The Elephant in the Classroom

This article was written in summer 2013 and was recently published by the Essex Jewish News (Chanukah edition).

“Everything has its season, and there is a time for everything under the heaven...a time to be silent and a time to speak”. (Ecclesiastes 3:1,7, written by King Solomon)

In 2013, we are approaching a significant milestone in the history of the North East London Jewish community. Our community will be celebrating the 20^th anniversary of its only Jewish secondary school. This particular anniversary is taking second place to the even bigger milestone of the rebuilding of Ilford Jewish Primary School on the King Solomon campus. However beneath the surface there is a major elephant in the classrooms of Jewish education on the East side of London.

It has been clear to all observers that there is currently a surplus of places at Jewish secondary schools across London. This has resulted in all of the mainstream Jewish secondary schools accepting non-Jewish children, with King Solomon at the forefront of this trend. However the reason for the large influx of non-Jewish students in King Solomon is not solely because of demographic decline. Rather there is a new phenomenon on the horizon – the opening of a new pluralist school in Barnet, JCoss. There are busloads of children who make the long schlep each day across London to take their place there. Many of these students come from Clore Tikva School, which is a feeder primary school to JCoss.

Perhaps, as King Solomon told us, everything has its season – and the time of King Solomon High School’s is at its end. Perhaps when we as a community decided to open a secondary school we only intended to have one for 20 years before another new school would attract our attention. Perhaps we should make it clear to the major donors for this project that whilst their donations are generous, we as a community are ultimately not prepared to support the project, and that the benefits of the investment will fall to the local populace. Perhaps.

Or perhaps not. I would like to share some inside information with you and make the case loudly and clearly that King Solomon is the only viable place of Jewish secondary education for our community.

King Solomon is a school which feels Jewish. Every student – irrespective of race or religion – studies Judaism, learns Ivrit, celebrates Israel on Yom Ha’atzmaut and dresses up for Purim. There is a Kehila department, whose primary purpose is to promote volunteering, community engagement and Jewish values amongst all students, developing children into confident leaders. The Year 9 Israel Trip and Year 12 Poland Trip have transformatory effects on the identities of hundreds of students. It is a school where there is respect and tolerance for all faiths. If anything, feelings of Jewish identity are increasing not decreasing. King Solomon is a happy place to be and it is inspiring to watch the children of our community learn, play and grow together, in the knowledge that one day they will have the tools and the passion to lead the community.

Given all of this, it seems surprising that JCoss is becoming incredibly popular. There are many possible reasons for this, not least the clash of ideologies between a pluralist and an Orthodox ethos. However I believe that if we as a community truly believe that we have a future then we have to resolve to solely support our local Jewish secondary school.

It is not just because the wider Jewish community is injecting millions of pounds into the future of Jewish education in North East London. It is because we need to rediscover the sense of community that inspired people 20 years ago to create King Solomon.

Education is not just about a building and good facilities. It is about values, identity and the concept of community. We are blessed with a modern Jewish school, talented and dedicated staff with a track record of success and the promise of a modern state-of-the-art campus from ages 2-18. We have hundreds of Jewish leaders-in-waiting enjoying their school life whilst interacting with students of other faiths, creating a unique multifaith community with Jewish values and practice at its core. It is time to spread the message that we believe we can create a Jewish school for the future on this side of London. As King Solomon says, now is the time to speak.

A Defining Speech: Rabbi Sacks' Manifesto

He may not have the title of Chief any more, but to the thousands of people who came to, or tried to come to, hear Rabbi Lord Sacks speak, he is still one of the most sought-after figures in the Jewish world.

Having heard Rabbi Sacks speak many times in the UK, I thought that tonight might hold a sense of deja-vu, the only difference being the novelty of hearing him in Israel. However despite the fact that some of his ideas, and certainly jokes, were not new, there was a fundamental difference with the speech he gave at the Great Synagogue tonight.

It was more than a speech - it was a manifesto. Rabbi Sacks was unequivocal in his message. The Torah was always intended as a protest against the two early failures of man - the barbarian world of Adam and Noach which ended in the flood and the imperialist world of Nimrod which ended in the dispersion following the Tower of Bavel. Therefore, by definition, Judaism was always meant to engage the world. And now that we have a Jewish state, we are now able more than ever before to finally realise this mission.

He went on to explain that following the enlightenment and ensuing assimilation which was accompanied by growing and extreme anti-semitism, ending in the Holocaust, Judaism split into two parts: the inward-looking religious world which sprouted the most remarkable recovery of Torah learning in Jewish history and the outward-looking secular Zionist world which built the State of Israel. The time has come, said Rabbi Sacks, to bring these two sectors together and unite the ideas. The time for Sinat Chinam is over and we must build the State of Israel together, the greatest Kiddush Hashem in history.

