business story like We Crashed, which starred Anne Hathaway and Jared Leto.” He continues, noting that the tone of Little America is a departure from his earlier work while Lessons in Chemistry has some melancholy to it. “I just want to make people feel and I think there are different ways of doing that. There’s nothing more fun than being in an audience and seeing people laugh at your jokes. I have been fortunate enough to have that happen. Then, watching We Crashed with my wife, Emily Jane Fox, who is the smartest person I know, and watching her get choked up about a scene is also very powerful to me.”

When Lee considers the relationship between comedy and Jewishness, he suggests that comedy can be a coping mechanism. “Jews are survivors. One way to survive is to joke about your situation, to be sarcastic.” He observes that comedy is also a great unifier. “Once you laugh with someone, you create an immediate connection. Sharing the same political view or beliefs might not endear you to someone in the same way as

laughter does. You connect with people to entertain them and one way to do that is to make them laugh.”

True to both Lee’s gregariousness and his proclivity towards understanding someone’s character, he feels that “[he] can almost sense someone’s Jewishness based on the comedy they respond to.” He adds, “When we were growing up, so many of the comedians and the directors, and the writers were Jewish. Hollywood has such a strong Jewish presence that it really kind of shaped and molded how Jews think about the world.”

In fact, Lee often looks back at those youthful papers his parents tucked away from his days at Schechter when he was learning to express his thoughts and opinions, and writing to figure out the larger world. “I definitely excelled more in English and writing than other things.” Lee’s parents, Ronni and Amos Eisenberg, recall two of Lee’s Language Arts teachers, Donna Cover and Eileen Samuels. “Lee was always writing,” says Ronni. “These fabulous Schechter teachers were so inspirational. They forged a bond with Lee and were instrumental in his writing and future.” Ronni adds that they were initially drawn to Schechter because of Hebrew and the Jewish education, and were one of just two Needham families in the school when Lee started kindergarten.

Lee’s voice has a wistfulness and a smile in it when he characterizes the other students at Schechter as meaning “everything” to him. He remains tightly connected to many of his classmates, some of whom he has known for 40 years. “I also just loved my teachers so much. I think the education at Schechter is unparalleled. It wasn’t until I came out to L.A. that I met as many smart, kind people who had such varied interests as I met at Schechter, not through high school or even college.” That’s more than a light-hearted compliment coming from a prolific visionary himself who has achieved extraordinary success in one of the most flat-out imaginative, creative, competitive businesses in the world.

An American Jewish Story

a n interview with:

Elan Babchuck

’96

Rabbi Elan Babchuck’s life is a quintessential American Jewish story, and he himself is a champion and student of the American Jewish story. His tale is no more linear than that of American Jewry, both having both been shaped by history, unexpected twists, and a revolutionary embrace of where we stand now—and where we might be headed —as a people. Elan embraces a far more sanguine, promising assessment of American Jewish life than many pundits seem to suggest. As a rabbi, Executive Vice President of Clal, founder of the Glean Network, a lifelong entrepreneur and, quite simply, a pioneering thinker, he proffers a new vision of opportunity rather than loss, imagination rather than gatekeeping, unparalleled growth rather than decline. This is where tradition meets innovation and where Elan’s view of Judaism as “a wisdom technology for human flourishing” might just be the future.

Elan tells the story of how he came to be a rabbi.

“When my father passed away, it was eight years since I had finished Schechter. He had been sick for five years, but there had always been the hope that he might get better. I was at a crossroads in life. I had just decided to heed his wise counsel to sell my painting company that I had been running for a few years. I was 21, I was about to finish college and I couldn’t imagine how to move forward, both from my grief and because I hadn’t yet figured out what my purpose was. I had no idea where my next steps would take me.”

Elan continues, “We sat shiva and, right from the start, Schechter classmates I hadn’t talked to in eight years showed up. People from throughout the community came to visit, others picked up the phone, and countless teachers came to pray

I’m nostalgic for the future.

with us and share stories about my dad. I remember feeling so enveloped by this loving community. They made me feel like the center of a world, but part of a much bigger one, too. That experience brought back so many memories of Schechter because it’s what these people did throughout my nine years there. That’s when I looked around the room and had the first inkling that maybe being a community builder like this is exactly what I wanted to do. I will always be grateful because this should have been the lowest point of my life, but I felt completely uplifted by the Schechter community and the stories they told about my dad such as the little kindnesses he did for them that he never told anyone about. I will never forget it.”

Talking to Elan today means understanding how he sees the interplay between the past, the present and the future. After four years as a pulpit rabbi at Temple Emanu-El in

Providence, Rhode Island, he segued into his current work at Clal, the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, where he works to reimagine Jewish life. “There’s a phrase I’ve been playing with a little bit: ‘I’m nostalgic for the future.’ Nostalgia is about yearning for a homecoming. It’s a homesickness, usually about something in our memory,” Elan says. While this concept may seem contradictory at first, Elan’s description of “future nostalgia” actually represents an alluring glimpse into his work at Clal, a Jewish think tank focused on training emerging leaders in pluralism and innovation, and where “making Jewish a public good” is their North Star. Elan speaks in bold, impassioned tones about expanding our moral horizons, and creating “[a] new home that we can build in the future,” while cautioning that it might not resemble the past. “And that’s OK,” he is quick to reassure.

Clal was launched in 1974 following a tumultuous fissure among many of the greatest rabbis, thought leaders and philanthropists in American Jewish life who diverged in their assessments of troubling trends. The lightning pace of building synagogues in the suburbs, launching day schools and creating Jewish institutions had, perversely, led to denominations becoming “more siloed, less trustful of one another and less collaborative,” Elan explains. Clal’s founding members ascribed to the thesis that there have been three eras in Jewish life. “The first was Biblical Judaism which was temple-based and led by priests, from whom my maternal lineage descends. Next came the rabbinic era that began with the writing of the Mishnah 1,700 years ago and has lasted all the way through the 1970s. This third, emerging era is signified by a call for reimagining Jewish life, thought, and practice

in the face of shifting Jewish consciousness and a need for greater dialogue across internal borders.”

