School - Chabad of Port Washington

Great Neck
Retirees
‘Learn’ Daily
Page 16
Page 17
Vol. 38 #27 July 31, 2009 • 10 Av 5769
One Dollar
Two Dollars Outside of Metropolitan N.Y.C.
Parents watching the bottom line
can find ‘affordable excellence’ at
the Chabad of Port Washington
day school
Sharyn Perlman reports on pages 8-11
(Above): Artist’s rendering of the Chabad of Port Washington’s expanded facility, now
under construction. (Main photo): Preschool and day school students at the Chabad of
Port Washington celebrate Tu B’Shevat with a plant sale.
Cover: Mark Grunfeld
Donating Talent
To UJAFederation
‘The Right Thing at the Right Time’
Chabad of Port Washington day school offers ‘affordable excellence’
By SHARYN PERLMAN
he
Chabad
of
Port
Washington logo is a sailboat floating on calm waters.
The logo hits it just right, representing not only the essence of the synagogue, but also of its spiritual
leader, Rabbi Shalom Paltiel, who,
together with his wife Sara, has
spent the past 18 years building the
community.
The synagogue is perched on the
shore of Manhasset Bay, whose
calm waters teem with marine life
beneath the gentle waves.
It’s the perfect metaphor for the
Chabad of Port Washington, as well
as its spiritual leader.
T
“Rabbi Yosef Geisinsky, [spiritual leader] of Chabad of Great Neck,
introduced us to Dr. Martin
Brownstein, who was very enthusiastic about creating a Chabad in
Port Washington and actually supported us single-handedly for the
first year and a half,” says Paltiel.
At which point he knew he had to
expand the synagogue’s reach. “The
same way a community needs a
Chabad house, it also needs a
school,” he says.
In 1992, a year after the
Paltiels
arrived
in
Port
Washington, Brownstein’s mother died. In her memory, the
Florence Brownstein Preschool
(Left): Students at the Max and Ruth
Schwartz Torah Academy (in uniforms)
and the Florence Brownstein Preschool
celebrate Tu B’Shevat with a plant sale.
(Below): A proud “graduate” celebrates
her stepping-up ceremony from the
Brownstein Preschool to the Schwartz
Torah Academy.
W
hen the Paltiels wed, in 1990,
they knew that they wanted
to open a Chabad house in a community where there were a lot of
Jews, “which meant either New
York or Florida,” says Paltiel, only
half in jest. But in fact they considered moving to a suburb of San
Diego, where Paltiel would have
been the assistant rabbi, and
“wouldn’t have had to worry about
fundraising.”
“We wrote to the Rebbe [Rabbi
Schneerson, head of Lubavitch] to
ask his advice about San Diego. His
response was, ‘If you want to, then
go.’ It wasn’t the response we wanted to hear,” says Paltiel.
So they looked around in New York
and someone mentioned Port
Washington, located on the Gold
Coast of Long Island’s north shore,
about 17 miles east of New York City.
(Left): Dr. Martin Brownstein, who
founded the preschool in his mother’s
memory, at Chabad’s 18th Anniversary
Dinner in June. (Far left): STA students
face off in floor hockey with help from
Coach Brett (center). (Below): Students
enjoy the outdoor grounds of the
two-plus-acre Chabad of Port
Washington campus.
was opened — with six children.
“I wanted to do something in my
mother’s memory. At first I thought
about something that would benefit
older people, but Sara [Paltiel], who
was a preschool teacher and was
‘High Holy Days On Us’
B
eginning with the Hebrew month of Elul, two huge banners appear
in Port Washington — one hangs across Main St., and one sits on
Chabad’s front lawn. They read: “High Holy Days On Us.”
“It’s our way of inviting anyone who is looking for spirituality on
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur to come and pray with us,” says
Chabad of Port Washington’s Rabbi Shalom Paltiel.
While the warmth and friendliness of the rabbi and the traditional yet
“user friendly” service are the main reasons why the synagogue is filled
to capacity with some 700 worshipers (plus 250 children at age-appropriate programs) on the High Holy Days, an added reason is that the services are open to everyone, free of charge. (Although for security reasons, anyone who wants to attend must sign up in advance; see below
for details.)
Paltiel says that every year his shul hosts some non-religious people
who are attending a Rosh Hashanah service for the first time.
“They tell me that they would never have believed that they would be
sitting in an Orthodox shul, with separate seating, with a rabbi who
looks like he’s from ‘Fiddler on the Roof,’ and having a meaningful
experience,” he says.
