Thursday, April 7, 2011

Seeing the Fruits of a Jewish Day School Education.

The other day, my son and I were looking at his Facebook page and we noticed that he is communicating with Kadima's partners at the ORT Singlovsky school in Tel Aviv. The Israelis send messages in English and Hebrew; my son writes to them largely in Hebrew. He showed me how he switches the keyboard to a Hebrew one, and then he can write message in Hebrew.

Ten years at Kadima and he can have written conversations in Hebrew.

He doesn't know it, yet, but this fluency in Hebrew will, in the future, permit him to explore Judaism in a direct way that I--who is not fluent in Hebrew--cannot. At some point in his life, he will be able to analyze texts, including the Torah, in the original language and not have to worry about another translator's bias.

He is also, of course, creating a direct connection to Israelis in their own language.

This is what going to Jewish day school is all about.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Extraordinary.

I have seen the future of Kadima and it is bright.

Last night, Kadima honored David and Esther Vered for their dedicated commitment to Kadima, and in memory of their son, Adir Moshe Vered z"l. We also celebrated the school's 40th anniversary.

It was quite an evening. Nearly 400 people turned out to the ExchangeLA club, and it was like nothing Kadima had ever seen. The venue was spectacular; a real night club and not a typical hotel banquet room.

There were a variety of speeches, and moving videos, both about the school and about Adir Vered. David and Esther gave moving speeches, and Bill Cohen, our Head of School, spoke about the New Era at Kadima. We saw the school's new promotional video.

Everything about the evening was excellent.

And then something extraordinary happened. It was announced that the school had not met its fundraising target yet, and then, in a way that I have not seen happen at Kadima, the floodgates opened. Several people--and I am not going to list anyone since I don't want to leave anyone out--started making public donations. There donations in every amount; from $180 to $35,000. Several people made donations in the tens of thousands. Not everyone made public donations; many people donated significant amounts but did so privately. This was on top of several significant donations we received this year before the Gala.

It was unbelievable. The night then finished with a fashion show put on by YMI jeans, and then everyone danced into the morning.

The school is still tabulating everything, but suffice it to say that thanks to a lot of generous people, and a lot of hard work, the school did well.

And what did the leadership do this morning? Start the planning for next year's annual event.

Like everything this year--the benchmarking, the increased focused on academics, the transformation of the ECEC--last night was part of the larger sense of renewal at Kadima. Something really special is happening at this place.

Be part of it.