Ten Years At Kadima...

Yesterday, my son began eighth grade at Kadima. He also began his tenth year at Kadima.

A decade is a lot.

In fact, it is probably the longest he will ever be at a single institution of learning in his life. It means that Kadima's influence will cast a long shadow on who he is, and what he becomes. When I spoke with the teachers before school, I pointed out that they have a huge influence upon their students; indeed, Kadima--its people, its environment, its ways of teaching--will influence my son for the rest of his life.

Nine years ago, when we decided to send our son to Kadima, we did so because we believed that the best way for him to become a learned, serious, committed and educated Jewish adult--and ultimately to have the best chance to live a life of Jewish meaning and not just cultural affiliation--was for him to possess a deep foundation of Jewish learning. The only way he could get this was at a Jewish private school.

This is because while we were comfortable that we could provide our son with a commitment to Jewish living--through our own family's involvement in synagogue, and his involvement in Camp Ramah and USY--what we could not do is provide him with a rich, deep and meaningful Jewish education that would, in the end, provide him with additional intellectual and spiritual tools so he could fully participate in Jewish and secular life at whatever level he ultimately chooses. The reality is that without a foundational Jewish foundation, it is more difficult (although by no means impossible, as people do obtain this knowledge later in life) for a lay person to live an intellectually rich Jewish life. Simply put, with a Jewish private school education, my son will have an easier time participating in Jewish life at a much deeper intellectual level than someone who does not have a foundational Jewish education. And, we hope, that this will give him the best chance of choosing, when he is an adult, the path to a learned, meaningful, and perhaps even influential Jewish life.

This is why we chose Kadima. There are many good Jewish Day Schools. There are many good secular private schools. There are, however, few non-Orthodox Jewish Day Schools that seek to provide a Judaic Studies program that includes not only holidays, traditions, and culture (and there is nothing wrong with schools that focus solely upon traditions and culture), but that also teach Judaic Studies as both an academic subject and a religious subject to its students. Kadima has always had this mission; it continues to work hard to meet it.

In a year, my son will leave Kadima and go to another school. Yet the foundation of both Jewish and secular learning will remain within him; we hope that this learning--and the Jewish values of learning, prayer, and kindness (torah, avodah, geilut chasadim) that he has been taught to study and embrace will help him set a Jewish course as he faces the myriad of pressures, choices, and wonder that will be High School--and the rest of his life.