THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 20, 1995 TAG: 9505200320
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
One of the best things about her school, 13-year-old Hanna Fendrich said, is the sense of identity and belonging it gives her.
That's why Hanna, who is Jewish, doesn't mind starting her weekdays at 6 a.m. for an hourlong commute from her house in Newport News to Hebrew Academy of Tidewater, a red brick building off Indian River Road.
``We're kind of like one big, happy family,'' the eighth-grader said during a lunch break with classmates earlier this week. ``Everybody's friends.''
Such sentiment is widespread among the school's students and their parents. For that reason, the academy, the only Jewish community day school in Hampton Roads, has flourished in a region of the South where Jews are a tiny fraction of the population.
At a dinner Sunday, the academy will celebrate its 40th anniversary, marking a journey that began in 1955 with eight students in a rented room at the old Jewish Community Center in Norfolk. The school moved into its own building in 1976 and now enrolls about 220 students from preschool through eighth grade.
It is of an age now that some of its students are third generation. The school maintains its tradition, parents say, because it both immerses children in their Jewish heritage and, with a strong academic curriculum, prepares them to compete in the world.
A headline in a brochure promoting the academy summarizes its philosophy: ``We Reach Children Between The Temples.''
``We are a religion of parent to child, and I love the idea that we keep passing it on,'' said Joanne Stein, a school parent and president of its board of directors. ``I think the bottom line is that our world has lost a lot of its caring and nurturing, and there's this little oasis out on Indian River Road where students count and the family counts.''
While the academy is now cherished, controversy surrounded its creation, said Rabbi Israel Bornstein, rabbi emeritus of Norfolk's B'Nai Israel Congregation and co-founder of the academy.
``In those days it was a very novel idea. People took public schools for granted, and at the time it was considered very undemocratic,'' said Bornstein, who was born in Denmark and as a boy escaped Nazi persecution during World War II with help from the Danish. He arrived in Norfolk in 1950.
Eventually, though, skeptics were won over.
``Since Jewish survival in America was becoming such a critical concern, it was decided to start a Jewish day school so our children could learn their heritage and become enthusiastic and loyal Americans. It has made amazing progress.''
During the life of the school, the Jewish population in Hampton Roads has grown from several hundred centered in Norfolk's Ghent section to an estimated 19,000, with the majority now living in Virginia Beach, said Mark Goldstein, executive vice president of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater. Goldstein's children attend the academy.
``I personally probably wouldn't have moved to town had the community not had a strong Jewish day school,'' Goldstein said.
Parents visiting the academy for the first time are astonished that the hall lockers, crammed with personal belongings and supplies, don't have doors or locks.
``I think that says a lot about the kind of atmosphere you'll find in the school,'' said Joan K. London, director of general studies.
Student artwork hangs on nearly every available wall space. In the elementary section, cardboard ``cubist people'' monitored a hall on a recent day, the creation of first-graders who had learned about Picasso and cubism in art class.
Kids begin studying Hebrew in first grade, and by second are reading the language. Age-appropriate literature is introduced in second grade. Students write every day. They also study math, science and social studies, and have access to a computer lab.
Students each year take three courses in Judaic studies, including Jewish history, laws and customs and the Hebrew Bible. Boys wear yarmulkes, the skull cap traditionally worn by Jewish men and boys when at prayer or study.
The eighth-grade graduates, about half of whom go on to Virginia Beach public schools, are prized by the private or public schools that land them, London said.
London and Ada Michaels, the principal, came to work at the school 22 years ago and have watched it grow. A dream is to expand to high school grades.
``We have seen the school take hold and find a place in the community,'' said Michaels, who was hired as the school's part-time librarian and began a book collection before it had a permanent home. ``You can look at your life's work and say, `We have made a difference.' '' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by LAWRENCE JACKSON
Kindergartners at Hebrew Academy of Tidewater in Virginia Beach
listen as a teacher talks about book reports. From left are Ian
Wittenberg, Ian Sigman, Brandon Terkeltaub, David Shabat-Love and
Simon Fink. About 220 students from preschool through eighth grade
attend the school.
by CNB