A Staircase to...?

Tuesday started off with an unusual request. On my way to run one of the high school’s alternative minyanim, I was stopped by a group of seniors on the staircase. “Dr. Yares,” they asked, “Can we have our grade level minyan today?”

Now, these same students have been involved in the tefillah conversations that had happened earlier in the year with the Student Government and later with the Va’ad Tefillah. Naturally, I was a bit surprised to hear them request to not have the alternative minyanim that they had helped bring about. However, when they shared their reason for their request, then I got it.

What was the reason? “It’s our last tefillah together as a grade.”

This was a profound statement from these students. While the alternative minyanim are designed to help provide tools to draw us closer to God through tefillah, the students were reflecting on another purpose of tefillah, drawing us closer to each other.

Jewish prayer can happen as an individual, but when we gather as a group of ten or more, as a minyan, we gain the ability to say special tefillot. More importantly, perhaps, is that tefillah in a minyan includes portions that are said aloud and this format emphasizes the community that we are trying to build.

How do we know that our seniors understood this? Perhaps through the request or perhaps it was through the most spirited Aleinu that the school has ever heard. Stomping, dancing, and singing with ruach accompanied this final prayer of their final in-school minyan of their senior year. The kavanah (intent) of their tefillah came through strongly and intensely.

Sometimes when we pray, we connect with God. Sometimes, we connect with each other. And sometimes, we get to do both.

(Re)Designing Tefillah

A colleague of mine once referred to tefillah as the third rail of Jewish education. As irreverent as this may sound, it stemmed from a deep-seated concern that as Jewish educators we struggle with this area of the day school experience, not because it is not important, but because of its complexity and how hard it is to get it right.

Tefillah is hard. Even as adults we struggle with connecting with God during davening on a Shabbat morning. We try to find the right kavana (intent) to go with our keva (the fixed process of tefillah) and often miss the mark. I can only imagine what our synagogue rabbis are thinking as they stare at us from the bima while we are either grappling with this dilemma or are completely off task. Given how difficult meaningful, engaging tefillah is for adults, it is no wonder that adolescents also struggle with blending kavana and keva together in our daily minyanim.

With this problem in mind, we have begun a series of conversations at school to grapple with this challenge. Our Va’ad Tefillah (prayer committee) is a combined group of students and staff who are actively engaged in seeking solutions to this. The Va’ad Tefillah, with the support of The Jewish Education Project’s Day School Collaboration Network, has been using design thinking to address the often intractable problem of creating meaningful, relevant, and engaging tefillah experiences for our high school students. Through this design thinking process, we immersed ourselves in the situation by looking at it from our students’ points of view. We also sought inspiration from a variety of sources. With this in hand, we began to understand what tefillah experiences meant for them.

We then worked to frame our problem to create “how might we” statements that helped us better define the problems facing us in high school tefillah. We then imagined what could possibly be and collaborated to develop a series of prototypes to help us test our understanding, gain more information, and learn as we continued to work in the cycle of immerse, frame, imagine, and prototype.

Our initial prototypes were a series of alternative minyanim that allowed students to engage with tefillah in a different way. Here are the choices and descriptions that were available to students:

Regular Minyan: Similar to our daily minyanim, this larger group minyan will join together for a spirited davening.

Meditation Shacharit: How do I improve my focus, and organize my thoughts in tefillah?  Come to this Shacharit, where you will learn exciting ways to use meditation a mode of thinking to help you focus and direct your tefillot in new and exciting ways.

Words of Prayer: The siddur is an ancient combination of words from the Tanakh, with additions, adjustments and an overall organization made by our Rabbis through the generations. This minyan will take a close look at different prayers and we'll discuss how each prayer fits into the Rabbis' overall plan for the siddur, and how we can make sense of the siddur – personally -  as 21st century Jews.

Are You There God?: How can we discuss God? Why should we discuss God? What is God? How do we believe in God? (and what does that mean anyway!) This minyan will think about these questions and many other theological issues. Our goal is not to generate answers about God, but rather to startthe conversation about God.

Tech and Tefillah: Can the texts of the tefillot be communicated through modern means? How much of a tefillah would you tweet? We will explore using technology tools, like Twitter, PowerPoint, and Facebook, to help us gain greater understanding of the tefillot in the siddur.