Elan unpacks this last sweeping period and the seismic changes it brought. “All the things we do now were established during those 1,700 years because everything we did prior to that is gone. We don’t sacrifice goats at a temple, and priests don’t run the services anymore, for example. We have completely redesigned how to shape the lives and character of children. We built incredible institutions, conceived profound Jewish thoughts and adopted life-changing practices. These are the bells and whistles that we know of as Jewish life today, but just as significant shifts in the first century forced Jewish leaders to reimagine Jewish life, we are called to do so today in the 21st century.”

Elan considers Clal’s trailblazing philosophy as relevant now as when it was founded. “We are just as much in that tectonic shift in the landscape of American Judaism. This is a similar moment of unease, discomfort

and anxiety, but just as much a moment of opportunity. Every generation of American Jews sees itself as the ‘last generation,’” he observes. While Elan is not shuttering himself off from statistics and acknowledges that “[t]here is more than a handful of reasons to worry about the global rise in antisemitism or that we’re cannibalizing ourselves or assimilating too much,” he pushes back against complete pessimism. “We need to stay at the cutting edge of our own thinking around pluralism, innovation in Jewish life, and shifts in American Jewish sociology.”

The role of the rabbi vis-à-vis the Jewish community has also evolved alongside the many sea changes in Jewish life. Elan offers the story of his mother’s lineage. “I come from four generations of chief Sephardic rabbis in Tiberias who were also Kohanim of Jewish priesthood lineage. My grandfather’s role as rabbi was to know everybody in the community, to go door to door, to collect and distribute funds, to put the chicken in the pot as it were, and to make sure that everybody’s needs were met. It wasn't only about being

the religious leader. It was about building a community and infrastructure from the ground up, then serving to make connections across those communal bounds.”

This storied rabbinical lineage technically ended with Elan’s grandmother who was the youngest of 10 daughters, yet Elan believes it lived on in an alternate form. “My grandmother became a social worker and basically did exactly what her father did as a rabbi, but in different ways.” He marvels that in just one generation because of the total coincidence of 10 daughters, “the world of rabbis both changed radically and remained exactly the same.” He finds a parallel today. “There are rabbis coming out of rabbinical school who are going to do work that is completely different from when I was ordained 10 years ago, and that’s because the world is changing. While the tools we use might be different, the need for curious, courageous, compassionate leadership in any given community, in any given era, is constant.”

I gave them an option: ‘I can teach you a theory about building concentric circles in communities or I can teach you a piece of Talmud that’s changed my life.’ Every single one of them said, ‘I want Talmud!’ I was standing in front of a room of about 100 folks, who were almost exclusively Christian clergy.

Only a week apart in the spring 2012, Elan was ordained as a rabbi and earned his MBA. He and his wife, Lizzie, also welcomed their first child Micah, named after Elan’s father Michael, who was later followed by daughters Nessa and Ayla. While his two courses of study—rabbinics and business— were worlds apart, Elan describes them as being “ in dialogue” for as long as he can recall. He allows, of course, that the notion of applying innovation techniques to Jewish life can feel threatening to traditionalists, while innovators, for their part, see tradition as holding back progress. “The truth,” says Elan, “is that innovation and tradition are actually two sides of the same coin. To quote my beloved teacher Rabbi Irwin Kula: ‘Every innovation in Jewish life is just a tradition that hasn’t made it yet, and every tradition is an innovation that made it.’ Think of the most ‘traditional’ Jewish experience you can—be it Yom Kippur, Passover, challah on Shabbat—every one of those was at one point in time an innovative, new idea. It just turns out that they stuck around for long enough to be embraced as ‘traditions.’”

Part of Elan’s work is to flip the calculus that American Jewish life is crumbling or that innovation will ultimately yield a form of Judaism that is foreign. “There are going to be many ‘Judaisms’ that evolve over time, just as there have been over the last couple hundred years. We used to call them ‘denominations,’ but the boundaries across denominations have grown remarkably porous. Younger Jews often eschew labels while crafting their Jewish lives more proactively.” In fact, Elan celebrates the fact that the American Jewish population lives out “[m]illions of Judaisms. The frontiers of Jewish life are no longer confined to the coasts or the big cities. They’re in the heart chambers of the eight million American Jewish souls who are trying to figure out how

their Jewishness can honor where it came from and fuel the journey to wherever it is they feel called to go. What an exciting time to be Jewish!”

The rate of intermarriage among American Jews represents a prime example of Elan’s optimistic perspective on the data from demographic studies. “Every 10 years, we do a population study that prompts this reactive notion that American Jewish life is so ‘watered down’ that we cannot even recognize it anymore. I completely understand this fear, but when are we going to take ‘yes’ for an answer?” he asks. “The narrative of scarcity and erosion in Jewish life has become such a constant drumbeat that we start to believe it. We are the first generation in which large numbers of nonJewish people are falling in love with Jewish partners and, despite a significant rise in antisemitism, are saying, ‘Yeah, I’m going to throw in my hat with the Jews.’ That’s an incredible gift, if we can bring ourselves to experience it that way.”

Moreover, the ways in which Jews define themselves have expanded beyond the categories of the past. These same demographic studies generally provide checkboxes that represent just a handful of options for people who are being asked to quantify their Jewish identity and practices. “You can look at the rising number of people who identify as ‘None,’ namely ‘Jews of No Religion,’ and you can say we’re disappearing. We had a good run of a few thousand years, but this is it. The problem instead is that those very same Jews who checked off ‘None’ will say, ‘You haven’t given me a box that reflects what I love most about Judaism, and what keeps me up worried at night, and what kind of world I want to leave behind for my children someday, or what turns me off about

Judaism. As long as you give me these tiny boxes to check, I’m going to tell you: none of the above.’

