Orthodox school celebrates women of Judaism

By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO – Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School, celebrating its 51^st anniversary two nights before Erev Shavuot, paid tribute to two women of the Bible and to three women who have been essential to the school’s own success.

Bobbe Reitman, the school nurse, was honored as volunteer of the year. Liat Alon was celebrated as teacher of the year. And Charlene Seidle, an alumna who today is executive vice president the Leichtag Foundation which deepens the Jewish presence in North San Diego County, was a featured speaker.

To those who believe that Orthodox Judaism somehow does not value women, the program at which the school’s president Marilyn Williams welcomed attendees on Sunday evening, June 1, at the Four Points Sheraton on Aero Drive, clearly was a rejoinder.

“What the rabbis say is that it is in the merit of women that the Jewish people are redeemed.” Rabbi Simcha Weiser, the school’s headmaster, commented in an interview. “I feel that the education and the feelings that are engendered in the hearts of the kids at Hebrew Day School are part of the process of redemption of the Jewish people.

“This is the year that we have the Pew Report and all the negative news that we got about the viability of American Jewry,” Weiser added. “I think tonight, just like always, the women are the locomotives, the teachers—in what they give over to the children, one heart to another. What we see tonight are the ramifications of that.”

Seidle, the featured speaker,  told of Ruth of the Bible, whose story traditionally is retold every Shavuot to stress that non-Jews who wish to receive the Torah and become part of the Jewish people are welcome.

A student at the Preschool-through-8^th grade school between 1988 and 1991, Seidle said she remembered studying the Book of Ruth with Betty Weiser, the wife of the headmaster, and learning about five core Jewish values exemplified in the beloved story.     {Story continues below photos}

 

“Welcoming the stranger” was the first of these values, said Seidle. “Just as Ruth (a Moabite) was welcomed (by Naomi) and ultimately embraced as part of the Jewish people, I learned at Hebrew Day that diversity is an advantage. In the school, many flavors and backgrounds of Judaism came together and difference was embraced, nurtured and explored—not vilified.”

Second is “the concept of caring for those in need and preserving their dignity,” Seidle said. The concept is taught “in the amazing and ancient Jewish tradition of lining the corners of your field with food for the stranger and the poor.”   She noted that one of the goals of the Leichtag Foundation is “food justice,” which seeks to ensure “access to fresh and healthy food for all and maintaining the dignity of those who need this food.”

The third core value is a “strong connection to the land of Israel and the Jewish people.” Ruth famously told her mother-in-law Naomi, “Your nation shall be my nation,” Seidle said, and in subsequently marrying Boaz, Ruth set the groundwork for becoming the great-grandmother of King David. The Leichtag Foundation, Seidle added, supports programs in Jerusalem to improve the quality of life of the young people of that city of David.

Fourth, said Seidle, Ruth took risks in following Naomi to the land of Israel, asserting the rights of the poor and going to Boaz when he was sleeping. At Hebrew Day, she said, students were taught to be willing to take risks – “to think innovatively and creatively.”

And fifth, was the “incredible humility and modesty” that Ruth “possessed and modeled.” In an era when American society is “hyperly focused on self-esteem, Hebrew Day inculcates in its students not only “self-assuredness, achievement and pride’ but also “a natural sense of humility.”

Seidle noted that two of the currrent teachers at Hebrew Day are particularly special to her. One is Naomi Shakhman, who became her best friend in sixth grade, and now is a pre-school teacher. And the other is Seidle’s sister, Rachel Eden, who also is a teacher, and “it’s a joy to see her in that role and watch her children, the next generation of our family, learning and flourishing.”

This year’ Teacher of the Year, Liat Alon, has been on the Soille faculty for 16 years, it was noted in the school’s calendar book. Born and raised in Netanya, Israel, she taught in Rishon LeTzion prior to moving to the United States in the late 1990s. “Morah (Hebrew for Teacher) Liat has taught Hebrew to hundreds of students across all grades,” said the profile. ‘In addition to teaching Hebrew language, she also occasionally taught tefilla. This past year Liat has taught Judaic Studies for the first time, taking over duties for Kindergarten.’

About the calling of a teacher, Alon commented in a video: “It is in your blood, it is in your soul … and the second that feeling is not there, that will be the day I leave. But as long as it is there, it is everything I have, it is who I am. I was born to teach. Teaching is my life. It is my greatest love after my family, my kids.”

According to the calendar book, “Bobbe spent decades teaching and nursing in a variety of educational contexts, including at Children’s Hospital, the Jewish Community Center, and a special-ed preschool in Santee. She has served as a school nurse and has taught grades K-5. But shortly after officially retiring, and even with her (four) kids long gone from Soille, Bobbe felt drawn back to the school, first as a teacher’s helper and then as a nurse, with a focus on immunization compliance and other health and safety issues.”

In the video presentation, Reitman speculated that “I will probably never leave the school – now that my grandchildren are here, probably not for another 13 to 15 years. Then, I will worry about it.”

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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World.  He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com