When the big guys do it right

Wednesday was a great day for the entire Jewish community. PEJE (Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education) awarded twenty-five $25,000 awards for ideas of innovation around three different discreet yet closely linked areas of school governance: endowment building, student recruitment and annual fund. They were looking to motivate the greater community to think of creative new ways to innovate the entire Jewish day school field.

I am proud to say that Lander~Grinspoon Academy was one of the winners. We submitted a proposal for our "Double Chai campaign" from the summer. Double Chai was a combination of social networking, rallying a community and finding the right amount to "ask" for from our community all focused around bolstering our annual campaign. The momentum that we built from that project was stunning. And now being acknowledged by a national organization for the work that we did is so gratifying. 

The original intention of my blog was to talk about being Jewish in a small community. The Pioneer Valley is a little bit of everything. It is rural. It is urban. It is suburban. It is exurban. It is really whatever you want it to be. The people you meet here are unique individuals, many of them choosing to move here because it is this valley life they are seeking. One thing that holds true (for me at least) is that it is sometimes challenging to have a "big" Jewish life with all of the trappings that come with being in a bigger community. Please don't mishear me, I appreciate my friends and colleagues here and in the almost four years that we have been here, we have made incredible friends and met amazing individuals who are unique and interesting each in their own right. 

But what this blog has turned into showcasing what a fine school LGA is and how we as a community continue to reflect on educating young people on a daily basis. LGA has been able to find the right balance of progressive education all the while seeking out multiples perspectives to traditional timeless lessons in both Judaic and general studies. This school and this community has the right vibe - hip, young, progressive yet academically challenging, high standards for all students (no matter where they are) and yet nurturing intellectual curiosity. Many schools do all of those well but one thing that makes us stand out is the COMMUNITY. The community that has been built here is unbelievably unique. Children are given examples of how community works on a daily basis. 

I have been attempting to illustrate them with this blog and hopefully will continue to do so. Double Chai reached out to the greater community and it responded. And now, PEJE has said what we did here at LGA was worthy of winning an award so that we could showcase for others that with a little ingenuity and creativity (and maybe a little people power!), we could find new ways to fundraise for the school. 

PEJE is in the business of helping day schools thrive and this challenge award was the best example of that. I maintain that we need more of these types of challenges to motivate our community. I cannot wait to read all about the other entries. PEJE got it right. For me delving into these other ideas is like eating a bag full of Jelly Bellys. Once you rip open that bag, there will be 140 other flavors to salivate over. Some you'll really enjoy exploring and want more of and others won't be your taste but you can understand why someone else might find it tasty.

Would I feel differently if LGA hadn't won a Challenge Award? I'd be lying if I said it wouldn't be as easy to jump on the bandwagon but I'd still be very intrigued and motivated to see what had worked for other communities and where we could improve. 

So, Todah Rabbah, PEJE! Lander~Grinspoon Academy, the Solomon Schechter School of the Pioneer Valley thanks you for this gift. We hope you'll enjoy a few words from our community. 

Could that be challah that I smell?

I have always been someone who enjoys routine and schedules. Knowing where I need to be when or anticipating something in the future has always been quite satisfying to me. As a father, I have completely come to appreciate Shabbat in a completely different way. One day "off" every week means recharging my proverbial battery. Celebrating Shabbat is the ultimate "recharger." In our house, Raviv enthusiastically waits for Shabbat to arrive. The rituals for Shabbat have become second nature to him. He describes it as "our at home" day. We rest, eat great food, read, play, walk. It's great!

With that being said, there is a rhythm to the LGA week that I (and many students and faculty members) have so come to appreciate. Like everything we do here at LGA, our students straddle two distinct worlds, both the secular and Jewish. Children get much needed free time and exploration of activities that the week just doesn't allow for. Every Friday, this building comes alive with getting ready to celebrate Shabbat and the weekend. 

There are a number of rituals here at LGA that makes our celebration homey and lovely. Around 11 AM, every Friday morning, I find a group of Gan (Kindergarten) students making homemade challah. In small groups, they work with one of their teachers to create these doughy and light masterpieces. The smell gently and deliciously fills the main hallway of our building. The Gan often makes more than the requisite two needed for their classroom and delivers them to members of our greater community who are either elderly, sick, or just in need of a delicious Gan challah. 

Morah Amy helps Mira braid the challah.

Mira and Madeline coat the challah with an egg wash for extra shininess. 

