Yeshiva head hopes to fuse spiritual, academic goals

by Jill Huber
NJJN Bureau Chief/Monmouth

A commitment from faculty and students, coupled with a strong sense of enthusiasm for the learning process, is part of the educational philosophy of Rabbi Howard Bald, the new head of Hillel Yeshiva High School in Ocean Township.

It is a philosophy that he hopes prepares young men and women to face the next phases of their lives, while infused with Judaic teaching and values, Bald said.

“I felt the high level of staff commitment and enthusiasm from the first moment I came to this yeshiva,” Bald said. “I want to use my 25 years of experience as an educator to work with the faculty team to bring academic and spiritual goals and potential to new levels.”

Bald, who officially assumed his position at the beginning of the month, succeeded Rabbi Ralph Tawil as head of the yeshiva high school, which has a student body of about 230.

Bald grew up in Far Rockaway, NY, and was ordained in 1981 at Yeshiva Bnei Torah in Far Rockaway. Before assuming his post at Hillel Yeshiva High School, he spent 13 years in south Florida as the director of Judaic studies at Hillel Community High School in North Miami Beach and as the religious leader of the nearby Williams Island Synagogue.

He also spent seven years as principal of the middle school and high school at Yeshivat Rambam in Baltimore.

Bald and his wife, Sheri, a social worker, now live in Elberon with their son, who will enter the yeshiva’s ninth-grade class this fall. The couple’s daughter is attending nursing school and resides in Far Rockaway.

“I love being part of a college prep program that takes great pride in helping students become fully prepared for the university experience, while not compromising any aspect of Judaic studies,” Bald said. “These students will become businesspersons and other professionals who will not forsake their commitment to daily prayers, Torah study, and a life filled with ethics and good deeds.”

Four years of high school with teachers who are positive role models will go a long way toward ensuring that students will accomplish these goals, he added.

Bald hopes to add courses in Jewish business ethics to the yeshiva’s curriculum.

“To be a religious Jew means more than observing the Sabbath; it means including a sense of ethics in daily interaction with others,” he explained. “That’s what it means to be a fully observant Jew. One of the most significant codes of Jewish law focuses on monetary and business law; it’s important that our students and community should know and understand this, because Hillel’s students will eventually become the core members of the community at large.”

Bald said he also wants to enlist local experts to broaden the school’s appeal. He plans to ask rabbis, lay leaders, and other members of the community to conduct special programs, lectures, and workshops on a variety of topics.

This fall, an advanced placement biology course will be added to an existing array of advanced placement courses currently offered by the yeshiva, such as those in mathematics, science, and the humanities. He also hopes to institute a theater program along with a series of elective courses in drama.

“I really believe that a school should not be strictly limited to providing a ‘formal’ education,” Bald said. “We should be interested in the development of the whole person. The more opportunities there are for students to shine will benefit each individual student and the school as a whole.”

As a result, those students who are more reserved or shy will become more confident, and that confidence will follow them when they leave the academic environment, he added.

Another area of concentration will be on college guidance, Bald said. If appropriate guidance begins at the ninth-grade level and increases as students reach the 11th and 12th grades, they will be better equipped to compete for places in the colleges and universities of their choice, as well as post-high school opportunities in yeshivas and seminaries in Israel, he said.

“It’s extremely important that schools provide proper support and guidance, including psychological guidance, during the high school years,” said Bald. “There are learning and emotional issues that assume special significance during these formative years. The kids are exposed to so much outside the confines of school, and peer pressure is more intense than ever.”