The title for this post is an analogy that says it all... Much like Vegas, JDSs present their illusion as a reality, enticing people to risk their hard earned money on the promise that their bet will pay dividends. In reality, the house always wins and what happens at a JDS stays at the JDS. It is for this final reason that I’ve decided to share this post. Too often, when I share with people that I am leaving the JDS world they talk about how important my work is to the Jewish people and attempt to dissuade me from my decision. Unfortunately, many of these people have no idea what it means to be a day school educator. In this post, I will focus only on the financial aspect of being a JDS teacher… Last year I made $60K teaching six classes at a local JDS. Two of my children attended the school so, while I received the maximum financial aid allowed by the school’s bylaws (40%), about $25k went straight back to the school. In opting for the “subsidized” benefits offered by the schoo
What the story of Avraham and Sarah in Egypt teaches us about the ideal relationship between husband and wife This week’s Torah portion begins with Gd’s call to Avraham to Lech Lecha (go forward your sake) from Charan (in northern Syria) to an unknown land due south. Since the start of time, humans had confounded Gd with their ability to make the wrong choices. Gd had tried to reset the world, expelling Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, wiping out the entire earth in a Flood during Noah’s life and mixing up languages of the generation of the Tower of Babel before dispersing them throughout the entire earth to keep them at bay. But the problems persisted, so Gd looked around and found the best human alive, selecting Avraham to be Humanity 3.0. As Gd’s Chosen, Avraham was tasked with performing a literal Tikkun Olam , by living in the world according to the plan that Gd intended for it. Avraham heeded Gd’s call and left Charan, taking with him his wife, Sarah, his nephew, Lot