Dr. Seth Goldsweig (photo from KDHS)
The start of the school year is always a time of fresh beginnings. This is especially true at King David High School this year. On Sept. 3, Dr. Seth Goldsweig will welcome new and returning students as the school’s top administrator. It is the first time in 16 years – a lifetime in student years – since KDHS has had a new principal.
Goldsweig arrived this summer from an extensive period as a teacher and administrator in Toronto, replacing Russ Klein, who retired as King David’s head of school. (For more on Klein’s career and retirement, see jewishindependent.ca/king-david-head-retires-soon.) In a conversation with the Independent, the new head of school raved about the Vancouver community and the embracing welcome he has received.
“The transition has been amazing because of the people here,” said Goldsweig. “People have gone out of their way to make me feel good and to feel supported. I have Shabbat dinner plans for as long into the future as I can want.… You get a sense that it’s a very warm Jewish community here just by how warm and kind everyone has been to me.”
Goldsweig taught in Jewish day schools before becoming vice-principal at Toronto’s Robbins Hebrew Academy and then vice-principal at the Leo Baeck Day School, where he spent the past 11 years.
“I’ve always wanted to be head of school,” he said. “On top of my PhD, I’ve done additional programs to train educators to be leaders of Jewish day schools and so this has always been something that I’ve aspired to do. When this job came up, it certainly sounded appealing being in a place with beautiful mountains and amazing people, but also the timing worked out because my kids, Danielle and Josh, are graduating from the Jewish high school in Toronto, called TanenbaumCHAT, and they’re going on to university, so the timing worked out.”
His route to Vancouver was circuitous. He was born in smalltown Vermont to parents who left New York City for a rural life. (Were they hippies? “They would say no. I would say yes,” Goldsweig replied.)
“I grew up on a dirt road in a town with just a few thousand people and two or three Jewish families,” he said.
At 18, he left to do environmental studies at Binghamton University in upstate New York, then lived in Israel for five years, doing a semester at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheva and another semester at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies on Kibbutz Ketura, which is located in the Arava Valley.
He then returned to the Arava Institute the next year as a staff member, followed by three years at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. In the Pardes educators’ program, he studied Judaic texts coupled with a focus on Jewish education toward a master’s degree from Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His PhD, in educational leadership and administration, is from Lesley University, and he has a related certificate from Hebrew College and studied education at Harvard as well. His PhD dissertation was on Jewish day school financial sustainability.
In Israel, Goldsweig met his wife, Amy, who is from Toronto. The pair taught in Boston for a time before moving to Ontario to be close to family when they learned they were having twins.
Goldsweig became bar mitzvah at a Reform synagogue in South Burlington, Vt., and belonged to a Conservative congregation in Toronto. His educational career included stints at schools affiliated with both movements and he is excited by King David’s pluralistic approach.
“I’m a big believer in Jewish pluralism,” he said. “I think there’s a great importance in leading and connecting with Jews that are like you and not like you.”
This year, he plans to visit all the synagogues in town “just to get to know the entire Jewish community in Vancouver.”
In Toronto, Goldsweig said, there are many different schools to choose from.
“You are not trying to be everything for everyone, you’re trying to do what you do really well,” he said. “Here – and I really love this – everyone’s in one building. So, the goal is to find ways to make everyone feel welcome and heard and connected and I really think that’s a beautiful thing.”
Goldsweig lauded his predecessor.
“Russ was an incredible head of school and is still an important member of our community,” said Goldsweig. “He’s done amazing things with the school.”
This year’s enrolment of about 270 students is on par with last year’s and Goldsweig does not foresee any dramatic changes in the near future.
“My job for this year is really to spend a lot of time learning from everyone in the community and getting a sense of what the Jewish community in Vancouver is all about and what King David High School is all about so we can make sure we’re meeting the needs for the community now and well into the future,” he said.