I met Gandhi and Cleopatra (and 17 other famous people yesterday)...

That's right, yesterday I not only met them but I learned about the bravery of Ruby Bridges, I mingled with Eleanor Roosevelt. I heard about the daring life of Amelia Earhart. Met sports greats like Derek Jeter and Jackie Robinson. Learned what made John Lennon and Paul McCartney's music so good. Listened with much intent as Anne Frank, Helen Keller and Florence Nightingale told me their stories of bravery and wisdom. I asked Walt Disney how he became so famous and questioned Alexander Graham Bell about his inventions. I listened to Suzuki. Did some art with Georgia O'Keefe. And finally, King Tut and Homer dropped by to tell us about their famous lives.

Yesterday at LGA, I had the extreme pleasure of attending the 2nd annual 3rd grade Biography Fair. Words can't describe the excitement that was in the building yesterday morning for these 19 students. Our 3rd grade students led by their amazing teacher, Julie, prepared a world-class learning experience for our students integrating almost many different core curriculum areas for our students.

The most gratifying part for me as head of school was that it was so much more than this one brief morning for the students. This was truly a culmination of months of work for our students. Students each started by selecting a person that they wanted to learn about or admired, they then with the help of their teacher found an age-appropriate biography, wrote and rewrote their own biography, thought about how they wanted to present their "characters", researched and planned out their own costumes, rehearsed public speaking and reading out loud to one another, finally the big day came and they each transformed into their new persona.

Wow! That is all I have to say. Our students were lively, fun, engaging, engaged, and overall impressive with their knowledge. The fact that each student could research someone that meant something to them and piqued their interest somehow just shows the high level of engagement that our teachers have with our students. The creativity that our school shows with this type of project-based learning is what makes LGA such a special place.

Who knows who I'll meet next year?!?

Jews really do live there AKA what's this blog all about?

So here goes...this is my first official blog entry. Don't know how often I am going to do this or how brilliant I will be but I thought that I would give it a shot.

What am I going to be blogging about you may ask? Who is this person?

The short answer to the first question is I am going to be blogging about what Jewish life is like in a relatively small yet growing and vibrant Jewish community and the second answer is a much more complicated one.

Yes, they really do exist. Jewish people live outside of urban centers and create vibrant Jewish life.

I hope that people will forward my entries around to others and see that living in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts can be a really great place to be Jewishly. Northampton and Amherst and the surrounding communities are like no place in the states. Really, really unique!

There are many aspects of Judaism that shape my being. I love being Jewish and part of this very dynamic global community. My wife, Rebecca and I moved to Northampton (aka Noho) a year and a half ago because I received the wonderful opportunity to become the head of school at Lander~Grinspoon Academy, the Solomon Schechter School of the Pioneer Valley.

I have a hard job! But it is the most rewarding job in the Jewish world (in my opinion). Down to my core, I believe that Jewish day school education is one of the most important paths to Jewish continuity that we as a community have. Jewish day school graduates are articulate communicators of Jewish life and history. I am not saying that every single graduate has a positive attitude about the experience they had but they have a knowledge base that their Jewish peers who didn't go to day school don't have.

Before I came to LGA, I worked for many years as director of the high school of Prozdor Hebrew High School at Hebrew College in Newton, Mass. It was AMAZING for many reasons. I loved every minute of that school and experience. I helped shape a new generation of Jewish leaders and do believe that when supplementary education is done well, it can be unbelievably life-changing.

So, my blog is going to be about my experience of working in a small Jewish community, life in a small Jewish day school, and the charismatic and endearing characters and experiences that I come into contact with on a daily basis. I hope that I will inspire someone else to want to move to the Pioneer Valley and join our community.

Enjoy! Comment! Forward!