Every Friday afternoon, we end our learning early so that we can either gather as a whole school or in small clusters to celebrate Kabbalat Shabbat. We find this time essential to our week. This transition from formal learning to a celebration and reflection of our week behind and ahead of us is an important goal we are teaching  for our school. We are teaching our children to be thoughtful reflectors and to think to themselves about the big (and not so big) questions that often adults have a hard time contemplating. Our Kabbalat Shabbat time is a favorite of our students both current and past. It is the place where many school traditions are formed. 

One such tradition is when members of our 6th grade class write a song for Rosh Chodesh (the new month) about the month that just happened in Torah and holidays to come. Our students study the Bible as both a text that offers a seminal connection to the Jewish people and a rich piece of literature that is beautifully written and allows students to question many aspects of life. Our 6th graders take their responsibility very seriously when it comes to writing these often very funny verses. Students are integrating so much when they write these songs. Enjoy last month's ditty... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaDSt-WjJCc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Morah Devorah, Moreh Aharon and Moreh Dov have worked hard to create a fun, raucous, song filled Kabbalat Shabbat with both new and old tunes. Child friendly yet truly enjoyed by adults alike, LGA has created a bridge to Shabbat and the weekend that is made of memories and connectedness to the Jewish people in really unique ways. Join us for our next all-school Kabbalat Shabbat! You won't be disappointed. 

We do it because we love it...

I am going to start with three statements that I hold as true in my mind about the relationship that lay leaders play in the vitality of the independent school world and that are especially true in the case of Lander~Grinspoon Academy.

1) LGA is a dynamic and complicated organization with many people invested in making it a school of excellence every day. We are not a school with a large overhead of administrative resources.
2) Most independent schools and LGA included depend on the greater community to support it in a variety of ways including both human and financial resources.
3) It currently takes and will continue to take both lay leaders and paid professionals to make LGA a place that maintains to be on the forefront for both the Jewish people and the educational world.

LGA, like many small schools in its shoes, has relatively few administrative positions. As a matter of fact and clarification, our school administrator (Ashley) and myself are the only full time administrators (all of the others have some teaching responsibilities or are not paid to be here every day) outside of the faculty. The school from its roots has depended and continues depend on a strong and robust lay and volunteer leadership to accomplish our mission and vision of being a strong Jewish day school.

On Saturday night, we gathered at the National Yiddish Book Center to put the spotlight on one such lay leader whom from the moment she stepped onto the scene at 257 Prospect Street was an active and fully committed member of our LGA community.  

You see finding lay leaders like Karen Kuhr are rare. Karen’s combination of fierce loyalty, getting down to brass tacks; working hard for the organization that you care so much (in this case her children’s school) about; taking on projects that no one else will do and most importantly rallying the troops for support.  This is all Karen and yet this is and has been so many people at LGA Schechter. This school was built with that in mind. It is with much pride that I could probably look at many people in this room and thoughtfully think about what you have done. This school will always remain that type of community. When it comes to building community, ours is the envy of other schools. Why is that? Because of the genuine compassion of the parent community towards this school, which in turn gets filtered down to our children. For that I thank each and everyone of you.

As many of you know, Karen and Saul love to throw a party. One of my first introductions to this community was their infamous summer party held right before the start of school. They love to host and love to make it big! They fulfill the ultimate mitzvah of Hachnast Orchim, welcoming the stranger. If the school (or I) ever needed to host a small affair, if we are ever short a host for Night Around the Table, Karen, graciously and enthusiastically offered up her home. Saul, with his easy going vibe, always comes along for the ride.

A few weeks ago, we read Parashat Vayera. In this Torah portion, three angels come to the tent of Avraham and Sarah. They do not know these angels, yet Avraham and Sarah open their home widely and with much gusto to make their guests feel welcomed in their home.  They prepared a feast for people that they didn’t really know. Karen and Saul imbue the virtues of welcoming the strangers becoming unbelievable role models for our community.

Karen, Saturday night was our night to say thank you for all that you have done. But it also represented all that everyone has done for this community to make Lander~Grinspoon Academy, the Solomon Schechter School of the Pioneer Valley, the fine community school that it is. 

So here I go again, using that ever so important word community that gets so overused but is really the essence of our school - one community working together to create a powerful and relevant education for our children. To all those people who spend countless hours at meetings, volunteering, shuttling back and forth, sharing your passion, or giving your dollars, THANK YOU! Know that you are appreciated and how much of an impact it has on the everyday of the school. Karen is one example of someone who leads by doing but she has many who follow her shining example.