Sally Stefano joined the staff of Beth Tikvah as Director of Education in 2002. She brought with her over 30 years of experience in teaching and administration of public and private schools, and teacher education. She had also served as a consultant to the Education department of the Jewish Federation for teacher training since the mid-1990s.

      A native of California, Sally holds degrees or certifications from Pomona College, Claremont Graduate University, Southern Methodist University and Kansas State University. She arrived in Columbus in 1992 with her husband, John, who is the Chairperson of the Department of Theatre and Dance at Otterbein College, and sons David, now a resident of Sydney, Australia, and Andrew, who is married to Lauren and lives in Boston. The Stefano family has been a member of Beth Tikvah since 1993.

EDUCATION TODAY:
Comments of Sally Stefano, Director of Education

Create community. It is an imperative these days for schools and synagogues. Jews have always done things in community. We pray in the plural, offering communal prayer to God, seeing ourselves not just as rugged individuals, but as members of a people.

K’hilah, community, is one of the core values of our Religious School, and we do things that we hope will help create a true community for our children, families and our staff. We struggle with it, however. Not because the children don’t do well in their classrooms; they do. But extending the sense of community to the greater world outside of Beth Tikvah is difficult. There are pockets of our population in which the community created here continues when the children and their families are away from Beth Tikvah. One of the goals of the Religious School Committee is to promote a sense of community among the families of our Religious School. The committee and the school offer a variety of ways for parents to be involved with the school and with each other. We have a renewed vitality in our Family Education programming which brings children and families together for learning. But do the people who participate in those activities feel themselves to be a community?

I have come to believe that a sense of community is less a function of the programming we do at the school and synagogue and more what you bring through the door with you when you enter. The synagogue cannot create community for those who wait for it to come to them. Parties and school activities may be a necessary first step, a way for people to come together, but real community goes beyond attending programs. It requires the willingness to develop a sense of caring and responsibility for the others with whom we have formed associations and affinities. It is less a function of who else is here and what you do than of what attitude and expectation you bring with you.

So look for the ways to take those first steps. We have lots of them. Plan to stay on opening day, September 26, for orientation, time in the sukkah with your child’s class and the rabbi, and then have coffee in Café Tikvah. Recognize that meeting people is a first step on the road to making Beth Tikvah your community. And help us make those opportunities for community-building extend to your children. Then reach out beyond the café. Find other ways to become involved in synagogue life and in the lives of those you meet here.

~ Sally Stefano