“Let’s fast forward to American Jewish life in 2022,” continues Elan. “We’re seeing significant growth in participation in our institutions, an uptick in enrollment in many of our schools, and some 700 startup Jewish communities being founded all around the country. You’ve got all these people willing to take risks, experiment, try new things, and build new worlds. They can appreciate the traditions that we’ve always done in Jewish life such as Passover, B Mitzvahs, and so on. But they also recognize that ‘always’ is actually just ‘once’ with a longer track record. So why not try something once and see if it sticks?”

The notion of Jewish wisdom as a technology may seem like odd semantics at first, but extrapolating the riches of Jewish knowledge and applying it in unexpected ways drives the work at Clal. The organization’s work around “making Jewish a public good” has indeed played out with extraordinary results. “We are at our best when we seed ideas into the consciousness of American Jewish life or the sociology of American religion writ large, and then take a step back and let those seeds germinate and blossom however they will,” shares Elan.

Elan provides a powerful example. “I was approached by a U.S. Army general who heard about my work with Columbia Business School where I teach entrepreneurship

continued on page 40

The Perfect Fit

an interview with

Gabi Marcus ’14

“This past summer was the first time I didn’t have a job since I was 12 years old,” jokes Gabi about the atypical few months after her college graduation and before she started her new job. The summer was, in fact, a rare respite for Gabi, who is enterprising and industrious by nature. Whether she is launching her own business or bringing her openness to learning and a willingness to contribute to the workplace, Gabi prioritizes receiving and offering mentorship. She consistently seeks out roles and jobs in which she can benefit from others’ experience or, inversely, use the skills she has accrued to coach and teach others.

After graduating summa cum laude from the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis this past May with a degree in Marketing and Organization & Strategic Management and a minor in Spanish, Gabi accepted the role of Assistant Merchandiser at Summersalt, a direct-to-consumer apparel brand based in St. Louis. Fewer than six months into the job, Gabi is tapping into a decade of well-earned experience, mentoring and her intrinsic business sense to help move the company forward.

Gabi has always demonstrated an appreciation for beginning at ground level. “My very first business was being a dog walker in our

neighborhood when I was 10 years old. I rang doorbells and offered to walk people’s dogs for free so that I could get experience.” After a few fizzles, Gabi launched her own startup in fifth grade at Schechter by crocheting and selling colorful trellis scarves for $25.00 each. “Everybody was walking down the hallway wearing them, and kids were buying them for their mothers. I came to school with a bag of scarves every day. I made about $2,000.00, and I was so grateful to the Schechter community for supporting me. It ended up being a huge part of why I ended up majoring in business.” Fittingly, Gabi penned her college essay on her entrepreneurial work, highlighting the false starts that paved the way for the eventual success of the scarf sales.

“In the startup ecosystem, there is a lot of freedom to do what you want and to create a for-profit business that is potentially solving a problem. The intersection between profit and social impact is really cool,” observes Gabi. As a student at Natick High School, she chanced upon a job posting for an Operations Assistant at the women’s clothing company, NIC+ZOE. “I had always been drawn to fashion and trends. The job was filing and data entry. While my work didn’t really have as big of an impact as it does now, I was getting experience in a corporate office, which was really big as a high-schooler and which I knew I could leverage later. I admired the merchandising team because they were a middleman between the hyper creative design department and the hyper analytical planning department. It was right in the middle which is where I like to operate. I have always described myself as being at the crossroads of creativity and analytics.”

Mentorship has been a consistent throughline in Gabi’s work, both volunteer and professional. In recognizing the benefits she has derived from the guidance of experienced supervisors, she has been eager to offer her own skills to counsel others. In high school, Gabi volunteered with Jewish Family Service of Metrowest as part of its All Stars afterschool program. Through weekly sessions at a Framingham elementary school, she coached bilingual third-graders to bolster their self-confidence by helping them with reading, homework

and overall communication skills and cultural acclimation. “It was a huge part of my high school experience,” she recalls. “Many of the kids were reading two or three grades below grade level, so we worked to close the achievement gaps along with providing free after school care.” She was honored with a JFS monthly volunteer spotlight in November 2015 and received the Ellen Bloch Youth Leadership Award in 2017.

As a freshman at Washington University, Gabi hit the ground running. “I knew I wanted to get involved right away, so I applied for an Olin Peer Ambassadors (OPA) Executive Board position as the Co-Director of Events. I planned the Accepted Students Weekends and the Women in Business Weekend for the business school that year.” Gabi laughs recalling the three weekends during which she barely slept and put out numerous little fires, but she was ultimately pleased with the success of the weekends. The following year, she pivoted into the role of Vice President of Mentorship which was a continuation of working with incoming students and facilitating relationships among new students and upperclassmen. “It was a really rewarding experience to have been part of new students’ transition to the university.”

Gabi took her skills into a school again during her first two years in college when she joined a group called MoneyThink. “We went to high schools in St. Louis and taught financial literacy skills to students under the guidance of their teachers. The goal was to show kids that they could afford college or that they could buy the car they need to get to work or help put dinner on the table. The class was designed to empower students to develop money management sense.”

Again, and true to her inclination to stay busy, Gabi was perusing a job board and noticed an opportunity at GiftAMeal. Despite managing full-time classes, her OPA board position and organizing Shabbat dinners and challah bakes for her Jewish sorority sisters, Gabi was drawn to the organization’s “profit with a purpose” mission. Gabi explains that every time diners take photos of their meals in participating restaurants, a meal is donated to a local food pantry. “The profit component comes in because restaurants

subscribe to the app to get exposure to GiftAMeal app users. I worked directly under the CEO so I got a lot of exposure to the mission and extraordinary mentorship.” Gabi adds, “[it] was a very random thing that I saw the posting and applied, but it ended up being a really cool experience and in line with my interests.”

