Vancouver Island Welcomes First Jewish School in 160 Years

by Chaya Ohana – chabad.org

Jews have called Vancouver Island, British Columbia, home for 160 years. Now, for the first time ever, its Jewish children are able to receive a formal Jewish education in their hometown. Kineret Tamim Academy of Victoria—Vancouver Island’s capital city—opened its doors this September, welcoming its inaugural kindergarten class of 10 students.

“I cannot believe how smoothly it has gone,” said Rabbi Meir Kaplan, director of Chabad of Vancouver Island and the new Kineret Tamim Academy. “Everything was so well-planned and executed; there were none of the usual teething problems I would have expected with starting a new institution. The curricula, systems, leadership and teaching has been absolutely seamless.”

The flawless opening is largely due to the school’s membership in the Chabad Lubavitch-affiliated Tamim Academy network, which has launched three other locations for this year’s September intake, bringing their total number of schools to 16.

While each Tamim Academy school is independently run, the curriculum design, teacher training, administrative support, and business practices are handled by a centralized apparatus. This allows its schools to bypass some of the struggles that typically bog down day-to-day operations.

“We let our teachers focus on teaching,” said Holly Cohen, CEO of Tamim Academy. “We worry about most of the logistics, which allows them to focus on the children in their care.”

Kaplan is confident that they will continue to see exponential interest and growth from local Jewish families, many of whom would have never experienced local standardized Jewish education before.

“My daughter is thrilled to go to school!” said one parent, who has just moved her daughter into the kindergarten. She also mentioned that she is making plans to move her eldest child over, into Tamim’s first grade, next year.

Expanding to Fit the Community’s Needs

Tamim Academy’s network provides Jewish children with a well-rounded education, starting from preschool and having the ability to add classes as the children move up through the system.

“Two of our largest schools, in Boca Raton, Fla., and Burlington, Vt., currently go up to fifth grade, and we plan to continue growing,” says Cohen.

Rivkah Denburg, co-director of Chabad of Central Boca Raton and director of Tamim Boca Raton, echoes this sentiment, expressing the sheer magnitude of growth that Tamim Boca is experiencing on the ground. “We are quite literally bursting at the seams,” she said. “We have 80 children enrolled from kindergarten through to fifth grade, and we have a list of parents begging us to accept their children. We currently don’t have room for any more.”

While the program has been resonating with parents from the beginning, there has been a notable spike in enrollment this year following the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel. While the attacks and ensuing war against terror caused a global uptick in antisemitism, it has also fueled a global Jewish awakening. Cohen observes that there is a need now more than ever for more institutions as people find themselves faced with pertinent questions about their Jewish identity.

“Regardless of what’s happening in the world, we believe in instilling our students with a deep sense of Jewish pride to weather any storm,” said Cohen. “We are raising a generation of proud Jewish children who love G‑d, love the Torah and love their Jewish identity.”

According to one Tamim parent from Victoria, “seeing the way our politicians are dealing with current affairs, in addition to what goes in our public schools, has made us realize just how much of a priority Jewish education is.”

‘Jewish Pride to Weather Any Storm’

Despite the profound impact of Oct. 7 on Jewish identity worldwide, Tamim’s mission has remained constant.

Cohen believes that strengthening society against antisemitism begins from the earliest stages of education, imbuing Jewish pride and identity as a core value from early childhood, because the survival of Judaism and its people, depends on its Jewish education.

“Not only is Jewish survival contingent on successful Jewish education,” she asserts. ”But the ability to thrive and expand as a Jewish community lies at the center of Tamim’s educational ethos.”

Tamim’s educational model is centered around a holistic Jewish and general education, with interdisciplinary units seeking to unite the traditionally separated secular life and Judaism. This, Cohen believes, creates a sense of wholeness for the child and their identity as Jews in the wider, sometimes daunting world. Tamim’s approach, therefore, integrates a sense of Jewish identity across all subjects.

Cohen credits their success to the enduring influence of the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—who emphasized the value of Jewish identity through education, urging Jews worldwide to increase Jewish educational institutions.

Following in the footsteps of his father-in-law, the sixth Chabad Rebbe—Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, of righteous memory, who arrived on the shores of the U.S. in March of 1940, with a mission to revive Jewish identity, practice and education—the Rebbe made it his priority to ensure that every Jewish child was able to access Judaism and cultivate their Jewish identity, which he believed, was their birthright. The Rebbe also emphasized that especially in trying times, with increased antisemitism, education is the cornerstone of a moral and ethical society.

In the words of the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, the former chief rabbi of the United Kingdom: “The Lubavitcher Rebbe undertook the most daring spiritual initiative ever … to search out every Jew in love as they were once hunted down in hate.”

For Tamim Academy, this means expanding, opening new schools and allowing every Jewish child access to a quality Jewish education.