Opening new doors
Students, faculty, parents and board members smiled as brightly as the early fall sun at the recent dedication of the new Chicagoland Jewish High School.
An estimated 800 people from the North and Northwest suburbs gathered at the school one year after they last assembled to break ground. The same words were on everyone's lips.
"Do you believe it?" they asked one another.
The only high school in the Chicago area serving the non-Orthodox Jewish community, the building at 1095 Lake-Cook Road in Deerfield was completed in time for students to begin the school year within its walls.
Their previous home was cramped rented quarters in Morton Grove.
Of the 130-plus young people who attend, more than a dozen live in various Northwest suburbs, including Buffalo Grove, Long Grove, Wheeling, Crystal Lake, Lake Zurich, Des Plaines, Mount Prospect and Lindenhurst.
To the animated singing of the group SPIRIT, and lead singer Randi Simon, of Buffalo Grove, college counselor and Buffalo Grove resident Bruce Scher was among those given the honor of carrying one of the Torah scrolls into the new building.
His was the last leg of the nine mile walk from its former home.
After placing it in the new ark, he proudly pointed to the dark stone line in the floor.
"If you follow this line that goes beneath the ark, you will wind up in Jerusalem," he said.
Among his charges are kids who are headed for the finest universities in the country. Some will spend a year in Israel before they matriculate in colleges of their choice.
Ari Frankel, who lives in the Stevenson High School attendance area, said he thinks students at Chicagoland Jewish have more freedom than in traditional public schools.
"I'm here because the classes are small and individual attention is a big plus," he added.
A finalist in the National Olympiad, Frankel plans to attend either MIT or the University of Chicago as a chemistry major.
Of the 1.3 million students who took the ACT test in 2007, there were 314 perfect scores, two from Chicagoland Jewish. Four other CJHS students got scores of 34.
Freshman Alex Krule, would have attended Buffalo Grove High School, but he wanted to engage in a dual studies program, biology and Tanach (Hebrew Bible), so he opted for CJHS.
"There is a sense of community," he said. "The school is not a building; it's the people here that make it so special. There is a wonderful connection between and among the students and the faculty. They are always available to us when we have questions."
The students also study with some of the finest Jewish scholars in the world. Zohar Raviv formerly taught philosophy and Jewish Thought and Mysticism at the University of Michigan.
"I didn't know how I'd react to teaching at the high school level," said the Israeli-born Raviv, who holds doctorates in his field. "Now I do not want to leave.
"Jewish education is a sacred duty and an awesome responsibility," he said.
Merice and Howard Washer say the school is an exciting addition to the community.
"We wish we could have had this for our kids," Merice added.
Arlen Gould, a school board member in Wheeling Township Elementary District 21, beamed as he toured the new facility that will ultimately be the academic home to double the number who now attend.