As the Annual Campaign is in full swing, I asked Yael Rakib, our 2024 Walkathon Title sponsor & Committee Chair, “Why do you give/donate to Yavneh and why is it important for you to see Yavneh Day School succeed? Yael and I both have kids in the 3rd-grade class; she is a fellow Mom and a valued community member. She has always been a big advocate of the Jewish Community and of Yavneh Day School.
Yael responded transparently, knowing that we would publish her thoughts in the Board Corner. Thank you, Yael, for your generous contributions to Yavneh. We appreciate your volunteer efforts and your willingness to share why it’s so important to give to Yavneh during this Annual Campaign.
B’Shalom,
Jennifer Orrin
Board Secretary
Below is what Yael shared:
I was asked yesterday, “Why is it important to you to see Yavneh Day School succeed?” My answer is twofold. First, I am convinced now more than ever that the desire for belonging is a need that is deeper and more existential than almost any other psychological need and, moreover, that we need Yavneh to help give our Jewish children a feeling of belonging. “We need belonging almost as badly as we need water.” For Kids, feeling they belong is an urgent need. “Even one incident of not belonging, like getting the cold shoulder from a friend at lunchtime, can be devastating.”
“The prospect of wandering the cafeteria or halls without a place to be or people who will welcome you is terrifying.” When I was a child, I attended public school. I had a handful of friends. If there were any Jewish kids in my elementary school, I didn’t know them. I didn’t have common traditions, foods, songs, or holidays as friends or students. I never felt like I belonged in school. In middle school, someone defaced my locker with a racial slur that I hadn’t heard of before. This was 30 years ago, and our society has become more hostile and even dangerous for Jewish people. In 2023, After October 7th, more than ever before, I felt most understood, accepted, safe, and included with the Jewish community. And every day, I am thankful that my daughter’s most formative years are at Yavneh because “when a student feels that part of their identity is marginalized or not part of the dominant narrative, they may have a greater need to form a strong group with others like them. Racial grouping is a developmental process in response to an environmental stressor, racism. Joining with one’s peers for support in the face of stress is a positive coping strategy. This need to belong can enable students to steep themselves in the symbols, culture, and stories of a marginalized group, strengthening this identity and ultimately enabling more positive interaction beyond this group.”
My daughter and I conversed the other day about what she would do if she attended public school, and she told me that she would hide the fact that she was Jewish. At Yavneh, our kids do not have to hide who they are. They are encouraged to be their authentic selves, and they get to celebrate it. “Until their sense of belonging is secure, children will not reach anything close to their full potential. Without belonging, most won’t feel safe enough to bring out their gifts, to experiment with their identity to find what is authentic to them, or take the risks and apply the energy needed to reach their academic potential. That’s why belonging is the beginning of any good journey through school.”
The second reason I want to see Yavneh succeed is because after giving my child a sense of inclusion and filling her with confidence, the teachers and administrators make students feel valuable by giving them meaningful projects that contribute in measurable and observable ways to other students, their community, and for their family. Their schoolwork at Yavneh is weighty, meaningful work. For example, fifth graders build a business and fundraise for a cause they select. Yavneh staff also find plentiful opportunities for the children to feel important and powerful. The principal for a day prize is a great example of this. Principal Aviva Greenberg orchestrated a whole day where my daughter got to participate in important meetings with other administrators, check in on all of the classrooms and review their agendas, help staff supervise kids during pickup, drop off, lunch, and recess, and met with three other Yavneh students to brainstorm ways to improve the school. Collectively, the four third graders said that they wanted to help Aviva in setting up a “quiet area” for students who felt overwhelmed and needed a space to calm down, and they asked Aviva to support them in starting a book club for every grade. From this experience, my daughter felt more invested in her school, empowered to make a change, and confident because the principal at her school asked for her opinion, listened to that opinion, and together they initiated a plan to make a concrete change at the school which in turn will improve the experience for other students at Yavneh.
“Ultimately, we want children to witness themselves doing things of value for others, and so to internalize a sense of their own value and self-worth. When children have had these experiences, receiving the trust of adults and believing their work has relevance, the effect is palpable. They take themselves more seriously and will show us more of the real potential of their age.” Yavneh is a special school. I feel it when I walk through the hallways, and I see it when I look at my daughter and how she’s changed by attending school here. There’s a reason why alumni keep coming back to visit teachers and to celebrate Shabbat in the Beit Kehillah- and it is the same reason why I want to see Yavneh succeed. (Quotes above from Chris Balme, Finding the Magic in Middle School, 2022).
Please consider giving generously to the Annual Campaign.
Yael
Title Walkathon Sponsor & 3rd Grade Mom
