Seventh grader Sarah Jager is excited to learn about the relationship between Israel and the United States throughout history. Except she won’t be doing it in her regular classroom at JKHA. Instead, she will learn about it through the Tikvah Fund’s Truman Scholars Program, a two-year program for outstanding seventh- and eighth-grade students attending Modern Orthodox day schools.

Founded by Rabbi Mark Gottlieb in 2021, the program is grounded in three core beliefs. First, the Jewish community bears a responsibility “to educate exceptional young Jews in the founding ideas, heroic leaders, enduring challenges and moral aims” of America and Israel. Second, the program recognizes that thoughtful, curious and serious seventh- and eighth-grade Jewish students are immensely capable of reading and discussing serious texts. Finally, Jewish day schools “are indispensable partners in this educational effort.”

Rabbi Gottlieb said that especially in these times it’s essential “to create a love and affection for America on the part of young Modern Orthodox Jews.” He added: “The more we let the prevailing culture around us shape us through media and popular culture, the more we will have to do the work of undoing or relearning. If we can address our best and brightest, our youngest students that have a passion for ideas or that are open to ideas and push them intellectually, I think we can get a jump on the prevailing winds of the culture.”

Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy seventh grader Sadie Palker is looking forward to participating and said, “It will be interesting to get a deeper look at how America and Israel are connected and how we connect to them both.” BCHA’s Elliot Nerenberg knows it will mean more work for him but said, “I am looking forward to all that there is to be learned and where it will take me.”

Moriah School seventh grader Sam Davidovitch is excited to learn about how Judaism impacted the colonists of early America, how it shaped the United States’ democracy and Constitution and the role of the United States in the establishment of the State of Israel.

“Right now America is under assault in many precincts and is being deconstructed by those who’d argue that America is not a great idea,” Rabbi Gottlieb added. With that goal in mind, the Truman Scholars Program aims to educate and enlighten its participants to become more patriotic American citizens while at the same time cultivating a deep love for Zion, especially given the fact that Zionism is also under siege.”

Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy Middle School Principal Ariel Levenson said: “JKHA’s partnership with the Truman Scholars Program through the Tikvah Fund fuels our students’ intellectual curiosity by inspiring excellence beyond our classrooms’ physical walls. … The Truman Scholars Program is an incredible intellectual forum for our students to engage with issues of identity with other day school students across the country, making academic experiences more expansive and even richer, as a complement to JKHA’s robust academic program, which emphasizes American history in seventh and eighth grades.”

Rabbi Mendel Jacobson, director of the Truman Scholars Program, explained that there are approximately 170 seventh- and eighth-grade students from 25 different schools across the country enrolled. A typical seminar will comprise 12-15 students, all in the same grade, engaging with a teacher and each other via Zoom. Prior to each seminar, the students will have completed a reading assignment from the program’s newly designed textbook. Gottlieb and Jacobson are quick to point out that it’s a seminar and not a lecture, as the teacher is there to facilitate a rich conversation surrounding topics including leadership and good governance.

As for what makes an ideal Truman Scholar, Rabbi Gottlieb said it’s a student who has a passion for ideas, with curiosity and a love of discourse and “grappling with big questions about meaning and purpose and history and good and evil.” Rabbi Jacobson added that they also look for a propensity for leadership. “As they grow older into teenagers and adults, they can bring that intellectual rigor, as well as a real belief, that helping other Jews, helping America, helping the world is central to what it means to be Jewish, what it means to be a human being,” he said.

He added that “understanding Judaism, understanding American history, understanding that culture around us -that’s where leadership begins. It begins with ideas.”

Hannah Blugrind, an eighth grader at Kushner who is about to enter her last semester with the program said: “My partnership with the Truman Scholars Program has fueled my curiosity and given me the opportunity to learn about the enduring connection between Judaism and America that has been held for centuries. … The ability to participate in class discussions with my fellow Scholars gave me a chance to hear others’ intricate perspectives and theories. The Tikvah community gave me the ability to have my voice heard by others who were genuinely curious to hear what I had to say. I am excited for my final segment of the program, but sad to see it end. I have learned so much along the way and hope the next cycle of Truman Scholars are able to learn and appreciate this program as much as I did.”

A partial list of this year’s seventh graders chosen to participate in the program includes: Avigail Alter—The Moriah School, Erez Cohen—SAR Academy, Samuel Davidovitch—The Moriah School, Gabriella Davis—Yavneh Academy, Kayla Drazen—Ben Porat Yosef, Oliver Filer—SAR Academy, Zachary Friedman—Yavneh Academy, Yonatan Fromer—SAR Academy, Alexander Gewanter—Westchester Day School, Itai Grady—Ben Porat Yosef, Landon Horowitz—SAR Academy, Zachy Horwitz—Yavneh Academy, Rebecca Isak—The Moriah School, Sarah Jager—Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy, Ethan Knoll—Yavneh Academy, Eli Lipman—Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy, Mark Loren—Westchester Day School, Julia Lyons—Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy, Liyora Marmar—Ben Porat Yosef, Anna Miller—Ben Porat Yosef, Elliot Nerenberg—Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy, Sadie Palker—Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy, Sarah Podolak—Yeshivat HeAtid, Allison Pruzansky—Yeshivat HeAtid, David Ratzersdorfer—The Moriah School, Daveed Sarna—SAR Academy, Hannah Simon—SAR Academy and Maya Zeif—Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy.

To learn more about the Truman Scholars program visit https://tikvahfund.org/truman/scholars/home/

By Ronit Mershon