A Message from the Board President

At the Berman Hebrew Academy, we are committed to three concurrent goals: (1) instilling a love for and knowledge of Judaism and Torah in our children; (2) providing an educational platform through which each of our children can actualize his or her potential; and (3) making a Modern Orthodox Jewish education available to everyone who wants one, whenever we can. 

These goals, at times, can conflict and are far more easily stated than achieved; yet far more often than not we succeed. That’s why my four children attend the Academy, along with about 700 others.

At the Academy, we believe and we succeed in developing fully engaged and educated members of both the Jewish and broader communities – patriotic Americans and ardent Zionists who live open and halakhic lives and who passionately identify with k’lal Yisrael, the Jewish people. 

The Academy is also a family. One of the most impressive (among an array of impressive) MJBHA statistics to me is that 17% of our current students are children of MJBHA alumni. Simply put, our alumni send their children here. In a mobile society – and particularly in a community as notoriously transient as the Greater Washington area – that is truly remarkable.

At the same time, there is no denying the increasing financial pressures on Jewish families who believe in day school education. Financial sustainability requires that tuition be affordable and financial assistance available. It also requires robust enrollment and support from the larger community. My central goal as president is to ensure that our Headmaster, administrators and faculty continue to have the tools they need to produce the excellent holistic educational experience our parents expect and our students deserve, while exploring every avenue to ensure that an Academy education is financially affordable to anyone who wants it.

I hope you will join me in that effort and, if you are not yet an Academy parent or student, that you will come see what we are about. I am confident you will find our school an exciting, enriching and irresistible place to be.

Behnam Dayanim

President, Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy