By Noah S., Seventh Grade, Krieger Schechter Day School of Chizuk Amuno Congregation and Schools
This year, there is a new teacher at the Krieger Schechter Day School of Chizuk Amuno Congregation who will be a familiar face. Rabbi Alex Salzberg is a KSDS alumnus, class of 1999. He has returned to KSDS as middle school Bible teacher and head of the tzedakah program previously run by Sally Grobani.
Before returning to KSDS, Salzberg served as a rabbi at the Pelham Jewish Center in Pelham, New York. His favorite part of that job was teaching and connecting with the community. “[Teaching] was a way of speaking to the community differently than when I was up on the bimah speaking,” he said.
As a teacher at KSDS, Salzberg said he really enjoys “engaging with students and learning with them, watching them learn, and [seeing them] engage with the texts and come up with really insightful ideas about what we’re studying.”
But teaching also has its challenges. For Salzberg, the hardest part of being a teacher is “realizing that [he] needs to be in charge of what happens in a classroom instead of being able to show up and let the classroom happen around me.”
A main challenge he faces as a teacher today is face masks. Masks have “slowed down how long it has taken me to learn people’s names. …. I can’t always tell who is speaking [or] see people’s expressions [to know] if they are engaging with the work,” Salzberg said.
Eitan B., a seventh grade student in Salzberg’s class, said his favorite thing about Salzberg is that “if [someone] needs help, Salzberg won’t hesitate to help [them].” He also notes that “Salzberg words his directions well so that [the whole class] can understand them.”
According to Ben A., another seventh grade student in Salzberg’s class, students are currently “working on the Book of Jonah, and Salzberg has been very descriptive and always makes sure [students] have a deeper understanding of the Tanach.”
Of the tzedakah project, Sally Grobani said, “The basic premise is that there are different causes that are chosen for different reasons and a variety of causes that do good work for Baltimore, the country, and/or Israel. Every Friday, students and Krieger Schechter bring money that is being donated to that cause.”
Grobani explained that these locations are decided with timely relations. For example, “On Rosh Hashanah, at the beginning of the year, [KSDS] commonly donated to an organization in Baltimore called Bossy that provides holiday meals.” Also, the week of Parashat Noah, KSDS collected money for the National Aquarium.
Salzberg also runs the entire Chesed/Gemilut Chasadim department. He is currently working on the Schechter Day of Service, which takes place the day before Thanksgiving. For the day of service, middle schoolers “choose from a list of where to go around Baltimore, to do a project, whether that’s helping kids, whether that’s helping people who need food, or helping animals,” said Salzberg. Meanwhile, the lower schoolers “stay in school, and they do a project in the building that somehow helps people who are in need or could use our help.”
Outside of school, some of Salzberg’s hobbies are biking, reading, and baking bread. He said he is looking forward to working at KSDS and making an impact on students’ learning.
Noah S. is a seventh grade student at Krieger Schechter Day School of Chizuk Amuno Congregation.
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