The Covenant Foundationreports that Rabbi Y. Boruch Sufrin, head of school at Harkham Hillel Hebrew Academy, has been awarded the prestigious 2014 Covenant Award. The Prize is awarded to three outstanding Jewish educators each year in recognition of those who have impacted Jewish life through innovative programming while expressing a commitment to propel the field of Jewish education forward.
Rabbi Sufrin was nominated for his relentless pursuit of educational progress and his investment in professional development. Under his leadership, the school has undertaken cutting- edge advancements in its math, writing, Hebrew language, Judaic studies, and music programs. Uniquely, these advances have not only been focused on enhancing internal school learning but also advocates learning beyond the school’s walls in the way of reaching out to students’ whole families in order to fully satisfy the students’ educational environment.
Rabbi Sufrin is the first identifiable Orthodox head of school to win this accolade.
The award is expected to encourage the school to continue its development of the aforementioned programs and extend that progress to new initiatives already underway, such as CoLab-collaborative learning spaces and an original tefillah program. The latter integrates versions of the newly published Koren Siddur that are tailored for Ashkenazic and Sephardic students of all ages.
The Covenant Foundation, a program of the Crown Family Philanthropies, honors outstanding Jewish educators and supports creative approaches to programming. It seeks to strengthen educational endeavors that perpetuate the identity, continuity and heritage of the Jewish people.