Judaic Studies teacher Rabbi Ari Schwarzberg was honored with a teaching award from the Milken Family Foundation during a schoolwide assembly on Sept. 23.

Mr. Richard Sandler, Milken Family Foundation Executive Vice President, and Dr. Gil Graff, Builders of Jewish Education Executive Director, came to Shalhevet to present him with the Jewish Educator Award. 

This award honors four Jewish educators in Los Angeles day schools with recognition and a $15,000 financial prize. This is the sixth time a Shalhevet faculty member has received this; most recently, Judaic Studies teacher Rabbi Avraham Lieberman won in 2019.

The award recipients attended a luncheon on Tuesday to receive the physical award and celebrate with their communities. 

“The most amazing part was feeling the support of the students in the room and my colleagues,” Rabbi Schwarzberg said, “and considering that this is a place that I love and care about, and care about the students and my colleagues here a lot, to feel their appreciation and happiness for me was an awesome, awesome feeling.”

Rabbi Schwarzberg became a Judaic Studies teacher at Shalhevet 13 years ago and previously worked as an intern at the Jewish Center in New York City and taught at NYU Hillel. During his first two years at Shalhevet he “got crushed in the classroom” by the seniors he was teaching.

“My first couple years here I was far, far away from receiving any award for being a good teacher,” Rabbi Schwarzberg said, adding that eventually, he started to feel more in control of the classroom.

The Milken Family Foundation contacted Head of School Rabbi David Block, and invited him to nominate a Judaic Studies teacher. 

Rabbi Block said that he nominated Rabbi Schwarzberg because he felt he was “exceptionally qualified and a perfect candidate.”

Rabbi Schwarzberg said he credits his confidence as a teacher largely to his colleagues who helped him grow and become his “true self” as an educator with a passion for teaching Torah.

He has taught several different grades and subjects, ranging from 9th grade Halacha to junior and senior Advanced Gemara, but ultimately believes that regardless of the class, any Torah study is a wonderful way to capture students’ attention. 

Rabbi Schwarzberg is also credited with revamping Shalhevet’s Night Seder, an opportunity for students to learn outside of school hours. He changed it from general learning to a Gemara-centric program.

“The more that students are exposed to Torah in an engaging, deep, intellectually stimulating and religiously meaningful way, people will fall in love with it,” he said.   

His desire to make everyone feel like an integral part of the Shalhevet community is felt throughout school, students said.

“Rabbi Schwarzberg comes to school every morning with a smile on his face, greets all of his students, and is overall, just an amazing Rabbi,” senior Ben Wintner said. 

Junior Alyssa Portnoy, who took his 10th grade Tanach class, said Rabbi Schwarzberg’s engagement was one of the best parts of the class.

“He makes a lot of personal connections with his students,” Alyssa said, “which makes the classroom environment so much better. And he puts in special effort to do extra things.” 

Examples she gave were when he had her Tanach class do a gift exchange during Chanukkah last year, as well as helping a different student in the class prepare a Dvar Torah each week. 

Rabbi Schwarzberg credits receiving this award to his deep connection to Shalhevet and the entire community.

“The most important thing about this award is that it’s at Shalhevet, a place that has meant so much to me and will mean so much to me,” he said.

“It’s great to be recognized individually, but all this stuff is because of the school, the community, and the colleagues that are around me.”

Previous Shalhevet recipients of this award are then-Hebrew Department Chair Mrs. Mickey Rabinov in 2013; Ms. Katya Malikov, then Math Department Chair, who won in 2014; Ms. Melanie Berkey, English Department Chair in 2009, and then-Hebrew Chair Ms. Vered Hopenstand in 2001. 

Rabbi Schwarzberg’s passion for teaching is heard and felt by both students and colleagues.

“You can hear Rabbi Schwarzberg before classes being totally on fire, talking about learning Torah,” Rabbi Lieberman said. “He is so deserving of it in every way of the word.”

Editor-in-Chief Sophie Katz contributed to this story 

Editor’s Note: A previous version of the story misstated in the second paragraph that Shalhevet teachers have won the Jewish Educator Award twice. It has been fixed to the correct number: six teachers have won, including Rabbi Schwarzberg.