Messages from the Head of School
Important messages and announcements, as well as inspiring Divrei Torah from our Head of School.
Rosh Hashanah Message – September 2018
Rabbi Grossman Rosh Hashanah appears to be a holiday about the past and the future. In our thoughts and our prayers, we recall our past sins and misdeeds, and promise to do better next year. And while there is much significance to this looking back and...
Message from the Head of School
Our Journey Begins Rabbi Grossman The halls of Akiva are once again filled with movement. Students are moving from class to class, up and down stairs, in and out for arrival, recess, and dismissal. All the while, we are moving forward on our journeys as...
MESSAGE TO THE AKIVA FAMILY
I have come to the end of a remarkable, albeit brief, journey that I started with you sixteen months ago. It has been, of course, a continuation of a profound association with Akiva that started many, many years before that. And while my day-to-day involvement is...
Dvar Torah from the Interim Head of School
This Wednesday evening we usher in the concluding celebrations of this High Holiday cycle. Although technically Shemini Atzeret is not part of the Sukkot holiday, it is considered the eighth day, followed by Simhat Torah, which in practical terms is the ninth, and...
Message for Rosh HaShanah
It has been a difficult month of Elul. Natural disasters engulfed the U.S. in the form of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma; man-made difficulty haunts us as we see a resurgence of anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance. It seems that the time is right for moments of...
The “Happy” in Happy New Year
Next week we will all wish each other a “Happy New Year” as we prepare to celebrate Rosh Hashanah beginning Sunday evening. Last week I read an interesting Dvar Torah by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks who distinguished between the Hebrew words for happiness (“Ashrei/Osher”) and...
Parshat Terumah– A Portable Home
Please enjoy this abridged version of a dvar Torah by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks about the origins and important role of the synagogue in our Jewish lives. Wishing everyone a Shabbat Shalom and great week off. Lisa...
Parshat Mishpatim – The Truth about Lies
This week we witnessed the downfall of one of television’s celebrated news anchors- Brian Williams. Mr. Williams admitted that he might have “misrepresented” an incident which he reported during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Mr. Williams said that during the war, his...
Reflections from this week..
This week once again we witnessed incomprehensible acts of violence, in Israel and shockingly, also in our own province and capital. Our hearts and prayers go out to the families of the soldiers and victims of these acts of terror. As always, we stand behind Israel...
21st century learning means…. Sometimes getting your hands dirty
Partnership 21, a leading force in 21st century learning serves to position 21st century readiness at the center of education by building collaborative partnerships among education, business, community, and government leaders. 21st century learning combines “The 3Rs”...
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Rabbi Grossman’s Blog Corner
Rabbi Grossman's Corner
Light up our Learning
Chanukkah is one of my favorite Jewish holidays, but not for the reasons you may suspect. While I enjoy the foods, songs, and celebrations associated with the festival, every other Jewish holiday also has its own unique culinary, musical, and ritual...
Any Dream Will Do
Andrew Lloyd Webber was 17 years old when he began composing musical theater, the same age as Joseph when we first meet him in the Torah, in this week’s parasha. Joseph made Lloyd Webber famous when the play Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat...
Bilingualism as a Jewish Value
The story of Jacob’s life, which continues in this week’s Torah reading, is a swashbuckling adventure. From his theft of Esau’s birthright and blessing, the tale continues with Jacob’s furtive escape from his vengeful and murderous brother, his dream...
To Err is Human
While I deeply venerate our forefathers Abraham and Isaac, I find it difficult to relate to them. Abraham, at the age of 75, gives up everything he is familiar with in life to follow God to an unknown land, and is willing to sacrifice his only son. Isaac is obedient...
When Life Imitates Art
I walked into our Kindergarten class while they were completing one of my favorite art projects, the Shabbat Box. A Shabbat Box is a shoebox-sized receptacle containing all of the basics for making Shabbat: A Kiddush cup, challah cover, booklet of...
You Belong
I echo the words of the Psalmist, imo anochi b’tzarah—I am with you in your sorrow. I join the voices of the people of Pittsburgh, Jews and decent people everywhere, in pain and distress over the events of this past Shabbat. Imo anochi b’tzarah, I am...
Shabbat has kept the Jews
“It may be said without exaggeration that more than the Jews have kept the Sabbath, it is the Sabbath that has kept the Jews.” So wrote Asher Zvi Ginsberg in his celebrated 1898 essay, “Shabbes and Zionism.” This quip became the writer’s most famous...
History Repeats Itself
In this week’s Torah portion we are introduced to the first Israelites—Abraham and his family. Abraham and these early Israelites go down to Egypt because there is a famine in the Land of Canaan/Israel; when they get to Egypt, Abraham is afraid that he,...
Message from the Head of School – October 12, 2018
Life has returned to normal, and this can be of some concern. With the end of the Jewish holiday season, topped off this year by Thanksgiving, the series of feasts and fasts, celebrations and commemorations has finally finished. Gone are the three-day...
Message from the Head of School – October 4th, 2018
The story of the Garden of Eden, which we read this week in synagogue, certainly ends badly. The first man and woman disobey the one command of their Creator and are exiled forever from paradise. For millennia, Jewish (and Christian) commentators have looked to the...