By Cindy Mindell

BLOOMFIELD – Students and faculty returning to the Bess and Paul Sigel Hebrew Academy this year will be greeted by a new principal, Rabbi Zev Silver.

The native of Brooklyn, N.Y. attended yeshiva in Baltimore. He earned a master’s in Special Education from the Johns Hopkins University and a master’s degree in Talmudic Law from Ner Israel Rabbinical College in Baltimore, and was ordained by Rabbi Mordechai Brownstein in New York.

Silver began a career in Jewish education as a teacher in Binghamton, N.Y. He spent the bulk of his professional life – 19 years – at the Akiba Academy of Dallas, where he served as an educator, then as principal, and finally as head of school.

“I always wanted to teach and lead from when I was quite young,” Silver says about his professional path. “My focus is to be a child advocate, an instructional leader for teachers, and a bridge to the parents.”

Silver comes to the Hebrew Academy from the Talmudical Academy of Baltimore, where he has spent the last two years as principal of General Studies in the elementary school.

Silver is married to Shifra, a Baltimore native. The couple has a married daughter, Miriam Leah, son-in-law, and two grandchildren in Far Rockaway, N.Y.; a daughter, Fruma Soroh, who will be a student at the Hebrew High School of New England in West Hartford; and a son, Nachum, 12.

Silver spoke with the Ledger about what he hopes to bring to the Hebrew Academy as the school’s 19th principal.

Q: What is your general approach to your work as a Jewish educator?

A: When I was a principal in Baltimore, parents would say to me, “I hope my child doesn’t end up in your office” and I would say, “I hope your child does end up in my office.” I want kids to be in my office, I have kids there during recess, I teach and problem-solve with them, I give out treats. At Hebrew Academy, I will have an office downstairs in the administrative area but will also have an office upstairs in the classroom area, with the kids and the teachers. I like to be in the thick of the action and I want to be here as a real guide and support to the teachers, to enable them to bring out the best in each one of the kids, and I want to bring out the best in each one of the teachers.

I really work to set a tone of love for the school, where everybody is given over to TLC and where we strive to get kids out of their comfort zone. I like to set a warm, caring tone for everybody; the school should be the haven of everything that’s good.

I have gone back to Dallas recently for the weddings of my former students. A year ago in May, two of my former 4th-grade students married each other and I went to their wedding. I always keep very strong connections with my students and their families.

Q: How have you seen Jewish dayschool education change while you have been in the field?

A: I’ve seen a very strong trend toward professionalizing Jewish education. I see plenty of opportunities for more integration between general studies and Judaic studies. At the Akiba Academy of Dallas, we were able to integrate a lot, focusing on educational themes that run across the board in all subject matter. I work toward giving my teachers top-quality professional-development opportunities. For example, I have some grant money so I’m using it for online classes through ASCD [Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development], probably the leading provider of professional-development opportunities and publisher of Educational Leadership magazine.

Q: What are some current trends and/or approaches that you are particularly inspired by?

A: What I’m inspired by is good quality education. One of the themes for this year that will go across the board in both general and Judaic studies is called formative assessment, which not only covers how we assess, but also how we teach and what we focus on. In my previous school and what we will be implementing here is the utilization of formative assessment, to gauge how kids are progressing and to gauge the kinds of learning experiences that we are giving kids, and ones that are measurable.

I am excited about the opportunity to really professionalize the whole approach to teaching. With so many advances in technology now, in teaching anything but particularly related to exposing our children to Israel, the opportunities are wonderful – whether it’s Skyping with a sister school in Israel for a Tu B’Shevat seder or having kids connect with leading personalities in Israel, we can expose the kids to the breadth and depth of Israel we can’t necessarily bring over there but with the technology it gets pretty close in that way and gives a whole new perspective. One of the very vital components of my work is to inculcate in the children ahavat Eretz Yisrael, a love of Israel. I love Israel, I love teaching about it, and I’ll be teaching an Israel-education class.

One trend is to bring in the family. The school that I lead is one that has to be inviting to families; it’s an experience that we’re giving to families. I don’t profess or claim that we operate a school that’s “fun,” but I do profess to operating a school that is joyful. In Dallas, we were in a fairly affluent area and people want their kids to have fun. We took out the word “fun” and put “simcha,” joy, which is everyday living. At school, we live together; we’re here in good times and in challenging times to support each other and we try to create the kind of environment that is a microcosm of the way the world should be.

I think we also see the trend of encouraging kids to take on leadership and ownership and to learn from a young age how to be giving. As we understand children better, we’re learning that we have an obligation to teach them not only the academic skills, but to teach them the social skills – how to be sensitive to each other, how to be caring to each other, how to be respectful to each other. It’s something that is part of our culture but also part of living in our society.

Q: We hear constant reports about the decline in Jewish dayschool enrollment. What do you see as a viable approach to this challenge?

A: Something I have been very cognizant about as a dayschool leader is recognizing the financial pressures on parents to give their children a Jewish education, recognizing the reality that two-income earners are a necessity and to accommodate that in building the calendar and programming.

One core challenge is affordability. Parents are maxed out. In my role, I oversee the school’s budget and I want to bring forth quality opportunities but I want to make sure that our school carefully budgets the funding that we have and that we’re getting the maximum bang for our buck, especially knowing that as a business, you have to spend money in order for things to move along. But we need to be cognizant that parents really sacrifice a tremendous amount to send their kids to Jewish day school and I have to show them that there’s no fluff, but at the same time, we need to have top-quality education experiences for their kids.

Q: What is your impression of Hebrew Academy?

A: People are very passionate about the school. Everybody I’ve met here loves the school and wants it to grow and are really invested in it. It’s a well-established school for many years. Everybody I’ve met feels very connected to the school. What came out consistently in the interviews is that they were looking for a person to connect with the children, strengthen the education of both general studies and Judaic studies, and to guide and connect with the parents – and that’s what I like doing – and to have the school be the jewel of the community.