Mishpacha: Brandeis Marin Family Alumni Association

Becky Fenster, Robin Covello, Jennifer Harris-Marks, Laliv Hadar, Aaron Golbus, and D'vora Tirschwell

You might be curious about just who is driving this alumni school bus.

Team Mishpacha has been working hard behind the scenes, and our committee includes student alumni--Aaron Golbus (Class of ‘84), Ira Kaufman (Class of ‘85), Laliv Dramen Hadar (Class of ‘89), Becky Genet Fenster (Class of ‘93), Rachel Greenblat (Class of ‘02 and 4th Grade Teacher), and Hallie Goldstein (Class of ‘10), and current and alumni parents--D’vora Tirschwell, Jennifer Harris-Marks, Meredith Parnell, Sofie Goldstein, Robin Covello, and Pat Goldman.

Our Team’s efforts could not have been successful without the support of a number of Brandeis Marin staff and teachers--Dr. Peg Sandel (Head of School), Pamela Welner (Director of Admissions), Ruth Rosenthal (Lower School Dean and 2nd Grade), Marni Shapiro (Kindergarten), Liz Atterman (Librarian), Angeline Greenblat (1st Grade), Barbara Cohen (Director of Technology), Tyna Jensen (Operations Manager), Anya Aron (Communications Manager), and Elizabeth Takeshita (Office Associate).

To build sustainability in our student alumni association arm, we have built leadership into each graduating class (by year of 8th grade graduation). Click here to see our latest list of Class Chairs/Co-Chairs--and thank those dedicated volunteers for their leadership! Your Class Chair/Co-Chair will help keep you and your class connected to each other and to Brandeis Marin, and be a point of contact for alumni news. We are still in the process of filling out our leadership pool, so if your class still needs leadership and you want to volunteer or nominate someone to serve in that role, please get in touch! Email Team Mishpacha at mishpacha@brandeismarin.org.

Brandeis Marin alum Noa Zimmerman, co-recipient of the school’s Henry Schreibman award in 2013, took top honors at the SFJCC-sponsored Battle of the Bands 2016 held this past Saturday evening at the Contemporary Jewish Museum. A veteran of many of Mr. Scott’s zero period bands, Noa is currently a Junior at Redwood High where she performs in both Jazz and Advanced Performance Workshop bands. She teaches guitar and bass lessons to several Brandeis Marin students, and also volunteers at the after-school music program for students at MLK Academy in Marin City.

Performing her original songs, Noa prevailed through three rounds of competition. The first two rounds were judged by a panel of music industry professionals. In the final round, the audience voted for their favorite among three finalists. Congratulations Noa! You make us proud!

We recently had a visit from Jay Knox, our famous now-retired Brandeis Marin English teacher. Jay began his teaching career with the class that included Rachel Greenblat (our illustrious current 4th Grade teacher, daughter to 1st Grade teacher Angeline Greenblat, and a member of Team Mishpacha). We asked Jay about retirement, and to comment on our newly launched Alumni Family Association.

Jay Knox with Rachel Greenblat on her 8th Grade Graduation day: "I take full credit for Rachel's success!"

What's Up With Jay Knox?

What a wonderful idea to have a Brandeis alumni association and newsletter. I'm looking forward to hearing about what my former students have been doing. Respectable gossip kind of stuff. Strange to think that some of my former Brandeis students are almost 30 years old. What have I been up to since I retired nearly four years ago? Well, I quickly realized that I've been doing the same things I did when I was a teacher -- except for the teaching part. I've been having fun doing what I like to do: reading, walking, watching movies, conducting experiments as a simulation specialist for computational biochemistry at Stanford. You know -- regular stuff.

Actually, something significant did happen to me a year ago: While I was hiking with Pam, my wife, on the Huckleberry trail above Larkspur, I fell off of a cliff, about 25 feet, and broke my neck in two places, my ankle and four ribs. I was in the hospital for 6 days and spent 7 more weeks almost immobile while I recovered. The doctors told me that the consequences of my injuries could have been worse, much worse. During those long weeks with not much to do, I had plenty of time to reflect about lots of stuff, mostly concentrating, of course,on the more meaningful aspects of life as anyone would do under similar circumstances. The bottom line (I'll skip the more maudlin moments) is that I now reflect daily on those Meaningful Aspects. Yep. I'm a lucky guy. We all sometimes need a wake-up call.

On a less-meaningful, but much more fun, note, Pam and I have travelled a bit. We have visited Scandinavia, Sicily and Brussels recently, all places we've had on our wish list for years -- but work kept getting in the way. Traveling down through the fjords in Norway was something I've wanted to do ever since I saw the movie The Vikings when I was 13 years ago. I didn't see Tony Curtis this time, but the trip was magnificent nonetheless. Sicily was sinister and yet so romantic. I couldn't get The Godfather theme music out of my head -- and I tried! It was a wonderful trip, but no one told me about driving in the cities. Traffic lights and stop signs are sorta suggestions. It was like I was driving a bumper car at an amusement park. Our Brussels trip was our favorite -- great food, beautiful scenery -- but recent horrific events there have given us new perspectives on our experiences. I hope we can revisit Brussels soon.

I've subbed at Brandeis a few times. I always have such a good time there. It's like visiting your grandchildren: You can have fun, leave, and let others deal with any issues.

I love knowing that there will always be new books to read, movies to see, and trails to walk. I'll stay away from cliffs.

The Alumni Association is a great idea.
Stay connected.

by Becky Genet Fenster, Class of 1993

By the time I was in 2nd grade at Brandeis I knew that I wanted to be a teacher. Having such influential teachers such as Marni Shapiro, Susie Kaufman and Susan Goldsborough in my early years at Brandeis made me aware of the educational blessing bestowed upon me. And it was my fervent desire to return that blessing upon other children who would one day walk in the same hallways where I grew up.

I returned to Brandeis in the Spring of 2002 – as a long-term substitute teacher in the 2nd grade. At the time, I was 23 years old. Those students are now almost that exact same age – it’s almost hard for me to believe. When I first returned to campus, I used to ask if I could use the phone in the staff room and struggled with calling new colleagues such as Rita Gershengorn, Ruth Rosenthal and Liz Atterman by their first names – since they were my beloved teachers just a few years earlier.

Over the years, I have taught a number of grades at Brandeis. I have taught both lower school Core Academics and Middle School English and Social Studies. I have been a student council advisor, Middle School advisor, outdoor ed chaperone and served on more committees than I care to remember. More recently, I have worked on administrative projects alongside our amazing school head, Dr. Peg Sandel. I have celebrated every major life cycle event while working at Brandeis – my wedding, the birth of my children and the death of a step-parent and four grandparents. I have laughed, cried, nearly pulled my hair out in frustration and collapsed in utter exhaustion. But, I would not change a moment of my history with Brandeis. It has so largely influenced who I am.

Thanks to my time at Brandeis, I cannot imagine there are many people who are as lucky as I am. As a child, I was blessed to receive my teachers’ incredible guidance, and I have been equally blessed by my return to the school in a professional capacity. The friendships that I have made, the students that I have taught, the community that has been my home for nearly three decades is truly and deeply one of my greatest life blessings.

Thus, when I was approached to help build our new alumni association earlier this year, I jumped at the opportunity. To me, Mischpacha is the bridge that brings us all together. I have reconnected with friends from my own childhood days and many students from my teaching career. It has brought about photos, emails, yearbooks, conversations and more memories than I could ever capture on a page. Mischpacha is the overarching link, to bring all of us back together in whatever ways we find most meaningful. I am so looking forward to helping build this outreach opportunity for our school and hope you will join me in our efforts.