A lucky Shalhevet 10th grade class made a deal that exempted them from a Tanach final this year.

Back on May 14, sophomore Rebecca Sentchuk proposed to Judaic Studies teacher Rabbi Ari Schwarzberg that if a picture of him that the class posted on Instagram hit enough “likes,” the class would not have to take a final exam. 

Rabbi Schwarzberg happily accepted the deal and even decreased the original amount of required likes to 5,000 from the 10,000 originally proposed,  saying he was excited to receive recognition and become famous.

“Every class is different, every class has its own identity,” Rabbi Schwarzberg said. “That manifests itself in terms of the style of assessments, style of teaching, and the shtick that exists in class.”

Class members Lindsay Schacht and Layla Galek, then posted a picture on Facebook amd tweeted it to one of Rabbi Schwarzberg’s favorite Jewish commentators,  Yoram Hazony, an Israeli political pundit and president of the Herzl Institute in Jerusalem.  At first, both fell far short of the number required, though on the upside, Layla’s was re-tweeted by Dr. Hazony.

But then class member Aron Cohen got involved.  Aron is the owner of the Instagram account called @lakersalldayeveryday, which has more than 42,000 followers. His account is famous for its posts about the Lakers.

At first, Aron was unsure of whether he should post the picture, since he believed it could jeopardize his following. Some Laker fans might unfollow him, he feared, since Rabbi Schwarzberg’s picture would be a pretty random post on a Lakers-oriented account.

“In the beginning I was worried that I was going to lose followers, but I gained more,” Aron said.

Nevertheless, he decided to post the picture. The account actually grew by about 75 followers, because people were tagged on the picture saw the account and some signed on. 

“In the beginning the class was very doubtful,” Layla said.  “They thought we couldn’t get it, but once we got thousands of likes people got very excited.”

 Three days after the post, Rabbi Schwarzberg’s picture on Instagram hit 5,000 likes.  The teacher was in total shock, oblivious to the fact that Aron had a famous account.

 “I thought they had no chance to reach 5,000 likes — I told them let’s see if you can reach 1,000 likes and then we will talk,” Rabbi Schwarzberg said.

It wasn’t the first time that Rabbi Schwarzberg has chosen not to give a final. Last year he only gave one.

“A final doesn’t really evaluate how someone does in a class,” Rabbi Schwarzberg said.

He said he already been considering not giving a final to this class, and the proposed deal offered a chance to learn something new.

 “It’s a great exercise for team bonding, community building, and forming a relationship,” Rabbi Schwarzberg said.

Meanwhile, he gave students who wanted one the option to take a final after all.  Several did, hoping to improve their semester grades. 

“I am happy for my classmates for getting out of it, but I am upset that I still need to take it,” said Noah Suissa.