Although the services contain the full Rosh Hashanah and Yom
Kippur liturgy, “about 50 percent of the readings and commentary are in
English,” explains Paltiel. “Some of the ‘most important’ prayers are
continued on page 11
8
JEWISH WORLD • JULY 31, 2009
also very connected to my mother,
suggested that the best way to honor
her memory would be to create a
preschool,” says Brownstein, a
retired physician.
“Even though I donated the funds
to begin the school, to have it
named for my mother is very
rewarding. I feel that I got more
than I gave,” he added.
The school’s philosophy is
summed up by Paltiel: “We teach
Jewish values with a very nonjudgmental attitude.”
It’s the same philosophy that
guides the day school, the Max and
Ruth Schwartz Torah Academy
(STA).
Opened in 1998, STA is the
brainchild of Henry Schwartz, who
Paltiel describes as “dedicated to
outreach to all Jews who wanted to
honor the memory of his parents by
founding a school that would offer
an excellent education and be welcoming to and affordable for all
Jewish families.”
There are currently 200 students
in preschool through eighth grade.
(That number was up to 230, but
enrollment is down 15 percent due
to the economic downturn.) Several
years ago, after turning away students because of lack of space,
Chabad embarked on an ambitious
expansion of its facility that will
accommodate an additional 160 students. (See “If you build it, they will
come,” p. 9.)
Parents who want their children
educated in a yeshiva or day school
are not without myriad choices on
Long Island. When asked why the
need for another one, Paltiel
explains.
“STA is an outreach day school.
We have religious and non-religious
kids and everything in between.
Our students get Yiddishkeit in a
fun, warm and nurturing environment and are never asked what they
do at home. In fact, we teach the
kids and very often they’re the ones
who bring it home to their parents,”
continued on page 10
‘Some people send their kids to our school for the price,
but they stay for totally different reasons — it’s a warm
place where kids count, and they love to go to school.’
‘A middle-of-the-road Jewish day school’
T
he Max and Ruth Schwartz
Torah Academy (STA) may be
part of the Chabad of Port
Washington, but it’s goal is not to
make the students “Chabadniks,”
says Rabbi Shalom Paltiel, STA
dean. “The spirit of Chabad is
there, but it’s basically a middle-ofthe-road Jewish day
school.”
According
to
Paltiel, one question
always raised at the
school’s open house
is whether religious
families feel comfortable
in
the
school. The answer,
he says, is yes.
“Religious families find it refreshing
that their kids can
mix with other kids
in a safe environment. We teach
Judaism
with
warmth and love. It’s
not, ‘Don’t do that
because you’re not
allowed to.’ The days of Jewish
dogma are basically over.
“Too many Orthodox Jews suffer
from habitual Judaism. But many
people today, even religious people, are looking for spirituality;
they want the whys and the joys,
not the do’s and don’ts. Chabad is
all about your neshama, your soul,
and the soul of Judaism,” Paltiel
explains.
The school is officially
Ashkenazi, but of the 200 students
currently enrolled in kindergarten
through eighth grade who come
from towns far and
near — including
Great Neck, Roslyn,
Westbury, Oyster
Bay,
West
H e m p s t e a d ,
Plainview, the Five
Towns and Queens
— only some 25 percent come from
Ashkenazi homes.
(In the preschool,
that figure swells to
95 percent, as the
children are mostly
from
Port
Washington.) The
rest are of Sephardi
descent,
which
means that the
school teaches the
holiday customs of
both traditions.
Paltiel would like to see more
students from “frum Ashkenazi
families to help mix the pot. We
want to add students whose parents
are committed to traditional day
school education, but who need to
watch the bottom line.”
STA accepts a child whose moth-
‘In today’s
world there’s
something
missing in
public
education
that’s here.
The rabbi calls
it Yiddishkeit.
We’re giving
them values
that will be
with them
forever.’
(Right): Sara Paltiel, director of Judaic
Studies (back row, left) and Robyn
Mandor, headmaster (back row, right)
celebrate with STA first graders at their
Siddur ceremony. (Below): Creative arts
and crafts include a “pretzel
Hanukiyah.” (Right, below): The STA
state-of-the-art computer lab,
sponsored by the Gruss Foundation.
er is Jewish, even if the father isn’t,
“without hesitation,” says Paltiel.
