The Charlotte Jewish News- October 2025- Page 14
At CJDS, the Students Keep Climbing— One Step at a Time
By Gale Osborne
The 2025 – 26 school year is well underway at Charlotte Jewish Day School( CJDS), where 147 students in grades TK – 8 are diving into another year of discovery, investigation, and problem-solving across all subjects.
In Judaic studies, the fall semester began with a focus on the High Holidays. Recently, each elementary student had the opportunity to make their own shofar – starting from a real goat’ s horn. It was a hands-on process requiring patience and precision: students hollowed out the horn so air could pass through, checked the mouthpiece for proper width, removed remaining cartilage, and used sanders to smooth the edges before painting their finished shofar for both protection and shine.
Through this project, students learned that a shofar must come from a kosher animal such as a ram, goat, or ibex. They discovered antlers aren’ t considered horns, and that cow horns are not used – even though cows are kosher animals – because they recall the sin of the golden calf. They also learned a ram horn, often preferred, is bent to symbolize how we bow to G-d’ s will. This lesson connects to everyday values, like respecting one’ s parents, finishing homework, and persevering through challenges even when things don’ t go as planned.
Each morning, the sound of the shofar echoed through the halls at CJDS. Rabbi Wolk, Adam Kollet, Cantor Lissek, Rabbi Groner, and others take turns blowing the shofar for all the students gathered along the second-floor hallway. At the last Shabbat assembly of the year, Rabbi Weiss taught the children how to blow the shofars they had made – a beautiful moment of celebration and learning.
A beloved CJDS tradition is the annual school motto. This year’ s comes from the Chumash – the Five Books of Moses – and reads,“ Chazak v’ amatz,” meaning Be strong and courageous. The verse appears in Devarim( Deuteronomy) when Moses speaks to Joshua, and again in the Book of Joshua, when G-d encourages him as he leads the Jewish people into the Land of Israel.
The school’ s English interpretation –“ Keep climbing, one step at a time” – captures the same spirit. It reminds students( and all of us) to keep striving,
even when we think we’ re done. There’ s always one more step to take, one more way to grow.
Giving up, settling for“ good enough,” or dismissing the possibility of reaching higher simply isn’ t part of the CJDS vocabulary. Taking risks, trying again, and pushing through those moments of uncertainty are how we build courage, confidence, and strength— together.
To bring this message to life, a climbing wall was set up outside CJDS on the first day of classes. Each side offered new challenges, and students cheered one another on to take just one more step – a fitting symbol for the school’ s philosophy of growth, resilience, and encouragement.
As the year unfolds, we look forward to sharing more stories about how our CJDS students continue to climb – one step, one discovery, and one act of courage at a time.
For more information about Charlotte Jewish Day School, please contact Gail Osborne, Gosborne @ cjdschool. org.