We are pleased to announce the inauguration of the RAVSAK Small School Professional Development Scholarship. This scholarship will make the training, networking and professional development opportunities of the RAVSAK Annual Leadership Conference accessible to educators from small Jewish day schools and small Jewish communities across North America.
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Title: Head of School The Akiva School is the only independent elementary community day school of its kind in the region and has earned both local and national recognition as an outstanding academic institution. The school is located minutes from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, a culturally vibrant city... Featured School
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RAVSAK Roundup: Moot Beit Din
♦ by Elliott Rabin, Ph.D., RAVSAK’s Director of Educational Programs
Imagine high school students from throughout North America coming together to share their passion for Jewish learning. Imagine 40 dedicated teens being given a challenging, contemporary case requiring them to spend evenings and weekends studying issues in Jewish law, preparing complex decisions based on numerous sources in Halakhah, and presenting their findings before exacting judges and an audience of their peers and adults. What you have just envisioned is the Moot Beit Din Shabbaton that took place April 3 to 6 in Toronto. Moot Beit Din is a program that originated with NAAJHS, the North American Association of Jewish High Schools, and now is facilitated by RAVSAK, which absorbed NAAJHS in 2007. This year a record eleven schools participated in this most demanding and rewarding program: American Hebrew Academy, Barrack (formerly Akiba) Hebrew Academy, Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, Frankel Jewish Academy, Herzl/RMHA at the Denver Campus, Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy, Jewish Community High School of the Bay, Milken Community High School, Shoshana S. Cardin Jewish Community High School, and teams from the two campuses of Tanenbaum CHAT, the host school. While the students clearly relished the opportunity to show off the fruit of their labors in front of a knowledgeable and appreciative audience, all the more so they enjoyed meeting likeminded peers from RAVSAK schools far and wide. Perhaps most impressive about the Shabbaton was the way that the students immediately took to each other and made new friends. Students at the host campus, Tanenbaum CHAT Kimel Centre, greeted all arrivals with a tour of their spanking new, glass-walled facility. They then led off the activities with an icebreaker that had people laughing and remembering each other’s names in no time. At dinner the students joined together in one long row of tables in boisterous discussion, while advisors gladly bonded at their own table in a mellower though just as friendly mood. The same camaraderie continued throughout the weekend on noisy bus rides, through spirited singing, and at a Shabbat stroll through a large urban park on a surprisingly balmy Toronto day. The Shabbaton was packed with stimulating activities. The students heard from a former head of the Toronto Beit Din as well as a lawyer who specializes in dispute resolution, and learned about the actual kinds of cases that come before a Jewish court. They participated in a chesed project, preparing boxes for the local Passover Food Drive organized by the National Council of Jewish Women, and afterwards visited the Ontario Science Centre, renowned as one of the best science museums in the world. During Shabbat students had the opportunity to learn together, alongside students from different schools and from advisors other than their own, on a range of relevant topics. Throughout the weekend, students led the davening in two minyanim, one with a mechitzah and one egalitarian. On Motz’ei Shabbat they played basketball together, participated in a musical kumsitz, or simply watched a movie in advance of the competition. On Sunday morning the schools split into two rooms, with teams presenting their understanding of the issues in front of local rabbis serving as dayanim. It was remarkable to watch not only the intelligence on display, but also the creativity that each team put into the performance: this team had Powerpoint images and sound effects; that team acted out the characters in the dispute; one team had each member discourse on a different issue, while another broke the presentation into rapid-fire alternation of parts. Truly every team was deserving of recognition, but we want to mention here the teams that won in each category: Group 1, First Place: JCHS of the Bay; Second Place: Tanenbaum CHAT Kimel Centre Group 2, First Place: Shoshana S. Cardin; Second Place: Charles E. Smith The weekend brought to mind the famous saying by Rabbi Chanina that is widely read on Shabbat morning: “Don’t read ‘your children’ but ‘your builders’” (לא תקרא בנייך אלא בונייך). The students at the Moot Beit Din gave tangible proof that through Torah study, our children become the builders of the Jewish future. ♦ |
© 2008 RAVSAK: The Jewish Community Day School Network