“I want that child. But I won’t take
a child whose father is Jewish but
the mother isn’t, except in the
preschool, because then I’m bringing in the mishpocha (family). But
I can’t accept a child in the day
school, even with the hope of conversion, because then our diploma
wouldn’t be worth anything.”
At the academic helm of the
school is a triumvirate of talent that
Mandor, a 37-year veteran educaincludes: Paltiel, dean; Robyn
Mandor, headmaster; and Sara tor, came to STA two years ago after
Paltiel, executive director and retiring as assistant superintendent
director of Judaic Studies.
continud on page 11
If you build it, they will come
“I
f you build it, they will come.”
That’s what the leaders of
Chabad of Port Washington hope
will be the result of their ambitious
expansion, which will add an additional 18,000 square feet to the back
of the two-plus-acre site that
Chabad owns on Shore Road.
Chabad purchased the original
25,000-square-foot building, which
was a warehouse, in 1998; the first
10,000 square feet were developed
in 1999. In 2002, an additional
15,000 square feet were developed.
The new addition is expected to cost
$3.8 million; approximately 50 percent of that has been raised in private
funds.
One of the main contributors is
Adam Katz, president of Talon Air
and Roxann Management as well
as president of the Chabad of Port
Washington board of directors.
Rabbi Shalom Paltiel, spiritual
leader of Chabad of Port
Washington and dean of the Max
and Ruth Schwartz Torah Academy
(STA), says that Katz, who is also
responsible for building the Mei
Artist’s rendering of the new Chabad of
Port Washington facility, currently under
construction. The entire outside will be
surfaced with Jerusalem stone.
Menachem Mikveh, Chabad’s ultrachic and modern mikvah, “is a warm
Jew who’s involved in many Jewish
organizations, but I’m proud to say
that Chabad of Port Washington has
become his main project.”
The two-story expansion, which
is complete enough for a “careful”
tour while climbing the makeshift
staircase, will house eight new
classrooms, a 3,000-square-foot
library on the second floor that will
overlook Manhasset Bay and have
“a gorgeous view of the water and
Manhattan,” and a state-of-the-art
science lab, funded by the Gruss
Foundation says Paltiel.
Paltiel proudly explains, “Gruss
is very involved in our school. We
are one of 48 schools in the U.S. to
use the new English and math programs where the computer ‘knows’
the student’s challenges and starts at
‘It’s an ambitious undertaking, but when it’s finished,
you’ll walk into the school and you’ll be able to
literally feel and touch the Yiddishkeit.’
the level where the child last logged
on. It’s the wave of the future.
“We’re also part of E2K, the
Excellence 2000 program. Every
year some of our teachers are flown
by Gruss to Israel to learn the E2K
program, which was written in
Israel and excels in science and
math. It’s so cutting edge that it was
adopted by some schools districts in
Wyoming, whose teachers are also
sent to Israel.”
Another component of the new
building will be a regulation-sized
gymnasium, “complete with a
scoreboard, bleachers, the whole
nine yards,” says Paltiel, who
explains that the gym will also be
used by the greater Port Washington
community. Toward that end,
continued on page 10
JEWISH WORLD • JULY 31, 2009
9
Time
continued from page 8
explains Paltiel.
“We have Orthodox families who
have other options, but they like
that our school is small — every
teacher knows every student’s
name,” he adds.
One of the biggest draws is the
tuition, which, for kindergarten
through eighth grade, is $7,100
inclusive, with “no hidden fees,”
says Paltiel. He says that because
the tuition is about half of what most
other day schools on Long Island
are charging, scholarships are limited. “We try to work with parents,
but we’re careful. It’s important that
we pay our teachers well so we get
and retain the best staff.”
Though the school and Chabad of
Port Washington are physically in
the same building, the school and
the shul are two separate institutions, according to Paltiel. “The
focus of the shul is local, the focus
of the school is regional,” he says.
Tuition does not include membership at the shul; STA students celebrate their bar/bat mitzvahs at their
local synagogues.
Paltiel said that STA’s size, relatively low tuition and the fact that
the standardized test scores for the
students exceeds those in the local
area, including area day schools,
private schools and public schools
(on a recent visit to the school, the
fourth grade teacher explained that
her class was doing sixth grade
math), are all reasons why the
school now has students from the
Five Towns, West Hempstead and
Queens. And there’s even “a flood
of interest” from parents in
Manhattan.