Although neither of those two groups were represented in the audience, a third group that is capable of realising this message was. The Modern Orthodox/Religious Zionist community have the tools to be able to unite the nation through their belief in Torah study, the State of Israel and an engagement with the wider world. And for this community, there is now a leader in Rabbi Sacks, who, free from his commitments to the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, is now dedicating his life to pursuing this mission and empowering others to do the same.

Rabbi Sacks singled out the youth as the people who can bring about this change. It may sound cliche, but a cursory glance around the synagogue showed that this was not just a mere throwaway statement. Of the audience, a very sizable proportion were aged between 18-30. It was the social event of the year for people on their gap years in Israel. Rarely does a talk from a rabbi attract the many hundreds of young people like this.

Rather than being a keynote speech of a retired public figure, Rabbi Sacks has started to lay down a manifesto for what it means to be a Jewish nation in the 21st Century. He has promised to inspire a new generation of leaders who will take his messages forward and actualise them. Today's speech in Israel was a defining moment in the career of Rabbi Sacks, and could yet be a milestone in the Modern Orthodox world.

The Animals Went In...

Dvar Torah written for Shabbat Lashem, Bnei Akiva UK's weekly parasha sheet, Parashat Lech Lecha 5774

In the Brit Bein Habetarim (Covenant between the Parts), in which Avraham is promised that his descendants will inherit the Land of Israel, Hashem told Avraham to take three heifers, three goats and three rams. In last week’s parasha, Noach was only told to take two of each impure species into the ark. The contrast of these seemingly random details can provides us with an insight into the mindsets of these two great characters.

In an age of turmoil and unrest, Noach saw his job to maintain the world, which he succeeded in doing. Hashem helped him upon this path, giving him instructions as to how to survive the flood in the most basic way. The command to build the ark reflected Noach’s limited ability to help the world – space was at a premium and the concept of two per species was the minimum necessary for life to continue.

However Hashem was really looking for someone to go beyond and proactively look for more people to save. In contrast to the ark, Avraham’s tent was open on all four sides. Avraham’s whole life was spent welcoming guests, bringing the concept of monotheism into people’s lives and being a positive moral influence on society. Avraham’s covenant is therefore built around the number three, because that represents the offspring of two – the need to build for the future and think beyond the minimum.

In Bnei Akiva, we also believe in a concept of a ‘three’: Am Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael and Torat Yisrael, which means playing a leading role in the life of the Jewish nation (Am Yisrael) as proud religious Jews whose lives are steeped in Torah (Torat Yisrael), living in the Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael).

Like Avraham, Bnei Akiva’s ideology looks to the future. If we are religious in Israel but don’t contribute to the State, if we are contributing to the community as religious Jews in Chutz La’aretz, or if we contribute to Israeli society but leave our religion behind, we are not building the future for the Jewish nation. Having two of these elements may represent survival at best, but having all three elements are essential for the Jewish people to develop and grow.

That is why Bnei Akiva offers Hachshara, our flagship gap year programme in Israel, which develops young leaders, allowing them to learn Torah in Israel whilst also making a contribution to society and preparing them to make their own mark on the Jewish nation. As chaverim of Bnei Akiva in Year 13 come together for Shabbat to learn about Hachshara, the parasha’s theme serves as a reminder of the proactive life that Hashem wants us to lead.

Reflections on leaving King Solomon High School

After two years teaching Jewish Studies and History at King Solomon High School, I am leaving to make Aliyah to Israel. I have enjoyed every moment of my time at the school, and I always use the phrase 'I'm going to school' rather than 'I'm going to work' because, much of the time what I do has been as much pleasure as work. It's hard to sum up my feelings in a short blog post, but I will try and do so anyway!

Firstly, the students are the best thing about the school. There are so many wonderful people with such great potential! I have enjoyed banter in the lessons, shmoozing in the dining hall and sharing deep and meaningful conversations about Judaism, Israel and Tottenham Hotspur. It has always been my aim to build strong kesharim (connections) with the students. One of my life's ambitions has always been to help Redbridge Jewry and encourage young people to be passionate about their identity and committed to their community - I hope I have gone some way to achieving that.

I have also really enjoyed working with the teachers, especially the Jewish Studies department. There has been no end to the support they have given to me and others and it is a very friendly and fun environment in which to work! There is so much more to say but I couldn't even start to thank individuals here.

