Summer Reflections 2011

Dear Upper School Community,

We’ve crossed the halfway point of the summer and our new teachers are coming in for orientation in less than three weeks! With teachers readying rooms, and as we plan for orientations, the energy is starting to build for the next school year. While yet in summer mode, I wish to share a few reflections.

There are two points of pride I eagerly share with you about our students. The first stems from the Zionist committee and the letter writing campaign the Upper School began on behalf of Gilad Shalit in the fourth quarter of the past school year. Just today Mrs. Isser showed me a letter from the American Red Cross, the recipient of our letters. ARC had sent requests in June to the International Committee of the Red Cross asking them to intercede on Gilad’s behalf. The ARC reply indicated that while Hamas continues to refuse all overtures, new overtures were taken up in June by the ICRC with Hamas. Our letters made a difference! I applaud the activists of the Zionist Committee and their advisor, Mrs. Isser, for encouraging the student body to get involved in a simple but tangible way. Kudos and applause to each student who took the time to sign and send letters.  Even though we did not succeed in achieving Gilad’s release as of yet, our letters meant something, and I feel proud knowing that our students really can and do have an impact beyond our four walls.    

The second observation relates to davening and learning this summer. I’m noticing that more and more MJBHA alumni and current students, young women and young men, are appearing at and engaging with tefilah on weeknights, weekdays, Sunday mornings, and Shabbat afternoons. More often I am hearing about and witnessing students participating in Torah study with Rabbi Shields, at the Yeshiva Gedolah of Greater Washington, and with each other as chavrutot during the week and on Shabbat after mincha. It is wonderful to see the growth in the numbers of “our kids” who are making davening and learning a focal part of their weekly and daily experience. Their making these commitments a priority serves as source of pride for the community, the school, and for the alumni and students whose actions speak volumes to the other youngsters in the community who see what their older siblings are doing.

I just concluded an exit interview with an alum from 2010. (Some things are worth the wait!) This graduate spoke about how special the MJBHA program is, something that isn’t always appreciated until one has a chance to compare with friends from other day schools. We have a wonderful, warm, and nice environment at MJBHA, and we look forward to another school year developing special, warm, and very nice students who do wonderful things in this world.

Enjoy the next few weeks, and have a meaningful fast on the Ninth.