Are these alternative minyanim the solution? Probably not alone, but they are a starting point. These experiences were followed up by a survey as we seek to design a better tefillah experience. Through this process, we hope to shift away from thinking about tefillah as an insurmountable challenge for the Jewish day school experience into one that adds meaning and relevance to all of those who participate.

Meditating on Freedom

Early on Wednesday morning, I was working with a group of high school students on a meditation exercise in our alternative minyan. As we meditated together, I realized that the intentional and unintentional activities of the week had somehow aligned as the perfect preparation to spiritually enter Pesah. The meditation exercise that I had picked to use during the Amidah focused on reflecting on feelings of happiness, peace, and freedom. It was during this last portion of the exercise that, for me, the week began to click together and I realized that I was becoming ready to enter z’man matan cherutainu, the time of receiving our freedom.

On Monday, our 8th graders led an interfaith seder for the students of St. Aidan School, our neighbors around the corner. They eloquently explained the reasons behind each section of the seder and served as ambassadors of both our school and the Jewish people. Together, we celebrated the beauty of the seder and learned about its educational mission as the story of the exodus from Egypt is told. For two groups of students from different faiths to sit down and learn from one another brings to mind the incredible gift of our religious freedom.

Tuesday morning began with the delivery of the cots from New York Blood Services for our second blood drive of the school year. Blood, however, has a mixed relationship with Pesah. It can bring to mind the infamous blood libels of our past as Jews were accused of using the blood of Christian children to make matzot. It can also represent the first of the Ten Plagues that dip our fingers into at our seder. At school, however, it represented giving others the gift of life through 48 units of blood that students, staff, parents, and other members of the Schechter community contributed. This giving of ourselves provides others with the freedom to live their lives in health.

Even the fire alarm during high school lunch provided a sense of liberation. Yes, it was cold and wet outside. Yes, it was scary not knowing what was going on. But as an administrator, I found a sense of freedom from my own fears of what would happen if we did have an emergency in the building. Our preparations and practice with our own emergency procedures worked.

With the feeling that spring is actually arriving, our sixth grade students set out to engage in acts of maot chittim, pre-Pesah activities of chesed (community service). While our students did not gather wheat to provide others with the ability to celebrate Pesah, they did stock kosher for Pesah supplies at a food pantry. With the ever present fear of hunger among some in our community, our students worked to liberate them from this through their actions.

I was greeted early one morning by a student stating that she was so tired, but vacation is only a few days away. Clearly, our students are looking forward to the freedom from classwork that Pesah break will bring. Many of us among the faculty have joked about our own self-imposed slavery as we prepare for Pesah and are yearning to be set free.

My hope is that all of us will have a moment to truly reflect on what freedom means to us as we sit down at our own seder tables with friends and family to tell the story of our people’s exodus from Egypt. May you truly be able to feel a sense of freedom as we celebrate z’man matan cherutainu.

L’Shanah Ha’Ba’ah B’Yerushalayim (Next Year in Jerusalem)!

Friday Letter - December 21, 2012

I like a good argument. There’s something about engaging in a passionate conversation about a topic that gets the adrenaline flowing. Now, I’m not suggesting that we run around picking fights with each other. A healthy argument includes respect for one’s opponent and a conversation that stays focused on the issues rather than on the ad hominem attacks that we see among some talking heads on TV. This kind of debate is a great tool in and out of the classroom as it allows students to see an issue from multiple perspectives and forces them to back up an opinion with reasoning and facts.

This week in the AP Government class, there were timely debates regarding the role of interest groups in our political system. Specifically, the role of the NRA was part of the debate.  Several AP Government students made solid contributions on this subject.

On Tuesday, Robin Stanton's English 10 Honors class participated in two debates.  Students spent the previous two weeks working in teams: researching and synthesizing source material, planning strategy, and polishing their presentations.  On the morning of the debate, students arrived in professional attire.  They presented their arguments with a poise and authority that belied their years. Debate results were released later that day on PawPrint Now.

The members of the Debate Club are learning how to present persuasive arguments in support of or in opposition to current controversial topics that have been in the news frequently. It has also been discussed that you do not have to personally agree with the side of an issue that you are presenting. An effective debater should know both sides of an issue. Some of the topics that have been or will be the focus of our debates are listed below.

1. Which presidential candidate should be the next president of the United States?
2. Are social network sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, or LinkedIn good for our society?
3. Do video games contribute to youth violence?
4. Do the movies produced in Hollywood have a bad influence on society?
5. Should athletes be allowed to use enhancement drugs?
6. Should medical marijuana be available in all states?

