When my children are asked “what school do you go to?” they always give a little smirk. They know that people expect them to name either our local public school or a yeshiva in Bergen County. When they answer “Gottesman RTW Academy,” the follow up question is usually “Oh! Where is that?”
Gottesman RTW Academy (GRTWA), is the only Jewish community day school in Morris County. It is located in Randolph, New Jersey and sits on a spectacular campus, tucked in on over 21 beautiful acres of woods and open space. Their new building is state of the art and modern and was unveiled in September 2015. In honor of the generosity and support of Jerry, z”l and Paula Gottesman and in recognition of the founding families—Rubenstein, Turner and Wertheimer—the school was renamed Gottesman RTW Academy in 2014. It currently educates over 200 children from early childhood through eighth grade and has been in operation for over 56 years.
In the spring of 2022, Academies at Gerrard Berman Day School (GBDS) in Oakland, New Jersey sadly had to shut its doors, leaving all its families with the immediate need to find a new school. We weren’t confident that we were going to be able to find another school that met all our needs. We wanted a school that was a warm, caring Jewish environment that we could call our new Jewish home. We wanted a smaller school where everybody knows your name and also welcomes families from a variety of Jewish backgrounds. With four children, we also needed a school that was truly affordable. Unfortunately, none of the schools in our area met all of our criteria. So we decided to explore outside the county.
The minute we walked into GRTWA and were greeted by the head of school, Dr. Moshe Vaknin, we had a feeling we were in the right place. The word spread fast among the other prior GBDS families and in September 2022, 10 children started taking the “Fair Lawn Van,” which was very generously subsidized by the school. The van has now grown into a school bus and transports 17 students daily.
My son, who is now an eighth grader at GRTWA, got inspired to make videos documenting all the milestones and fun things that have occurred on their rides. The Fair Lawn bus students have celebrated Jewish holidays and birthdays. They have had contests, elections and end of year parties with a private movie viewing. His videos have also been turned into promotional material for the school. My husband and I thought the long bus ride was a negative factor in our decision, but it has turned into something very positive for the children.
As we got to know the GRTWA community, we realized that following our instincts, even though the school was far from home, was the right decision. Our children thrived, integrated seamlessly and quickly made very close friendships. We were surprised to discover that the school could be our entire Jewish home—not just for education but also for spiritual life and community. For example, our twins learned their Torah parsha with the school’s rabbi and celebrated their bnai mitzvah in the building with all their friends, officiated by the head of school himself.
The school has gone out of its way to accommodate the Fair Lawn students. For example, for the recent weeknight K-eighth grade Broadway-themed Chanukah Show, they invited all the Fair Lawn children to stay in after-care and a teacher volunteered to cook them a delicious dinner prior to the show. This special touch is a rare thing to find.
GRTWA is the kind of school where the different grades actually know each other. My youngest son, a first grader, walks around school giving high fives to everyone, including the teenagers, and they all know each other by name. The other day at recess, my eighth grader was walking around the school, helping a second grader look for her lunchbox. My fifth grader has joined the student council, is planning school events with sixth-eighth graders, and loves that she gets to do school-wide weekly morning announcements. GRTWA really is like a big family.
Financially speaking, this school truly makes a Jewish education affordable, thanks to the generosity of many grants and donors. GRTWA offers several affordability programs, including TuitionMax, which caps tuition at no more than 13% of a family’s adjusted gross income, regardless of the number of children enrolled. The school’s mission is to educate every Jewish child who seeks a Jewish education.
The affordability does not come at a cost to the students. GRTWA has state of the art technology; a high level of security; interscholastic sports; two full time social workers highlighting the focus on social-emotional learning; after-school enrichment programs; a summer day camp for early childhood; individualized learning; a robust dual curriculum; a strong Judaic studies and Hebrew curriculum; a rigorous language arts, math, and science program; music, art, musical theatre and so much more. They are also fully equipped to accept students from any grade in public school who may not have any Hebrew knowledge.
Most importantly, my children will be graduating from GRTWA with a strong secular education, an unwavering Jewish identity, an in-depth knowledge of Jewish history, customs, tefillah and the Hebrew language, and a deep commitment to Eretz Yisrael.
For more information on Gottesman RTW Academy, please contact Alyssa Glaubman, outreach and engagement coordinator, at [email protected].
Dr. Melissa Berlin is a board certified family physician and mother of four. She grew up in Ottawa, Canada and has been living in Bergen County for the last 13 years.
