Perhaps the greatest honor a person can receive from a community is to be chosen to educate its children. Yeshiva Elementary School recently bestowed that honor on its new principal, Rabbi Eliezer Speiser.
Speiser and his wife, Shira, moved to Milwaukee in August from Cleveland, where he served as assistant principal of the boys’ junior high and high school grades of the Hebrew Academy of Cleveland. The couple’s four sons, aged 14 to 21, all attend yeshiva away from home.
Joining the school, explained Speiser in a recent interview, “was a great opportunity, and, when we visited, we were very impressed with the school and the [Sherman Park] community. [It] really has a lot to offer — more than just school vouchers and the Twerskis; this is a very special community, very warm, with a lot of people that seem to be wholesome.”
His start at the school has been smooth and positive, he said. “This is a … wonderful place to work. The teachers are dedicated, devoted people. There’s almost a family atmosphere here and the facility is beautiful,” he said, referring to the 2001 building addition and renovation that recently received two architectural awards.
Speiser’s not the only one happy with his new position. Rabbi Benzion Twerski, who heads the vaad ha’chinuch, the branch of the school’s board of education that sets the religious tone and agenda of the school and was instrumental in choosing Speiser for the job, expressed admiration for YES’s new principal.
“He has many qualities that make him right for the job. I’ve met educators who are fierce defenders of their staff but don’t understand the children, and [educators who have chemistry with the children but don’t lead the staff well], and I’ve found he has both.
“I watch him. He’s got a sparkle in his eye. The kids are very comfortable with him yet he demands the correct amount of respect,” said Twerski.
Aaron Cadle, school president, agreed that Speiser works well with the students. “He’s a very caring, wonderful person, and he obviously has a big heart. He’s like a magnet for the children; they come to him. They sense something in him.”
Speiser received his rabbinic ordination from Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, N.J., after three years at Mesivta in Long Beach, N.J., where he received a bachelor’s degree in rabbinical training (BRT). He also took a “principalship course” from the Mercaz Teacher Training Center in Monsey, N.Y., and spent a short time in the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem.
Speiser began teaching at age 16 at summer camps. “I probably was inspired by my teachers, who I felt were very special people,” he said. To explain his love of teaching, Speiser offered an analogy from the Talmud: More than a calf wants to milk, the mother wants to feed. Teaching is “a form of giving,” he added.
After completing his studies at Lakewood, Speiser spent four years in Chicago at the Chicago Community Kollel. He then returned to youth education at the Hebrew Academy in Cleveland, where he spent 13 years. While living there, he received a master’s in education from Maimonides College of Ontario, Great Lakes division.
Speiser, who replaced Rabbi Naftali Kalter, now principal at the Torah Academy of Boca in Boca Raton, Fla., has a strong sense of his purpose at YES. “The Hebrew word for principal is menahel, which means to lead,” he said. “I believe that’s what a principal has to do, to lead by example, to lead by being a presence who is there to help the teachers, to facilitate for the teachers, to facilitate for the students and to make it a safe school.
“The school has a philosophy of excellence in education in both [religious and secular studies], and obviously the principal has to strive to fulfill that philosophy.”
“My mission,” explained Speiser, “is to create a school climate that’s best for the children’s growth, that the teachers and staff will be happy working there. It’s already in place but [we will] build on it.”
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