Random? Not really. Gabi has always actively scoured postings, ready to ferret out an intriguing opportunity whether professional or voluntary, while amassing and absorbing takeaways and know-how from every stop. The reverse has also happened in that volunteer organizations have sought out her involvement. MyMentor, a program aimed at helping international students navigate the

Gabi launched her own startup in fifth grade at Schechter by crocheting and selling colorful trellis scarves. “Everybody was walking down the hallway wearing them, and kids were buying them for their mothers. I came to school with a bag of scarves every day. I was so grateful to the Schechter community for supporting me. It ended up being a huge part of why I ended up majoring in business.”

admission process for American universities, contacted Gabi during her freshman year and invited her to come on board. She was regularly paired with a half dozen overseas students. “On top of school and my job, it was another way to get to know people I never would have met before.” During Gabi’s senior year, she was featured in “Poets and Quants,” a national news website covering business education, as one of their 100 Best & Brightest Business Majors. “The big theme in my highlight was how important mentorship is to me, both the mentorship I have received and that I hope to give back,” she explains.

someplace I never would have gone and do something I never would have done in my life without this program.” Gabi recounts a side trip to Srebrenica during which she was able to have a meal with her tour guide’s parents at their home. “We worked on their farm. It was this incredible, authentic experience that I will remember for the rest of my life.”

are online, there is a ton of data on what is selling, what’s not selling, what do people click on and why do they leave after clicking. The day-to-day is taking data and gleaning creative insights to pass onto the design team. In a small company, I have the chance to take initiative and have ownership over something that has an impact on the business.”

Originally, Gabi thought she would pursue international business. “Wash U has these really cool short-term study abroad programs.” Gabi packed her bags for summer 2019 as part of Startups and Entrepreneurship in the EU, which offered two and a half weeks in Madrid followed by a week and a half in Sarajevo. “Spain is an EU country whereas Bosnia and Herzegovina is not, so our goal was to understand the role of the EU in startups and the role of government programs as a whole. In each country, we worked on a pro-bono consulting project with a local company. Life is just so different in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I look back on it and realize that I got to go

Along with stints as a Merchandising Intern at Talbots and a Buying Intern at Bloomingdales during college, Gabi says “it all came together” with an internship at Summersalt in fall 2020. “Summersalt was founded by two very empowering women, which I love. The founders’ idea was to create a swimwear line that would incorporate incredible, inclusive sizing that would be shown on women of all races, sizes, and ages and be made from recycled materials. It embodies ‘profit with a purpose’ because the company has stayed true to the ideals of inclusivity and sustainability, but is able to do it in a profitable way.”

Now back in St. Louis, where Summersalt is headquartered, Gabi is one of two team members in the new merchandising department. As the first hire in the department, she was able to craft her role to focus on tasks she likes such as the strategies for the line going forward. “We do ‘hindsight reviews’ in order to analyze what worked in the past and to decide what to take into the future. We look at competitors to see what they’re doing and figure out what we should be doing to fill that gap. Since we

At the core of Gabi’s commitment to mentorship is the heartfelt sense of fulfillment at seeing someone reach a goal. “I had a mentor through the Women’s Mentorship Program at Olin. At the time, I thought, ‘This is crazy. I can’t make it in fashion.’ My mentor redirected me and said, ‘You can.’ Giving someone else that same guidance and support, seeing them get into their dream school, seeing someone else’s excitement about getting an internship or doing well in a job is so rewarding. I love being even a tiny part of somebody’s path.”

Indeed, when Gabi says she likes being at the “crossroads” between creativity and analytics, it is an apt metaphor for someone who recognizes that the serendipitous opportunities that present themselves, the people she meets who will mentor her, and the deliberate choices that she makes all guarantee that there will be many perfect fits for her as she forges ahead.

gaBi at the mOstar Bridge, BOsnia and herZegOvina, and at the santiagO BernaBÉu stadium, spain

Faculty/Staff News

Heather Budd, Learning Specialist and Grades 4-5 Team Lead, attended a threeday training last spring led by members of the Buck Institute/ PBL Works, entitled ProjectBased Learning 101. Heather applied for a Just Imagine Grant at Schechter to enable her to attend the workshop along with three other teachers so that they could enhance this method of teaching in their own classrooms.

Currently Heather is enrolled in the Brandeis Teacher Leadership Advanced Graduate Study Program. Heather adds, “I am loving it and learning so much about how to be an effective teacher leader within a school community.”

Joy Chertow, Grades 6-8

Art Specialist, took a class at METALWERX, a metals studio in Waltham, on soldering with an acetylene torch. Joy notes, “I had a fabulous teacher and it was humbling to be the student. I learned new techniques that I’m sharing with our students in the Metals Elective.”

Abby Crossley, Grade 6

Language Arts Teacher, taught rising fifth-graders how to speak English at the Hillel School in Jerusalem this past summer. “I enjoyed working with an Israeli co-teacher to create a fun and educational program for our students. While in Israel, I also enjoyed visiting Jerusalem's Old City, Tel Aviv, and the Sea of Galilee!”

Jennifer Curren, Grade 6 Grade Social Studies Teacher and Social Studies Curriculum Coordinator, is working on her dissertation for an Ed.D. in Social Studies Curriculum and Teaching at Boston University.

Ilyse Ehrenkrantz, Grade 8 Social Studies Teacher and High School Placement Counselor, took a class entitled “Research Seminar on Jewish History: Tradition and Belief” through Framingham State University. Ilyse took the class while working at Camp Ramah over the summer while earning her M.A. in Education in History.

Susan Fusco-Fazio, Afterschool Art Teacher, took a ceramics class and spent a lot of time painting in nature on the South Shore sea coast over the summer. Susan and her husband, who is also an artist, created a gallery in their garage and held a successful art exhibit in their new Garage Gallery. Susan also began writing memoir excerpts about becoming a painter. Read about Susan’s first published post on Substack at https:// susanfuscofazio.substack.com/p/ monet-and-me.

