Worcester, Mass., synagogue, day school building seized by IRS

Published on December 24, 2012

A building housing a synagogue and Jewish day school in Worcester, a city in central Massachusetts, has been seized by the Internal Revenue Service.

Gifted diaspora teens

Published on November 8, 2012

Growing up in Los Angeles, Asaf Shasha, then 16, had everything a teenager could want: a loving family, good friends and a comfortable home. Still, Shasha couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to life than the fancy gadgets prized by the kids at his Jewish day school.

Reimagining religious school

Published on November 8, 2012

From my first interview at Temple Israel of Hollywood (TIOH) in 2009, when the search committee declared, “We want revolution, not evolution!” to the visioning work I do with families today, my purpose at the congregation has been clear: to help families build deeper relationships to Jewish community, Jewish living and Jewish learning.

Day school affordability

By Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz
Published on November 8, 2012

In religious Jewish communities, the affordability of day schools is one of the most discussed social challenges. Supporting vibrant, successful, viable Jewish day schools is no less than supporting the Jewish future — our children are our future, and the values we demonstrate and pass on will determine what they will do with the torch when they are its bearers.

Study: Orthodox Jewish males transmitted mumps in school

Published on November 1, 2012

A mumps outbreak in New York and New Jersey in which 97 percent of the more than 3,500 cases were Orthodox Jews was a result of the way Orthodox boys are schooled, according to a new study.

Day school catcher Max Ungar, drafted by Nationals, to play college ball

Published on June 14, 2012

Max Ungar, the Maryland day school catcher drafted by the Washington Nationals, will forego the pros to play at Denison University in Ohio.

N.J. bus drivers working on Thanksgiving driving Jewish students

Published on November 23, 2011

Some school bus drivers in Lakewood, N.J., are expressing their displeasure with having to work on Thanksgiving driving Orthodox Jewish students to school.

Are day schools the ‘magic carpet?’

By Rabbi Laurence Scheindlin
Published on August 16, 2007

For years, I've read predictions of doom about the future of American Jewish life, and I've always guessed that the authors of those doomsday scenarios hadn't visited many Jewish day schools. Those of us who do on a daily basis are able to take a magic carpet into the future, where we can see the children of today becoming the Jewish leaders of tomorrow.

New faces in town as two Orthodox schools debut

By Daniella Wexler
Published on August 16, 2007

Two new Orthodox day schools -- a preschool and a high school -- are scheduled to debut this year in Los Angeles, enhancing the Jewish educational landscape with nuanced curricula and sophisticated schooling methodologies.

Day school teacher program seeks to improve quality of instruction

By Nancy Sokoler Steiner
Published on August 16, 2007

The Day School Leadership Through Teaching program or DeLeT, which means "door" in Hebrew, is a 13-month fellowship designed to recruit and train high-caliber Jewish day school teachers. The program is offered in Los Angeles and San Francisco through the Rhea Hirsch School of Education at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) and at Brandeis University in Massachusetts.

School in Ukraine resists alleged Chabad takeover

By Vladimir Matveyev
Published on June 7, 2007

A pluralistic Jewish school in Ukraine fended off what its sponsors say were attempts by Chabad to take over one of the oldest Jewish day schools in the former Soviet Union.

Success of Jewish day schools breeds crisis

By Rabbi Laurence Scheindlin
Published on May 3, 2007

Observers estimate the average tenure of Jewish day school heads at between two and five years. Having labeled the problem a crisis, a consortium of organizations, including the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education and the Avichai Foundation, recently invited 50 participants to convene at a think tank consultation in New York.

A Chilling Raid

By Julie Drucker
Published on December 9, 2004

None of the 1,500 children at a Jewish day school in Caracas will forget drop-off on the morning of Nov. 29. On that morning last week, 25 government investigators, some of them armed and hooded, intercepted busloads of kids and turned them away.

Russian Emigre’s Tales of New World

By Sandee Brawarsky
Published on August 26, 2004

The three A's in "Natasha" are filled in by tiny stylized Matryoshka dolls, the traditional Russian stacking dolls, on the book jacket of David Bezmozgis' radiant debut (Farrar Straus and Giroux, $18).

In this collection of linked stories, the three figures at the center are a mother, father and son who leave Riga, Latvia, for Toronto, Canada. The stories are told from the point of view of the son, Mark Berman, who observes everything and helps interpret the New World for his parents.

Everyday Hebrew

By Adam Wills
Published on April 26, 2001

Meseret Rubin started learning modern Hebrew for the sake of her family.

Spreading the Word

By Julie Wiener
Published on September 21, 2000

Shirley Kotler of Los Angeles said her commitment to day schools stems from her interest in "perpetuating Judaism."

An Unaccustomed Sound

By Beverly Gray
Published on April 13, 2000

Today's schools tend to have only limited resources for music instruction, and Jewish day schools are no exception. And in an American Jewish community dominated by Ashkenazic-descended households, Sephardic culture remains a mystery to many Jewish children. Happily, the Maurice Amado Foundation has stepped in to address both of these problems.

Common Ground

Published on December 2, 1999

If Aryeh Scheinberg were your typical Orthodox rabbi, the Jewish community of San Antonio would be engulfed right now in an ugly fight that would leave everyone a loser, most of all the children. But Scheinberg isn't typical, and the Jews of south Texas are at peace. Last August the community opened its spanking-new "campus," bringing the Jewish federation, family service, community center and San Antonio's sole Jewish day school under one $18 million roof. "It's an amazing place," says Pat Tonkin, who had become the day school's headmistress in July. "We're all in it together."