Raising Resources.

This Sunday, our Board is going to have an amazing opportunity to learn better how to fulfill one of its primary tasks: raising the resources necessary to ensure Kadima's future. One of our Trustees, Suzy Bookbinder, is a professional in this area--both as a development professional and as a coach with PEJE--and she will be leading us through a four hour session all about development. While our Board knows that we are charged with raising resources, this will be one of the best opportunities we have to actually learn the best way to do it.

We are very lucky to have Suzy on our Board and providing her time and expertise in furtherance of the Kadima cause.

It is going to be a great day.

The kid speaks Hebrew.

We are presently playing host to a wonderful student from Ort Yad Singalovski and will be for the next week. The kids are having a great time getting to know each other and creating a special connection between America and Israel.

Our Israeli student speaks English very well; however, there are sometimes when we speak too fast or our grammar is poor, and it is clear that communication is not there. In those situations, my son, with his 9.5 years of a Kadima education, immediately steps in and starts speaking Hebrew to the student. It's pretty incredible. My son is 13 and he speaks and understands two languages: English and Hebrew. Indeed, last night a group of them were speaking Hebrew and my son was participating, laughing, and clearly understanding what was going on. An old language teacher of mine once said that you really know a language when you can listen to background speakers talking in another language and understand completely what they are saying. I think that my son is almost there; and we have Kadima to thank for it.

The kids are going to see the Sacramento Kings play the Clippers tonight because, in a remarkable coincidence, the Clippers are playing the Sacramento Kings, and the Kings have the only Israeli player ever to make it to the NBA--Omri Casspi. So the Clippers are honoring Israel tonight, and there will be lots of Israeli flags in the stands. We'll be there too, cheering and singing HaTikvah.

The experience thus far has been interesting; the cultural differences between Israeli Jews and American Jews can be significant. But for the kids, in the end, they are all kids. And they are really enjoying being with each other.

The Israelis are coming, the Israelis are coming...

This Thursday, a group of about a dozen Israeli middle school students from ORT Yad Singalovsky in Tel Aviv will descend upon Kadima and start a 12 day visit with us. And for me, it is literally with us. We will be hosting a student from Israel in our home for the 12 days. My son is excited, the visitors are excited, we're excited, and the school is excited, too.

The program is part of the Tel-Aviv/Los Angeles Partnership program sponsored in part by the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles. The idea is that by having students from Israel and Los Angeles get to know each other--at their own levels and in their own ways--they will begin forging long term relationships between Americans and Israelis. From what I've seen thus far, it will work.

The kids have already begun talking to each other by Facebook, and I've been impressed that our kids are, without a hitch, speaking and writing Hebrew with their Israeli counterparts. And I am talking about the non-native Hebrew speakers.

The next two weeks will be an adventure.

Gala Honorees: Ester and David Vered

The news is out: On April 3, 2010, Kadima will be honoring David and Ester Vered for their years of support and commitment to Kadima. It is going to be a special evening; we will be honoring the Vereds and also celebrating Kadima's four decades.

Mark your calendars. It is an event that you won't want to miss!

Tuition, again.

Tomorrow night our Board will be discussing the budget for next year, and in particular, what we will do with tuition. The Finance Committee and Executive Committee have already examined the issue, they will be making a recommendation to the Board. We will be looking at our budget and cash flow needs as well as economic realities. It is likely to be a good discussion.

I can't go into the details of the proposal, but I can say that there is a recommendation for an increase in tuition next year. That should not surprise anyone; it costs a lot to run a school like Kadima, and it costs more and more each year. Virtually every school raises tuition each year. We tried lowering it 25 percent one year in an effort to stimulate admissions, but like the government's stimulus package, it was not enough to trigger an admissions stampede to the school; a stampede that was necessary to offset the reduction in tuition collections. As a result, the following year we only provided only a 5 percent reduction from the original cost.

Ultimately, we learned that people will pay--to the extent that they can--for a good educational product. We have it at Kadima.

So tomorrow night we will discuss and wrestle with tuition issues. As always, it is likely to be a good discussion.

Dr. Saul Wachs.

Today, Dr. Saul Wachs, the leader and expert in tefilla education visited the school to work with Mrs. Yalovsky and Mr. Cohen to examine and analyze our school's already terrific tefilla programs.

This is an extraordinary opportunity for the school. Dr. Wachs really is the expert in prayer in schools, and to have him looking at our school exemplifies Kadima's leadership in this area. You can read a monograph he wrote on the subject, here. I strongly urge you to take the time to read this paper. We are working to ensure that Kadima's tefilla, like all of its programs, is second to none, and is part of our integrated educational experience.

Dr. Wachs writes that the key to successful tefilla--success as defined as engaging and meaningful for all ages, and not just skills education--is depth. He writes:

"The key is omek, depth. I believe that every service

should have some element of omek."

That really boils down what Kadima is about. Depth. Our programs are not superficial; they are meaningful.

Again, please read Dr. Wachs' paper. It articulates better than I possibly could what we are trying to achieve with a Kadima education.

To have Dr. Wachs at our school is an honor; it is also a direct result of being a member of the Solomon Schechter Day School Association.

This is important stuff.

Liberal Arts Education.

Rabbi Daniel Gordis recently wrote about the paucity of liberal arts education in Israel. You can read his article here. He raises several interesting points, the most important, in my mind, being that rigorous intellectual education remains critical to learning how to think and to understanding and solving some of the world's most difficult problems.

Gordis notes that in Israel, the number of people who are forsaking advance study of the humanities--history, language, literature, art--is dropping in favor of technical professions, such business and management. While these disciplines are important, they cannot be the end all of any educational experience. As Gordis writes:

What does matter is whether we can produce a generation of students who, when they hear something about which they disagree, can debate the ideas at hand, rather than merely seeking to silence those with whom they disagree.

It is important, therefore, that we teach our kids how to think, and use the humanities in order to do so. Our future requires that our children learn about ideas and how to analyze them.

This is what we seek to do at Kadima; moreover, we do it in a way that is grounded in both Jewish and General Studies. Just as our students study American history analytically, they also analyze Jewish history analytically. The goal is to challenge our students, encourage them to think critically, and to provide them with the beginnings of an intellectual background--and a commitment to learning for its own sake--that will permit them to solve problems, imagine solutions, and create their own successful futures.