Phoenix Hebrew Academy

{{Short description|School in Phoenix, Arizona, US}} {{Use American English|date=August 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox school | name = Phoenix Hebrew Academy | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | logo = | motto = | established = 1965 | closed = | type = | status = | affiliation = | founder = Rabbi [[David Rebibo]] | faculty = | teaching_staff = | enrollment = 170 (in 2011)<ref name="gender"/> | grades = [[Preschool]], [[Pre-kindergarten|Pre-K]], [[K-8 school|K-8]] | address = 515 E Bethany Home Road, Phoenix, Arizona 85012 | city = [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]] | state = [[Arizona]] | country = [[United States|USA]] | coordinates = | website = }} '''Phoenix Hebrew Academy''' is an [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]] [[Jewish day school]] in north central [[Phoenix, Arizona]]. Founded in 1965 by Rabbi [[David Rebibo]], who was dean of students since the school's inception until his death in June 2024, it was the first Jewish day school in the region and one of the first outside the New York area.<ref name="editorial">{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishaz.com/issues/story.mv?080516+school |title='Day school culture' dates to 1965 |first=Salvatore |last=Caputo |date=16 May 2008 |accessdate=19 May 2012 |work=Jewish News of Greater Phoenix |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609220937/http://www.jewishaz.com/issues/story.mv?080516+school |archivedate=9 June 2012 }}</ref> The school has a full dual curriculum of Judaic and general studies. In 2011 it enrolled 170 children in grades [[K-8 school|K-8]].<ref name="gender">{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishaz.com/issues/story.mv?110812+classes |title=PHA readies single-gender classes for grades 7 and 8 |first=Josh |last=Sayles |date=12 August 2011 |accessdate=19 May 2012 |work=[[Jewish News of Greater Phoenix]] |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609200034/http://www.jewishaz.com/issues/story.mv?110812+classes |archivedate=9 June 2012 }}</ref>

==Background== The Jewish day school movement, initiated by [[Torah Umesorah – National Society for Hebrew Day Schools]], numbered 35 day schools in the United States and Canada in 1940; that figure mushroomed to 300 schools by 1965.<ref name="editorial"/> In 1965 [[Joseph Kaminetzky]], then head of Torah Umesorah, recommended Rabbi David Rebibo, an alumnus of Yeshivat Chachmei Tzarfat in [[Aix-les-Bains]], France, and the [[Mir yeshiva (Brooklyn)|Mir Yeshiva]] in [[Brooklyn]], New York,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ou.org/index.php/takefive/rabbi/hodu/ |title=Rabbi David Rebibo |publisher=ou.org |accessdate=19 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090907051341/http://www.ou.org/index.php/takefive/rabbi/hodu/ |archivedate=7 September 2009 }}</ref> as the best choice to open a Jewish day school in the southwestern US city of Phoenix, which then had a population of 10,000 Jews.<ref name="orthodox"/>

==History== In 1965 Rebibo and his wife Odette moved to Phoenix, where he established the Phoenix Hebrew Academy, the city's first Jewish day school.<ref name="award">{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishaz.com/jewishnews/041112/rebibo.shtml |title=Brooklyn yeshiva honors Rebibo |first=Leisah |last=Namm |date=12 November 2004 |accessdate=19 May 2012 |work=Jewish News of Greater Phoenix |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609184632/http://www.jewishaz.com/jewishnews/041112/rebibo.shtml |archivedate=9 June 2012 }}</ref> Rebibo's efforts were opposed by the city's non-Orthodox rabbis, who believed that Jewish students should be absorbed into the larger community.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hadassahmagazine.org/site/apps/nlnet/content.aspx?c=twI6LmN7IzF&b=5763109&ct=7807359 |title=The Jewish Traveler: Phoenix |first=Esther |last=Hecht |work=[[Hadassah Magazine|Hadassah]] Magazine |year=2012 |accessdate=23 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120201114433/http://www.hadassahmagazine.org/site/apps/nlnet/content.aspx?c=twI6LmN7IzF&b=5763109&ct=7807359 |archivedate=1 February 2012 }}</ref> Since most of the student body were not from Orthodox homes, Rebibo calmed parents' fears that their children would be "converted" to Orthodoxy by setting a policy accepting children from all streams of [[Judaism]]. In time, some of the parents most active in the school were those who belonged to the local [[Reform Judaism|Reform]] temple.<ref name="orthodox"/>

