Grandparents Day at Moriah
The Moriah Foundation hosted its Annual Grandparents Club Morning Tea for grandparents and special friends at Hamakom – the first in person event since the pandemic struck. Capped at 100 under the COVID safety guidelines, the event was a sellout.
Melanie Linderberg and her grandson
Warmly welcoming our grandparents, Foundation President Judy Lowy noted, “All of you play such an important role in the lives of your own families and in the lives of our students and the broader Moriah family as well. You have so much wisdom, guidance, love, devotion and life experience to impart. Most importantly, you love unconditionally, you give time and your presence, and you derive endless joy and nachas.”
Judy spoke about how our Moriah family responded to the pandemic by coming together to support each other adding “our leadership and educators were ready and lead the way with an incredible digital learning platform which was so successful, and they were highly focused on the wellbeing of all students, families and staff. Our P&F assisted families and offered support. And our Foundation has raised over $7M so far for the No Family Left Behind campaign to assist families with school fees who were economically impacted and were unable to meet their payments. We should all feel proud to be in the Moriah Family.”
As a tribute to our grandparents, a heart-warming video of children from ELCs, Primary and High sharing their reflections about why they love their grandparents so much was shown.
Principal Rabbi Smukler shared his thoughts on the success of Jewish continuity and the role of grandparents in the continuum. He said: “Grandparents and the generations above our children are integral in ensuring that Shabbat, Pesach and Jewish traditions are passed down, and for cherishing the strength of our identity and sense of belonging. Yes, skills and knowledge are important but identity, character, belonging and connectivity to our community and our people is what truly empowers and futureproofs our children.”
The new Head of High School Mark Hemphill traversed many areas and spoke about the important role that grandparents play in their families’ lives, drawing on the very special relationship that he had with his own grandparents, and the lifelong impact it had on his life. Having returned to Moriah after nearly 15 years leading schools in Zürich, Knox Grammar and Hong Kong, he shared his very insightful observations about what makes Moriah students unique, and why he thinks they do so well in life. He is excited to be back and spoke about his focus on driving academic rigour and performance as well as student wellbeing.
Photos: Giselle Haber
