JKHA students took the opportunity to honor our nation’s veterans. Charlie Larkin, veteran of the U.S. Army (and JKHA parent) davened with middle school on Veterans Day. After davening, he gave a beautiful dvar Torah on the parsha that he connected to an impressive story that he shared from his time in service.

Later that morning, early childhood and lower school gathered in the Epstein-Stein Auditorium. The program began with a beautiful tribute to our nation’s veterans in song by the JKHA choir. Lower school and kindergarten students then had the opportunity to hear from U.S. army veterans Larkin and Mr. Morreale, JKHA grandparent (Morah Julia’s grandfather and grandparent of alumni). The veterans spoke to the students about their time serving in the U.S. Army. They provided details about how they were drafted or enlisted, their experiences in training camps, as well as offered details about the many locations around the world where they were deployed, including active combat in the Middle East.

Not only were their stories engaging and powerful, but the experience was enhanced when the veterans displayed memorabilia such as medals, photos, certificates, parachutes and uniforms. Lower school students also made pictures and wrote letters of gratitude to be sent to veterans in our country for Chanukah. It was a truly meaningful morning and JKHA extends a warm thank you to its visitors and to all our veterans for their service to our country.