It’s not unusual to find Israelis teaching at the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy. Two of the newest are Gad and Chagit Stuart. The couple moved here at the beginning of this school year. {mprestriction ids="1,3"}They are here for two years on a program through the World Zionist Organization (WZO), and they plan on returning to Israel after their time here.
“It’s been a very interesting process, and we are so happy we decided to take this opportunity and we feel fortunate we ended up in Kansas City,” explained Gad, 27, who is known as Rav Gadi by his students.
“HBHA approached WZO for emissaries, which ultimately made the match between us and Rabbi Weinstein and Rabbi Rockoff,” continued Gad. “While we aren’t the first shlichim (emissaries) to teach at HBHA, the last ones to teach were here many years ago, so we are pleased to re-start the connection again.”
Rav Gadi teaches fifth grade Hebrew and Jewish studies, as well as Hebrew for sixth and seventh grade. In Israel he taught high school students Gemara (a rabbinical commentary on the Mishnah that forms the second part of the Talmud), in addition to Hebrew. Still he says, “kids are kids, whatever their ages and nationalities.”
Morah (teacher) Chagit, 26, works with first and second graders on the subjects of Jewish studies, chagim (Jewish holidays), and Hebrew. Before they moved to Overland Park, Morah Chagit was also a teacher. She taught a class of 26 kindergarten students, along with another helper, the four years before coming here. Morah Chagit claims, “it is a little different than what goes on here.”
Morah Chagit also mentions that she is not used to teaching older students, but she really likes the change.
“The whole culture is different,” says Morah Chagit. “From the way the learning goes on here, to the way you contact parents. Those are things that are different and that we are getting used to.”
Coming to the United States to teach is something both had wanted to do for many years.
“It was always a dream of both of ours before we met, and we both ended up not doing it when we were younger, so when we married, we decided to follow our dream together,” Rav Gadi said.
Chagit was born in this country and lived in Chicago until she was 3. She still has family in the U.S. and has visited the U.S. regularly throughout her life. Gad’s first visit was to Chicago two years ago.
The Stuarts, who have been married four years, have gone through a lot in their first few months away from Israel. First, there was getting their two young children acclimated to a whole new life, while temporarily staying with local families.
Once they were settled, the next step was figuring out what being a Hyman Brand teacher is all about. Morah Chagit explained that the favorite parts of her job involve teaching Hebrew and connecting her HBHA students to Israel.
“During the holidays I brought lots of pictures from Israel and we talked about different places I went to in Israel, and that’s my way to connect them.”
However, Morah Chagit admits that “being away from the family (back in Israel) during the holidays was very hard.” Rav Gadi adds how difficult it is, “to speak to them because of the time difference.” Nevertheless, “everyone, the community and the school, have been so, so nice to us,” says Morah Chagit. “We are really grateful.”
Rabbi Avi Weinstein, HBHA’s head of Jewish studies, said the benefits of having the Stuarts fresh from Israel at the day school are immeasurable.
“Gad and Chagit by their very presence bring a daily dose of the vitality and dynamism that is so characteristic of modern-day Israel. Now that they have settled into their routines, we are looking forward to their contributions to extra-curricular Jewish programming throughout the year,” Rabbi Weinstein said.
Chagit said she and her husband will give as much as they can to the school and the community during their time here, but look forward to going back to Israel “because that is where we feel we have to be.”
Molly Kavanaugh and Julia Paul, both freshman at the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy, wrote the original version of the article for RampageWired, the HBHA student media channel, rampagewired.com.{/mprestriction}