For the past few years, we have been living in a world defined by crisis. COVID, political hyper-polarization, rabid antisemitism, Hamas—just to name a few. For good reason, our communities—including their educational institutions—have scrambled to respond to these crises, and have not only survived but in many cases thrived through them all. Survival is a significant achievement, but the thriving is nothing less than remarkable.

Every other Friday, the 9th grade Jewish Studies classes each sit in a circle in the middle of the room. At the front of the room, a neatly pressed white cloth neatly covers a table with two Shabbat candles and two snacks. We start the period with a song and then dive into the heart of the student-led activity. This is what the kids have come to know as “Jewish Journey Friday.”  After lighting candles and distributing snacks, the two students hosting that week each ask a carefully constructed question. The questions are designed to elicit a specific and personal story that will reveal some element of a person’s Jewish Journey. “Tell a story about a particularly memorable Passover experience.” “When was a time when you felt particularly proud to be a Jew.” “Tell about a specific way in which you see your Judaism differently today than you

When I joined TABC seven years ago in the role of STEM Coordinator, I was charged with building a project-based engineering curriculum that would integrate interdisciplinary learning. The intention was to provide students with a well-rounded, skills-focused STEM education in order to inculcate within them problem-solving skills, technology literacy, and effective collaboration. There were a lot of open questions, such as how engineering classes would fit into the overall curriculum, whether they would be mandatory for all students, and, if not, which students would take them. As we answered and re-answered each of these questions over the years while exploring all possible avenues to offer our students unique learning opportunities, a robust interdisciplinary elective program emerged and developed. Now, while my main focus is still teachi

In 2012, when we launched our integrated course on Jewish Thought, Philosophy, and Literature (formerly Tikvah, now JPhiL), a student asked, “Is there a Final?” to which Dr. Watts responded, “How you live your life is the Final.” From the beginning, we have sought to open students’ minds to the fact that through Judaism, individuals can contribute meaningfully, not only to conversations on philosophy and literature, but that by the very nature of their Jewish identities they can make a significant impact on society. While we have always known of the course’s short-term effects, we now know of its longer-term impacts on students’ approaches to critical thinking, their relationship to Judaism, and their relationship to God. And those impacts are profound. Students consistently report that in the years since, the course has moved them to liv

Abraham Joshua Heschel High School (NY) prides itself on building and cultivating an engaged and connected student body. As in many Jewish day schools, our students would report that a defining characteristic of their high school experience is the community. As our school has grown significantly in the last ten years, it has gotten harder to ensure that the unique nurturing atmosphere in the high school is preserved. With this in mind, in the summer of 2023 we created a new program that we refer to as Hachanah le’Shabbat. We feel privileged and blessed that we piloted this program in September of 2023. Following October 7th, this program offered us a weekly opportunity to pray for the hostages and learn about the war in Israel. The events of October 7 transformed our program, and this allowed us to ritualize and process our response and o

Five years ago, a former Ida Crown Jewish Academy (ICJA) parent and board member approached the school with an idea to help increase student connection and engagement, as well as help with future enrollment. His recommendation was to focus on separate gender programming, specifically starting with the girls. He felt that this type of programming would create meaningful opportunities for involvement in leadership roles and activities, connection to other students and to the school, and pride in being an ICJA student. He also felt that this type of program would appeal to parents whose children had been enrolled in non-coed elementary schools, providing a more comfortable landing for them. What began as an experimental program has grown into a cornerstone of our culture, reshaping the student experience and strengthening the school communit