I am a product of the Redbridge Jewish community: I learnt how to live Jewishly through going to Wanstead & Woodford shul with friends; I had an amazing Jewish education at IJPS, learning Chumash, Mishna and leyening as well as gaining an encylopedic knowledge of Jewish songs; I socialised and learnt so much at South Woodford Bnei Akiva, my local youth movement. I believe it was my family and community upbringing that enabled me to get where I am today, from learning in Yeshivat Hakotel and Birmingham University to becoming Mazkir of Bnei Akiva and a qualified Jewish Studies teacher with a Masters in Jewish Education. I am therefore in debt to the community - and these two years were a small way in which I was able to encourage the youth of today that they can achieve high and find their place in the Jewish community too.

The number one question I have been asked by others about KS is 'What is it like with non-Jewish students?' Having attended Ilford County High School, the school's ethnic make-up has always been quite familiar to me, albeit with the difference that here we are positively promoting the Jewish religion. I have enjoyed close relationships with Jewish and non-Jewish students alike and I am passionate about educating them about the Jewish faith as well as universal morals and ethics. If it is possible to generalise, they have enhanced the school in many ways and have even made Jewish students think a little more about their religion and identity - which is certainly not a bad thing. We are building a model of what society should look like, with strong moral foundations and respect for all beliefs, and I am proud to have seen, and helped, this ongoing project to develop.

There are many messages I'd like to have imparted during my time here - from the fact that one's religiosity is not based on what one wears to my belief that a gap year in Israel is the most important part of a young Jewish person's education, and many more besides.

But above all else there is one message that I would most like to share. That is that we must be maximalist in our approach, aims and content of our education. We must ensure that our Orthodox Jewish ethos pervades every aspect of the school, from the 'secular' classroom to the tidiness of the floors, from the way we connect to local shuls to our PR and social media activity and from the way we act in public to the way we act in private. We must never use the changing student intake, or the fact that we are from 'Essex' and considered by some to be 'inferior' to North London, as an excuse for not giving the best education we can. There is no reason why King Solomon can't be the most successful Jewish school, academically and Jewishly, if we all believe that it can be. We have shown this year that we can get a minyan for Mincha every week without fail, all because of a maximalist belief that has pervaded a growing number of students and staff that Mincha is the most crucial thing we could do on Wednesday lunchtimes!

I made a decision to turn down another job offer at a Jewish school to come to King Solomon because I believe more people should put this community first; I hope others will do the same, whether students, teachers or parents, for the good of the school and the future of the community. It's now time for me to put the dream of aliyah at the forefront of my life, fulfilling an important mitzvah and being part of the greatest journey home in world history, but I will never forget the time I have had at KS and I wish everyone connected with the school all the best for the future.

The Four Seasons

This article was written for the King Solomon High School newsletter.

A short exercise: think of all the Jewish festivals and place them into the four seasons. What you will notice is that most of the key biblical festivals fall during Spring (Pesach and Shavuot) and Autumn (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot). This makes sense practically, agriculturally and philosophically.

On a practical level, Hashem ensured that pilgrims to Jerusalem for the three foot festivals would be able to fulfil this great mitzvah without unnecessary hardship of scorching heat or the rainy season. On an agricultural level, Spring and Autumn are times of harvest and gathering, and are opportune moments to celebrate what has been sown and reaped and thank Hashem for it. On a philosophical level, the fact that the natural world is changing in these times means that we are also more open to internalising new ideas and themes, such as Teshuva and personal development in the Autumn to freedom and national revelation in the Spring.

In contrast, Summer and Winter are times of extremes, hot or cold. For many people in history and even today, the challenge of Winter has been to stay alive. It is hard to have belief that things will get better when every day is dark, cold and wet. We tend to confine ourselves to the home at this time. In harmony with this idea, the only Jewish festival in Winter is Chanukah. The primary message of Chanukah is to maintain faith in ‘dark’ times of persecution and to show this, we put ‘light’ into our lives – and it is no surprise that the Mitzvah of Chanukah candles applies specifically to the home.

The challenge of Summer is more subtle. It is seemingly a more positive time, where we feel energised to be free, explore and take a holiday from our regular lives. The concept of a summer holiday has become enshrined in the western world. Yet in this time we have the period of the Three Weeks, which we are currently in, culminating in Tisha B’Av, the saddest day of the Jewish calendar commemorating the destruction of the first and second Beit Hamikdash. We learn that the reason for this destruction was senseless hatred between Jews. People were so caught up in their own lives that they forgot to see the bigger picture. In fact, the Jews were so busy in-fighting that they failed to unite together and combat the real threat of Rome.

