Sixty Years of Growth at Bialik

Our core values guide our remarkable growth

ON TUESDAY, September 5, 1961, 64 Jewish children made their way to 12 Viewmount Avenue in Toronto. They were to be the fi rst students in a day school founded by the Labour Zionist Alliance (LZA). Their parents were excited by the school’s focus on the newly established Jewish state, modern Hebrew and Yiddish instruction, an egalitarian educational ethos, and a non-prescriptive approach to Jewish ritual and observance.

That day, sixty school years ago, the dream of Bialik’s founders — Kalman Berger z”l, Israel Freeman z”l, Moshe Menachovsky z”l, Julius Sokoloff z”l, Victor Topper z”l and J.J. Zweig z”l — was realized. And at this milestone in our school’s life, I find myself thinking about how amazed those founders would be if they could see Bialik Hebrew Day School today.

I suspect that our founders hoped their school would grow over time, but could they ever have imagined that the school’s enrolment would grow over twentyfold, as it has? Back in the 1960’s, when the GTA’s dayschool landscape was dominated by orthodox institutions, Bialik’s approach was revolutionary, and it was not clear to what extent it would succeed. Several thousand graduates later, we have our answer. As our tagline says, Bialik really is “the Jewish day school for today’s generation.”

Bialik’s founders would hardly recognize our school buildings either. Even in its fi rst years, the school quickly outgrew its original space.Additional storeys were added at 12 and 14 Viewmount, a free-standing preschool building was erected, the Latner Wing was built to connect the spaces and was later, itself, enlarged. Additional property was purchased to expand the playground, create a parking lot, and for the most recent major expansion in 2005, the creation of the Senior Division wing, lunchroom, and upper gym. Of course, most recently, Bialik’s facilities now include the beautiful Ben and Edith Himel Education Centre, opened in 2013, and expanded twice to accommodate the Himel Branch’s rapidly growing enrolment.

While Bialik’s student population and facilities have surely exceeded our founders’ wildest dreams, our core educational values remain true to the school’s original tenets. The love of Israel, Hebrew, and a modern, values-based Jewish identity still form the foundation of Bialik’s program, alongside a commitment to overall academic excellence in both General and Jewish Studies. So while our founders might fi nd the laptops, SMARTboards and STEM programs to be curious additions, they would, I suspect, applaud the nurturing of our young critical thinkers, collaborators and problem solvers.

In Jewish tradition, when a loved one is celebrating a birthday, we wish them a long life to the age of one hundred and twenty — now 60 years old, is halfway there, having reached true maturity as an educational institution. And I am confident that we will continue to achieve great things in the next 60 years and beyond, making our community — and our founders — proud.

Benjy Cohen Head of School