Messages from the Head of School
Important messages and announcements, as well as inspiring Divrei Torah from our Head of School.
What’s in a Name?
Chidushim B’Chinuch—Insights into Education Ninth of an Ongoing Series Jewish schools today tend to take their names from magnanimous donors. This system of nomenclature rightly honours those who have provided for the needs and welfare of our community, called in...
Lessons from the Land of Egypt
When we conclude the Book of Genesis this week in synagogue, the Israelites will have taken up residence in a most hospitable and welcoming country: Egypt. Invited there by Pharaoh himself, with the Hebrew Joseph as his viceroy, our people prospered financially and...
There’s No Place Like Home
Before we go off for Winter Vacation, I wanted to wish the entire Akiva community a restful break and a happy Chanukah. We are wrapping up this secular year with energy and inspiration courtesy of the Akiva Players amazing production of the original musical, Cyber...
Chanukah Musings
During the Chanukah season it is traditional to reflect upon the relationship between Jewish and Greek civilization. The story of Chanukah celebrates the literal and figurative victory of Judaism over Greek cultural and military forces in the battle between Jews and...
Cast Me Not Off
Cast me not off when I am old; forsake me not when my usefulness fails. Psalm 71:9 Mr. Stein would not sell you a book unless he thought you worthy of reading it. His books were located on the ancient shelves of his store—behind the counter and out of reach of...
Happily Ever After
Chidushim B’Chinuch—Insights into Education Eighth of an Ongoing Series When I moved to Massachusetts many years ago, one of my first stops was the Granary Burial Ground, located in downtown Boston. Tourists and residents alike make pilgrimages to this cemetery to pay...
A Place where the Air is Sweet
Chidushim B’Chinuch—Insights into Education Seventh in an Ongoing Series As a child, neither my friends nor I were afraid of monsters or vampires, and I know whom to thank. When children of a previous generation imagined monsters or Gothic villains they would think...
A Paean to Poetry
Chidushim B’Chinuch—Insights into Education Sixth of an Ongoing Series My decision to pursue a career in education was solidified in 1989 when I saw Peter Weir’s Oscar-winning film, Dead Poets Society. As far as I can remember, I wanted to become a teacher from the...
The Legend and Legacy of Language
Chidushim B’Chinuch—Insights into Education Fifth of an Ongoing Series The great mysteries of the human condition are the topics of the first eleven chapters of the Torah. In Genesis 1-6, which we read in last week’s Torah portion, Scripture addresses the origins of...
Turn! Turn! Turn!
Chidushim B’Chinuch—Insights into Education Fourth of an Ongoing Series The reading of Kohelet, the book of Ecclesiastes, on the holiday of Sukkot remains one of the great mysteries of the Jewish liturgical year. The just-completed Festival of Booths is the most...
Akiva Calendar
Experience Akiva
Donate
Rabbi Grossman’s Blog Corner
Rabbi Grossman's Corner
The Spirit of Judah
As I look at our students during the final days of school before the summer, I am reminded of the Israelites standing at the border of the Promised Land. Behind them are the trials and toils that marked their trek through the desert, the hard work that characterized...
Court of Justice
Rabbi David Hartman, founder of The Akiva School, was known in Montreal and throughout the Jewish world as a powerful preacher, intrepid cleric, popular philosopher, and institution builder. He was also an exceptional basketball player. Rabbi Hartman grew up in...
Message from the Head of School
Everyone thrives on routine. We have weekly, monthly, and daily cycles and routines that give life a sense of order and purpose. Getting up each morning is eased by the fact that I know exactly the steps I must take from the time my alarm rings to the time I am at...
A Message of Redemption from the Jewish People to the World
As we prepare to sit down to our seders this year, I want to point out two peculiarities about the Pesach haggadah. The haggadah is supposed to tell the story of the liberation from Egypt. And yet, at no point in the seder do we ever just tell this story. ...
A Day of Hope and Renewal
Today is Rosh Chodesh Nisan, the first day of the new Hebrew month of Nisan. It marks the new moon of the month that ushers in the season of renewal, called Aviv in the Torah. In the time of the Bible, this month was the first month of the new year (the Jewish year...
Coronavirus Update – Message from Rabbi Grossman
ונִשְׁמַרְתֶּם מְאֹד לְנַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם Protect your bodies most carefully! Reading these words in Deuteronomy 4:9, our sages determined that there is a Torah obligation to be vigilant about our physical health in addition to our spiritual wellbeing. In following this...
The Limits and Loci of Jewish Education
Chidushim B’Chinuch—Insights into Education Fourteenth of an Ongoing Series When we speak about Jewish education, we most likely have in mind the Jewish day school. Especially here in Montreal, where Jewish schools have been strong, successful, popular and...
A Double Mitzvah
Tu B’shevat is a time when modern Jews consider their responsibility towards the environment and God’s world, as I pointed out in my last column. Inspired by a number of Akiva students who have taken it upon themselves to spearhead grassroots environmental efforts at...
The Values of Education
Chidushim B’Chinuch—Insights into Education Thirteenth of an Ongoing Series This Monday was Tu B’Shevat, the Jewish Arbor Day or New Year of the Trees. In modern times, Tu B’Shevat has become a day of ecological awareness, the Jewish Earth Day. In Hebrew schools, Tu...
School and Society
Chidushim B’Chinuch—Insights into Education Twelfth of an Ongoing Series Last week we explored Plato’s proposal for compulsory education, the goal of which is to develop in the child a balanced soul that reaches its potential. Plato called this ideal the Virtuous...