As we approach the end of the school year, it is time for us to consider what we will do with our summer. Will we use it to seek pleasure for ourselves or will we continue to learn and practise the values we have learnt over the year? Our school motto, from Pirkei Avot, says “If I am only for myself what am I; if not now, when?” In the summer, when we do have time, now is the moment to help others, through volunteering, teaching and pursuing meaningful goals.

At King Solomon we aim to teach Jewish values, laws and ethics to our students so that they will make the choice to practise them throughout their year and throughout their lives. This is an underrated USP of a Jewish school – that the proof of our education does not solely lie in exam results but also in the life choices we make when we leave for the summer. This summer I will be making Aliyah, and I would like to thank staff and students for giving me a wonderful two years at the school, which I will sincerely miss.

Sharing Shabbat

I have just had a very enjoyable and meaningful Shabbat, and I'd like to share my thoughts on it with you.

This morning I ran a family explanatory service in Wanstead & Woodford Shul. This idea started informally as a group learning session for parents who wanted to know more about how the mechanics of the Shabbat service works. This Shabbat we ran an actual service and explained why we do what we do. It differed from a standard explanatory service, since rather than focusing on meaningful insights into prayer, we focused on issues such as: when we say Amen, when we stand and sit, when we are quiet, why we say a half not a full Kaddish etc.

The service was a success and I believe that many more people in regular United Synagogues would benefit from such a service. I feel that adult education in the community has somewhat neglected this aspect of shul, and possibly because some people feel that they already know it. Unfortunately, many don't, and we must find a way to bridge this gap, ensuring that as many people as possible can gain a fuller understanding of the structure of the shul service.

After shul, a group of students from King Solomon came for Shabbat lunch with my family. We had a really fun afternoon, enjoying the Shabbat atmosphere and having an entertaining game of Articulate afterwards! Reflecting on this, I really feel that this is what it means to be a teacher at a Jewish school (and not merely a function of being a Jewish Studies teacher either). When I went to a non-Jewish school, I enjoyed my time with my teachers but there is something fundamentally different about the relationship I aim to have with my students.

When you share Shabbat with someone, that leaves a mark that will always be remembered, as it is such a special and uniquely Jewish experience. The fact that the students and teachers would want to spend Shabbat together is a sign that the school, where the relationship started, is not where the relationship need end. It shows that Jewish education is not complete without Jewish experience - you can teach Shabbat in a classroom but you have to experience it to appreciate it. It also shows that King Solomon is not just a school, but a community, where people can interact informally outside of the hierarchical structure of school, yet still reinforce the lessons learnt in the classroom, being played out in real life.

A School that Cares

Today hundreds of people gathered in Carlton Drive to relive old memories of Ilford Jewish Primary School since IJPS is relocating to a new state-of-the-art building on the King Solomon site. It was an amazing event to see so many generations of past pupils, teachers and parents associated with the school, entertained as ever by the IJPS choir and the singing of 'Na'aseh Venishma'. I went because I am eternally grateful for the start IJPS gave me in life, not just academically but Jewishly, and I attribute my observance - and enjoyment - of Shabbat, building a Sukkah and learning Torah to the education I received here.

If I had to define what made the event special, it was that an extra level of care and dedication had been taken to ensure that the school was adorned with pictures, year books and memorabilia from decades of school life. No effort was spared in making this event an appropriate end to an era in the life of the school. And when reflecting on IJPS in general, it is that spirit of community passion that has allowed it to thrive all these years, producing children who take pride in their Jewish identity and care for their community. I see this with my friends and I see this in the students I teach at King Solomon.

Behind this achievement lies a greater achievement. IJPS has been met with many challenges in the last fifteen years yet it is coming through them. The challenge of welcoming students from other faiths and making them feel proud of their school whilst still retaining a strong Jewish ethos has been great. Yet it seems to be working, for there is no change in the amount or quality of Limmudei Kodesh being taught, and the presence of non-Jewish children in the choir highlighted their families' desire to be part of the IJPS community.

The key to Jewish education, however challenging the situation in which it must be done in, is to maintain an absolute pride and belief in what you stand for. If you respect your ethos, others will respect it too. IJPS is a school where people go to great lengths to run events like these, where governor elections are contested and where past students speak fondly of Demonstration Sedarim, Israeli dancing and swimming galas. It is a cornerstone of the Redbridge Jewish community and it deserves its new building, which will rejuvenate the school and take it to further heights.