Michelle Folickman, Grade 4 General Studies Teacher, Student Support Services and Grades 4-5 Community Coordinator, took part in a Buck Institute/PBL Works program entitled Project-Based Learning 101. The workshop helped teachers in designing

project-based classroom units and learning experiences. The goal is to engage students in a way that is deep and longlasting, and inspires in them a love of learning and a personal connection to their academic experience.

Eugenia Gerstein, Pre-Kindergarten–Grade 5 Music Teacher and Director of Music-Enhanced Learning Program, partook in “Understanding Improvisation in Klezmer Music” with klezmer musician Nat Seelen. This past summer, Eugenia also worked with Israeli counselors at Camp Pembroke, where she is Music Director, on new songs and arranging the music for Schechter Choirs, Makhela, Nafshi and Shir Chai. Eugenia serves as director for all of Schechter’s choirs.

Devika Kataky, Clinical Intern, is pursuing the clinical PsyD program at William James College.

Millie Kateman, Team Lead of Student Experience, Grade 6 Mathematics Teacher and Grade 6 Head Adviser, participated in a course and became a certified in YMHFA: Youth Mental Health First Aid with the Jewish Teen Education and Engagement Funder Collaborative. Millie took a Breathe For Change seminar in which she learned about five social/emotional themes using breathing and gratitude. Millie was part of another seminar titled “Formative Assessment:

Just Imagine, a small grants program sponsored by the Beker Foundation, is designed to provide additional support to local day school teachers. Just Imagine invites teachers to dream up ideas that could help their students and them thrive. In partnership with school administration, teachers are invited to apply for funding to access resources.

Supporting Students’ Learning.” She read the book The Power of Moments by Chip Heath which focuses on how we intentionally make moments that are powerful and educational in our classes and in our school.

Rachel Kornreich, Pre-Kindergarten Teacher, is pursuing an M.A. in Early Childhood Education at Merrimack College and will graduate in May 2023.

Rabba Amy Newman, Grades 6 Jewish Studies Teacher, received semikhah (rabbinic ordination) from Yeshivat Maharat in New York City, which is the first Orthodox institution to ordain women.

Amy was a student in the threeyear Kollel Program, which is designed for women who have already spent years studying and teaching Torah, but who had not been ordained because it was not an option in the Orthodox community before the program’s founding in 2009.

David Srebnick , Grade 8 Head Advisor and Math Teacher, took an online workshop entitled "How to Facilitate Visual Patterns" using the patterns on VisualPatterns.org. Each problem gives students practice seeing geometric patterns, describing them with diagrams, words and, ultimately, math functions. “I've used these patterns before, and students have responded very positively.”

David spent time researching math-based art and writing programs in Python and Mathematica that produce colorful, artistic and abstract representations of rational and irrational numbers. “I'll use these on my bulletin boards so that it sparks curiosity and engages students to explore new visual media.”

David also attended two sessions of an online workshop sponsored by the National Museum of Mathematics. One session, "Polyhedra Party," was led by mathematician Dr. Chaim Goodman-Strauss. David explains, “We learned how to put together 3D paper models based on shapes like a pyramid (four

faces), a cube (six faces), an octahedron (eight faces) and others.”

Rob Yunich, Communications Manager, attended a Zoom workshop entitled “Articulating Value and Impact Master Class Series: Putting Your Website at the Center of Your School’s Engagement Strategy,” through Prizmah: Center for Jewish Education.

Jamie Zeitler, School Operations Coordinator, is in the third semester of a Masters of Social Work program. She is working towards a Certificate in Mental Health Practice from Simmons College.

aBBy CrOssley in jerusalem

the faCulty and staff Of sCheChter BOstOn

phOtO: ted BOrgman, Bright spOt films

Class Notes

1990

Ari Bessendorf officiated at the Bar Mitzvah of Noah Satrio Sriro in Jakarta, Indonesia. “Indonesia's Jewish community is tiny,” explains Ari, "consisting of expatriates in Jakarta working for global institutions or international business. There is a synagogue located in Minhasa Regency, North Sulawesi that serves a community of about 20 that has its roots in assimilated Dutch Jews who arrived in Indonesia in the 17th century. As there are currently no active rabbis in Indonesia (which has the world's largest Muslim population), a Schechter education is the closest thing to a semikah in the equatorial nation. Noah led the service and read the haftorah, assisted by his father, Andrew Sriro, and older sister, Shayna Sriro.”

1992

David Rapaport is one of Hollywood's most sought out casting directors, having cast such hits as Gossip Girl. Riverdale, The Flash, YOU and The Summer I Turned Pretty. After attending Emerson College, David moved to LA and started to work with legendary casting director Mali Finn (Titanic, LA Confidential, 8 Mile). Together, they collaborated on multiple films including The Matrix Reloaded, 8 Mile, Running with Scissors and Elephant

David started his long-lasting relationship with Warner Bros. and CW on the original Gossip Girl (2007) and has since continued collaborating with them and uber producers Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter on series Arrow, Supergirl, The Flash, Katy Keen, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Superman and Lois, Batwoman and the upcoming Gotham Knights David has worked with Netflix, Amazon, HBO Max, and is currently working on the Disney+ pilot Witch Mountain

David has been lauded for his support of underrepresented communities and was proud to cast TV's first LGBTQ+ superhero and TVs first trans superhero. He has been featured in articles in Entertainment Weekly, The Advocate, The Boston Globe and Buzzfeed, and he has appeared on Entertainment Tonight and various podcasts. He is a proud Heller Award Winner, having won TV Casting Director twice, in 2012 and 2019.

David resides in LA with his husband and Boston native, Ron Glines, a six-time Emmy winning producer for Entertainment Tonight. David is most proud of his mother, Judi Rapaport, who transitioned this fall to Schechter Boston's Stein Circle Library Resource Educator after almost four decades teaching kindergarten.

2000

Mazal tov to Mera (Sussman) Weber and and her husband, Adam Weber, on the birth of their son, Daniel Jacob.

Mazal tov to Robert Kaitz and his wife, Christina, on the birth of their twin sons, Nathan Owen and Adam Samuel.

