Kushner’s head of school is honored for her two decades of service

NJJN Staff

Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy/Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School honored JKHA head of school Susan H. Dworken with the initiation of a sefer Torah at the Livingston yeshiva’s 58th annual dinner.

Dworken, who formerly served as principal of JKHA before becoming its head of school, was honored at the May 16 dinner, held at the Birchwood Manor in Whippany, for her 20-year career at the Modern Orthodox day school.

A professional Torah scribe inscribed the first six Hebrew letters of the first word in the Torah — “Bereshit,” or “in the beginning” — before some 500 dinner guests, many of whom had never seen a sofer at work. The letters were dedicated to Dworken and her family, and to Robin and Brad Klatt, board members and underwriters of the Torah dedication campaign.

“All Jews are obligated to write their own Torah, but for nearly all of us that’s a practical impossibility,” noted Robin Klatt. “On the other hand, any Jew can participate in the dedication of a Torah, and we decided that initiating this campaign would enable our school families and the community at large to easily fulfill this mitzva.”

She added that the Torah dedication was timed to “coincide with the graduation of our youngest child from RKYHS and to honor Mrs. Dworken for all she has done to inculcate Torah values in our family, and in thousands of others.”

Over the next few months, JKHA/RKYHS students from kindergarten through 12th grade will embark on a new Torah curriculum emphasizing the Ten Commandments. In addition, school families will have an opportunity to help write letters in the Torah, and various MetroWest communities will organize sefer Torah writings.

“Just as it is essential for each of the letters to be present in the Torah to ensure it is complete, so too each individual contribution to its writing is valued,” said Rabbi Nachum Wachtel, JKHA assistant principal and the campaign coordinator. “Whether people dedicate a letter, a word, a verse, a parsha, or a book of the Torah, they will be fulfilling a mitzva, and help ensure the future of the Jewish people.”

Dedication opportunities are available at many levels.

For more information, contact executive director Michael Grad or at 973-597-1115, ext. 1112.