Meet the Middle School Match Committee: Co-Chair Edna Friedberg
March 30, 2016
We first heard about JPDS-NC before we were even parents. A friend was a JPDS-NC teacher and spoke glowingly about a young, fledgling Jewish school. Frankly, I didn’t believe any school could be as great as she claimed. But a few years after we welcomed our first child, I attended a JPDS-NC Open House and was hooked by the sight of smiling little kids learning about Israel while speaking Hebrew.
This is our family’s seventh year at JPDS-NC and I am continually amazed by the dedication of the teachers, the joy of the kids, the warmth of the friendships between families. In my professional life, I am a historian who’s spent the past two decades studying Jewish communal life. JPDS-NC is a rare model of Jewish pluralism in both spirit and practice. My husband and I have family members across the religious spectrum – from super secular to Reform, from Christian to Hasidic. It was important to us that our boys develop their individual relationships with Judaism and Jewish identity in a culture of tolerance and pride. JPDS-NC opens its broad inclusive umbrella every day.
Serving as co-chair of the Middle School Match Committee offers me a tangible way to ensure the long-term health of this pioneering institution. My work at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum has given me deep experience in the Jewish fundraising world. While many people shy away from talking about money, I know that finances are an important way for people to express their values. By helping to launch the JPDS-NC expansion on solid footing, I am excited to contribute to the long-term sustainability of this beautiful experiment in Jewish pluralism.