2002

Mazal tov to Jacob Levenfeld and his wife, Lydia Schulman, on the birth of their first child last August, Sonya Kerem Levenfeld. Jacob graduated from Jewish Theological Seminary/Columbia in 2011. The family currently lives in Portland, Maine where Jacob works in the field of healthcare and software.

Mazal tov to David Micley and his wife, Molly, who welcomed their son, Eitan. Eitan joins big sisters, Lily and Zoe.

Mazal tov to Naomi Ratner Oshry and her husband, Mark, who welcomed a baby girl in August, Sadie Hannah.

2004

Sarah Hodin Krinsky graduated from the University of Michigan in 2013 and received her Master’s Degree from the Harvard School of Public Health in 2016. She currently works as a Maternal Health Policy Manager for MassHealth. “I have been running a 501c3 nonprofit since 2012 called Nyora Beads. We sell handmade jewelry and crafts from Kenya to raise money for scholarship funds for children there. I am excited to share our website/online store with the Schechter Boston community: www.nyorabeads.org.” Sarah and her husband, Scott, live in Waltham with their daughter, Layla, who was born in April.

2005

Mazal tov to Harry Chiel and his wife, Zoe on the birth of their son, Elliot Lyle.

raBBi aMY BarDaCK, fOrMer DireCtOr Of JuDaiC StuDieS at SCheChter, BuMPeD intO eMiLY JaeGer '03 at the raBBiniCaL aSSeMBLY COnventiOn in St. LOuiS. eMiLY waS attenDinG with her wife, raBBi ChaYa BenDer.

2006

Mazal tov to Alanna Wolf and her husband, Herschel Singer, who welcomed their second child, a baby girl named Goldie Lior, on Erev Rosh Hashanah.

2007

Alyssa (Bickoff ) Elfman and her husband, Daniel Elfman, and Alyssa’s parents, Debra and Gerry, received the L’Dor VaDor Award from 2Life Communities, a Brighton-based community living organization for seniors, at their annual gala at Temple Emanuel Newton on June 16, 2022. Debra and Gerry own Commercial Cleaning Service in Allston and worked to keep senior residents and 2Life staff safe during the pandemic. Throughout the pandemic, Elfman said her family has remained in contact with 2life staff and discussed how to keep residents safe. “There were so many places in Massachusetts that were having a really hard time with that, but 2Life Communities really stepped up to the plate from the very first day and did a ton of research on ways to keep people safe.”

Alyssa and her husband welcomed a son, Charlie Elfman, on October 20, 2022.

Lindsay Flammey Furman Grades 4 and 5 Jewish Studies Teacher at Schechter Boston, married David Furman of Portland, Maine. They were married after Shabbat/Havdalah on Saturday, September 3 at the Warren Center in Ashland, Massachusetts.

Talia Greenberg has begun a new professional pursuit in addition to continuing to teach in a variety of settings: working as a cantorial soloist to co-officiate at Jewish weddings. She enjoys adding music to the simcha while the rabbi performs the ceremony. Talia brings her passions for music and Judaism to her teaching work

as well, serving as the Hebrew Specialist at Temple Ohabei Shalom's religious school and teaching music literacy at the Handel and Haydn Society. In her "day job," Talia works as a fourth-grade SEI (Sheltered English Immersion) teacher in the Cambridge Public Schools, where she adapts instruction of all fourth-grade subject matter for new immigrants from all around the globe. In that role, she frequently gets to apply the Hebrew language skills she learned at Schechter in her work with her Israeli students.

Haley Klein Sloan graduated from Syracuse University in 2015 and taught middle school for six years at Brooklyn Charter School, while also pursuing her masters in Education. Last January, Haley and her husband, Josh, moved to Seattle where Josh took a job at Costco and Haley works at the Jewish Day School of Metropolitan Seattle as the Alumni and Community Relations Coordinator. Haley has many fond memories of Schechter including puppets Dan and Tali in Mrs. Mintz' class, getting to decorate her Chumash, Camp Teva, the eighth-grade play, Oliver, and all the incredible friendships that she still has today!

2011

Debbie-Lee Baskir married Avi Silvermetz on September 5. Her wedding party included three of her classmates from Schechter. Debbie-Lee and Avi live in New York City, and she works in Human Resources at Gemini Trust Company LLC. Debbie-Lee says that her favorite Schechter memory was “[when] we did the eighth-grade play! Avi is taking me to Music Man on Broadway for my birthday this year given the impact that הקיזומה שיא (Music Man) had on me. I would be remiss if I didn't also give a shoutout to all of my wonderful teachers over the nine years at Schechter who helped pave the path for me to get to where I am today with particular emphasis on instilling in me a love of Yiddishkeit."

Ben Bryer is at the University of Washington in Seattle working towards his Master of Public Health in Epidemiology.

2012

Evan Crystal graduated in 2020 from Northeastern University, and moved to Española in rural northern New Mexico to do a year of AmeriCorps service with the Rio Arriba County Economic Development Department. After his federal service, Evan transitioned to the federal government, and he is now working as a Management Analyst in the Department of Field Policy and Management at U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) out of the Albuquerque Field Office. “New Mexico is unique,” says Evan. “Albuquerque and Española are certainly much different from Newton, but I love being able to hike and mountain bike through the mountains anytime.”

Shira Wald made aliyah in 2019 and served in the Israeli army from January 2021 to January 2022. Back in the U.S. Shira recounts, “I wanted to go on a backpacking trip to see a new part of the world. I invited Harry Williams, my friend since Pre-Kindergarten and the same class at Schechter, and together we went to Panama. We traveled to Panama City, Boquete and Bocas Del Toro. We even enjoyed a Friday night Chabad dinner in the rainforest. Since the trip, I am now in the first year of University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine.”