During each meeting of the club, two teams are selected to take different sides of an issue. Each team presents their arguments. Each team has an opportunity to a rebuttal of the opposing teams statements. Then each team gives a very quick summary of their  arguments. The team that gives the best presentation is declared the winner by the club adviser, Mr. Steger.

The high school student government has also been involved in a debate of substance, among themselves and with the faculty. In response to some planned changes to 10th and 11th grade minyanim, student leaders wrote a letter to administration expressing their concerns. Several meetings have been held to discuss both student and faculty concerns and a partnership is developing out of these passionate arguments about how to engage our students in tefillah. As they develop, I look forward to sharing with you our plans.


There is no argument that it is time for winter vacation. On behalf of the faculty and staff of the Upper School, I wish you an enjoyable and safe winter vacation.


Shabbat Shalom!

Friday Letter - 9/28/12

When I look back on the past week, two sounds resonate in my head. The first, of course, was the final shofar blast at the end of Yom Kippur (more on that in a moment). The other was the sound of tefillah in the Middle School this past Friday.

Now, normally tefillah is filled with sounds. After all, we do a significant amount of our davening out loud. This particular Friday morning was different. New melodies were introduced and the level of our ruach was enhanced by our two guests who are up-and-coming musicians and educators from the Conservative Movement. Josh Warshawsky and Daniel Novick are products of the Conservative Movement in Chicago and Northern Virginia, both serving as international officers in United Synagogue Youth in 2008. Josh is a senior at the Joint Program between Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary, an alum of the Nativ program in Israel, and during the summers  is the Rosh Musikah at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin. Daniel is a rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary and was the co-creator of "Shaharit Live!," an unique tefillah experience for USY combining music and multimedia that has been utilized in Conservative Movement institutions around the country. Last Friday, was the first of the monthly visits that Josh and Daniel will be making to lead the Middle School in tefillah once a month and spend some time with students in our Upper School.

Daniel and Josh were a hit with the Middle School. Students were singing (some even dancing) as we davened our way through Shaharit. It was truly an inspirational experience and one that we hope will add to all of our future tefillot together. For taste of the sound created, click here.

The final shofar blast on Yom Kippur took on more meaning for me this year, perhaps because of the way my thoughts were primed for the holiday through the high school’s Yom Kippur workshops. After first period tefillah, the high school students broke into smaller groups to focus on one of many topics to help engage more fully in Yom Kippur. The topics ran the gambit from the practical, A Yom Kippur Survival Guide, to the more weighty, Would You Forgive a Nazi?. In each session, students explored, debated, and questioned the practices and themes of Yom Kippur. Kol HaKavod to Rabbi Josh and the faculty for organizing this experience.

Friday Letter - 9/7/12

With the summer days waning away, the Upper School faculty came back to Williston Park last week to set up classrooms and begin our preparations for the 2012-13 school year. Beyond these usual preparations, we sat to explore how we approach teaching and learning. In small groups, teachers reflected on their own learning experiences and discussed the implications of the changing world, particularly with technology. We continued to work with the staff on the roll out of Moodle, a learning management system that will support classes in the Upper School.

It was exciting to see the students arrive in the building and watch them greet old friends and meet new ones. We started our day with a school-wide tefillah in the High School and in the Middle School, where Rabbi Josh treated us to a visualization of the tension between the fixed routine of our davening and our desire to engage spiritually through a scene from one of my favorite movies, Dead Poets Society. 

The 9^th graders and their peer connectors headed off to the Midway Jewish Center (graciously filling in as our rainy day location) for a fun and engaging 9th grade orientation. Outdoor educators from Nassau BOCES worked with the students to help them grow together as a class while engaging in problem solving activities.

The Middle School celebrated its first bat mitzvah of the year with much nachat (joy) and energy on Thursday. Later that day, E2K kicked off its first session of the year. Elsewhere, the 9th and 10th graders in the Sci-Tech program began their first classes in this exciting new endeavor.

Looking ahead, we have the High School Shabbaton around the corner (9th grade sign-up and 10-12th grade signup). I strongly encourage all high school students to join us for this event. Meet-the-Teachers Nights are also coming up (MS - September 12; HS - September 20) and I’m looking forward to meeting parents that evening.

Thank you to everyone for your ongoing warm welcome and support as I begin this new position of Upper School Principal.