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Avi
Marcovitz, the new head of Jewish studies at OJCS, is excited to return to
Canada after stints in the United States and Israel.
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By Louise Rachlis
Avi
Marcovitz, the new head of Jewish studies at the Ottawa Jewish Community School
(OJCS), believes in excellence and moving forward.
“I’ve
always been a believer in the words of the founder of the Chief Rabbinate of
Israel, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, who said, ‘the old will be renewed and the
new will be sanctified,’” he told the Ottawa Jewish Bulletin. “At any of the
institutions I’ve worked at, I’ve never started a school. I’ve realized there
were philosophies that were there at the start, but that education continues to
change.”
Marcovitz,
who holds a doctorate in education and is working toward a second doctorate in
Holocaust and genocide studies, believes in the partnerships that OJCS Head of
School Jon Mitzmacher has built locally, across Canada, in North America and in
Israel, and said he believes OJCS will come to be seen as “a model for all of
North America.”
“We
need to have a global portal that everyone models. How can we conceptualize it
through all the disciplines?” he asked rhetorically. “Menschkeit excellence
means all the partners of the larger Ottawa community.”
Originally
from Toronto, Marcovitz has lived and worked in the U.S. and Israel.
“I’m
very excited to come back here,” he said. “I attended Camp Ramah in Canada and
have friends here. Michael Levitan was a bunkmate at Camp Ramah and now his
children are attending the school.”
Marcovitz
previously served as director of family engagement at Temple Israel Center, a
Conservative congregation in White Plains, N.Y., where he organized events to
engage 800 families, revamped and oversaw the bar and bat mitzvah family curriculum,
and reinvented and oversaw Shabbat and holiday youth services. He was also a
teacher for adult education, and for elementary and high school-aged students.
In
Israel, Marcovitz served as director of the International School of Holocaust
Studies, World Jewry Division, at Yad Vashem where he initiated, created and
sustained educational programs in over 30 countries.
He
also served as CEO of Best Buddies Israel, creating the first non-profit
program in Israel to focus on the socialization and interaction of individuals
with intellectual disabilities. He established more than 20 Best Buddies
chapters throughout Israel, overseeing the organization’s growth into a dynamic
organization with over 1,500 participants.
Marcovitz
said he hopes that his experience in Israel will be of benefit to the whole
Ottawa Jewish community.
“I’ve
had wonderful conversations about working with individuals of all types of
disabilities such as TIPES [Thinking in Pictures Educational Services] and
Chabad of Centrepointe’s ‘A Ripple Effect’ program. I believe all children
deserve a Jewish education, for that matter, an education,” he said. “I hope
with my past experience, and partnering with the committed faculty at OJCS, I
will be able to contribute to the ongoing success and to provide a nurturing,
challenging Jewish experience for all OJCS students and the greater community.”
Marcovitz
concluded his interview with the Bulletin by quoting Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks,
the former British chief rabbi: “To defend a country you need an army, to
defend a civilization you need schools.”
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