Bruriah High School kicked off its legendary yom iyun program with a truly inspirational and thought-provoking yom iyun for the Aseres Yemei Teshuva. Entitled “Signed By You,” the day provided students with an opportunity to explore how they are in control of writing the story of their lives. Guest speaker Rabbi David Markowitz, executive vice president of Olami and proud husband of a Bruriah alumna, spoke to the students about the power of names in signing off on the choices we make. He shared the inspirational story of Elana Asher Rosenblatt a”h who decided that she wanted to attend Bruriah High School all the way from Allentown, Pennsylvania 30 years ago. She made the commitment to travel far from home in high school in order to receive a Jewish education and, by making that choice, she affixed her name to it, a choice that had far-reaching positive implications for decades to come.

The yom iyun then continued in the gym where students received booklets containing vignettes of crossroads of choice. After carefully considering how to continue each story, students and faculty presented their uniquely written endings, demonstrating that every individual truly writes her own story. And of course, no Bruriah program would be complete without an inspirational schoolwide kumzitz featuring students harnessing the beautiful power of their voices to write their own stories.