Welcome back to a new and exciting school year! As we kick off another year of learning, growth, and community, I am thrilled to share some of the wonderful updates and initiatives that will enhance our students' experiences this year.



We are particularly excited to announce the expansion of our toddler program into a full-day daycare center! This new addition allows us to offer a nurturing and stimulating environment for our youngest learners, giving them the best start to their educational journey here at Mercaz Academy.

In our preschool, we’re introducing the Second Step program, which is designed to develop social-emotional skills such as empathy, self-regulation, and problem-solving. This curriculum will further strengthen our students' foundational skills, setting them up for success both in school and beyond.

For our upper grades, we are implementing the Writing Revolution program across the curriculum, in both general and religious studies. This innovative approach teaches structured writing strategies that empower students to express their thoughts clearly and confidently. By integrating writing skills into all subject areas, we aim to enhance their critical thinking and communication skills, ensuring a deeper understanding of both academic and Torah studies...CONTINUED

Erev Shabbat Is Party Time at Mercaz

The lively Shabbat music signaled that last Friday’s lunch period might be more exciting than usual, but it was clear that something was happening when the new Director of Programming, Morah Phyllis Tessler, announced that lunch was now a Shabbat party. How, she wondered, do Mercaz Academy students prepare for Shabbat?

Students’ hands shot up in the air as Morah Tessler, wearing a pink tutu over her usual daywear, dashed from table to table with a microphone ready. Many students mentioned cleaning their rooms, a surprisingly large number cited folding laundry, and some offered that they set the table. One student said that he made sure to eat a snack so he wouldn’t be cranky, which all agreed seemed like a good idea.

Students left the lunchroom smiling. One first grader said, “it made lunch much more interesting,” and another added, “it was really funny!” The students complimented Morah Tessler on her enthusiasm–and her tutu. 

Friday’s lunch session will now morph into a weekly Shabbat party, directed by Morah Tessler with the assistance of staff and sixth graders. The festivities will focus on each step of Shabbat in order (spoiler alert: this Friday’s theme is lighting candles), using costumes, music, skits, and props to draw students into the joy permeating the celebration of Shabbat. On special occasions, it may be expanded to include kindergarten and the ECC, as well.

“Shabbat falls outside the classroom, but it’s an integral part of Jewish life,” said Morah Tessler. “We want to bring Shabbat to life for our students…and who doesn’t love a party?”

Kitah Hay Davens Mincha

New experiences abound during the first week of school at Mercaz Academy–new teachers, new schedules, and new learning opportunities are everywhere. But one very special new addition for fifth graders is the chance to participate in a real mincha minyan.

After Rabbi Kramer met his new students on the first day of school (and identified all their siblings and cousins he had taught in previous years), he explained the first item on their afternoon’s agenda: davening mincha. As fifth graders, they are now old enough to attend the school’s mincha minyan, together with our sixth grade students, who offer support and direction to the new attendees.

Mercaz Academy conducts its mincha minyan each Monday through Thursday afternoon. Outside participants who join to make the minyan are carefully screened, as visitors to a school campus must be, and are welcomed into our school daily. In this way, Mercaz is a center for people in our area to pray in a minyan, while our students engage in experiential Jewish learning, helping them prepare for life as b’nei Torah and as contributing members of the Jewish community.

Rabbi Kramer conducted a “how-to” session, explaining exactly what to say and do throughout formal public prayer. Some students were a little nervous, but he assured them that within two weeks, it would become second nature--and his students are proud to say that it only took one.

Parshat Ki Teitzei in the GrowTorah Garden

We returned to the beautiful late-summer wildness of our GrowTorah garden just in time to learn about Parshat Ki Teitzei. In this parsha, Hashem instructs farmers in the land of Israel to leave portions of their crops for those in need through the mitzvah of shich’cha (which requires farmers to leave forgotten bundles of produce for the poor). Students realized that with this mitzvah, Hashem is encouraging us to care for others in our community.  

While exploring the summer’s abundant growth, students tasted heirloom and cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and ground cherries, also harvesting these—and more—for donation to the Corner Market Food Pantry. Although the mitzvah of shich’cha only applies to produce in Israel, students were excited to have the opportunity to act on the lesson of the parsha by sharing their harvest.