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Mission, Vision & Values

יעדים, חזון וערכים


PLURALISM: WHAT IT IS & WHY IT MATTERSOUR STORYOUR CAMPUS

What We Envision

JCDS cultivates knowledgeable, passionate Jewish learners with the capacity and confidence to question, listen, understand, and change the world.

We partner with parents and our broader community to raise children who will move through the world with inquisitive minds borne of deep knowledge and understanding; an ethical core; a humble confidence; and a joyful Jewish spirit.

JCDS graduates will build Jewish communities that embrace, engage with, and learn from their differences. They will apply their knowledge to creatively solve problems with empathy and curiosity, approaching each new challenge as an opportunity to reflect and grow.

OUR MISSION

The mission of JCDS, Boston's Jewish Community Day School, is to provide a premier education that:

  • Nurtures each student's capacity for intellectual discovery and decision-making within a respectful, pluralist, bilingual Hebrew-English environment.
  • Gives our graduates the ability to create their futures informed by Jewish values, texts and culture, and to make a difference in their communities and in the world.
  • Kindles the flame of lifelong learning in all its constituencies and serves as an inspirational model of innovative, effective and joyful teaching and learning beyond the school.

What We Believe

  • The K-8 years build an enduring foundation: intellectually, socially, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
  • Our outstanding educational program combines academic excellence with character and spiritual development:
    • Strong skills and deep knowledge, matched with a sense of awe and wonder, foster a humble confidence: our students are both capable and deeply curious, they know themselves, and they become adults who do not rush to judgment.
    • Our small, warm community offers a welcoming home where each person is known: we nurture and challenge each child, cherish each family, appreciate each donor, and strive to engage our community to the fullest.
    • Each of us, at every age, can solve problems and take action to make the world healthier and more just.
  • Joyful Jewish living and learning uniquely connect the individual and our world, providing lifelong opportunities to engage with meaning, community, ethics, knowledge, responsibility, and the divine.
  • Hebrew and intentional pluralism together shape our worldview and form our shared languages – literal and figurative – for integrating Jewish identity, critical thinking, character formation, and intellectual development throughout the curriculum and our lives.
    • Intentional Pluralism gives us the tools to engage across difference, fostering strong identity, cultivating curiosity and empathy, and building self-awareness and reflection.
    • Integrating Hebrew and English throughout the day sparks growth, creates personal connections to Jewish texts and the State of Israel, and maximizes the brain flexibility benefits of second language acquisition.