PHOTO: Class of 2015 graduates, from left, Allie Kaplan, Maya Zilcha, Rachel Landesman, Raina Meyerson and Rachel Uvaydov.
The five 2015 graduates from the Shearim Torah High School in Phoenix are all headed to Israel for a year of study.
Graduates and the school they will be attending are: Allison Kaplan, Midreshet Tehilla in Har Nof, Jerusalem; Rachel Landesman, Bnos Sara in Har Nof, Jerusalem; Raina Meyerson, Darchei Bina in Bayit Vegan, Jerusalem; Rachel Uvaydov, Meohr Beis Yaakov in Beit HaKerem, Jerusalem; and Mayah Zilcha, also Meohr Beis Yaakov.
The Orthodox high school for girls was established in August of 2007 so that young women would no longer need to leave the Phoenix area to receive a traditional Jewish high school education by studying and living in another city. The school, under the leadership of Rabbi Raphael Landesman, is now in its eighth year of operation, with 31 students in 4 grades.
Following are excerpts from the graduation speeches of the five girls.
ALLISON KAPLAN
Six years ago my family and I began the incredible journey to become more religious. I had no idea what I was getting myself into or even what it all meant for me, but I knew it would be an adventure. Eventually, the time came for me to decide where I wanted to go to high school. Although I had considered going to public school, it wasn’t my first choice. I had heard about Shearim and decided to shadow for a day to see if I liked it. I finished my day and knew right then, this was the school for me. When I started in 9th grade, it was not easy. I had no idea who or what Rashi or Rambam or Ramban was. I had taken some Hebrew classes in 8th grade, but I was not prepared to read or translate Mefarshim or Chumash. As the year went on, I fell in love with Shearim but was still having a hard time adjusting to some of the subjects I couldn’t even pronounce the names of the classes. At one point, I started to think this school wasn’t for me. At that time, my parents told me that it was only one year and it was ultimately my decision to stay or move on to public school. I had a hard decision to make, but I remembered a softball analogy my father used to always tell me. Whenever I was faced with a problem or situation and I couldn’t move forward, he would say “in softball, whenever you step up to the plate to try hit the ball, you will never get a hit unless you swing the bat and if you strike out, at least you went down swinging and gave yourself a chance.” I quickly realized I needed to keep swinging and I decided to stay.
Throughout my four years at Shearim, I have learned many life skills that I will not only take with me to Israel, but keep with me for the rest of my life. Of course by staying at Shearim, I was able to make so many amazing friends too. Everyone at Shearim is very close and it doesn’t matter if someone was in the 9th grade or 12th grade, we were one big family. It still doesn’t seem real that I am finishing my last year here. I cannot express how much I care for everyone and think you all are really amazing.
To my classmates, I couldn’t have made it through without you. Even though many of you had been together since kindergarten, you welcomed me in with open arms when I joined you in our Freshman year. It feels like we have been together forever.
RACHEL LANDESMAN
In Parshas Shoftim it says, “Ki adam eitz hasadeh,” “Man is the tree of the field.” This comparison of a person to a tree fits perfectly to the image of a high school girl. When a girl enters high school, she is still a child, a sapling, and needs caring and attention. She does not yet have awareness of all of her strengths and weaknesses, and has no real understanding of where her life should go. She is Bas Mitzvah, and responsible to keep the Mitzvos, but has not yet found her individual path of Torah. The high school years are a time to change a girl from a dependant sapling into a self sufficient, confident tree. I know when I entered 9th grade, I hadn’t yet found my individuality. I was a rule follower, who went along with the flow, following the Torah and Mitzvos, listening to my parents, teachers, and school. However, I needed to develop into a woman who could create her own path in life by internalizing the Torah and mitzvos in my own special way.
Over the past four years, Shearim has built me up as a person, and given me the tools to continue on my own. The school has given me expectations, responsibilities, and challenges to help me grow, but was also always there to help me if I needed a little extra watering or sunshine. Each teacher has strengthened different aspects of myself, to develop the person you see standing in front of you. …
Today, I am not the girl I was four years ago. I am a person who hopefully has the ability to make choices for herself, to recognize and decide between right and wrong, and to create my own path within the framework of Torah and Avodas Hashem. I am going out on my own from this point on, with the strong roots and thick trunk that Shearim has grown within me to help me survive the journey ahead.
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Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank Hashem for bringing me to this day as I celebrate my achievement of graduating high school and moving in my life. May we all merit for not only us seniors, but for all of us, to be in Yerushalayim next year!
RAINA MEYERSON
Friends, family, teachers, and everyone else that came here tonight to see my class off to the next stage of our lives. You have not just been here with us tonight, but with us the entire journey. You have stood by me when I needed support, you have encouraged me when I didn’t believe. and when you were there for me during my hard times, you were also there for me during my successes, applauding the whole way, and driving me to do even better, reach even higher.
