An Atmosphere of Intellectual Curiosity and Inclusion
By Tyler Faux ’ 05
On June 27 , 1986 , Richard G . Faux Jr . and Dorothy Schefer Faux were married by Rabbi Eugene Lipsey and the Reverend Philip Clarke in New York City . My father , a Protestant from Boston , and my mother , a second-generation Jewish-American whose family fled the Russian pogroms , celebrated their interfaith union among fifty of their closest friends and family .
Like my parents ’ wedding , my childhood straddled each of their traditions . Growing up , our family celebrated Easter and Passover , Christmas and Hanukkah . We even combined those last two into the portmanteau “ Chrismukkah ” after a compelling episode of the hit 2000 ’ s TV show The OC . Today , my parents continue to delight in each other ’ s faith . My mom is always the first to show up and the last to leave when my dad ushers at The Brick Church , and my dad is an enthusiastic attendee at Temple Emanu-El ’ s services for holidays from the most popular to the more obscure ( He loves Sukkot , the celebration of the fall harvest !).
When deciding where to send my brother and me to school , my parents shared with me that religious affiliation was not a consideration . Knowing our family was secure in its own traditions , they contemplated different questions : would their sons be challenged to think rigorously and work collaboratively ? Would we be exposed to a wide set of perspectives ? Would we learn about the past so that we could apply it to the future ? After exploration and reflection , the choice was clear : Rawson (’ 06 ) and I (’ 05 ) would follow in the footsteps of our brother Gordon (’ 94 ) and enroll at Saint David ’ s .
Reflecting on my 10 years at Saint David ’ s ( thank you , Pre-First — now Omega — for the opportunity ), many of my fondest memories of our community are connected to the Catholic spirituality that underpins – but doesn ’ t define – our cherished traditions . Daily Chapel talks infused spontaneity and storytelling into our schedules , and imparted important and relatable examples for how to learn and grow outside the classroom . One of my favorite classes was religion , taught by the insightful and perceptive Ray Feerick and the legendary Mike Imbelli . Their focus on the history , traditions , connections , and commonalities among the many belief systems we studied created an energizing and comfortable environment , that assumed nothing and let everyone contribute equally , regardless of personal or family background . I remember in particular the section we did on Judaism where the class revisited the story of King David , our school ’ s familiar namesake , and his battle against Goliath to save the Jews from the Philistines , to demonstrate the close relationship of the Jewish and Christian traditions .
My own contribution to expanding the horizons of my fellow classmates at Saint David ’ s was a special edition of Show and Tell that I did in Mr . McLellan ’ s Fifth Grade homeroom with the help of my mom in 2001 . The holidays were approaching , and we brought in a menorah to tell the story of the festival of lights , celebrating a miracle experienced by the Maccabees , where one day ’ s worth of oil lasted for eight . Before our presentation , a classmate asked , “ What is that candelabra ?” ( a very reasonable fifth-grade guess !); but by the end of our class I remember the warmth and curiosity with which our class embraced learning about someone else ’ s tradition .
The school ’ s atmosphere of broad intellectual curiosity and inclusion led me to explore the life of Saint Maximilian Kolbe for the Hoguet Essay – a Franciscan priest beatified
Tyler Faux ’ 05
Summer 2021 • 15