Rabbi Lieberman elected faculty representative to new Judicial Review Subcommittee
New committee also includes Head of School and leaders of Agenda, Fairness, SAC
ELECTED: Rabbi Lieberman is the first person elected by the faculty and staff to represent them in a Just Community position in at least 10 years.
May 21, 2020
Judaic Studies teacher Rabbi Abraham Liberman was elected to be the first faculty member on the new Judicial Review Subcommittee and will serve for the remainder of this school year, the Fairness Committee announced last night.
Only faculty and staff participated in the election. They were invited to nominate other faculty members or themselves for the position.
Nine faculty members, including both Judaic and General Studies faculty, were nominated and 40 faculty members voted, using a ranked-choice system which assigned nine points to a first-place vote, eight to a second, and so on.
The final printout of the computer program, which had been written by Gilad Spitzer, was shared with the Boiling Point. It showed that Rabbi Lieberman had won the most total points as well as the most first-place votes and was easily elected to the position.
“I don’t know who nominated me but look, it’s an awesome responsibility and I’m happy to do whatever needs to be done,” Rabbi Lieberman said this afternoon. “I think it’s kind of inspiring to see all you young people involved in the constitution and a rewrite of it, and tackling that’s exciting stuff. So I’m really happy to help in any way possible.”
Rabbi Lieberman, now completing his third year at Shalhevet after serving as Head of School at YULA Girls High School, will be the first person elected to represent the faculty in at least 15 years, according to Boiling Point records. Last October, he received the Milken Jewish Educator Award.
Under the newly amended Just Community Constitution, which was approved 149-20 last Friday, the Judicial Review Subcommittee reviews all proposals to see whether, if adopted by Town Hall, they can automatically become part of school rules without the possibility of vetoing by the administration.
Other members of the Subcommittee are the Agenda Chair, one Fairness co-chair, one Student Activities Committee co-chair, and the Head of School, and their decisions must be unanimous.
Proposals will be evaluated to ensure that they are constitutional, in line with the values of the Just Community, which include Jewish values as well as democratic ones, and whether it would “seriously detract from Shalhevet’s image regarding Hashkafa” if it was passed.
Rabbi Lieberman will serve for the remainder of this year, alongside Head of School Rabbi Ari Segal and newly elected Agenda Chair Kate Orlanski, while Fairness Co-Chairs Evy Rosenkranz and Eitan Miro and SAC Co-Chairs Shani Menna and Sophie Handelman will take turns representing their committees, depending on the nature of the proposals.