Which means that transportation
is an issue. For the eight students
(there will be 15 students this
September) who traveled from the
Five Towns this past year, which is
over the 15- to 17-mile limit
allowed by most Long Island
municipalities for residents to
receive free transportation to
school, the Five Towns parents carpooled in the morning; Chabad’s
LIVE IN CONCERT
own preschool bus takes them home
in the afternoon.
“For our South Shore parents,
public school isn’t an option, but
they’re not happy with the yeshivas.
The price is astronomical and
they’re not getting the quality they
want,” says Robyn Mandor, STA
headmaster. “We provide another
alternative, even though the children have to schlep. These families
are really pilgrims,” she adds.
Paltiel says the parents think the
“schlep” is worth it.
“Even though everyone is watch(Above): The dedicated STA staff
including: Rabbi Shalom Paltiel, dean,
(rear, right); Sara Paltiel, executive
director (rear, second from right); and
Robyn Mandor, headmaster (rear, third
from right). (Left): STA third graders
compete in the annual Port Washington
Harborfest Model Boat Regatta on
Manhasset Bay in May, proudly bringing
home the Team Spirit Award.
ing the dollars today, parents don’t
want to compromise on their children’s education. We offer an excellent Jewish and secular education
that’s affordable. We’re the right
thing at the right time,” he says.
When asked whether he has met
with any resistance from neighboring communities and day schools,
Paltiel says, “I haven’t gotten any
complaints. The bottom line is that
everyone has the same goal — to
get as many kids into day school as
possible.”
The biggest challenge the rabbi
has had to face is fundraising. “I’m
not a professional fundraiser, but I
believe in my product and I build
genuine friendships with people
who see what we’re doing, and they
buy into our success. It’s not a hard
sell, it’s about friendship.”
His greatest reward was sitting at
the STA middle school’s first graduation two years ago. The class had 13
graduates, 11 of whom would not
have been in a day school if not for
STA, and 12 of whom decided to
continue their education in yeshiva
high school.
Paltiel beams when he says, “Your
whole life is worth living, because
now 13 kids are going to build a
Jewish home because there was a
day school in Port Washington.”
‘Your whole life is worth living, because kids are going to
build a Jewish home because there was a day school in
Port Washington.’ —Rabbi Shalom Paltiel
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JEWISH WORLD • JULY 31, 2009
Build
continued from page 9
Chabad created a separate, not-forprofit entity entitled Building
Bridges of Tolerance and Respect.
Its board is a consortium of community leaders that includes representatives from: Port Washington
Police Department; New York
Police Department; Police Athletic
League; Port Washington School
District; Port Washington Chamber
of Commerce; and local and regional community leaders. Len Berman,
former NBC sportscaster and a Port
Washington resident, is also on the
board.
The idea behind Building Bridges
of Tolerance and Respect is that in
addition to Chabad, other community organizations will use the gym
for a modest fee that will help to
defray maintenance costs.
Philanthropist Adam Katz (second from left), president, Roxann Management, Talon
Air and Chabad of Port Washington Board of Directors, was the Guest of Honor at
Chabad’s Annual Dinner last year, held at Talon Air’s state-of-the-art hangar at
Republic Airport. Pictured with Katz are (l-r): Rabbi Shalom Paltiel; Bert Brodsky,
chairman of the board, Chabad of Port Washington; and Sara Paltiel, with baby Cyla.
In addition to the indoor plans, the
expansion will also see the exterior of
Chabad of Port Washington resurfaced with Jerusalem stone.
(Currently, only the ark in the main
sanctuary is surfaced with Jerusalem
stone.)
There will also be a new outdoor
playground. According to Paltiel, Dr.
Martin Brownstein, founder of the
Florence Brownstein Preschool, has
pledged $200,000 for the playground, which will have a “water
continued on facing page
School
continued from page 9
for personnel in the nearby
Manhasset school district. Her plans
were to “take some time off” when
she was approached about the position at STA.
“I missed the day-to-day interaction with the children,” says
Mandor. So she traded in her brief
retirement to become headmaster,
and hasn’t looked back.
“I love the warm feeling. Every
teacher knows every child, which
means that no child falls through
the cracks. Children who would not
be leaders or stand out in a big
school stand out here. And if a kid
has a bad day, you know about it
and you handle it. That’s what private education should be,” she
says.
The challenge of a smaller
school, according to Mandor, is
being able to expose the children to
Build
continued from facing page
park” that will be used during the
summer for the Berkowitz Gan Israel
Day Camp. There are also plans for a
pool (“We’re working on permission
from the town,” says Paltiel).
