Beth Tabor's Tribute to Rabbi David Katz

by Beth Tabor, member of Beth Israel's Education Advisory Council

It is with gratitude and sadness I come to thank you for your dedication to our religious school families and to personally thank you for the opportunity to work together on several projects over the last three years.  

Rabbi David Katz

Thank you for bringing enchantment and creativity as well as rigor to our school.  From that first leaning tower of honey cake and the day the staff and clergy dressed as bible heroes to welcome our children to religious school  to help us learn about Torah, to The Hebrew Kids' Choice Awards and Lehrhaus where we discovered that we could learn together in personal, informal spaces as well as the classroom.  You created the magic that brings a sense of excitement to Jewish learning.

Since day one, community building has been a top priority for you.  You developed EAC, a think tank and sounding board that gave parents a bigger voice.  You revitalized the parent organization giving parents more opportunity to get  involved in their children's education.  Yes, most of your ideas did need that 'village', but in that 'village' community was being built.  You are creative and think 'outside the box'.  My hope is, that those seeds you have planted to build community and to think creatively about education will continue to grow.

I am sorry to see the curtain fall, but we thank you for a wonderful performance.  We sincerely wish you and Nancy all the very best.  Thank you again for all you have done to make CBI Religious School a better place, and for lighting a spark in our children to embrace Jewish learning.