Every year, the fifth graders at Hebrew Day School of Ann Arbor take on one of the most meaningful challenges of their education and ask a deceptively simple question: Who am I as a Jew?

This year, under the guidance of HaMorah Leah (Lisa Bernstein), students didn’t stop at their own reflections. They inter-viewed parents, school staff, and community members — and the answers they brought back revealed a rich, authentic spectrum of Jewish life.

For instance, when Davina interviewed Rav Will Keller and asked why he makes being Jewish part of his life, she received an answer worth keeping: “There are so many entry points, so many ways in. It’s a tradition that rewards discovery — and there’s always more to discover”.

Yonatan’s interview with Dr. Beth Pearson drew out a candid observation about the connection between Jewish values and professional calling: “My Judaism guided me toward the helping professions. Statistically, there tend to be higher numbers of Jewish people in mental health, healthcare, and teaching — and I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”

In Solly’s interview with HaMorah Janice Lieberman — who retired this year after two decades at HDS — she described how, after years of feeling less connected to Jewish life, it was working at HDS that reignited something: “I loved being sur-rounded by so many people who felt joy in being Jewish.” The project she helped generations of students complete had quietly done the same for her.

Eva’s interview with Gilad Book, father of two HDS students, touched on belief in God and went deep. Book reflected: “Part of the reason I can’t explain exactly what kind of God I believe in is that it’s a very big and complicated topic — and part of it is that it’s something very personal.” Eva, age 12, processed that in her own essay: “I do believe that God is an idea — and a good idea, that gives people hope when times are hard.”

Eva also captured something universal about Jewish belonging: “We share a belief, as Jews all over the world — even people we’ve never met and never will meet — that one day, there will be world peace. This is one of my favorite things about being Jewish.”

Ori, meanwhile, found his own angle on connection and heritage: “I love how when you go to a temple, the whole congregation says ‘Hi’ to you … We have many recipes from my great-grandparents and my great-great-grandparents and we have a box of all of them.”

As for continuity, this year’s most poignant moment of closure came from Noga Turjeman. Noga attended Gan with her friends from class 2026, then returned with her family to Israel — and now, for the fi-nal semester of elementary school, she came back to Ann Arbor to finish alongside her classmates.

In her essay, she wrote with characteristic directness: “To belong to a Jewish community is like another family: we go together to school, celebrate the holidays, and live together. We also help each other.”

It didn’t take long for her connection to the Jewish values planted at HDS — deepened in Israel and carried across an ocean — to reconnect with the classroom.

More than a capstone

“I Am Jewish” is the signature project of the school’s graduating class — but it doesn’t begin in fifth grade. It is the culmination of years during which students wrestle honestly with questions of faith, identity, community, and the kind of person they want to become. The range that emerged from this year’s es-says — from Yonatan’s declaration that “the pride of being Jewish is great and I get it most often with my family” to Ellie’s candid reflection that Jewish values teach her “to be a good person — and without kindness, the world can’t function” — cannot be manufactured.

We are filled with wonder as we watch these young minds come into their own. We have no doubt that they will do great things in the world — and we at Hebrew Day School of Ann Arbor will follow their journeys with tremendous pride.

Class of 2026 — Alu VeHatzlichu! Rise and prosper!



Published at the Washtenaw Jewish News * JULY 2026