The way we celebrate Thanksgiving at school is one of our most public expressions of communal values, and it never gets old. We prepared for Thanksgiving as we do each year by taking a school-wide, deep dive into gratitude. We learned about hakarat hatov (the Jewish value of expressing gratitude) and how we use brachot (blessings) to this end. We did mindfulness exercises to become more aware of all those who help us daily and chose local community members to appreciate. Star

We had an unusual entry in the "Overheards" section of Ta Shma last week. It read as follows: Head of School responding to a colleague knocking on her door: "Just a second, I'm just attaching the Torah in the rifle case to this pipe with a bike lock."  Your first question should probably be, "Is this school in Chelm, Poland?" No, it is not, it is on West 89th Street. I can answer this question with confidence because I am the head of school, and this is my office. With thos

This week, I was filled with gratitude for our community. As the government shutdown continued, many of you shared concerns about how our school might support those around us – in our own midst, in our neighborhood and beyond it – whose SNAP benefits are expected to run out. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a federal program that provides monthly benefits to low-income households to help them buy food. If the shutdown continues, SNAP benefits for Novemb

This week, I am honored to share an article I wrote for the Distinctions Journal published by JIMENA (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa). For those of you who may not be familiar with the organization, I am also delighted to acquaint you with JIMENA, which I wish had been in existence when I was growing up in the Orthodox Jewish community in Los Angeles as a child of a Tunisian mother and an Iraqi father. Here's how Jimena describes its mission: "We remain d