2014

Noam Borensztajn graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 2022. He shares, “I made aliyah in August and am joining the Israeli army through the Garin Tzabar program. I’m currently living on Kibbutz Urim in the south, where I’m doing

 deBBie-lee BasKir ’11 and avi silvermetZ

 shira wald ’12 and harry williams ’12  tali BOrensZtajn ’18 and nOam BOrensZtajn ’14

Class Notes

my army exams and waiting to enlist. I was recently interviewed on Israeli TV about making aliyah and about my plans to join the army.” To watch Noam’s interview, go to https://www.ssdsboston.org/noaminterview.

Jason Bryer graduated from the University of Maryland in May 2022. He is working in Boston at DraftKings as a Customer Retention and Monetization Marketing Associate for their Sportsbook.

Alex Crystal graduated from the University of Rochester in 2022 with a degree in Data Science. He is currently earning his M.S. in Artificial Intelligence at Northeastern University while working in R&D at defense contractor MITRE. Alex’s group works on a variety of natural language processing technology. Alex recalls that, “our class at Schechter split itself into two teams, and every free period we played soccer as part of a year-long fight for supremacy. We were fortunate to have such a unified group of doers! Since graduating college, I was able to reconnect with other classmates still in the Boston area and we had a great time reminiscing about our Schechter years.”

Gabriella Smith graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a BA in Biochemistry. While at WashU, Gaby served as Speaker of the Student Senate and as a student representative to the Board of Trustees. She was also inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. Gaby is currently doing a gap year at Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago prior to beginning medical school in 2023.

Sarah Winn graduated Magna Cum Laude from Syracuse University with a BFA in Art Photography in May 2022. She just moved to Los Angeles where she is serving as the Innovation Springboard Fellow for The University of Southern California Hillel Foundation. She hopes any Schechter alumni in Los Angeles will reach out to her if they are in the area!

2016

Members of the Class of 2016 grabbed dinner in Tel Aviv last summer while on different programs interning at startups in the city.



memBers

school students through the organization Learn2Be, and is a part of the JCRC Student to Student program. Yael adds, “Together with a team of two to three other Jewish teenagers, we visit local high schools with few to no Jewish students to share about our Jewish identities and discuss our lives as Jewish teenagers.”

2020

Nadav Borensztajn is a junior at Gann Academy. This past summer, he was a CIT at Camp Yavneh and also traveled to Israel with his siblings, Noam ‘14 and Tali ‘18, who joined the Israeli army.



frOm

2018

Tali Borensztajn graduated from Gann Academy in 2022. She tells us, “I’m joining the Israeli army. I made aliyah in August and I’m living on Kibbutz-Hatzor-Ashdod (through the Garin Tzabar program). I’m waiting to get my placement in the army and will probably be drafted for two years.”

2019

Yael Margolis was recently selected as a National Merit Scholar Finalist. She is also the co-leader of the Women in STEM Club at Gann. Yael leads children’s services at her synagogue, Congregation Kehillath Israel in Brookline, on Shabbat mornings and holidays. In addition, she tutors elementary and middle

2022

Lily Chorev is a freshman at Beaver Country Day School. Lily shares, “My favorite Schechter memory is the Israel Study Tour, especially seeing the sunrise over Masada with my closest friends.”

Are you interested in Schechter’s alumni work and engagement?

We are always looking for Schechter alumni to assist with class reunions, events, class engagement or the Alumni Committee. Please email alumni@ssdsboston.org to learn more about opportunities or with any questions.



jaCOB winn ’16, sarah winn ’14 and reBeKah winn ’21 with eugenia gerstein, pre-K–grade 5 musiC teaCher and direCtOr Of musiC enhanCed learning prOgram

left tO right arOund the taBle: garrett Barth, shira mCginity, haley sChawBel, adam wener, Ben shure, jaClyn sassOn, ZaCK weinstOCK, jaCOB hammermesh, rOxy eagle, david gerard, sam OrelOwitZ

 memBers Of the Class Of ’22 gOt tOgether tO CatCh up. left tO right: maddie Kadden, lily ChOrev, miChal Zatlin, netta miller, sOphiya jaCOBs, annalise hait

Of the Class Of 2014 reunited in august 2022 fOr a night Out in BOstOn tO CatCh up Over drinKs. left tO right: jasOn Bryer, isaaC gOreliCK, ethan hOllOp, gaBriel wies, alex Crystal, Ben sChwartZ, Ben lehv

continued from page 17 nection that she sometimes has to grapple with her feelings about spirituality – ‘Oh, she’s human, too!’ – they are more inspired to work through their own relationship with prayer or Jewish identity or a challenging pasuk. “Schechter allows me to meet the kids where they are. How are we going to make a change to tefi llah today so it reflects what we’re experiencing? Maybe we throw in a meditation or do the Barkhu to a different tune to help wake us up.”

Rabbi Rebecca seconds Rabbi Tilles’ notion of developing a sense of comfort during prayer which then leads to being engaged and inspired. “Every year, I think about how I can make our kids feel comfortable leaning into being the shaliach tzibor (messenger or leader) of the community during tefi llah. What does this role mean? What are the things we need to do to make sure everyone is having a really good experience? I turn to the kids who really enjoy leading tefi llah and enlist them to inspire their peers.” Rabbi Rebecca recounts the story of a student who transferred to Schechter and loves leading tefi llah. “She told me, ‘I really want to do this, but I have no idea what the words mean yet.’ I was thrilled that she felt so at home, and inspired and excited about something that could have seemed so daunting.”

to paint with watercolors rather than acrylics is just as important as knowing that a student is ready to move up a level in Hebrew. Having a Gender and Sexuality All iance for Middle School students is just as important as having circle time in Pre-Kindergarten. Inspiring students to connect the Parashat HaShavuah (Torah portion of the week) to their own lives is just as important as inspiring students to play with someone different at recess.