The reason I have started off my speech in such a manner, addressing the room at large, is because I do not feel that it would be appropriate to stand here tonight and talk about how I have become who I am today without recognizing that it was you – my community, my family, my friends and my teachers – that had such an instrumental role in who I am. There is a Mishna in Pirkei Avos that states אל תפרוש מן הצבור “Do not separate yourself from the community.”. There must be a reason behind why it would be explicitly stated in such a manner. In today’s society, it is very commendable to live independently, everyone in their own worlds, achieving their own solitary goals. However, I know I can testify this myself, in that whatever goals that one has, and whatever aspirations a person has, when they are achieved through the help of others, and for the benefit of others, it is so much more rewarding. Four years ago, when I spoke at the Shearim annual fundraiser as a ninth grader, I said in my speech that and I quote, “Seeing the effort everyone in the community puts in to help Shearim really inspires us as students to commit (the theme was commitment) ourselves to the school as well.” Four years later, I hope I have lived up to my words. I have tried to give back to you as much as I could, committing to the school and the community that supports it with all my heart. my goals and dreams were to produce and direct a play for the women and the girls of the community, and thank god, I have directed three amazing productions. Each year as we undertake another show, I have learned so much more and realized how much these shows have taught me so much about leadership, friendship, and utilizing ones talents to serve Hashem.
RACHEL UVAYDOV
I wouldn’t have been able to go through these past four years of high school without my class mates and much of my gratitude goes to them. As religious Jews we know that Torah is our guiding light and the manual that helps us through life’s most difficult obstacles. Each one of my friends in their own ways has helped me grow and become the person I am today. I now want to tell you how just like each of the five books complete the Torah, so to without each of us we would not be the class standing here in front of you today.
I would first like to start with Rachel Landesman. I’ve been in school with Rachel since first grade. I have always known Rachel to be a very genuine, meticulous, and the glue to us all. Because of these traits she is most similar to the Sefer of Devarim. Sefer Devarim, the last sefer of the Torah, discusses different detailed mitzvos of living in the land of Israel. Rachel has always been there to make sure that we were a complete unit, and no one was left behind.
The sefer before Devarim is Bamidbar. Bamidbar details the Jews travels through the dessert after their exodus from Egypt. There is one girl in our class that has had many travels in Yiddishkeit to get to where she is now. Allie Kaplan came to our school determined and motivated to reach her fullest potential as a religious Jew. Until Shearim she had not been to an Orthodox school like the rest of our class. Allie traveled the long, arduous, scorching desert like Bnei Yisroel and made it a journey that we can all aspire to.
Sefer Vayikra is the book prior to Bamidbar. In this sefer the Torah details many mitzvos pertaining to man’s relationship with man. One mitzvah in particular given in sefer vayikra is the mitzvah of veahavta l’reacha kamocha “To love ones friend as ones self.” Mayah Zilcha is a girl whose life emanates these mitzvos. Mayah is always the one to be concerned about friends feelings, makes sure everyone is comfortable in whatever situation they may be, gives out a helping hand, and always puts her friends needs before her own.
The sefer before that, Sefer Shemos is a pivotal book in Bnei Yisroel’s conception as a nation. The nation needed a suitable leader and true messenger of Hashem to aid them in their transformation as slaves in Mitzrayim to free people in Eretz Yisroel. Just like Moshe Rabeinu, there is one girl in our class who shows these exceptional traits, Raina Meyerson. Whether it be school, class projects, shabbatons, or directing school productions Raina has not only lead the girls but has inspired them.
And last but not least is the book of Bereishis. In the book of Bereishis Hashem promises Abraham that he will be the father of Bnei Yisroel. Included in this promise is that Bnei Yisroel will be a light onto all of the other nations. We as Jews have a responsibility to follow Hashem’s ways and be role models to all of the other nations. Shearim has instilled upon me to make sure that we take our role as a Bas Yisroel seriously and we must always be aware of the impressions that we make and how we treat others. In my years at Shearim I have striven to bring out the light that every Jew has not only within my class but within the school.
I want to thank Shearim in particular Rabbi Landesman for making a girls high school and ensuring I would have a Jewish education at home.
MAYAH ZILCHA
When I first entered Shearim, I had a skewed concept of what Torah was. Torah, to me, used to be based on discipline and just doing what I was told. Over the past four years, Torah has transformed into a sincere appreciation of the Mitzvos and the meaning behind them. Not only that, but I have also come to understand how its motives are also there to protect me.
Without Shearim, I wouldn’t be who I am today. Shearim’s uniqueness and personal attention was the best thing I could have asked for in a high school. Not only was Rabbi Landesman always there for us, but it was clear that most of the faculty was also there for us on a personal level and were always cheering us on for success. Throughout my four years in Shearim, through all the relationships I was able to build, and all the relationships that I was able to strengthen, I came to a firm realization. Back when I was in 9th grade, when a teacher, family member, parent, or siblings told me I was doing something wrong I would take it as criticism and get offended. Now, because I can clearly see that they have my back, I realize they are not trying to hurt me but they are trying to protect me.
Now that I have a clearer understanding of how much love all of these PEOPLE have for me, and how they are looking out for me, I can apply it to my relationship with Hashem. And the most amazing thing is that His love for me is even GREATER than any love that these important people can ever show me.
I also now see that Hashem’s Mitzvos are not restrictions at all, and they are definitely not meant to hold me back. But rather they are Hashem’s secret way to show me He has my back; it is His way of protecting me and enabling me to grow.
