CESJDS Links Blog

Over twenty years have passed since I was in middle school, and though the world has changed, middle school is still a tricky time in every child’s life. There is no escape. The reality is that embarrassment, failure, disappointment, and other challenging experiences are part of an adolescent’s development.

On Tuesday, August 29 we welcomed 328 high school students to the Annette M. & Theodore N. Lerner Family Upper School Campus. We marked the occasion with an opening assembly filled with joy, music, community and reflection. 

Dr. Eliana Lipsky addressed the Class of 2027 at their 8th Grade Siyyum on June 14, 2023. Read her speech below:

To the Class of 2027:

Your middle school beginning was like no other 6th grade’s beginning. The pandemic was in full swing and everything we had planned had been turned on its head. Your orientation was mostly outside of the school in small groups along with tours inside school limited to 10-15 minutes. Rules far outside any one of our control, meant that we had to divide your class into sections, "podding" you, and preventing you from experiencing a typical middle school beginning. Baruch HaShem/Thank God that was only 6th grade, and by 7th grade we were all able to be together again with limited pandemic related restrictions looming over us. 

Rabbi Matthew Bellas addressed the Class of 2030 at their Aba Marcus and Sara Marcus 5th Grade Siddur Ceremony and Siyyum on June 14, 2023. Read his speech below:

Boker tov to our 5th graders, your loved ones celebrating with you today, and members of the CESJDS faculty and staff.

I am beginning my remarks this morning with a quotation from our TaNaKH, from chapter 3 of the book of KOHELET or Ecclesiastes. If you’re a fan of classic rock and roll like I am, these words may sound familiar:

To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to reap that which is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal; a time to break down and a time to build up. A time to cry and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing. A time to seek and a time to lose; a time to keep and a time to cast away. A time to rip and a time to sew; a time to keep silent and a time to speak. A  time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.

As I write my final Principal Perspective of the year and my time as Middle School Principal, I could not help but find myself singing Closing Time by Semisonic. A song that has become tradition for so many graduating classes to sing, including being sung at last year’s Senior graduation, and one I remember singing with my own high school friends as we were about to move onto new adventures. It had never occurred to me to look up the lyrics before now, but there is something so timeless about the words: “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” The simplicity captures the essence of a transition so plainly.

Our Jewish value of k’hillah/community teaches us that connecting to one another in care and support is what we are meant to do each day. Our tradition reminds us that r’fu-ah shleimah refers to the need to heal our whole selves, the interconnected physical, mental, and spiritual. This year, guided by these values and our commitment to promote student wellness and connection, we launched the Center for Health and Wellness.  

As the saying goes in the business world, “Location, location, location!” CESJDS is so fortunate to find itself uniquely geographically positioned to be able to take advantage of nearby resources that enhance so many elements of our rich and rigorous curriculum. Elementary school students across the country study similar subjects, but living in the DMV, especially the greater Washington D.C area, offers our students in-person access to and deeper understanding of sites and stories that most other children are only able to read about in books. This experience is particularly true of our social studies units in grades 2-5, which focus increasingly on particular periods of American history as the children get older.

At CESJDS the Portrait of a Graduate is an aspirational document that we hope inspires and guides each of our students as they move through their CESJDS journey. In the Middle School we ask our students to reflect on the Portrait of a Graduate at the end of their 8th Grade Bridges Capstone Trip to the South. Similar to the reflections students do to prepare for Student Led Learning Conferences, it is a moment during which our students take stock of how far they have come on their educational journey before looking ahead to high school. Throughout their middle school journey, we aim to provide and engage our middle school students with numerous opportunities and experiences that inspire them, feel authentic, and are applicable to the real world.

Our Jewish value of k’hillah/community teaches us that connecting to one another in care and support is what we are meant to do each day. Our tradition reminds us that r’fu-ah shleimah refers to the need to heal our whole selves, the interconnected physical, mental, and spiritual. This year, guided by these values and our commitment to promote student wellness and connection, we launched the Center for Health and Wellness.  

In the second paragraph of the Aleinu prayer, which is found in the concluding section of each of Shaharit, Minhah, and Ma-ariv - our three daily prayer services, we are called במלכות ש-די לתקן עולם/to repair the world in partnership with the sovereignty of God. Going back as far as the Creation narrative, human beings have been charged and entrusted with the caretaking of the world and its creatures and Judaism has always placed a strong emphasis on this responsibility for each individual. In the spirit of our tradition, one of our core values at CESJDS is תקון עולם/repair of the world and we take seriously our educational responsibility not only to learn about it, but also to provide real life opportunities to perform it. I wanted to take this opportunity to share how we bring תקון עולם/repair of the world to life as a Lower School community for all of our students.