So, again, we go back to the beginning. Organization and planning are sacred to ensure that faculty members have consistent time to meet with each other and with students. The intentionality behind knowing each student with subtlety and appreciation is continually reinforced. Along with each student, every teacher has his or her own pathway, philosophies and style, all of which are indivisible, and which pave the way for each teacher to serve each student. To that end, we are bound as a learning community by collaboration, introspection and tenacity through mutual respect and devotion.

We turn and return often to our mantra at Schechter that “there is no limit to better.” Success is not elusive; it is just ongoing and kinetic. The Schechter Be’s are carefully monitored levers that are constantly moving, cogs that must whirl and interlock at all times to keep this incredible “machine” called Schechter running well for all its users.

For a student to be engaged, he must be inspired. For a student to be prepared, she must be known. For a student to belong, they must be engaged. For a student to be known, she must belong. For a student to be inspired, he must be prepared.

And so it goes, with no Schechter Be more or less critical than another. Knowing if a student prefers

It is my job to understand that each child’s pathway is going to be a little different and to know each child deeply and meaningfully, so I can help them think through their journey.

Michelle Folickman responds to the question of how she feels supported as a teacher by saying, “Schechter gives me everything. Schechter gives me the trust. I often joke that I will go to our fabulous, educational leadership team and say, ‘Hear me out. I have a crazy idea!’ I always have unconditional support and not just support. In the same way I support and challenge my students, I am supported and challenged here. I have teammates to bounce ideas off of, people who are constantly encouraging me to think more and do more and be better. I feel very lucky to work here.”

raBBi reBeCCa weinstein, mashgiCha ruChanit

Every day, faculty and staff members wear lanyards that were designed intentionally with the Schechter Be’s rather than the school’s name or logo or panther mascot, all of which would be perfectly reasonable options. Instead, these words are a uniform of sorts and, as such, are constant and close reminders to every adult of the institutional mission that we must all experience collectively and deliver reciprocally to each other and to each child in the school. In turn, these words are the promises that we wear prominently, facing outward to our students, and the words mean: this is what you deserve, this is what you will have here, this is what we do at Schechter.

continued from page 29 to faith leaders. He told me that the Army was in the process of retraining 2,000 military chaplains to battle a self-harm epidemic both on base and among veterans. He believed that these chaplains were uniquely positioned to identify mental health challenges and create innovative strategies to meet people where they are.”

For two and a half hours that day, Elan led a session, then received an invitation to come back the next month, and then again the next. “This is part of a broader initiative called the Spiritual Wellness and Readiness Initiative. They just reported on new data, which shows that by retraining and repositioning the chaplains to be more of a central force on base and to really meet people where they’re at, existentially, ideologically, spiritually, emotionally, that they’re witnessing a sharp reduction in self-harm, which means that it’s really working. Chaplains can’t be sitting in the chapel on Sunday waiting for people to show up. They need to adjust their mentality and go to the people to serve them where they are.”

Elan considers the greatest privilege of his career to be a session he taught at Fort Drum in Syracuse last spring. “I had about a half hour left in the session and folks were responding positively, so I took a risk. I gave them an option: ‘I can teach you a theory about building concentric circles in communities or I can teach you a piece of Talmud that’s changed my life. Every single one of them said, ‘I want Talmud!’

one of them seemed to lead with questions like: how do we help these kids build character? How do we shape a mensch who loves Judaism, and one another, and the stranger?

“I was standing in front of a room of about 100 folks, who were almost exclusively Christian clergy, and I taught my favorite story, a conversation between Rav Hiyya and Rav Hanina about how to make sure that Torah lasts forever. Rav Hanina says, ‘I’m going to go out and teach it in my charismatic way, and people are going to be so moved by my brilliant teaching that they’ll remember every word of Torah in perpetuity.’ Rav Hiyya says, ‘I’m going to take my time with this process, and put people at the heart of it. I’ll go out to a community of orphans. I’ll feed them, I’ll treat them like human beings and I’ll teach each of them one book of Torah and then I’ll leave, so that they have the opportunity to teach each other, and become a community in and of themselves.’ For me, that was what it meant to make Jewish a public good. All those soldiers and chaplains went back to their bases. And maybe by now they’ve forgotten the name Rav Hiyya, but they will never forget the importance of meeting people where they’re at and of elevating the dignity of every single person around them.”

“I come from a military family myself. My mother served proudly in the IDF,” notes Elan. “There are few things that I would rather do with my time than to play a small part of a big effort in which our thinking at Clal can serve a much broader audience in such a pressing, impactful way. I learned that piece of text 12 years ago and I thought ‘Gosh, this is so beautiful. Maybe I’ll use it for community organizing or for adult education someday.’ But if you had said, ‘Actually, you’re going to teach it to 100 mostly Christian chaplains who are then going to use

it to inspire their work to prevent suicide on base,’ you got me. I did not have that on my BINGO card.”

Elan’s sense of nostalgia is intertwined with the hopefulness and confidence he feels for the future.

“I’ve been in the startup world for 20 years and so much of it is, ‘Build the company, build the company, build the company.’ But at Schechter, from where I sat as a student and during my time on the board, it was never about that. The question was not how do we build a bigger school. It was always how we build up the bigness of the students we graduate into the world, so they can bring their Jewishness to bear in the most profound ways imaginable?

“What I learned at Schechter has shaped who I am, how I parent, how I love, how I lead, how I serve. Every single bit of wisdom, even the stuff I’ve long since forgotten, is somewhere deep inside my kishkes and continues to emanate through the work that I do. I believe so much in Judaism as a technology for flourishing and in the Jewish wisdom that we teach at Schechter. As long as there are places like Schechter in the world, shaping minds, building character, instilling Yiddishkeit in thoughtful, innovative ways, I won’t lose a wink of sleep worrying about the Jewish future. We’ll be just fine.”

When I think back to my time at Schechter, my overarching sense was that not one of the teachers, board members or donors was primarily worried about building a school. Rather, everyone was focused on building up the students. Every

raBBi elan BaBChuCK

In Grade 5 Jewish Studies, students were given a prompt based on Schechter’s mission statement. This is Violet's response.