DINA

Well before I began my official tenure at Midway, I was intent on getting to know the staff, and chief among those staff people was the Religious School Director, Dina Barze’ev Hochbaum.  This was back in the Spring of 1999 and at that time, Dina had been with the congregation for some 13 years.  I was amazed by this simple statistic for two reasons: first, I couldn’t name a single place, even during my school years, where I had been with a single institution for 13 years; and second, I was leaving a synagogue where we had the unpleasant experience of going through six Hebrew School principals in 12 years.  That’s a headache!   I was practically drooling to meet this woman who had endured 13 years of what I, and my other colleagues, would deem the toughest job in a synagogue: Religious School principal.

There are two things I remember about that initial meeting with Dina.  The first is that it took me about five to six, certainly no more than seven minutes to realize that I was in the presence of an incredibly competent educator—organized, passionate, thoughtful.  The second is that our meeting was interrupted at least three times by various people—I can’t recall specifically whom—but people who would just throw the door open looking for something or seeking Dina out for some reason.  After the third interruption, Dina turned to me and said, “You could never have an affair around this place because people burst into rooms without knocking.”  Now that was an unanticipated piece of advice.  Not that I was planning anything, but at least I was forewarned.  We had a good laugh.  I’m happy to say that these days, there’s a greater sense of propriety before entering closed-door meetings. 

With Dina’s decision to retire, another kind of door has flung open.  It’s a door that will lead Dina to a new phase of her life—more time for hiking, for nature that she so loves, for yoga, for private educational consulting, for family—and one that will compel us to deal with the vagaries of transition, and all the uncertainties that such a transition brings.  Transition means “change”—a four-lettered word if ever there was one—but after 27 years of Dina creating Jewish experiences and learning for us, I think those changes will continue to reflect the spirit that Dina has breathed into our school and our synagogue, as they should.

In an America that has grown increasingly indifferent to substantive religious education, Dina leaves us with a school dedicated to Hebrew language, synagogue skills, Bible familiarity, and ritual observance;   in other words, a school of real substance.  Some families have left because the curriculum was too demanding and others may never have considered joining.  And yet, our school has remained incredibly strong in numbers while other schools around us have suffered plunging enrollments.  We didn’t become the school of excellence by accident.  Dina’s commitment to standards and expectations made it so.  And there are still plenty of Jewish families for whom this reverence of substantive learning is important.

At times, I think Dina should have been known as the Assistant Rabbi.  She virtually operated as such for both our rabbi emeritus, Rabbi Finkelstein, and for me.  She need only have programmed for her Religious School but she came up with programs for the whole synagogue.  She need only have taught the kids but she was concerned about parents and adult education as well, exposing adults to Hebrew reading, Hebrew literature and poetry, history, etc.  I made sure she accompanied me to Israel on a couple of occasions so that she could interface with the Israelis during our synagogue trips and care for our travelers, giving them her undivided attention.  When she had to rise before the congregation in praise of a Board of Education Chair, a student, a congregant being honored, a fellow staffer—she was always exceedingly prepared, her words carefully chosen, and the honor she paid those people sincere and genuine.  What a lesson in hakarat hatov, expressing gratitude, she would teach us in her each and every word.

In part, I think she could do this because for her, the position was clearly more than a paycheck.  She is, and I expect her to remain, very much a part of this community.  It was not uncommon for her to show up at B’nei Mitzvah, weddings, funerals, and shivah calls.  How many Religious School directors are so connected?  Dina is. 

When it came time to reimagine our school, Dina was a key player in redirecting our school onto a new and vibrant path.  Without her support and consent, we would not have been able to do what we did.  It was a time of significant changes:  the creation of parent havurot, the two–day school, the emphasis on family services (you can count on one hand how many people in this country can actually lead that kind of service and Dina is one of them).  And out of it all, we were blessed with Lisa Stein, who now becomes Dina’s successor, having really absorbed so much of Dina’s approach toward Jewish education.

Did I mention Dina’s eggplant dish?  Oh my God—to die for!  She is a gourmet cook.  And when my Ellen took ill around 2005, Dina, unsolicited, would show up at our door with casseroles in hand.  But I digress.  Back to Dina’s pedagogy.

Recently, at a symposium she attended at Yad Vashem, Israel’s premier Holocaust museum and research center, Dina presented the Shoah curriculum that she created for our synagogue.  She was given a standing ovation.  Magi’ah lah—she deserved every minute of applause.

Dina has never been afraid to voice an opinion, which is one of the reasons we love her.  She has had a reputation for being tough.  And she is.  Have you ever seen her in the parking lot during dismissal?  She could be a traffic cop on 42^nd Street and Eighth Avenue.  The truth is that anyone who intends to be a Religious School director better be tough—real tough.  This job is not for the faint-hearted. 

Dina does not like Good-byes.  I don’t blame her.  She is a hovevet Yisrael, a lover of Israel.  She is a serious Jew.  She is a compassionate and loving human being.  She is an outstanding mother, wife, and friend.  We need more Dinas in this world and when we have them, we should never let them go.  And so it is for that reason that the Board of Trustees is granting Dina and Charlie lifetime free membership at Midway.  When you have someone like Dina, you never say Good-bye.