The physical expansion is a collaborative effort of three firms:
Pinner Associates, the architectural
firm that created the artistic design;
James Martino, responsible for the
nuts and bolts of the actual construction;
and
Zyscovich
Architects, which specializes in
exterior design.
activities such as the arts and
music, which they don’t get in a
“formalized way.” There is, however, a gym teacher who does creative
things such as “bringing in a retired
baseball player to talk to the children.”
Mandor is also “big on trips to
take advantage of the wonderful
resources on Long Island and in
New York City.”
Sara Paltiel, who directs the
Judaic Studies, explains her two
pedagogic goals.
The first is a strong foundation in
Hebrew language, which begins in
the preschool. “By the time they
graduate eighth grade, they can go
to Israel and conduct themselves in
Hebrew,” she says.
The program is Ivrit B’Ivrit,
where all the Judaic Studies are
taught in Hebrew, “so once the children learn Hebrew, everything else
is familiar to them, whether they
are studying Chumash (Bible),
Navi (Prophets) and davening,”
says Paltiel.
Florence Brownstein Preschool students
enjoy a Purim celebration.
The second goal is a love for
Judaism, which has three parts —
God, the people of Israel and the
Land of Israel.
“We teach Ahavat Yisrael [love
for fellow Jews] by having the children ‘catch’ each other doing something right, whether it’s standing up
for someone or helping someone
who got hurt,” she says.
The school fosters a love for
Eretz Yisrael as the Jewish homeland, as well as support for the
State of Israel and its secular government. There is also an annual
celebration on the anniversary of
the founding of the State.
According to Sara Paltiel, the
values that are taught to the children “come from the top down,”
and are “lived” by the school’s 24
teachers, both Jewish and nonJewish. Mandor notes that “the
staff is exceptional and very committed to the school. The hours are
Paltiel explains the rationale for long, the pay is not as high as in
such an ambitious expansion during public school, yet they put in that
extra effort.”
such tough economic times.
“We started construction several
years ago when the school was filled
to capacity and we were turning
away 60 to 70 children each year.
Now we’re continuing the project
even though our enrollment is down
because the exterior of the building
is already up.”
Paltiel expects the new facility to
be ready for the 2010 school year.
“It’s an ambitious undertaking,”
he says, “but when it’s finished,
you’ll walk into the school and
you’ll be able to literally feel and
touch the Yiddishkeit.”
—Sharyn Perlman
STA is coed, but in middle
school the boys and girls are separated for Judaic Studies only, which
was not an issue this past year as
the graduating class had only girls.
And uniforms level the playing
field, which eliminates “the
destructive competition between
the haves and the have nots,” says
Mandor.
Is there a synthesis of the Judaic
and secular studies?
According to Mandor, yes, and
no. “We teach health classes, but
we modify the curriculum. We
don’t talk about birth control and
we don’t teach evolution because it
doesn’t jive with the Chabad
belief.”
The school is values based. As
Sara Paltiel explains, “We infuse
the children with a love for God;
they learn that Hashem is part of
your everyday life.” Mandor adds,
“We’re giving the children values
that will be with them forever,
which can’t happen in a public
school. Loving Judaism and loving
who you are is very special.”
—Sharyn Perlman
OPEN FOR BUSINESS
at the
High Holy Days
continued from page 8
also read transliterated and interactively between the leader and the congregation. It’s the power of the collective voice,” he adds.
The no charge policy is not only a way “to get people’s souls, it’s also
good business,” says the rabbi. Often after the High Holy Days some of
the “drop-ins” get involved in the shul and become active members.
Paltiel relates a story from the shul’s early years, when a man walked
in on Rosh Hashanah and sat quietly in the back.
In appreciation, he made an $1,800 donation, which he eventually
upped to half a million dollars. The man was raised religious but left that
life, even intermarrying. His Rosh Hashanah experience at Chabad
“brought him back, because no one asked him for anything,” says Paltiel.
The rabbi’s philosophy is, “If you give people something for free,
then they give you back ten times that, whether it’s their time, their
money or their talents,” he says.
“It’s not about asking for anything; it’s about winning the heart and the
soul of the person, because if I get your heart, I’ll get everything.” —SP
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To sign up for Rosh Hashanah and/or Yom Kippur services, call
Chabad of Port Washington at 516.767.8672 or visit
www.chabadpw.org.
JEWISH WORLD • JULY 31, 2009
11