Our Stories

Meet the Purim Ball Honorees: Ambassador Alfred Moses and Fern Schad

March 21, 2019 by Sarah Wildman (Community)

Ambassador Alfred Moses—lawyer, Navy Vet, former president of the American Jewish Committee, observant Jew, father of four—has been a Jewish activist all his life with, as he describes it, “one foot on the universalist side and one on the particularist side.” In practical terms that has meant an unparalleled generosity directed towards personally important causes, […]


Meet the Purim Ball Honorees: Steve and Chani Laufer

March 21, 2019 by Sarah Wildman (Community)

When Chani and Steve Laufer moved from Riverdale, NY to Washington, DC in early 2012, they came in search of two things—a vibrant Jewish community and a great school for their kids Shoshana (’20), Ari (’22), and Erez (’25). Friends recommended JPDS. “They thought it would be a great fit for us,” Steve recalls. “JPDS […]


Meet the Purim Ball Honorees: Kinney Zalesne and Scott Siff

March 21, 2019 by Sarah Wildman (Community)

Kinney Zalesne and Scott Siff are taking an online ulpan class, and the whole family—including Matthew (‘14), Adina (’17), and Gideon (’21) -—is heading to Israel this summer to study Hebrew. All of it, the couple happily note, is an extension of their JPDS/Milton experience. Neither Kinney nor Scott had gone to day school, so […]


MILTON Educator Jill Stepak Awarded Kohelet Prize for Excellence in Jewish Education

March 7, 2019 by Ronit Greenstein (Faculty and Staff)

We are thrilled to announce that MILTON Educator Jill Stepak has been awarded the Kohelet Prize for Excellence in Jewish Education. The MILTON Art Specialist was recognized for her work in the category of Differentiated Learning and is to receive the $36,000 Kohelet Prize. The Kohelet Foundation selected Stepak’s entry of Teaching for Artistic Behavior […]


Torah Talk for Parashat B’Shalach

January 17, 2019 by Jake Singer-Beilin (Faculty and Staff)

This week is Shabbat Shirah. On this Shabbat, we read Parashat B’Shalach, a section of the book of Exodus which contains the Song of the Sea – the song that Moses, Miriam, and the Israelites sang when they made the unlikely and miraculous transition from slavery to freedom. Soon after this Shabbat is over, the […]


Jewish Education Innovation Challenge Awards Milton Grant for Middle School Program

January 16, 2019 by Rebecca Weissman (Community)

Milton was awarded a 2019 Ignition Grant from the Jewish Education Innovation Challenge (JEIC) to support its recently launched Scholars Forum in the middle school. JEIC Ignition Grants jump-start new or developing out-of-the-box programs that improve Jewish education in day schools. The Scholars Forum is a signature program of the Moses Family Middle School. The […]


Milton Launches New Three-Year Middle School Israel Education Curriculum

January 10, 2019 by Lisa Schopf (Faculty and Staff)

Milton is launching a three-year Israel Education curriculum designed for middle school students. This summer, educators and administrators at the school attended the 17th annual educator workshop on teaching Israel hosted by the Center for Israel Education (CIE) and the Emory Institute for the Study of Modern Israel (ISMI). Lisa Schopf, Middle School Director, and […]


Torah Talk for Parashat Bo

January 9, 2019 by Jake Singer-Beilin (Faculty and Staff)

This week’s parasha, Bo, continues the story that we know so well from the Pesach seder. The Israelites are slaves in Egypt, and Moses is sent to free them. Last week, in Parashat Vaera, we saw the first 7 of the 10 plagues. This week we read about the final three plagues, including makkat b’chorot […]


Milton Only School Selected for Multi-Year Grant for Hebrew Education

January 3, 2019 by Ronit Greenstein (Faculty and Staff)

Kol Hakavod to the Milton Hebrew Language Department! Milton was awarded a four-year grant from Hebrew at the Center, and selected to serve as a Hebrew Teaching School. This designation will allow our faculty to model best practices in second language acquisition for teachers and curriculum developers at other schools and mentor them on Hebrew […]


Torah Talk for Parashat Vaera

January 2, 2019 by Jake Singer-Beilin (Faculty and Staff)

In this parasha, God commands Moshe and Aharon to bring B’nei Yisrael out of Egypt and deliver them from slavery. They receive the message that God will free them, and yet, their spirits still remain heavy. In the middle of the narrative, we find a genealogy of Reuven, Shimon, and Levi, which also includes the […]