A Day in the Life - Upper School

Gabriel arrives at school a few minutes before 8 a.m., so he can greet friends and classmates before Shacharit. After the morning service, students have almost a half-hour to eat breakfast before their first-period class. Some use the time for an impromptu basketball game in the gym or touch football in the courtyard. Others catch up with the daily newspaper, or news from fellow students and teachers around the tables.

Thursday morning, like every school morning, is a five-part package of 45-minute classes, interspersing Judaic and general studies. “The whole point is that it’s one mindset,” Gabriel explains as he outlines his schedule: Hebrew language, then Talmud, followed by English and U.S. history. The English class is beginning work on Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, after wrapping up a public speaking unit that included 10-minute business presentations.

Excellence in Judaic and secular studies has been a hallmark of Maimonides School since its establishment in 1937. “Secular scientific training does not have to undermine the child’s commitment to Torah values and commandments,” Rabbi Soloveitchik, Maimonides School founder,  told a parents’ meeting in 1971. “Judaism has never distinguished between these allegedly two areas of being.”

“We really try to strike a balance between critical thinking skills and the body of general knowledge,” explains Rabbi Yaakov Jaffe, Judaic Studies Principal, Middle & Upper School. “Engaging with the modern world has been an important feature of the Maimonides curriculum since the Rav founded the school. By focusing on critical thinking skills, we are graduating kids who will be able to grow and change in a world that changes 100 times faster than the world did a generation ago.”

Gabriel's lunch break is followed by a free period, during which several extracurricular organizations meet. He connects with a group focusing on Israel advocacy, led by fellow students. The centrality of the State of Israel is a cornerstone of a Maimonides education. Most graduates defer college matriculation for at least one year so they can pursue learning opportunities in Israel.

Following the activities period and minchah, Gabriel navigates his afternoon class schedule: Talmud, Algebra II, Spanish and Physics.  Gabriel notes that  some students take an optional Talmud class. One attraction of this is learning for its own sake, with no tests or grades.

Every Thursday, Gabriel leaves Maimonides School at 5 p.m. for a mile-and-a-half trip to a different world. He is a volunteer at Greater Boston’s only kosher soup kitchen, a Maimonides student-managed project that has continued for a decade and a half.

For Gabriel, a junior and a Maimonides student since Kindergarten, the community service is just one part of the diverse academic and extracurricular menu offered to every Upper School student. Indeed, chesed — defined by Rav Soloveitchik, as the “password” of the Jew — is an essential part of the curriculum. Maimonides students are involved in various ongoing chesed projects, thereby demonstrating their concern for their fellow human beings and fellow Jews.

The soup kitchen work is done by 7:15, and Gabriel, knowing he has no tests scheduled for Friday, meets with some younger students for tutoring sessions. If they're really perceptive, they'll pick up some tips on time management.