1) Our final Jewish music meeting of the year. Working with two remarkably capable and passionate people who have a high level of respect and commitment coupled with a sense of humor and ability to embrace the fact that our shared area of concern is a work in progress. 2) The 5th grade class that […]
Life Lessons
4 years later
This week I had the chance to reconnect with students from The Davis Academy class of 2011 as they’re getting ready to graduate high school. Time is a funny thing. It seems like only yesterday that they were Davis students. At the same time, it feels like ages ago, a different world. It’s always striking […]
Life Lessons– 2015 Israel Trip
One of the responsibilities I enjoy most in my role at The Davis Academy is leading our annual 8th grade Israel trip. I’ve literally just come home from the airport after two extraordinary weeks chaperoning 68 8th grade students along with several other colleagues. For a comprehensive chronicle of our experiences you can read my […]
Lech l’cha
In the 12th chapter of the book of Genesis God tells Abram and Sarai (long before they become Abraham and Sarah), “Lech l’cha.” Commonly translated as “go forth” or “go” it’s actually something much deeper. If we translate it literally it comes out as something like, “go to yourself.” “Go to yourself”??? I don’t know […]
How we celebrate
Jewish tradition teaches, “Rejoice in your holy days, and may your holy days be joyous.” As it turns out, Judaism has dozens of words that are all synonyms for “celebrate.” Simcha, rina, ditza, oneg… These are just a few. We learn a lot about a culture from its language. That Judaism has so many different ways of […]
How we honor
Jewish tradition teaches, “Who is worthy of honor? One who honors all creation.” How and what we honor says a lot about who we are. We live in a world that undervalues honor and that makes a caricature of honor. We undervalue honor by dishonoring almost everything: our selves, our communal institutions, our leaders– political […]