Shalhevet to open, but without Dr. Rivkah Blau

Issue of August 22, 2008

Shalhevet, the new, third division of Machon HaTorah, will open for class Sept. 2 as planned, but without Dr. Rivkah Blau, the respected educator who was expected to lead it.

Dr. Blau confirmed to The Jewish Star Tuesday afternoon that she would step aside, but left open the possibility of rejoining Shalhevet at a later date, though she indicated her return was by no means certain.

“She informed us a couple of days ago that for personal reasons she won’t be able to be with us at the inception of the school year,” said Rabbi Zev Meir Friedman, the Rosh HaYeshiva of Machon HaTorah. “Fortunately, everything is in place.”

Fifteen girls are enrolled in Shalhevet’s first freshman class.

“I called every single parent to advise them and the overwhelming response was, ‘No problem, we trust you,” said Rabbi Friedman.

“I think the world of her,” Rabbi Friedman said he told parents about Dr. Blau.

Will she rejoin the school later?

“I told the parents there are no guarantees,” he said. “We would hope –- and I expressed this to her, and think she’s on board with it –– that at some point she’ll rejoin us.”

Shmuel Pearl of Brooklyn has a son in Rambam, and a daughter enrolled in Shalhevet. Calling Dr. Blau “unique,” he expressed understanding about her surprise decision. “People have different personal life situations,” he said.

Pearl said he was pleased with how the school handled the 11th hour change of plans. “Rabbi Friedman was honest and above board,” he said, and made sure that “parents not have misconceptions” or feel taken by surprise by the changed circumstances.

“I have full confidence in the school and in Rabbi Zev Meir Friedman, who started Rambam from scratch,” emphasized Rifky Warshaw of Far Rockaway, whose daughter, Deena, is enrolled in the new school. “Shalhevet is supposed to be its sister school. He obviously knows what he’s doing.”

“I have full confidence in Rabbi Zev Friedman and the entire staff of Machon HaTorah,” said Dr. Blau in an e-mailed statement. “I look forward to the success of the wonderful students and teachers at Shalhevet.”

“At the end of the day I stand behind the program and I take full responsibility for it,” Rabbi Friedman said. Shalhevet is “fully staffed with top notch teachers which we cherry-picked from both institutions,” he said, referring to HAFTR and Rambam.

“We have a full, terrific administrative team –– more than enough to service the needs of the incoming class and I’m fully confident that it’s going to be a terrific program and the girls are going to have a great experience,” he added.

Shalhevet’s administrators are to include Mrs. Gail Elsant, the Director of Programming, who was also to have been Dr. Blau’s assistant; Ms. Renee Hochhauser of West Hempstead will be the School Administrator; Mrs. Chana Schwartz of Oceanside will fill a mentoring role to be known as Mechanechet; Mrs. Andrea Schulman will be Director of Student Activities, a role she previously held at Bnot Shulamith; Mrs. Mindy Sussman of Far Rockaway, also coming from Bnot Shulamith, will run the school’s front office and also teach music and drama.

Robbie Zeitz of Brooklyn called Dr. Blau’s sudden departure “a shock,” but doesn’t expect that it will affect the plan for his daughter, Kayla, to apply for admission to Shalhevet next year. She is entering eighth grade at Shulamith School for Girls in Brooklyn; her brother, Ari, 16, attends Rambam.

“It was surprising” when Dr. Blau informed him of her decision, admitted Rabbi Friedman, but “if you have the right attitude you can navigate through anything,” he said. “We’re fully prepared, I’m fully confident and I have no concerns whatsoever” about Shalhevet’s future.

Recalling an incident from childhood, Rabbi Friedman said his father, a Holocaust survivor, once received a call during dinner informing him that his candy factory in Inwood was ablaze. As a young boy, Rabbi Friedman said, he was very excited to go to the scene and see the flames. But his father returned to the table and resumed his meal saying, “What am I, a fireman? It’ll work out.”

“I learned from that that you do what you can do,” Rabbi Friedman said. “It was great –– a lot of perspective on how you handle things if you have a cool head. And that’s one of the lessons we would hope to impart to the kids, in general: how to navigate through bumps in the road.”