INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
by Jody Holtzman
2005 Commencement
Vladimir Medem, Workmen's Circle School of Westchester

I'd like to welcome everyone to this year's commencement and secular Bar and Bat Mitzvah of the Vladimir Medem, Workmen's Circle School of Westchester. I'd also like to congratulate the families of five very special students:

Leah Byland
Alli Gofman
Brandyn Itzkowitz
Noah Rauschkolb
and
Leah Rittle

Our school provides a progressive, secular Jewish education. We are an alternative for those families who want to provide a Jewish cultural education for their children, rather than a religious education.

Our Shule teaches children about the diverse cultural aspects of being Jewish, including many aspects of Jewish history - both ancient and modern; both in the United States and around the world.

Our students learn about the Jewish holidays and their cultural and historical importance - and in the case of Chanukah, Purim and Passover, learn about the importance and drive for freedom, as well as the costs of this freedom. And, our students are taught about the responsibilities we have as individuals and as Jews.

This past year, these five students have learned and debated about the meaning of being a progressive, secular Jew.

They learned about ancient Jewish history and the progressive values of freedom and social justice that are embedded in our history, and in the words and actions of the Prophets.

They learned about the Holocaust and the lessons to never forgive and never forget, and to speak up against ethnic, racial, religious and other forms of intolerance and discrimination wherever it occurs, so that such horrors are never perpetrated again on the Jewish people or any other peoples.

As they have progressed through the year, each student chose different Jewish topics to research:

Leah Byland studied Jews and Food.

Alli Gofman whose family immigrated from the former
Soviet Union, studied Immigration.

Brandyn Itzkowitz used a family story about his great, great, great grandfather to learn more about the Cantonists.

Noah Raushckolb, who has a great love of music, researched Klezmer music.

And Leah Rittle studied the diaries of Jewish teenagers during the Holocaust.

Each student also gave back to their communities through a community service project. The diversity of these projects illustrates both the seriousness of these students and the inherently individual nature of the journey to answer the question, "What does it mean to me to be a secular, progressive Jew?"
It is this quest for self-identify and the commitment to making the world a better place for all people that our Shule and progressive, secular Judaism are all about.

Shule commencement coincides with the age of becoming a Bar or Bat Mitzvah. This is a time when a young person takes it upon him or her self to assume the role of a responsible member of the Jewish and larger community.

As a secular Jewish school our students do not read from the Torah as part of their celebration.

However, the study conducted for their research projects, the examination of family histories, and the responsibility to the community that our students demonstrate through their respective community service projects, is equally important and impressive, and embodies the very best in the concept of Tikkun Olam.

This is the imperative and the obligation of every Jew to help repair the world and reflects the Jewish values of justice (tzedek), compassion (hesed), and peace (sholem).

As Anne Frank wrote, "How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." It is an imperative and obligation that each of our graduates understands and is committed to.

Congratulations to each of you and your families on this special day!