Teacher of the week

Stephen Levey

Immanuel College

Director of Music

Where did you train?

In the classroom!

The aspect

Israel (Yisrael), for you have striven (sarita) with G-d and man, and have overcome.” Thus the name Yisrael recalls how our ancestors overcame many challenges to survive, and would even argue with G-d, as Abraham and Moses did, if they felt there was a just reason to do so.

After the Exodus from Egypt and Revelation at Sinai, these Israelites travelled a long way to settle in the place G-d had promised them. This came to be known as Eretz Yisrael, the “land of the Israelites”.

David and Solomon were great kings of Israel, but then there was an internal conflict and the country split into two separate kingdoms. The Assyrians then

Of Group Identity

wiped out the northern kingdom and took away ten of the Israelite tribes, never to be seen again. This left only the two tribes of the southern kingdom, which was known as Eretz Yehudah, the “land of Judea”, due to the tribe of Judah from which the royal line of David had sprung.

So Yehudi actually means ‘Judean’ rather than ‘Jew’ and refers to the surviving people that were eventually exiled to Babylon and Persia. They are who we encounter in the Purim story with Mordechai and Esther.

We have retained all three names to this day. Hebrew is now our language, Israel is our country and Jewish is our religion and culture. When we educate our children at home and in school, we must remember to teach them these three names. They reveal so much about who we are.

Rabbi Dr Raphael Zarum is the Dean of LSJS and holds the Rabbi Sacks Chair of Modern Jewish Thought, established by the Zandan family.

What is the best part of your job?

Finding and recognising talent and seeing it come to fruition. There is no greater joy or satisfaction when this happens.

For more information on how you can be featured as the Teacher of the Week please contact Helena.miller@lsjs.ac.uk