The Rashi School
Location
Dedham, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°16′03″N 71°11′50″W / 42.2676°N 71.1971°W / 42.2676; -71.1971
Information
Established	1986 (1986)
Principal	Adam Fischer
Grades	K-8
Enrollment	300+
Team name	The Rashi Rams
Website	The Rashi School

The Rashi School is a Reform Jewish ,independent school in Dedham, Massachusetts, which offers students secular and Jewish education. The Rashi School was founded in 1986 and currently enrolls more than 300 students in Grades K–8.^[1] As of 2022, the school’s minority student enrollment is 57.0% and the student-teacher ratio is 4:1.^[2][3]

The Rashi School is named after an Ashkenazi rabbi, Shlomo Yitzchaki, who today is typically known by the acronym Rashi. He was a medieval French rabbi and author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud.

In 2010, The Rashi School moved to its permanent campus at a wooded site on the banks of the Charles River, within the NewBridge on the Charles Campus for Hebrew Senior Life.^[4]

History

In 1982, Rabbi Henry Zoob formed a committee to explore interest in a Jewish Reform day school. A four-year planning process resulted in the opening of The Rashi School in 1986, with 16 students in kindergarten and first grade.^[5] The school slowly grew its enrollment as its original students progressed through schooling. In 1992, the school celebrated its first graduation ceremony. Later, those graduates were also present at Rashi's first alumni event, held in 2002, as part of their tenth anniversary as alumni.

The Rashi School expanded to an Elementary/Middle school format in 1996. In the same year, a group of second graders founded a program called Mitzvah Makers, which allowed self-selected students to make monthly visits to Hebrew Rehabilitation. In 1996, the Rashi Purim Tamchui Project was founded as part of Rashi's Social Justice curriculum.

In 1999, the Rashi School introduced their core values: Ruach (Spirit), Kavod (Respect), Kehillah (Community), Tzedek (Justice), and Limud (Learning).

In 2006, the school's eighth grade class took its first trip to Israel. The trip is now an annual tradition and a culminating event of Jewish Studies at the Rashi School.

Heads of School

References