By Abby Kass
Though TLS is a Jewish school, it is in a community surrounded by schools that follow other religions or are secular. Because of this, TLS tries to incorporate concepts that bring in beliefs from all communities, such as events like interfaith lunches. But, how do TLS community members experience this type of balance between Judaism and secularism that TLS strives to achieve?
Rabbi Adam Cohen, the rabbi-in-resident of TLS High School, teaches and plays a large role in organizing events in the high school, such as Shavruach.
“What I loved is they [the Experience Committee] said to me, ‘School spirit, that’s just an important thing in itself’,” Cohen said. “And I feel like the rabbi-in-residence shouldn’t always be that they’re looking to only be focusing on something that has a Jewish component. We have Jewish values that go beyond something that is explicitly Jewish. There is a Jewish value to having this beautiful balance in life.”
Etti Greenspan, the chair of the Experience Committee, has experienced balancing the secular and Jewish sides of school through planning activities around both Jewish and secular holidays. However, she has felt that Jewish holidays are more prominent in TLS.
“I think a lot of the values in Judaism can apply to secular things, such as activities,” Greenspan said. “But, in terms of non-Jewish events, Thanksgiving is the only one that we organize,But, we still try to incorporate Jewish activities such as tefillah into it. At the same time, we know that people learn about holidays in classes so we want our programs to focus a lot on the fun.”
In order to achieve this secular and Jewish balance, Cohen believes that it is crucial to expose ourselves to people outside of the Jewish community in events such as interfaith lunches and guest speakers.
“It’s very easy when you’re part of such a special community,” Cohen said. “It’s a beautiful thing. And also there’s a risk attached to that, which is, we’re so set up, we have so much infrastructure, and we have so many things already existing in our Jewish world, that maybe we’re going to forget the value of reaching out to all other types of faiths and other types of people.”
Cohen believes that TLS does a great job of balancing secular and Jewish classes, but perhaps could schedule more time for Jewish holidays outside of the classroom, especially because some students may not celebrate those holidays at home.
“I’m saying this only based on two or three months,” Cohen said. “But from what I’ve seen so far, I do believe that there could be more time given, or more intentionality given, towards how we do or how we mark Jewish holidays. To have a more experiential side of things. I think we don’t realize how much more enjoyment we get when we get a break from studying, not just to sit around, but to actually do something else in a very meaningful way.”
Although there are areas for improvement, there are so many parts of TLS that do accomplish that balance between secularism and Judaism.
“One thing that Leffell does better than I’ve seen anywhere else is student involvement,” Cohen said. “That’s a very special thing. The other thing about Leffell is that I’ve never seen so much passion to work hard in Jewish subjects, as much as in secular subjects. I see real passion to do well in Tanakh and Talmud. I feel that the knowledge level is high, and that’s because students seem very driven to really know a lot and to work hard.”