Our Stories

Ari Zymelman Lecture Series on Parenting Education: Screen-Time Struggles

November 10, 2016 by Sarah Fertig Trauben (Community)

While I consider myself to be a capable parent, the topic of technology is one that I want support around. There are websites, articles, and resources on the issue. But where to look next? The answer: JPDS-NC! Next week, the JPDS-NC parent community will gather for the screening of the documentary Screenagers: Growing Up in […]


Torah Talk for Parashat Lech Lecha

November 9, 2016 by Sharon Freundel (Community)

In this parasha, Avram and Sarai follow Hashem’s call to journey to Cana’an, where the covenant between Hashem and Avraham is affirmed. Avram, renamed Avraham, has a son with Hagar, Sarai’s maid, and Hashem promises that Sarai, renamed Sarah, will bear a son as well. In chapter 14, verse 13, Avram is referred to as […]


JPDS-NC Students Create Voter’s Guide

November 3, 2016 by Naomi Reem (Faculty and Staff)

The students at the Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation’s Capital invite you to read their Voter’s Guide: Kids’ Voices Count. Students created the Guide in order to share kids’ perspectives on key election issues, addressing such topics as foreign policy, healthcare, immigration, globalization and trade, public land use, D.C. statehood, and more. For […]


In the News: Students Study Issues as Election Approaches

November 3, 2016 by Washington Jewish Week (Press)

JPDS-NC students are in the news discussing our schoolwide election project, and sharing their learning on political campaigning, trade, public land use, D.C. statehood and more. Enjoy the Washington Jewish Week article about the JPDS-NC Election Project: Kid’s Voices Count.


Behind the Scenes of the "Boxed Lunch" Program

November 2, 2016 by Blake Yedwab (Community) Maia Magder (Community)

When JPDS-NC began more than 25 years ago, there were only a handful of students. At that time, many things were handled by parent volunteers, including lunch. Parents ordered pizza for the students, and distributed it as needed. All of these years later, lunch is still organized by a dedicated group of parent volunteers. Now […]


Torah Talk for Parashat Noach

November 1, 2016 by Sharon Freundel (Community)

In this parasha, we hear the story of Noach and the flood; about its aftermath when Noach plants a vineyard and gets inebriated, and his son “sees his nakedness”; and finally, about the story of the Tower of Babel and the birth of Avram. We all know the story of the flood. But why did […]


The Importance of Voice and D.C. Statehood: A Second Grade Election Project Update

October 27, 2016 by Janet Collier (Faculty and Staff)

One of the highlights of Second Grade at JPDS-NC is their study of Washington, D.C., so the issue of D.C. statehood was chosen for the Second Graders to grapple with in our Election Project. The journey they took to arrive at a place where that question held relevance was impressive indeed. The Second Grade teachers […]


Students Express, Experience, and Extend Hebrew Learning on Zoo Field Trip

October 27, 2016 by Gila Efrati (Faculty and Staff) Shoshana Sfarzada (Faculty and Staff)

“Hiney Chitah!” (Here is a Cheetah!) “Ani roeh Dov Panda betzeva shachor velavan.” (I see a Panda Bear whose colors are black and white.) “Hapanda ochelet alim.” (The panda is eating leaves.) “Hadov yoshev al sela.” (The bear is sitting on a rock.) These conversations in Hebrew and many more were heard not in the Biblical Zoo […]


Torah Talk for Parashat Bereshit

October 26, 2016 by Sharon Freundel (Community)

In this parasha, we read about ma’aseh bereshit (the Act of Creation); Adam and Chava’s sin of eating fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad and their subsequent expulsion from Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden); Kayin’s murder of his brother, Hevel; and the genealogy of Adam and Chava’s descendants, culminating in […]


Sharon Freundel, Director of Jewish Life, Named to Elite Innovation Design Team of Jewish Educators by the Jewish Education Innovation Challenge

October 20, 2016 by Ronit Greenstein (Faculty and Staff)

Sharon Freundel, JPDS-NC’s Director of Jewish Life, has been named one of only 10 Jewish educators in the world who will serve on HaKaveret, an innovation design team focused on improving Jewish education. The team of elite Jewish educators will spend the next year learning with and from each other as well as external experts, […]