Rachel Mann, Education Director Rachel Mann, a passionate Jewish Educator, joined the Shaarei Tikvah team in July 2018. For the past ten years, Rachel has taught humanities at Carmel Academy in Greenwich, CT, worked at Camp Ramah in Nyack, served as a Youth Director in Westchester, and tutored countless students for b’nei mitzvah. Her philosophy on Jewish education can be summed up as follows: “To meet each child where they are and reach their mind, body, and soul to encourage a Jewish journey of curiosity and life-long learning.” After working in the field of education for several years, Rachel began her graduate studies at Teachers College, Columbia University where she earned a degree in Curriculum and Teaching. For her Master’s thesis, she researched and designed a curriculum that integrates Jewish values in the General Studies curriculum. Rachel and her husband Dan currently live in White Plains with their two children. Contact Rachel via email (rachel@shaareitikvah.org) or through the synagogue office.
The Scoop from our Education Director - Rachel Mann
Whenever the Mann Family buys pints of ice cream, we usually skip the bowls and prefer the scoop & pass method, eating directly from the container. Admittedly, I’m always the culprit who scoops out all of the best parts - the brownie bites, the chocolate caramel pieces, the cookie dough, etc. Recently, we discovered a new ice cream that has something called a “core,” containing all of the key ingredients like cookie dough or brownie in the middle of the pint surrounded by the ice cream itself. What I love about this new format of ice cream eating is that with each bite, I am assured to get a nice scoop of ice cream filled with all the components of the core that I enjoy most.
If Shaarei Tikvah were a pint of ice cream with a special core, it would of course be one of my favorite flavors. At our “core” you’ll find ingredients like connection, community, spiritual and religious growth, and lifelong learning. As I think about our growing community, our ice cream flavor might be a little sweeter with a hint of something new and delicious but our “core” will continue to be exactly what we all love most about Shaarei Tikvah.
There are two new ingredients that we’ll be adding to our Shaarei Tikvah flavor this year. The first is Itai, our new Community Educator, who we are all so excited to welcome. Itai Shrell-Fox brings a true passion for working with the Jewish community. He will be teaching in our school, partnering with our teens, and serving as a regular presence on Shabbat and holidays. The second ingredient is all the 15+ new families that we are thrilled to welcome into our growing Shaarei Tikvah family. I’ve had the wonderful pleasure of speaking with these new families and know they will only add depth to our Shaarei Tikvah flavor profile
Even with these new changes to the flavor, at our “core,” there’s so much that you can expect to be familiar. We’ll be returning together for our usual programming for everyone to connect and reconnect with one another. We’ll have all of our students together - some of whom are in the same grade and didn’t meet last year because they attended on different days! We’ll be creating new learning experiences to reach the varying interests of our members and of course you’ll see some of the typical favorites too. We can’t wait to experience this year with all of you.
So, let’s all grab a spoon and share a pint of Shaarei Tikvah together!