Shalhevet's first grad

ELIZABETH NIDER

In June 2007, Rivka Abramchik sat in the Starbucks at 67th and Oak with four girls who were determined to stay in Vancouver to receive a Jewish education at an all-girls high school. Two years later, Abramchik is now the director of education of Shalhevet High School, a Jewish all-girls high school in Vancouver, and the original group of four has grown to 11.

Shalhevet High School put on a dinner June 10 at Schara Tzedeck Synagogue to thank those who have supported it. Rabbi Andrew Rosenblatt, spiritual leader of Schara Tzedeck Synagogue, couldn't imagine not having an active role in the school. Rosenblatt believes that Schara Tzedeck has always played a fundamental role in ensuring that Jewish objectives are supported in the Vancouver community, and supporting Shalhevet High School is no different. Rosenblatt pointed out at the dinner that when the time comes for his own girls to attend high school, his family would have packed their bags if there weren't a Jewish high school for girls. "Without Shalhevet, Vancouver would be incomplete as a Jewish community ... the investments [we make] are to ensure that our girls have a place in our community," he said.

The dinner also honored the first graduate of the high school, Yiska Sandbrand, one of the original four students. In her speech, Sandbrand expressed gratitude to the "community for realizing the need for a Jewish girls school" and thanked Abramchik "for making Judaic education just as important as secular education."

"Yiska held our school together," mentioned Abramchik, who said she was very proud of the girls because all they wanted was "to stick together and start a high school. No one gave them an award. They were pioneers, [with the idea] I have to do this because no one will do it for me. They questioned everything, demanded more and pushed to get what they wanted. They truly [exemplify] the idea that if you're just sitting by without questioning, then you're not growing."

The students have the potential to do anything they want, Abramchik told the audience at the dinner. She said she feels a deep sense of gratitude to the community, especially to Schara Tzedeck, Vancouver Hebrew Academy and Pacific Torah Institute. Rabbi Aaron Kamin, who teaches at Shalhevet, believes that the school is part of a greater movement of enlightening "and enhancing the Torah education of the community for many years [and] will benefit people for generations."

At the end of the evening, a slideshow presented some of the moments that the young women had shared at school, including bowling, apple picking, ice skating, snow tubing, seeing Beauty and the Beast and visiting Victoria and Chicago. The students also had woodworking projects and went on a trip to New York, where they visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art and saw a Broadway show. There were tons of photographs presented in the slideshow.

"It's not the quantity that counts, it's the quality," explained Rivky Dubrawsky, a student of the small school.

"We're all sharing and growing together and hopefully will remain lifetime friends," said Grade 8 student Rivka Boxer.

Shira Bloom, one of the first four students of the school, agreed with Dubrawsky and Boxer, and said that Shalhevet "gives us a Jewish education that we wouldn't be able to get anywhere else in Vancouver. It's going to help us to build a stronger Jewish community in Vancouver."

Elizabeth Nider is a freelance writer living in Richmond.

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