The King of Kavod’s Visit

April 8, 2025

By Donnie Beinstock ’27

Rabbanit Sara Wolkenfeld taught “From Sinai to Sefaria: Kavod for Jewish Texts.”

The Upper School Beit Midrash was full of energy as the entirety of the Berman Hebrew Academy Upper School gathered in the Beit Midrash on Jan. 30 for the revival of Yom Iyun. You might be wondering, what is Yom Iyun? A Yom Iyun, also known as a day of learning, is an event where a group of people come together to learn a dedicated topic, which in this case was kavod — respect. 

While Kavod was broadly defined and framed  as our theme for the 2024–2025 school year on the first day of school, we did not have the opportunity to delve deeper into the Kavod until this Yom Iyun. The program was introduced by Ariella Parness and Rabbi Broder after the Rosh Chodesh Breakfast for Rosh Chodesh Shvat. After the introduction, students began to go to their first of three half-hour shiurim. Students had more than 10 teachers, rabbis, and community leaders they could choose from, such as Rabbi Aaron Lopiansky of the Yeshiva of Greater Washington and Dr. Erica Brown of Yeshiva University in New York. Classes focused on a variety of aspects of kavod, including who should be treated with kavod, interesting applications of Kavod,  and what the word kavod really means.

Yael Siesser ’26 said that she was “really glad [students] got multiple slots to hear from different

Rabbi Berel Wolvovsky of Chabad of Silver Spring taught “Respect Yourself, Respect Others, Respect the Torah.”

people” adding that she “really enjoyed hearing from Dr. Brown.” On the other hand, Jordan Isenberg ’28 said the program should “add more time for the speeches and add more speakers,” although Isenberg appreciated how the program connected seemingly unrelated topics together. He enjoyed the last shiur he had with Mr. Chanokh Berenson “because he related kavod to bikur cholim, which [Isenberg] never thought had to do with each other.” 

After revolving through all three of their classes, the students gathered back in the Beit Midrash for closing remarks and thank yous. Rabbi Houben ended the program by highlighting several key messages he saw as common themes woven throughout the varied Shiurim. 

Rabbi Ari Koretsky of Meor at University of Maryland taught “What it Means to Have Kavod for Yourself.”

An incredible amount of planning went into a program this massive. Ariella Parness ’25, VP of Religious Affairs, was the lead architect for the program, along with Rabbi Moshe Grosberg and Mrs. Malkie Hametz. Parness said that during planning, she was using so many docs, spreadsheets, and forms that her “computer struggled through all the tabs open.” She stated that while this program has been run in the past, “There hasn’t been one in this capacity in a while.” The hardest part for her was ensuring that people came during the right slots, that lists and printouts were made, and that there were enough teachers. However, Parness said, “Most people were really excited and wanted to be in the shiur they signed up for,” so everything ran smoothly.

Mrs. Rikki Lehman of the Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC) of UMD taught “Kavod Habriot: Learning from a Chayal to Respect ‘Just’ One.”

Photo Credits: Jordan Pinchot ’25