This last Sunday our Academy celebrated the end of its successful but profoundly varied school year. Due to the unanticipated surprises of this winter and spring, we retooled into a vibrant virtual school, with classes, activities, electives, and the strong participation by our students, whose families were simultaneously grappling with the enormous changes in their day-to-day lives. Our goal as always, regardless of the virtual/live configuration and balance, is to provide a forum for community, which is one of our synagogue’s and school’s core missions: to connect BHBE families together, help build relationships and friendships and Jewish identity, and convey with everything we do that we are one people, here for each other, in good times and bad.
Creative planning is underway for the fall (we will be prepared to seemlessly shift as needed between virtual and live modes), incorporating one-one Hebrew mentoring, highly personalized options, a flexible lesson-of-the-day structure, and more. Registration is now open with an early bird special, and we encourage all congregants with students entering grades K and up to join us! Contact Aaron Frankel if you have any questions, or visit the Religious School page on the Academy website for more information.
Hearty thanks to all those who helped make this year strong and successful, both in the building and at home!
To our excellent and devoted teaching and support staff (in alphabetical order): Brenda Cole (youth advisor), Lisa Edelstein, Librarian Marcie Eskin, Josh Feinstein, Anne Fogarty, Dennis Gelbart, Ruth Halpern, Laura Lerer, Phyllis Levun-Agostino, Sarah Rodin, Cantor Pavel Roytman, Gal Spivak, Myra Weisberg, Debbie Winkler, and Hedva Yitzhak.
To our amazing madrikhim: Devyn Ament, Chana Bahar, Zachary Bahar, Jacob Baim, Alexis Chiet, Beck Eingorn, Miles Friedman, Alex Gerber, Jessie Gerber, Celia Goldstein, Sophia Kurzman, Mollie Penn, Naomi Sendlin, Jacob Shternberg, Sophie Pasman, Ari Spector, Adina Thompson, and Laib Zemel. And congratulations to our three graduating seniors: Rebecca Aisenberg, Samantha Gerber, and Zachary Thompson!!
To our supremely focused and talented BHBE staff: Rabbi Crane, Cantor Roytman, Executive Director Michael Kahn, Jackie Ernest, Percy Ferguson and the maintenance crew. (Welcome to Michael Goldberg, our new programming person!)
To our dedicated lay leadership: President Sandy Goldberg and Vice President Keri Bahar, School Board Chairperson Jill Feldman and the members of our Academy board this year: Dena Lichterman, Jessica Littman, Joyce Pollack, Rachel Smith, Inbal Frajman, Dan Galvin, and Tim Comar. Shout out as well to treasurer Steve Kraus for all his financial focuses.
And a heartfelt thank you to Sarah Pila for five years of wonderful service to the community as our Youth Director. Sarah has gone above and beyond the call of duty, building strong relationships and really making the mission of serving the youth and families of our synagogue her own. She will be missed! (And mazel Tov to Sarah on her PhD!)
