Faces of Akiva
Stories and voices from the Akiva School community; a beautiful mosaic of students, parents, teachers, families and friends all learning, sharing and living together at our school.
Faces of Akiva – The Pekofsky Family
"Before making the decision to send our children to Akiva we were informed about the incredibly innovative Jewish and secular education the school had to offer. However, we had no idea how important this would be for our family until the pandemic hit and our son...
Faces of Akiva – The Altman Family
Joining Akiva SchoolThe Altman Family's StoryWhen we moved from France to Canada, it was very important for us to find a school that could help our 3 children growing in a bilingual environment and continue to build their Jewish identity.With 2 classes per...
Faces of Akiva – Akiva Alumnus Alan Iny
Alan Iny, Class of 1989 An integral part of an education at Akiva School is teaching our students how to think creatively, problem-solve and be innovators. With his book and current consultant role, Akiva alumnus Alan Iny represents what we hope to inspire in every...
Faces of Akiva – Akiva grandparents Harvey and Margo Elman
Every morning Akiva students, Sarah and Chloe Elman, have a very special way to start their school day. Their grandparents, Margo and Harvey, who live down the street from Akiva School, meet their grandchildren outside the school and walk them to their classrooms -...
Faces of Akiva – Alumna Anastasia Davis Bondarenko
“Akiva is a very special place and I am proud to be part of the Akiva family.” Akiva Alumna – Anastasia Davis Bondarenko Class of 1998 As we prepared last week at Akiva School to celebrate Rosh HaShanah, the new year and the future, we had a wonderful surprise with a...
Faces of Akiva – Alumna Hadas Levine
“A big part of who I am today is because of my time spent at Akiva” This week we had a very special treat at Akiva School when we were visited by one of our former students, Hadas Levine. Hadas had been a student at Akiva School up until grade 4 at which point she...
Faces of Akiva
Vanessa Nezri Ohayon Akiva Parent of 1 Akiva Alumni, 2 current Akiva students and 1 future Akiva student “… I feel like my family has a real connection with Akiva School. I’m so comfortable whenever I come here and I know my kids are happy and thriving. Every morning,...
Faces of Akiva
Emily Padan Akiva teacher Changing the world, one child at a time. “… I’ve always wanted to be a teacher ever since I was little … I really believe that changing our future begins with our children. As teachers, we have this amazing opportunity to improve the world...
Faces of Akiva
Helaine Tecks Akiva teacher - teaching from the heart. “… Akiva School has always been like a vessel for me that allowed me to teach lessons that I couldn’t have done myself without the support of the school…. I’m able to do programs that give my students the...
Faces of Akiva
Franceen Retik, Akiva Teacher “I’ve been at Akiva for over 25 years now and I’ve seen the school flourish, growing from a single stream to a dual stream school with 2 classes per grade… One thing that has always remained the same is our focus on providing a...
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Rabbi Grossman’s Blog Corner
Rabbi Grossman's Corner
A knife to Canadian Jews – The Times of Israel Blog Post
(Post appearing in The Times of Israel Blog, March 11th, 2024) As an opening gambit in their war against the Jews, in the early 1930s the Nazis ended shechitah, Jewish ritual slaughter. At a time when antisemitic incidents reminiscent of pre-war Germany are exploding...
Morality from the Sewers
As appeared in The Times of Israel Blog... Visiting the Dachau concentration camp on a trip to Germany this summer, I was drawn to an exhibit on Nazi medical experimentation that illustrated the brutal procedures performed on inmates at Dachau and other camps during...
Rosh Hashanah Message from the Head of School 2023
Same Time, Next Year We are familiar with the story of Jews and Egyptian oppression: The suffering slaves flee their bondage and escape to the desert where God speaks to them and makes them a great nation. This story also appears in the Torah reading of Rosh...
Akiva High Holiday Message 2022
Not by Punishment For our annual Father’s Day outing this June I asked my sons if I could take them to the Kingston Penitentiary. They agreed, but only after my assurance that they would be returning with me to Montreal afterward, and that the prison has been...
Message from Rabbi Grossman – Long Live the Queen
In antiquity, the passing of years was numbered by the reign of the living monarch, thus we find in the Bible, “In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel (1 Kings 15:9),” or “In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia (Ezra 1:1).” The death of a sovereign meant...
Elijah and our Children: No Trouble at All
Any child who has been called a troublemaker can take comfort in being the victim of the same accusation that was hurled against Elijah the Prophet (Eliyahu HaNavi). Ahab, the wicked King of Israel, dubbed Elijah the “Troubler of Israel” for opposing his policies of...
Sanctuary and Sacrifice – Message from the Head of School
The Torah contains an odd number of books perhaps in order that one book be in the middle and thus allow us to say: here is the center of God’s message to us. That book is Leviticus, and its central message is Sanctuary and Sacrifice. Leviticus, which we begin to...
Chanukkah Message – A Small Glimmer of Light
The world seems to have become very dark. As we enter the winter months the darkness of night encroaches upon day, stealing increasing minutes of light each week. Were we not to understand the cycle of the sun, we would fear, like the ancients, that darkness would...
When They Call On Me, I Will Answer Them
There is much to celebrate this week. As Jews in Quebec, the past days have been filled with bounty and blessing. COVID cases are at record lows, and vaccination rates are high. The province and its businesses are opening up, and restrictions are down. We are...
The Tragedy in Meron – A Message from Rabbi Grossman
I have set before you today life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life. (Deuteronomy 30:19) When given the choice, the Torah tells us to choose life and blessing over death and curse. While this may seem obvious, the world of ancient Israel was filled with pagan...