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...
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...
Yom Kippur is a day of judgment, but it is also a day of love. In the time of the Mishna (c. 200 C.E.), Yom Kippur was a day of courtship, when the young maidens of Jerusalem would dance in white robes in the vineyards, looking for a young man with whom to fall in...
Shomeia Kol Truat Amo Yisrael B’rachamim Hearing the Cries of Israel with Compassion One of my first students was a Grade 9 pupil whom I would describe as a fine young man. He was clean cut and kind, socially well-adjusted, and well-liked. Academically he was not an...
Chidushim B’Chinuch—Insights into Education Third of an Ongoing Series There is a terrible and frightening moment in parenting when your child first uses the “F” word. Worst of all is when the object of the “F” word is you. Here is how it plays out. In response to...
Chidushim B’Chinuch—Insights into EducationSecond of an ongoing seriesThere is an elite private school in New England that had a student handbook which, as of the last time I checked, contained only one rule. Pushing back on the endless injunctions that...
Chidushim B’Chinuch—Insights into EducationFirst of an Ongoing SeriesI had the pleasure this summer of spending time with the first president of the Akiva School, Charles Solomon, and his wife Chana, in their apartment in Jerusalem. In addition to enjoying their warm...
Welcome back! We are so happy to see everyone return to school rested, revived and ready for a joyful and productive year of learning. A special welcome to all of our new Akiva families joining us this year; we are so happy to have you with us. This is a time of new...
As the last day of school approaches, I want to thank the entire community for making my first year at Akiva such a wonderful experience. At Grade 6 Graduation last night I spoke of Rabbi Hartman’s book, A Heart of Many Rooms. Rabbi Hartman took the title of his book...
The biblical era was a time of hierarchies. There was an aristocracy, and there were peasants; there were wealthy landed gentry and poor paupers; there were royals and commoners; there were priests and laymen. Movement between these classes was rare, and in some...