The Shefa School, a Jewish community day school for students in kindergarten through eighth grade who grapple with language-based learning challenges, kicked off the academic year in a 12-story, state-of-the-art building on New York City’s Upper West Side. The move, both physically and literally, marks a major milestone in the history of the school, which opened to 24 students in 2014 at the Lincoln Square Synagogue eight blocks away from the new location.
“Our goal is to build and outgrow the school in this new space,” said Ilana Ruskay-Kidd, the founder and head of the Shefa School. “The new space offers all kinds of new opportunities: We have a library, a garden, a chesed center. We want the opportunities offered by our program to emanate out to the community.”
The focus on a well-rounded education is encapsulated in the institution’s name; in Hebrew, shefa means “abundance.” And chesed means “lovingkindness.”
With a capacity for 250 students, the campus features a gym, a cafeteria, updated classrooms, an outdoor rooftop and more.
Originally established to offer students a Jewish education, plus the type of academic services usually only accessible to public school students, the nonprofit Shefa School received $65 million in municipal bonds and $30 million in a capital campaign, in addition to financial support from the community, according to Ruskay-Kidd.
She said “most of our donors have been people and foundations that care about Jewish life and are committed to the notion that we want to have this, whether you need this or not. Because your nephew might need it or your cousin might need it.”
The ability to coach students through language-based impairments while providing them with a Jewish education rests at the very heart of the institution’s modus operandi and success rate.
“The school does an excellent job at teaching each kid how to be taught, and at the same time, give them the tools to self-advocate and function when joining traditional establishments,” explained Vanessa Bressler, whose son is in eighth grade. “Other Jewish schools have worked to bring these kids in smoothly, and that’s part of the success of the school. I’m sure that soon there will be many Shefas all over the place because communities are going to realize that there is a need they didn’t know existed.”
Traditionally, students attending private schools have had a harder time receiving the sort of services that language-based disabilities like dyslexia require, a fact made obvious to Ruskay-Kidd before she embarked on the project that led to the foundation of the school.
“It’s a double loss when a kid has to leave the school where their siblings are and also come to terms with learning disabilities, also leaving the Jewish education that was really important to them,” she said.
‘Life-bending for our family’
The new building is also home to the Shefa Center, the institution’s professional development and outreach launching pad. Staff members work with schools across the country to impart their own teaching methods through workshops and consultations.
“We see ourselves as a hub and not here to help our school only,” said Ruskay-Kidd.
Bressler adds that “being able to train other teachers at the Shefa Center is fundamental. I don’t know that every child with a language-based disability needs a special school, but they will need some sort of support, and if that support can’t be provided at the school without disruption, then it’s wonderful to have Shefa.”
Bressler’s outlook is intrinsically connected to the experience her son has had at the school.
“He started doing so much better not just academically but as a person,” she said. “It has been life-changing for him but also life-bending for our family. I can humbly say that I had not taken stock of how the school would impact us as a family–and not only him.”
