Hillel Academy: A Picture of Diversity

By Rebecca Goldstein

Rabbi Zev Silber is not being facetious when he says the mission of Hillel Academy is, "to keep everyone happy and a little bit uncomfortable."

It might seem like an unusual goal for a school, but with demographics as diverse as Hillel's, it makes perfect sense to Silber, who serves as its principal.

Out of the 46 students, 35 percent are from BethDavid, but it is not an Orthodox school; 33.3 percent are members of TempleIsrael, but it is not a Conservative school; 15.6 percent belong to TempleConcord, but it is not a Reform school: and 15.6 percent of families are unaffiliated.

So what is it?              

“We are a community school, kindergarten-eight, that prides itself in having children from all segments of the community working together on one curriculum under one roof,” Silber says.

It’s under the roof of Temple Israel that Hillel students are given a secular and Judaic education. Jewish studies are taught from a traditional approach, however, “we never encourage children or adults to disparage other approaches to Judaism,” says Silber “and, as our children are reporting, all are very much accepted in the classroom.”

As a community school, Hillel accepts students who fall within the Reform movement's definition of being Jewish, meaning either parent can be Jewish. Some might see this as a conflict for Silber, an Orthodox rabbi.

 “I have two different kippot, so to speak,” he says. “There are some things which I do as a principal that as an Orthodox rabbi, when I put on the other kippah, I would not do. Conversely, there are things that I do as an Orthodox rabbi that would not fit with the mission and values of the school. I try very hard to be able to serve each organization in the way it intends to be served.”

Families from varying religious practices said they feel welcome.

Alyssa Manspeizer and her husband, Brian Cohen, have four children, three of whom attend Hillel (their youngest, Ori, is 22 months old).

“Our kids are some of the most observant kids in the classes,” says Manspeizer, who considers her family Conservadox, “but that’s not an issue and they’ve never been made to feel bad about it. The school is very welcoming and that comes down to the nature of the school and Rabbi Silber.”

Judy Goldschmidt said she feared that as a convert she wouldn’t feel “Jewish enough,” says Goldschmidt, but her concerns were soon assuaged. “I saw there were families at Hillel from every denomination and I felt very much at “home,” says Goldschmidt, whose twins attend the school.

Claudia Stallman says she likes the fact that the school is diverse, and that “frankly, my family contributes to the diversity.”

Stallman says that she and her female partner were accepted as an alternative family. Hillel's curriculum has been a conversation starter for them and their son, Ben.

“We knew when we transferred Ben that he would be taught by Orthodox rabbis. He’s been taught some things that we don’t agree with, but that’s been a good thing for us to have those conversations with Ben about how our view of the world (Reform Judaism) differs.”

The reasons parents decide to send their kids to Hillel vary as much as the profiles of the families themselves.

Manspeizer says she and her husband decided to send their kids to Hillel “because we wanted them to know where they came from, what their heritage is and have the benefit of knowing what Judaism is so they will be equipped to make their own decisions later on from a point of strength.”

“For us the experience was holistic,” says Goldschmidt. “It’s not just about learning more about Judaism, but about becoming an active part of this Jewish community.”

How does the quality of secular education stack up to public schools? Silber says it's superior and he backs up that statement with evidence such as:

• The advanced math regents exam is usually given in the middle of the sophomore year of high school, but Hillel students take it at the end of eighth grade. For the general student body, the passing rate is 40 percent for sophomores. Hillel students have a passing rate of 70 percent.

• Most students in New York State take the earth science regents exam in ninth grade. Hillel students take it in eighth with a passing rate of over 95 percent.

• Hillel students take the Hebrew language regents exam, which gives them high school credit. They also begin Spanish in kindergarten.                             

Despite the high achievements, Silber says Hillel is not an exclusive preparatory school; there are no entrance exams or IQ tests used for admittance. He attributes the high success rate of students to several factors: “Small classes, parents who are very involved in their children’s education and teachers who are very committed to the children’s education even though their salaries are grossly inadequate.”

Goldschmidt says she has first-hand knowledge proving Hillel provides a superior education to other area schools.

“My children, Sara and Zachary, are twins and we didn’t want to put them in the same class so we put Zach into Hillel—because classes were smaller and he’s a little more quiet

than Sara— and Sara into Vestal Hills,” she says. “Sara was visibly jealous of the things that Zach was learning in kindergarten and she was not. For example, he was learning Hebrew, math and science. She was pretty much doing what she had done in preschool and was well advanced beyond that level. I asked her teacher if we could get her into a reading group and I was told that that was not an option. I felt brushed aside.”

Goldschimdt says she felt me public school was not giving Sara what she needed so she took a chance and put Sara in the same classroom with her brother. She never looked back.

“Sara took off with everything Hillel had to offer. They meet the child at the child’s level. Every child is seen as an individual and they go from there,” she said.

Goldschmidt became such a strong advocate for the school that she now serves as the public relations specialist.

Class sizes may be of concern for some parents, but the school has compensated for the small size by instituting multi-age education.

“It’s good for social experience,” says Silber. “We begin the program in second grade. There are many courses that fourth and fifth grade students take together. We’re very careful that the courses are not dependent on sequential development such as math or foreign languages.”

The eighth grade is always kept separate because of me rigors of the advanced courses.

Goldschmidt supplements her children’s socializing outside of the classroom, which only has five girls and two boys in it. “They do gymnastics, soccer and swim lessons. They have friends outside of Hillel,” she said.

Manspeizer said small classes are a benefit, not a cost.

“They may not have the choice of friends that they would have elsewhere, but I think they learn an important lesson that you don’t always get to choose, and you have to learn to get along with the people that you’re with. And I think that’s a really important skill to have from the time you’re young,” she said.

Another issue is how Hillel graduates adjust to life outside the close-knit environment.

John Weeks and his wife, Sheri, moved to Binghamton from Canada in 2002. They have two children, Joshua, a graduate, and Rachael, who is in seventh grade at Hillel.

Weeks was concerned how Joshua would adjust as a freshman in Binghamton High School.

“Academically it was very easy,” says Weeks. Joshua is taking some 10^th and 11^th grade courses and “Hillel really paved the way for him.”

Socially, it was a bit of a different story, according to Weeks. “Hillel is so small and students are closely interwoven in everything they do. Then he walks into a school of 1,800. After a week in school he came home and said: ‘Dad, do you know there are freshmen who smoke?’”

“I said, ‘Yes, you’re dealing with a larger population.’”

Next week Joshua returned home with another observation. “He said, ‘Dad, there are students in grade 11 with children.’ I said, ‘welcome to the real world.’”

Tuition costs $6,500 for kindergarten and $7,600 for first-eighth grades. Discounts are available for multiple children. There are also parental volunteer obligations and fund- raising events.

From The Reporter (Volume XXXV, Number 10, pp. 5, 9)