The Phoenix Hebrew Academy opened on September 7, 1965, with classes for kindergarten and grades 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6. First-year enrollment was 40 students.<ref name="editorial"/> The school's first campus was a house at 337 East Bethany Home Road, where Rebibo spotted a "[[For sale by owner|for sale]]" sign a few weeks before opening day. In the 1970s, the school purchased a larger facility at 515 East Bethany Home Road, its current location.<ref name="orthodox">{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishaz.com/issues/story.mv?060602+desert |title=40 years in the desert and counting |first=Salvatore |last=Caputo |date=2 June 2006 |accessdate=19 May 2012 |work=Jewish News of Greater Phoenix |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609075310/http://www.jewishaz.com/issues/story.mv?060602+desert |archivedate=9 June 2012 }}</ref>

The school's success spawned the opening of six other Jewish day schools in the Phoenix area,<ref name="editorial"/> including a "satellite" school in [[Mesa, Arizona]], which opened in 1987 with 18 students in kindergarten through third grade.<ref>{{cite web|work=[[The Jerusalem Post]] |date=8 December 1989 |title=The New American Jewish Dream? (pay per view)|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/access/99180598.html?dids=99180598:99180598&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Dec+08%2C+1989&author=Joel+Rebibo&pub=Jerusalem+Post&desc=THE+NEW+AMERICAN+JEWISH+DREAM%3F&pqatl=google |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120718184156/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jpost/access/99180598.html?dids=99180598:99180598&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Dec+08,+1989&author=Joel+Rebibo&pub=Jerusalem+Post&desc=THE+NEW+AMERICAN+JEWISH+DREAM%3F&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 18, 2012 |accessdate=19 May 2012 |last=Rebibo |first=Joel}}</ref> The Mesa school closed in 1990 due to budget constraints.<ref name="editorial"/>

==Curriculum== Phoenix Hebrew Academy is an Orthodox Jewish day school with a full dual curriculum of Judaic and general studies. A dress code is enforced for boys and girls.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.phoenixhebrewacademy.org/PDFs/DRESS_CODE.pdf |title=Dress Code |publisher=Phoenix Hebrew Academy |accessdate=19 May 2012}}</ref> In 2011, the school introduced [[Single-sex education|separate-gender classes]] in Grades 7 and 8,<ref name="gender"/> and has subsequently separated Grade 6 in Judaic classes by gender.

Phoenix Hebrew Academy is one of few Jewish day school in the Phoenix area to serve kosher hot lunches cooked in its own kitchen. Students may bring their own kosher [[Milk and meat in Jewish law#Classification of foods|dairy or parve]] meals, but meat meals are strictly prohibited by the school.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishaz.com/jewishnews/030214/kosher.shtml |title=Keeping kosher |first=Beth |last=Olson |date=14 February 2003 |accessdate=19 May 2012 |work=Jewish News of Greater Phoenix |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120610013830/http://www.jewishaz.com/jewishnews/030214/kosher.shtml |archivedate=10 June 2012 }}</ref>

==Current administration== *Rabbi Baruch Harris, Head of School *Mr. Fred Graef, Principal of General Studies *Mrs. Alyssa Zupnick, Preschool Director *Mrs. Malka Harris, Assistant Principal *Mrs. Gabby Jimez, Assistant Preschool Director *Rabbi Billy Lewcowicz, Director of Student Life

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

==External links== *[http://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/ajhjnp&CISOPTR=226&CISOBOX=1&REC=20 Arizona Jewish Historical Society, historical photo, 1997] *[http://thejewishchronicle.net/view/full_story/1889563/article-Hillel-students-battle-Phoenix-students-in-Brachot-Bee-?instance=news_special_coverage_right_column "Hillel students battle Phoenix students in Brachot Bee"]

[[Category:Jewish day schools in Arizona]] [[Category:Jews and Judaism in Phoenix, Arizona]] [[Category:Private elementary schools in Arizona]] [[Category:Schools in Phoenix, Arizona]] [[Category:Orthodox Judaism in the United States]] [[Category:Private K–8 schools in the United States]]